Player Features and Ideas Discussion

ppl moaning about afk cloakers are just carebears who are to scared too go ratting with a cloaky about

"oh no... you ruined my ratting and i can't do anything about it so ill cry to ccp about it" boo hoo

I could have sworn I saw it on page 1.. AH, there it is!

It cloaked!

Until other players can know for sure whether a player really is afk, it is pointless to use the term "afk."

CCP could automatically logout any client which ceases to have user interaction of any kind for a specific amount of time, like 30 minutes with a timer that counts down with 15 minutes remaining. Would solve the whole afk camping/mining/botting issues too. Would lower the server overhead for inactive clients. Any click on or in the client, any typing in a chat window, any activation of modules or change of speed/direction, etc. would restart the timer.

This.

The self serving garbage claims about wanting more activity are patently false on this game aspect.
If they wanted more activity, they would not have docked the targets of these ships in the first place.

Since they did dock the targets, the PvE ships not prepared to operate in the environment, they are instead stating they want to preserve their play style against hostiles.

But, it is not ok for their opponents to have this same ability in the game, despite having sacrificed by fitting, if not the actual hull being used, in order to have it.

It's not balanced if you deny your opponents the same opportunities you have.

The server load, in this context, is meaningless.

The devs state being AFK while processing rewards by automated means is against the EULA. This idea helps those over the current state of affairs by comparison, since they react to the pilot roster quite effectively.
You are removing their obstacles to automated profit.

Competing with players who cheat is not something I want.
None of us cheat, so none of us should want such a change.

Which is EXACTLY the obstacle automated play wants removed.

If Bob is cloaked, and really is AFK in a sov null system, we want him to stay online for as long as he chooses.
If he gets automatically dumped, it only really benefits the automated play, since a real live player should be able to adapt.

You defining play as must click keyboard and mouse, is an unnecessary definition. Bob's intent to play, as evidenced by the presence of his client logged in and active, is all that we need.

Automated play benefits from auto logoff, obviously, by using the chat channel's pilot roster to make decisions.
Non blue pilot equals threat, dock up. Non blue pilots = 0, environment safe to resume activities.

Automated play, requiring a program to read and interpret data from the client, works most efficiently with the fewest possible variables. A non-sanctioned name in a list is far easier than most possible variables to react to.

Why is it bad? CCP states it is against the EULA, for one thing.
I myself do not want to attempt to outperform a machine on the other hand. I cannot stay online and be active due to sleep and work requirements, while the machine has no such limits.
It is unfair.

Now, if a player wants to sit in a POS boosting, or sit in a station just to collect communication logs, that's fine.
They are getting ISK on a scale that relates to their efforts, zero in this case.

If you are being serious, then the answer is simply that the software would make the client believe keyboard activity had occurred.

Inventory window opened and closed, there is your activity.
Automated by hotkey from a keyboard emulator.

As to auto logoff not targeting botters, that is beyond obvious, as botters would not be recognized by this function.
Example: Inactive cloaked players, Poof, logged off by system.
Bot monitor vISKY 7, update indicates no hostiles in system, undock and leave POS followed by resuming of ratting / mining.
Resume condition 1, monitor for hostile presence.
Log complete.

An incidental benefit may also affect actual live players, if they happened to be wildly avoiding activity and were still online at the time the cloaked menace was booted. They now have the rest of their play session till the next intruder pops in.
Assuming, of course, they were active enough to avoid being booted as well.
This thing could easily discriminate against non-bots quite easily, real people tending to glance at things like local rather than click already known inventory windows.

No one said that afk was a violation of the EULA or of botting. Also, CCP turns a blind eye to key and mouse macros because it is virtually impossible for them to distinguish these macros from a real person. Also, macros are VERY different from client analyzing or code manipulation, even though both are botting.

I am just proposing that CCP institute a new policy of auto-logoff when their client receives no input of any kind from the player for 30 minutes straight. Sure there are people who would appreciate the auto-logoff function. And there are doubtless others who would not appreciate it; mostly consisting of those like the effect of inactive account on others but otherwise gain nothing else by the account being "online."

I suppose another alternative is that the ship powers off after 30 minutes of client inactivity while floating in space. Sensors go offline, modules go offline, cloak deactivates, speed drops to zero .. all while the account remains "online." I imagine that the auto-logoff is preferred to the auto-ship-shutdown.