Deal with your AFKs

[Thrillho]

I think I posted this a while back (in a pretty rough manner), and it's still a widely recurring problem.

Please implement something to get rid of the AFKs. The current system of letting people stay on the team sometimes leaves them on the team for multiple rounds, often to the detriment of the team.

I never understood, and probably won't understand, why this has never been addressed. It is painstakingly hard to get an admin to boot somebody (see below), and it shouldn't even be their problem to deal with. An automated system to boot people from the server, or at least to spectator until they return, would be greatly beneficial and relieve work on the admins. And it would reduce the annoyance felt by people who have an AFK, or multiple AFKs, on their team.

I was recently booted from a server for complaining to an admin about an AFK on our team. I won't name the admin, since I'm not complaining about him, but the AFK system, or rather the lack thereof.

Transcript, as closely as I can recall:
Thrillho, eh: <admin name>, can you please boot the two AFKs on our team? <names of AFK>
One of the AFKs: On the phone, sorry
Thrillho, eh: at least boot <other AFK>
Time elapse
Thrillho, eh: Perhaps a "f***" or "a******" is in order TO GET THIS D*** AFK OFF OF OUR TEAM" <no asterisks in game>
Time elapse
<Round ends, we lost, teams switch>
<Round starts, my team is rolling the other and I'm leading the scoreboard>
I kill the admin I was trying to get to twice, then I get booted. No warnings, no talking to, nothing.

I know full well swearing is not permitted on eGO's servers, fully knew the possible consequences of swearing, and am not here to plead any case other than the one for the AFK system. The only reason I swore was to get the attention of the admin.

Here's the kicker: As it stands, it's been 15 minutes, give or take, since my booting and the AFK in question is still in the server, still on the same team, and still has 0:0 k/d as per your hlxstats page.


TL;DR: Boot AFKs to spectator at minimum.

 

[vudu]

I too become frustrated with AFKs. If the AFKs are impacting play, admins should be moving them to spec. In the future, I would recommend 3 things:

a) If you see an AFK, type directly to admin chat by proceeding a team_chat with the @ symbol. Admins are more likely to see this since it shows up green.

Press U, @This is my message.

b) Use our Ventrilo to find an admin that will assist. Often times, we have many senior admins in Ventrilo.

c) Please use the dropbox to voice topics of this type. You can find it by clicking Forum at the top right and then scrolling to the bottom.


TL;DR: AFKs should *not* affect gameplay and if they are admins should be taking action; however, if you do become frustrated, there a number of other ways to appropriately escalate the issue without swearing. (admin chat, vent, dropbox).

 

[Dalsia]

I too become frustrated with AFKs. If the AFKs are impacting play, admins should be moving them to spec. In the future, I would recommend 3 things:

a) If you see an AFK, type directly to admin chat by proceeding a team_chat with the @ symbol. Admins are more likely to see this since it shows up green.



b) Use our Ventrilo to find an admin that will assist. Often times, we have many senior admins in Ventrilo.

c) Please use the dropbox to voice topics of this type. You can find it by clicking Forum at the top right and then scrolling to the bottom.


TL;DR: AFKs should *not* affect gameplay and if they are admins should be taking action; however, if you do become frustrated, there a number of other ways to appropriately escalate the issue without swearing. (admin chat, vent, dropbox).

Admins should also be kicking AFK players from the server if the server's full. I think, like you said, that the best idea would be to PM any available admins in-game using the team chat + @ command. I try to manage AFKs on my team, but it's not always possible for me to help with moving AFKs on the other team. Don't be afraid to PM us if you have problems in the server. We always want to hear what you have to say and make your gaming experience the best it can be.

 

[Lava]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWFOWkt_mEs[/ame]

Afks

 

[mdgrim]

This is how/where afking should be done. Not in a server where people are playing =p. As for my statement about afk players, it is the same as what Dalsia has already stated.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmgblDX7w-A&playnext=1&videos=AWSbUgbyjFk[/ame]

 

[Thrillho]

Thanks for the green chat tip. I was unaware of that one.

