AFKs?

[ln(e)]

AFKs are mostly harmless, but I'd much rather have active players on the team I'm playing on. Occasionally some of them are away for several rounds and serve as nothing but dead meat. It ends up being a problem until an admin is asked to do something about it. My question is simple: how long does someone have to be AFK for them to be considered kickable?

edit: I ask because the admins are usually receptive to this issue except for today when me and several others were asking that something be done about YoungMachete, who had been AFK for a good few rounds. We had several admins present around that time. Off of the top of my head:
-I asked that KanonFyre be kicked for being AFK (as a spec), to which one of the admins responded quite quickly.
-a few minutes later, I asked that YoungMachete be kicked, to which nothing was done
-Leslie Vernon and DirtNap were present at the time this took place (this was over a period of at least two rounds), and Omniblast joined shortly after. I asked if he could do something about YoungMachete but at this point, he had finally returned from being AFK and joined a team.
-All of this took place on the 24/7 Dustbowl server (72.232.186.109:27015) should be logged. It happened at around 9-10PM EST @ 02.11.2008; my requests are most likely logged and lack of response will be there too.

 

[RaiN]

From my perspective, there is no set time. If its earlier morning or late night, an afk person is like an idler and helps keep server active. But if it is around primetime, i usually remove them fairly quickly, because I know many people wish to join our servers, and want them to have a chance too. If the person says they are running to the bathroom or something quick, I'll let it slide a bit.

I wouldn't let them remain multiple rounds like you say though.

 

[xRomanticDeathx]

The server has an auto-kick system up and usually we don't have to deal with it and we shouldn't but in some cases (like yours) we kick by request in order to let other people that are waiting in-line to join.

Some members that you've asked for someone to be kick, they aren't able YET to do an admin commands but if need too they will contact others members that can IF needed. There will be times were you'll have 1,2 maybe even 5 afks but you'll have to go with what you got, it may seam unfair at times but thats hows the game is played half the time. Win some, lose some.

Less players on your team means even harder work to win, help lead your teammates, work with what you got, and fight!

 

[Nini]

I don't think the server's auto kick system really works, cause I've seen people being afk for more than 10 minutes at times. I often hear people complaining there's afk-ers in team... Its an everyday problem that can be easily solved. Please don't mind me if I make a suggestion. The admins can set a time for players to be inactive until kickable, it'll help the server greatly. Players can inform admins when someone's afk for x minutes.

In Team Fortress 2, every minute and every player counts. The little effort one puts in can turn the whole game around.

 

[Signe]

It does work, but I don't think it's all that accurate. If you're truly AFK and not touching your computer it will kick you. If you so much as bump the mouse, however, it resets the timer.

 

[Nini]

If the person is only staying in spawn room, he's no different than being afk. I know people get a time out, but a lot more times people stay in the spawn room for several rounds without getting a time out.

 

[Nuedar]

I think you should edit again and just leave in your first paragraph as that seems to be a legit question. Everything else in your post is non-constructive and seems like you are just trying to get someone in trouble.

If you have a problem with the way a person is performing their duties as an admin I suggest you take it up privately with that person first, then with a council/advisor. As Romantic pointed out there could be any number of reasons why they were not responding in the way you felt they should have.

To answer your question. There is no set time limit that someone has to be AFK before they are kickable. That is entirely up to the admins on at the time. Typically an admin will ask the person to respond and if they do not then they will follow up with a kick.

Sorry you had a bad experience that day. I know how frustrating it can be to have 1 or more team members AFK.

Nuedar

 

[xRomanticDeathx]

[quote1202859950=Kaiwi]In Team Fortress 2, every minute and every player counts. The little effort one puts in can turn the whole game around.
[/quote1202859950]
[quote1202859993=xRomanticDeathx]
There will be times were you'll have 1,2 maybe even 5 afks but you'll have to go with what you got, it may seam unfair at times but thats hows the game is played half the time. Win some, lose some.
[/quote1202859993]
There is no use crying over spilled milk, this is how it is on almost every game server ever made, there is always AFKs and most of the time, other players don't even notice that there gone, they focus on the object and help lead their team mates to victory. Complaining won't help you win the game, leadership will!

 

[gildron]

I must admit, I personally have gone AFK before, but usually only for a short time. To go to the bathroom, get some food, whatever.

But I do agree that people idle for more then one round should be kicked, if only to make room for people who actually want to get on and play.

 

[Nini]

I don't mean to talk back to you, but you were quoting my opinion of the game. My post was mainly a suggestion of solving the problem. Team fortress 2 is a game about team work, so everyone's effort counts. This is how I see the game, and I respect the way you see it. I think you mistook my post as complaint.

There's always people waiting to join eGO's server, and everyday the server gains more regulars. I'm sure eGO gains members everyday because people keep coming back. I respect the admins who has been keeping the server well managed, its hard to watch everyone while having fun. Since there's limited spots, the afks are not only affecting the team, they also make people who want to join waiting around. Please consider that I'm only stating the truth.

