[AmbularD]

Okay, so I found out today by way of a discussion in chat that if someone is AFK in front of a loot chest at a free public grinder, that means they are entitled to whatever falls into it while they're there, and anyone else who takes items out of the chest while the AFK person is there will get in trouble.

Well and good; this is important information to have, and I'm glad I didn't inadvertantly break this rule before I found out.

How come it's not written down in the server rules?  And are there any other important do's and don'ts that aren't mentioned in there?

[shisuan]

This is more a farmrule then a serverrule, but I do think moste farmowners use it.

[undormant]

(06-17-2017, 12:22 PM)shisuan Wrote: This is more a farmrule then a serverrule, but I do think moste farmowners use it.

I think we should build a gothic Hall of Rules dark and dank with mobs milling about. In the depths of a castle water leaking from the low arched roof above, signs on every column with rules lol.

[Mikemc]

If they went AFK at a grinder, I say F-em. You're already at a freebies homeless handout center, you have the gull to be AFK as well? Why don't we just give players the /give item command already? Back in my day we worked for our iPads (NES for me). Mowing lawns, shoveling snow, cleaning the house.. it's disrespectful is what it is. Someone worked to build that machine, Creative or not, so that players could grab some helpful swag, and a bum has the where-with-all to play the victim card? AFK means Away From Keyboard, meaning you are not playing, meaning you get the same results as if you were offline.

Stand there, wait for your gruel, and be gracious it's even there.

[TheNamesGames]

The unwritten rules of Public farming. That'll make a good book.

[Grimm_Wolfe]

(07-21-2017, 02:19 PM)Mikemc Wrote: If they went AFK at a grinder, I say F-em. You're already at a freebies homeless handout center, you have the gull to be AFK as well? Why don't we just give players the /give item command already? Back in my day we worked for our iPads (NES for me). Mowing lawns, shoveling snow, cleaning the house.. it's disrespectful is what it is. Someone worked to build that machine, Creative or not, so that players could grab some helpful swag, and a bum has the where-with-all to play the victim card? AFK means Away From Keyboard, meaning you are not playing, meaning you get the same results as if you were offline.

Stand there, wait for your gruel, and be gracious it's even there.

This whole argument implies that the public grinder was not made to be AFK-capable, which most farms of this nature on the server are intended to be AFK'd at.  Also, given these farm-builders privately own these farms but allow public access, they may make whatever rules they deem fit; which includes rules on AFK etiquette and loot distribution.

The argument also implies that the use of AFK isn't a detriment to one's ability to play on the server.  A person using an AFK-farm is stuck in one spot to get a resource and not actually playing the game in a meaningful way, which takes time away from their ability to play.  If a person spends 30-min at an AFK-farm–and another players comes in at the 29th minute and clears the loot chests–does that not cause an issue where 30-min of waiting is just for nothing?  The 2nd player has not put any time into accruing that resource via an AFK-farm, yet they should get a free-pass?  A real-life equivalent would be similar to sitting in a waiting room for an hour for an object to be made, some random person coming in and not have to wait a second, and then you're told to wait another hour because that person took your object because reasons.  Any average person would be understandably upset at this.

You may not agree with the rationale behind it but the rule was deemed necessary by the farms' owners for the sake of fairness.

[DrBot]

Well said grimm

[Mikemc]

I do not feel that the waiting room example is valid. You have your name registered and maybe a number. If you are AFK via sleeping or texting.. whatever reason, and you miss your call, it's your fault for not paying attention.

Here are 2 ideas:
Instead of a loot chest, just have the items fed directly to the space the player is standing on so they automatically collect them. Another solution is to have a touchplate in front of the chest where the player stands, which holds a door closed preventing others from accessing the chest.

And if they are standing there for 30 minutes, that's bypassing the 5-minute AFK timer; is there a perk that lets you login for as long as you like?

But yes, if the land owner is alright with rules & restrictions then that's that. I'm just not fond of someone who's getting freebies can complain when they aren't paying attention.

[Pemigrade]

(07-23-2017, 01:24 PM)Mikemc Wrote: And if they are standing there for 30 minutes, that's bypassing the 5-minute AFK timer; is there a perk that lets you login for as long as you like?

Yes, VIP1 allows you to AFK in one spot for as long as you'd want to without getting kicked. Non-VIPs however, could also accomplish this by using an AFK pool like the one at Warp ColdSlime or Warp Pigman.

[Grimm_Wolfe]

(07-23-2017, 01:24 PM)Mikemc Wrote: I do not feel that the waiting room example is valid. You have your name registered and maybe a number. If you are AFK via sleeping or texting.. whatever reason, and you miss your call, it's your fault for not paying attention.

Here are 2 ideas:
Instead of a loot chest, just have the items fed directly to the space the player is standing on so they automatically collect them. Another solution is to have a touchplate in front of the chest where the player stands, which holds a door closed preventing others from accessing the chest.

And if they are standing there for 30 minutes, that's bypassing the 5-minute AFK timer; is there a perk that lets you login for as long as you like?

But yes, if the land owner is alright with rules & restrictions then that's that. I'm just not fond of someone who's getting freebies can complain when they aren't paying attention.

That's the whole point of AFK-farming.  You don't have to pay attention, which is why the farms' builders made those rules to protect the accrued resource/s for a player who used their farms.  It's insurance against theft, which actually strengthens my argument.  I never said a person had to hear a name called or pay attention, just wait and their object will be there to pick-up when they're ready.

Also, as Pemigrade pointed out, certain ranks have the perk to AFK for indefinite periods of time and the use of AFK-pools isn't prohibited.  The AFK-timer you reference was implemented back when our server's player-capacity was much lower than it is now, our server's popularity spiked immensely, and we had issues of AFK'd [Guest]s filling up spots.  The AFK-timer is just an additional tool to kick out players not using an AFK-farm, AFK-pool, or are non-VIP to be more efficient with our server's capacity.  The periodic restarts–for example–may be seen as a timer against those using an AFK-pool or AFK-farm.

All this being said, your ideas are a good start.  I believe there were farms of this nature on the old server.  I'd much rather players have issues with limited inventory space than some other player coming along and taking their resources, as it's more work to fix.  However, I'd be wary of players setting homes in these farms and getting in while the farm is in use, which has happened and doesn't leave CoreProtect logs for the staff-team to examine.  It's an issue without a perfect solution for the players' side, unless a farm gets vetted by staff and WorldGuarded to disallow /sethome.

That could be something to explore.

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I'm going to ask that now. Thanks for providing me the inspiration. ^-^