This doesn't entirely solve the problem though. There is still the human element - either the admin doesn't see the message (still a possibility), doesn't act on it, or doesn't act in time. Then there's the fact that the admin has to act - if I were an admin, I sure wouldn't want to spend my time dealing with AFKs. I would much rather slaughter.

And Vent? This spawns more problems. Not everybody uses mics - anybody who plays with me knows that my mic use is very minimal. This isn't because of shyness, but rather a respect for the people surrounding me in real life. I don't want to interrupt them. Another problem is that I don't want to listen to mindless chatter while I play. There is already a chat function in the game, so I will use and listen to that. I don't need music playing in the background, don't need to hear the plans of people for their weekend, and I definitely don't need to hear "spy behind you!" when it's for another server. Besides, I wouldn't want to chat while I chat.

If I were to get to an admin via Vent, or Steam (as there are a few admins on my friends list), there is still the problem of them getting in to a full server. The wait list for which has grown due to the decrease in server sizes. Plus, it shouldn't be their responsibility to drop whatever it is they are doing to come on to a server to deal with an AFK.

All of this points to the same solution - an automated system. This eliminates the need for an admin to act against AFKs. I honestly do not see the down side to this - so please explain it to me. The only reason I might be able to understand "well, it saves their spot" - but there is the autobalance program which circumvents the "this is my spot on my team" attitude.

While we're on the auto-balance subject, please eliminate the suicide when it switches. Might not register on hlxstats, but it does register in game and will mess with KDR, even if it's just for screenshotting the scoreboard.

 

[Kevimaster]

Well, all I can say to you is that at least myself, as an admin, will deal with AFKs using our AFK Check Command when I see them. But it usually takes me a few rounds. Plus the way our AFK Checker works is that it will give them 2-3 minutes to respond to it before auto-moving them to Spectator, and then another 2-3 minutes before kicking. Although to be honest, I see maybe once or twice a week a time when AFKs are actually a major problem in one of our servers. And that is fairly quickly dealt with by a round of AFK Checks.

 

[Thrillho]

And that's great. I've met a few admins who deal with the AFKs right away. Unfortunately, these admins aren't always on, or as I said before cannot get on due to a full server.

And your AFK checker has a glitch - it works on the basis of movement, correct? AFKs get moved when people run through them, which resets the checker. A shorter timeframe is necessary (which is usually the case with the autobooters).

In a 5 minute match, 2-3 minutes is vital. In a 12 man server, 1 less person is ~8% of your firepower. If by chance it's 11v12 and you have an AFK, you're now down ~17% in firepower. It's much more prominent now that the server size has been reduced.

 

[Kevimaster]

I agree that the time should be shortened, 1 minute would be sufficient in my opinion.

Thats not the way our AFK Check works, though. Well, there are two ways, one if we go into the admin menu and select AFK Management it displays anyone who hasn't moved for X amount of time. So that is sometimes borked by people pushing others around. But we can still use the command sm_checkafk on people and it will display a message that requires them to actually press a key to keep playing. Its not reset by movement or even them moving/shooting. Other than that we don't have the ability to teamswitch people or switch people to spectator. So we can either AFK Check them or kick them, AFK check is preferred especially if the server isn't full because it gives them time to respond in case they are just in the restroom or something, plus we don't like to kick them if the server isn't full to try and help fill the server.

Anyway, I'll be on the eye out when on server for AFKs or Idlers, although I only really Frequent Valvemaps, PL Maps, and Mesa.

 

[Sgt. McAwesome]

And your AFK checker has a glitch - it works on the basis of movement, correct? AFKs get moved when people run through them, which resets the checker. A shorter timeframe is necessary (which is usually the case with the autobooters).

No, you're thinking of Showidle.

Checkafk sends them a pop up notice to reply if they're still playing. A lack of reply results in an Autoshift or Autokick (Depending on who's on at the time). After all, even though we are chosen to deal with AFKs when needed to, it's alwatys respectful to ask if they're really AFK. There's a chance they could be working on Crafting or just left to answer a phone call or something reasonable like that.

