Anyone who played WOW battlegrounds saw just how rampant and destructive AFK and active AFKers are to the game. Loading into a game with 50% or sometimes more of your own team AFK is not only disheartening... its disgusting... its needless... and its 100% preventable.

I don't understand why the industry norm seems to have swayed into the favor of those who wish to disrupt and harass others' play times. I don't get it. If a player doesn't actually want to play the game... help them out: give them a warning, then ban their account. They don't want to play the game anyways. And if they do, then they will buy another box... and play again maybe thinking twice this time about AFKing or active AFKing.

In SWTOR, the grouping is even more key here that even 1 AFK has massive consequences to your game. 8 players on the team only.

I am not a developer or programmer... but some basic prevention would be to have a 30 second timer where if someone is inactive, they drop from the game... if someone remains in game just jumping in 1 spot, that is where the problem would be... warning then ban next time.

It's time guys. This is your chance to be at the MMO forefront and protect your players... not the jerks. I don't care the excuses. I don't. We've all heard them a million times over. No more excuses. It's simple: either you want to play that WZ, or you don't. No excuses... no talking... nothing. Just do it.

I'm telling you right now... I won't have it. I will not be playing this game if an entire facet of the game is yoinked out from under my feet like in WOW. If WZ is completely destroyed due to even just 1 AFK in the game? I'm dibs out. I'm too old to worry about BS like this in a GAME I am playing... too old to get stressed out by some mental midget who wishes to destroy something good for everyone else for whatever selfish reasons they have... and I'm too smart to continue paying into something that I can plainly see isn't taking any kind of stance against it.

Don't think we're dumb... don't think we haven't added players to our friends lists... or don't talk to each other and find out whats happening and whats what.... don't think you can quietly shuffle this topic under the rugs. Do the right thing: take a stance for your players.

BAN AFKERS/ACTIVE AFKERS whatever their excuses are.

They just need to implement a Report AFK button for warzones where if a player reports you, you have 45 seconds to click a button and begin moving before getting booted.

I think its more than that because there's still issues with active AFKers unfortunately. But that is a nice step for those who just move their toon then walk away from the computer.

I agree with the OP.

I don't care how it's implemented, but find them and punish them severely.

AFK'ing in a WZ is also a technique some people are using when their characters are seriously stuck (/stuck, quicktravel, fleet pass all don't work) as for some it'll move them back to fleet. Of course if there was real in game csr's dealing with that issue, they'd not have to try that.

Well shame on you....

I opened a ticket to report my character stuck and within 3 minutes I was contacted. My computer locked up while waiting on him to do something and I had to open another ticket. Within 1 minute, another rep contacted me. Stop spewing ignorance.

I'll agree to this if they also add a "Forfeit Warzone" option and you people agree to use it.

When we're down 4-0 in Huttball either you guys let them score two or I'm gonna go afk for 5 minutes.

So don't defend the point...got it.

On the plus side, both sides will have to give up defending the point, so Voidstars will be incredibly quick, and Alderaans very long.

*Disclaimer: I don't condone AFKing, but 30s of inactivity...I can take like 30s to walk from one point to another point in stealth(Alderaan and Huttball)

30 seconds? Bans? LOL too extreme. Way too harsh.

Personally I think a 2 minute timer (which starts when idle) that auto kicks from the WZ and no credit for participating (possibly a small minus on commendations/valor) is fine. Possibly also something that looks at activity and if at the end of the match the person matches the pattern of an AFKer (easy to see in # of kills/deaths/damage/heals objective points etc) then award no valor/exp/commendatins and so on, and possibly even penalize in the form of small amounts of negative valor.

I agree in spirit .. the details are always a witch to work out though.

One thing you're overlooking: the AFKers, griefers, and jerks are all paying $15 a month too. So there's a conflict of interest on BW's side.

I agree in spirit .. the details are always a witch to work out though.

 

One thing you're overlooking: the AFKers, griefers, and jerks are all paying $15 a month too. So there's a conflict of interest on BW's side.

Naw, that would be kind of like saying it's ok for 1 customer to act badly towards another customer because they paid. It's bad for business. You can't go to a McDonalds and, say, buy a Big Mac, turn around and throw it at someone eating at a table nearby without expecting any action by the manager.

Why? If the rest of the customers feel like McDonalds doesn't care, maybe feel like the environment is bad, they won't come back (to that store at least). Maybe that's a bad example, I don't know. I just really want a Big Mac I guess. But hopefully it got the point across.