 

[Angry Norwegian]

Doing by rounds wouldn't be the best idea because not all rounds are the same of course.
Some games go by fast, while some maps, like 2Fort, seem to go on forever.

I would set a kick by time and set the time to at least ten minutes. Most AFKs are to answer the phone or some other small task, becoming extended when that takes the AFKs attention.

So, ten to fifteen minutes before a kick would be reasonable. The amount of time it takes to bake cookies, not counting the prep time. =)

 

[DrunkenSailor]

Okay here is a guideline, if the server is full and there are afks you may kick them if its very busy. If its late at night, dont kick the clanmembers because they are there to "seed" the servers so that they stay full. If its primetime ie: between 4pm and midnight you can kick afk's just make sure to warn them and give em around 1 min to respond.

Response is moving around, shooting or a text chat reply showing that they are still around. Anyone who does not respond, you may kick. The auto kick was turned off so that we could have ppl idle in the servers late at night.

 

[ln(e)]

[quote1202876836=Nuedar]
I think you should edit again and just leave in your first paragraph as that seems to be a legit question. Everything else in your post is non-constructive and seems like you are just trying to get someone in trouble.

If you have a problem with the way a person is performing their duties as an admin I suggest you take it up privately with that person first, then with a council/advisor. As Romantic pointed out there could be any number of reasons why they were not responding in the way you felt they should have.
[/quote1202876836]

I didn't pin this to any particular person; there were some names there in order to give proper context to my example. Giving my account of things along with those involved should fit with what was logged on the server. You know, so I don't appear to be falsely accusing anyone.

That particular example fit, at least as far as I can tell, because it showed exactly the inconsistency that DrunkenSailor has addressed. Thank you, and thank you Kaiwi for helping to move this thread along. I probably would have waited too long and before long it'd have been a dead topic.

 

[Purple.Huskies]

Apparently, it was a bug that prevents to be kicked according to the changes list for the 2/14 update.
Source: http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=news&id=1441&cc=us

 

[Signe]

It didn't prevent kicks... it just didn't kick them automatically. And we allow spectators, so it wasn't an issue for us anyway.

 

[Joko]

Kick

I Really Dont think that a person should be kicked for being in a server afk. I personally Missed a couple round For doing stuff for my parent real fast and people asked me were wi was . I belive that this is the same type of scenario with YoungMachete, He probally had a out of game problem or lag or a real life problem that made him unavlible for a few rounds and you happend to see him only whne he was AFK. if he was in the spectator then that is basically telling you that he want to not wait a long queue outside of the server just to get back in a few minutes later

 

[Dieinpeace]

Hey guys just wanted to let you know that Topic has alredy come up in our private admin forums.( So we are working it on what the time limit and all the good stuff will be.) This LINK is to the private admin forum on this topic. So anyone that doesnt have access to those forums just please ignore. As for the current guidelines on this just refer to DrukenSailors post. But any public players reading this please know that we are working on getting this issue resolved.

Okay here is a guideline, if the server is full and there are afks you may kick them if its very busy. If its late at night, dont kick the clanmembers because they are there to "seed" the servers so that they stay full. If its primetime ie: between 4pm and midnight you can kick afk's just make sure to warn them and give em around 1 min to respond.

Response is moving around, shooting or a text chat reply showing that they are still around. Anyone who does not respond, you may kick. The auto kick was turned off so that we could have ppl idle in the servers late at night.

P.S. To any admin that havent read the above mentioned post it would be cool if put your 2 cents worth in on it.

 

[eachdraidh]

I must admit, I personally have gone AFK before, but usually only for a short time. To go to the bathroom, get some food, whatever.

But I do agree that people idle for more then one round should be kicked, if only to make room for people who actually want to get on and play.

I'm sure we've all gone afk before.

This is what I do. If we have a full server and they go afk long enough to go into spec I kick them. If one team has more than 3 afks I'll kick two of them to reset it. Otherwise I don't kick people for filling our servers.

 

[RippedPants]

If you're like me a ventrilo addict. Just jump into a channel with admins and ask them to kick the afk. Usually they just are auto kicked. If there are admins in the server at the time they'll handle it, and you don't have to worry about it. They usually notice it, and ask something like "Spectators please join a team." and if they don't they're kicked. Or if someone is afk on a team they ask "Chewbacca are you there?" or something like. If they don't respond they get kicked. I think the admins do very well on this.

 

[N1ghtmare]

a night or 2 ago the team i was playing on (myself included) was fairly peeved that we couldn't get the AFK's kicked as we had no less than 3.

playing 3 men down (or 4 if the other team has the a man advantage anyway) is really frustrating to do in a CTF map.

most of us griping about it understood the standard AFK (gone to the bathroom, or get a drink, take a call... be back in 2 min thing) but when you clock a guy thats been standing in the spawn for 5+ min and hasnt moved.... it creates a very real team balance issue that negatively affects game play IMHO.

(again this is peak play time with a nearly (15v16 etc) full server