I think the game should automatically log you out if you've lost link for 30-60 minutes.
As it is, losing link in certain areas ('rinth, outdoors) can be a death sentence. It's almost a textbook argument against permadeath. If your house is hit by a blackout for a few hours, your char is as good as dead.
The period should be long enough to still give a ranger an advantage outdoors, where rangers can quit safely and non-rangers need to find a safe cave or something or be possibly killed.
I can't really think of any reason why they shouldn't be auto-logout after a long enough period of time. Just standing there doing nothing doesn't add anything to the game. If people are quitting to avoid fights, they'd still be there for half an hour. If they just sit there doing nothing, they become a target for twink raiders and pickpockets, and I personally don't like attacking someone because they may be link-dead.
Yeah. I don't suppose I would be against this.
If someone goes idle for 30-45 minutes, have the game auto-log them out.
They're still open to being brutally and mercilessly slaughtered by some random PC/NPC, if in the wilderness, and if in a city - They're still vulnerable to being mugged/stolen from.
It beats leaving a bunch of link-dead newbies standing around until the next reboot.
The common argument against this is that people would use it to be able to avoid finding quit rooms in the wilderness and/or to avoid dangerous situations, but I've always seen that as a pretty flimsy reason.
I always try to wish up and get linkdead folks logged off when I find them--especially if I find them somewhere dangerous--but an automated solution would be nice. Sometimes there aren't staff around.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have lost a lot of PCs while linkdead due to a stint of living in the middle of nowhere with satellite internet. I'd like to think that even one or two of them may have lived longer if this feature had been implemented back then.
I'm all for it. The longer time period means you can't use it to escape any but the most glacial of people chasing you, and it would save people from loosing a character if they are logged on when a blackout hits.
I'm definitely for something like this, but I believe staff have said in the past that ginka has no way of codedly knowing when a player has dropped link, so implementing something like this may be difficult.
Quote from: Rhyden on April 17, 2011, 11:05:26 AM
I'm definitely for something like this, but I believe staff have said in the past that ginka has no way of codedly knowing when a player has dropped link, so implementing something like this may be difficult.
I thought it did know, because it gives you that notification when people lose link. And there's that thing that prevents starvation/thirst among idle characters.
Quote from: SMuz on April 17, 2011, 11:28:06 AM
Quote from: Rhyden on April 17, 2011, 11:05:26 AM
I'm definitely for something like this, but I believe staff have said in the past that ginka has no way of codedly knowing when a player has dropped link, so implementing something like this may be difficult.
I thought it did know, because it gives you that notification when people lose link. And there's that thing that prevents starvation/thirst among idle characters.
Even if it can't tell 100% of the time, I'm sure whoever does get autologged would appreciate it.
I really don't see an issue with this as long as it's 30-60 minutes. That
almost completely removes the chance to abuse it, in my opinion. It seems that most people around here think OOC comes first. Losing link is a serious OOC issue.
One possible solution:
Set the auto-logout to require a human input to cancel it.
If:
a) Player has not sent a command to the MUD in the last 25 minutes
OR
b) Player has only sent the same command (a prompt ping) to the MUD in the last 25 minutes
Then: Send an echo and a beep to the player: "Ginka has detected that you may be linkdead, and will disconnect you automatically if you do not respond within 5 minutes. Type 'cancel' without quotation marks to stay connected."
If:
Player types 'cancel.'
Then:
Do not log player out.
Else:
Log player out.
The only downside is that people could abuse it to circumvent the quit-safe room restriction for non-rangers. On the other hand, you could add a functionality to the quit command such that non-rangers would have to go through a similar 30-minute process in order to quit out in the wilderness.
Or, you know...we could just all agree that having to be a "ranger" to quit the game whenever and wherever you need to is a fucking dumbass idea. I'm 30 years old, with kids and shit to do...and sometimes that shit doesn't conform nicely to my planned gaming activities. Let a motherfucker log out when he needs to, and stop worrying about whether twinks will do this or that, or class balance, and blah-fucking-blah. God DAMN. I am so fucking sick and tired of hearing my wife bitch at me over my shoulder while I'm moseying as quick as I can to a quit room that I hardly log in anymore.
Another example of coding to prevent the twinking of a few hurts others ability to play and enjoy the game.
Arm 2 has code built in to auto-log out idlers and people who have lost link.
The code in Arm 1 that stops you getting hungrier and thirstier after like an hour? If you did nothing but change that to boot the idler out of the game, I think it'd be a very reasonable solution.
Quote from: Synthesis on April 17, 2011, 01:08:46 PM
b) Player has only sent the same command (a prompt ping) to the MUD in the last 25 minutes
If your client's sending commands to the MUD, you ain't lost link (and you're probably idling in a "safe" location, anyway).
Quote from: brytta.leofa on April 18, 2011, 10:26:04 AM
The code in Arm 1 that stops you getting hungrier and thirstier after like an hour? If you did nothing but change that to boot the idler out of the game, I think it'd be a very reasonable solution.
Quote from: Synthesis on April 17, 2011, 01:08:46 PM
b) Player has only sent the same command (a prompt ping) to the MUD in the last 25 minutes
If your client's sending commands to the MUD, you ain't lost link (and you're probably idling in a "safe" location, anyway).
People aren't always AFK because they want to be.
Now THIS suggestion I can agree with, very much. 8)
No complaint here....just another reason to be excited for Arm 2 :]
Quote from: Morgenes on April 17, 2011, 02:28:28 PM
Arm 2 has code built in to auto-log out idlers and people who have lost link.
Will this be toggleable? The reason I ask is sometimes I'm idling and going back and forth between other things on my comp and doing mundane stuff solo in game. It would stink for it to autolog me when I am idle-playing and don't get back to my client soon enough.
Quote from: jhunter on April 19, 2011, 03:44:30 PM
Quote from: Morgenes on April 17, 2011, 02:28:28 PM
Arm 2 has code built in to auto-log out idlers and people who have lost link.
Will this be toggleable? The reason I ask is sometimes I'm idling and going back and forth between other things on my comp and doing mundane stuff solo in game. It would stink for it to autolog me when I am idle-playing and don't get back to my client soon enough.
Currently it Is not an optional thing. It is pretty easy to defeat by setting up your client to send a newline every x amount of time.
We do give a warning message a minute before logout that you could trigger on in your client and send a newline or play a sound or whatever.
If you're idling any longer than 10-15 minutes you should be logged out anyway really. If you get a chance to hit enter every 10 minutes you'd be fine.