30 seconds? Bans? LOL too extreme. Way too harsh.

 

Personally I think a 2 minute timer (which starts when idle) that auto kicks from the WZ and no credit for participating (possibly a small minus on commendations/valor) is fine. Possibly also something that looks at activity and if at the end of the match the person matches the pattern of an AFKer (easy to see in # of kills/deaths/damage/heals objective points etc) then award no valor/exp/commendatins and so on, and possibly even penalize in the form of small amounts of negative valor.

Really? Have you played WOW BGs? As part of the reason I quit that game... and have never gone back... I can tell you with no exaggeration there were games with 60% of my team AFKing. If there were less than 25% players NOT AFK that was a blessing... is there were NO AFKers, then screen-shot it... because it didn't happen.

There is no joke here... the game was completely and totally broken due to their lack of stance... their reporting buttons were placebos that did nothing... a total joke that EVERYONE knew.

There's literally no reason for someone to actively AFK or openly AFK to wreck everyone else's fun... even when my team has no AFK and the other team has an AFK or 2... it's a shallow, hollow win. I don't get any enjoyment out of it: honestly speaking. I know I didn't really earn that win.

The one and ONLY PVP oriented game that shows any sign of hope taking a... somewhat.... stance against AFKers: League Of Legends. They actually will ban accounts.... granted they are free accounts... but I feel that its embedded in their community to not do it... so even though players have nothing "real" to lose if they lose their account, AFKing in that game is so minimal that I can say I see it MAYBE 1 in every 100 games.

So let's iterate something here... even though the game gives you free accounts... they will ban accounts for AFK and bad behavior... yet players for the most part don't AFK. Hmmmmm....

So in a game we PAY for the account... maybe that's an even greater incentive for losing the account if we actively non-participate in something that is meant to be participatory... or just simply AFK all together.

Sorry but... no. 2 strikes rule is plenty. If people understand the consequences, and Bioware is extremely CLEAR on their stance moving forward... including a message IN GAME with their new hard nosed stance... I'm sorry but: no excuses. None.

I guess what has always boggled my mind is: "how did we even get here?" In a society where... and I would pay to see this btw... someone couldn't even possibly walk to the front of a long line up for any fast food restaurant without getting an earful and made to go to the back of that line... how is it possible we allow one of the most blatantly rude items become the norm? Like... how is that even possible?

"Hey bro... you guys come play this game for me... no, I'm not asking, I'm telling you... and regardless of what happens, you won't have fun... and I don't care. I'll be over here watching TV."

Go spit in someone's face... that's about as equally rude. Oh wait: we have LAWS in place for such rude behavior.

It kinda makes you wonder.... why does this thread even have to exist. Why isn't something in place already to prevent some of the most rude behavior in online gaming. And why is that the industry standard now to accept it?

How did we even get here.

Naw, that would be kind of like saying it's ok for 1 customer to act badly towards another customer because they paid. It's bad for business. You can't go to a McDonalds and, say, buy a Big Mac, turn around and throw it at someone eating at a table nearby without expecting any action by the manager.

well now I know where I'm going for lunch.

There's a couple of reasons why your analogy doesn't work, but the biggest one is money. It costs EA money to investigate, log, and resolve these issues. That's on top of any potential lost revenue from an actual ban.

I agree that in the long term it's in their interest to promote better gameplay & protect their plaerbase. But in the short term, it impacts their quarterly numbers. Given this is EA we're talking about (not exactly highly regarded for customer service), and that policing the plaerbase is immediately detrimental to them, I would expect AFK and botter issues to get gradually worse, especially if the game gets more popular.

Anyway, vote kick options are band aids on sucking chest wounds. The real problem -- which they inherited from Blizzard -- is grindy gameplay design that rewards players for doing absolutely nothing.

Anyway, vote kick options are band aids on sucking chest wounds. The real problem -- which they inherited from Blizzard -- is grindy gameplay design that rewards players for doing absolutely nothing.

I disagree with this. What is an MMO but the very definition of "grind" - really. The whole design of it is to have a transition/effort into getting to the next level... be that with gear, valor, levels, crafting... whatever that may be.

How long would you play a game that you logged in... clicked on your mailbox... and had full TierX raid gear, full TierX PVP gear, MAX level EVERY profession including every single beneficial item like stims/heals/etc that comes with it... and everyone did too? Would you still PVP? Would you still raid? Would you still do... anything in that game?