Our mantra is this: If it's not disrupting gameplay, there's no need to admin it. After all, our goal is to have fun. If the AFK thing does become an issue, we will take care of it. It's not necessarily against rules to be AFK.

Also, you don't necessarily need a mic to use Vent. You can send them a chat message just like Steam.

 

[XXzz-Trauma-zzXX]

Plus, it shouldn't be their responsibility to drop whatever it is they are doing to come on to a server to deal with an AFK.

Um, I think that everyone here knows that a good admin jumps in to help where ever and whenever he can, other wise he isnt really doing his job. If it is causing disruption to eGO servers, our admins never mind dropping what they are doing to take care of a problem.

 

[TheHulk]

Honestly i feel upset that you are so upset over the issue. I personally (and many many admins) am very good at keeping up with the AFK's. I feel maybe we should have an admin refresher for some of our admins. Although the admin that was there may have been busy with something else or afk themselves. Please continue to play on our servers. We will deal with the issue accordingly im sure.

 

[Darth]

I try to remove AFK's as much as possible. The admin should have done something even if he didn't see your message he should be checking the admin menu of afk's anyway.

You can pass on the admins name to the leaders if you wish.

 

[a pet rock]

I agree that the time should be shortened, 1 minute would be sufficient in my opinion.

It is currently set to one minute.

Really, I understand where he's coming from. Even though I'm attentive about AFKs, I can't know who is AFK on the other team. If I'm the only admin in the server, the other team could have 7 AFKs and I wouldn't know until someone on the other team says something. I believe at one point we used an automated system, but it was clumsy and glitchy and just wouldn't work well.

I also agree that judging AFK by movement on the map doesn't seem like a perfect solution, but I don't know enough about TF2 coding to say what variable could be checked. For instance, it seems to me that actual input from the client side would be the best thing to monitor, but that may not be feasible with Orange Box coding. That's agent86's job, and I'm damn glad we've got someone as good as him working on it.

As it stands, I don't see it changing any time soon. Sorry about that, but our admins will just have to keep being vigilant.

 

[Ducttape]

We may not be perfect at admining all issues on the servers, but I guarantold you our servers are the best admined servers there are.

 

[Skill/CJaZ]

What they said. Its not easy to keep AFK's of the server ALL the time, because even though there may be some real good admins, they can't do everything. They're probably very busy getting dominated by me and Noise to recognize AFK's on the other team. Although in maps like Blackmesa, seeing AFK's in the enemy spawn isn't hard. Even with that our admins aren't perfect, although some are really, really awesome. Keep in mind though using profanity isn't a preferred way of getting an admin's attention. A stingy admin will ignore your pleas and kick you anyways.

 

[crazyrockets]

Yea, as soon as I receive reports of an AFK player, or see one myself, I use a showidle to see if they are idle. If they still are there, even if the showidle reports they aren't idle, I afkcheck them. One thing that can catch the admins on the server up is if the player gets bumped into, it resets the idle counter, so a player in the enemy spawn can return an idle of 0 if he gets bumped alot. The admins can't see the player easily, and showidles won't let us know.
It is always best to lets the admins know using admin chat if you suspect someone is idle. We never are too busy to check if someone is AFK (Myself because I have plenty of 8-12 second respawns to work in ).

See you online soon!!!!

 

[Stealth]

i always use the check afk command every once in a while...

 

[trykael]

Alright folks - we have a simple policy to take care of AFK players.

IF a server is full, anyone can use admin chat (u@ message) to let the admins know that a player has been AFK for a time. The admin will then use the sm_checkidle and sm_checkafk to remove the afk player as necessary. Please do not directly kick the player unless they are circumventing sm_checkafk (i.e. replying but then staying afk).

If a server is NOT full then use the sm_forecespec to move an AFK player to spectator so that the teams can balance. Do not kick them unless absolutely necessary.

Non-admins - please remember that our admins are doing the best they can, but they can't get to everything at one time, and sometimes they know information that you just don't have access to. So communicate ONCE if you see an issue, then allow the admins to handle it as they see fit.

Thanks.