Inactivity timeout.

Started by MatisseOrOtherwise, June 26, 2018, 05:37:19 PM

June 26, 2018, 05:37:19 PM Last Edit: June 26, 2018, 05:43:58 PM by MatisseOrOtherwise
An idea: After an hour of inactivity, an account should be logged out automatically and the player should be quit out, akin to the 30 second timeout when in menus.

This is less about making the game "easier", and more about making less deaths happen where someone needs to tend to an emergency and they end up coming back to a dead PC. Someone standing utterly still for an hour of IRL time is more than enough time for horrid things to happen to them regardless, so someone coming back after 21 hours of being away to realise they're still logged in and are dying of starvation is just a bit extreme and unrealistic. Nobody just stares into space and patiently awaits death, especially not survival-blooded Zalanthans, so if we're to expect that our characters are working to keep themselves fed and watered while we're logged off, how can we also not assume that after a day of just standing utterly still, they'd "find safety" or something similar?

This would also make less 'wish all's happen where newbies forget they have to Quit to leave the game world.

This could work on a timer similar to Quit OOC, where it can only be taken as an option every x hours/quits/whatever, maybe even once an irl week or more (once an irl month?), and when you log in you could get a notification similar to;

Quote"When last you left Zalanthas, you forgot to QUIT. Please remember that leaving yourself in the game world subjects you to the actions of any players, weathers, or animals therein, and QUIT safely when you next end play."

An addendum to the 'help quit' file could mention "QUIT TIMEOUT [minutes] - Input this to change how many minutes you will remain inactive before being forcibly removed from the gameworld, between 30 and 300. Notice: Similar to QUIT OOC, QUIT TIMEOUT will only be applicable every other login."
Lizard time.

On a similar token, I'd really like gone messages or afk timers to reflect when you Way someone.

You send a telepathic message to the tall, muscular man:
   "Hey, Amos."
<< Amos is currently linkdead. >>

Or

You send a telepathic message to the tall, muscular man:
   "Hey, Amos."
<< Amos is currently gone afk >>

I lost my first character in a very similar situation. It was depressing to put it best. Died of dehydration with a water gourd around his neck.

I think that putting up the AFK flag should start a timer that will log a player out after 20 minutes.

When AFK (no inputs) I've noticed the game will suspend your hunger/thirst, but if you were in the desert or a hot room or something, you may come back to being already parched.

However, I agree with the overall tone. I am constantly pulled away into what I think is a ten minute meeting, which ends up being 45minutes and a critical issue that I need to handle. By the time I get back to the game I've been idling for 2 RL hours and, technically, could have been killed or interacted with, without my knowledge.
Quote from: IAmJacksOpinion on May 20, 2013, 11:16:52 PM
Masks are the Armageddon equivalent of Ed Hardy shirts.

I've nearly died of thirst when I forgot I left Arm open. I was down to repeatedly "suffering" from my thirst or whatever the echo was. In my experience, it's only when you register as linkdead that it stops you from getting hungrier or thirstier. This would be a welcome change.

IIRC:
- Idle protection is based on time-since-last-input, not being linkdead. (The latter can't be reliably detected.)
- Idle protection stops your advance towards hunger/thirstiness.
- If hunger/thirst effects have commenced before idle protection engages, you're still screwed.

Is there a help file on this somewhere? It could probably go in help quit, though that's already surprisingly long.
<Maso> I thought you were like...a real sweet lady.