The excuse of "oh - I'm just AFK in here because the game is too grindy" just doesn't hold any value... so once you've AFKed to max level without attacking a single player... you have garnished every single possible reward through AFKing... then what??? What is in store for you now?

I truly wish they had a server designed specifically for AFKers... like... you want to have instant pure max level PVP gear? Here you go... here's your server... stay there and don't go to the normal servers to AFK. And the rest of us who want to actually play the game can stay on the normal servers.

This isn't Call of Duty or League of Legends types of PVP games... this is an MMO with some actual grind/some kind of effort to get items/gear for your character. The sooner players realize this who use this as an excuse to AFK the better off for STWOR and MMOs in general. The Xbox kiddies are really wrecking my favorite genre.

I disagree with this. What is an MMO but the very definition of "grind" - really. The whole design of it is to have a transition/effort into getting to the next level... be that with gear, valor, levels, crafting... whatever that may be.

 

How long would you play a game that you logged in... clicked on your mailbox... and had full TierX raid gear, full TierX PVP gear, MAX level EVERY profession including every single beneficial item like stims/heals/etc that comes with it... and everyone did too? Would you still PVP? Would you still raid? Would you still do... anything in that game?

 

The excuse of "oh - I'm just AFK in here because the game is too grindy" just doesn't hold any value... so once you've AFKed to max level without attacking a single player... you have garnished every single possible reward through AFKing... then what??? What is in store for you now?

 

I truly wish they had a server designed specifically for AFKers... like... you want to have instant pure max level PVP gear? Here you go... here's your server... stay there and don't go to the normal servers to AFK. And the rest of us who want to actually play the game can stay on the normal servers.

 

This isn't Call of Duty or League of Legends types of PVP games... this is an MMO with some actual grind/some kind of effort to get items/gear for your character. The sooner players realize this who use this as an excuse to AFK the better off for STWOR and MMOs in general. The Xbox kiddies are really wrecking my favorite genre.

Not sure where this is coming from, but you see to have misread my post. I wasn't arguing in favor of going AFK. Far from it.

I was only pointing out that this kind of reward system is the only one that gives you gear regardless of whether or not you participate. You don't get raid gear by AFKing. You can't auto follow your way through heroics. But in PvP, you can.

Personally, I think a PvP system like that is inherently flawed and will -always- have problems that no number of CS reps and vote kick options will fix.

WoW battlegrounds? We're talking about the same battlegrounds where even after premades and pugs were supposed to be separated, premade teams got into pug games with timed queuing (something Blizzard NEVER tried to stop or discourage, much less punish) and then roflstomped the poor pug players in their own graveyard day after day, week after week?

That is what we're talking, right? And afkers are to blame for crappy warzone experiences? Please.

Well shame on you....

 

 

I opened a ticket to report my character stuck and within 3 minutes I was contacted. My computer locked up while waiting on him to do something and I had to open another ticket. Within 1 minute, another rep contacted me. Stop spewing ignorance.

You're rather fortunate. I have guldies that have gone for 5 days without a word from CS. Personally I've not been stuck like tat where one of the passes didn't work. But 3 minutes for a csr response for stuck in this game is not the norm.

Since the Ilum exploit, and their utter failure to take any action against those involved (despite their blog to the contrary), the precedent is set that exploiting and/or cheating is allowed (or at least tolerated).

If they were serious about eliminating cheating, they would have taken action sufficient to deter people from exploiting in the future.

The next time something comes up, you can bet almost everyone will exploit it. There is no incentive not to.

I agree with the OP.

 

I don't care how it's implemented, but find them and punish them severely.

I agree.

Edit:

It seems silly to have to state the obvious to game companies though. It would be like starting a game of Monopoly and saying, "NO. I DO NOT WANT THE BANKER TO BE ABLE TAKE MONEY FROM THE BANK AND PUT IT IN HIS OWN PILE."

trust me, it can get much worse than people leaving or afking in WZ.

anyone else a former Glider user? damn you blizzard....damn you...

well at least with glider you performed about as well as any other total noob, which is better than a lost spot or an afker.

so yeah, lets get the bots rolling into the game, that should shut the AFK whiners up......

My guess is the programmers simply don't have enough time or resources (or heck, maybe even the knowledge) to implement an anti-afk system. It took the WoW developers years and years to get theirs going.

We just have to be patient.

Great post OP. It's the main reason i've pretty much stopped playing warzones altogether.

Too many people going AFK. The most i have had AFK on my team was 4 people. It needs to be sorted.