what happens when they ban an innocent customer that got banned because there would be no clear line of how urgent his matter was to go AFK for.. is it ok to not crap my pants or save a dying old person from a well just so you can ride my coat tail in a match i waited 5 minutes to que for?

I have better solution, 10WP or no payout at the end of game screen, that will take away AFKers motivation for AFKing, they may even be able to extend the timer before you're kicked. (I know how it feels to have to do something important and come back to a 'you have been kicked' screen)

Everyone who cares about the game, hates AFK.
It just ruins the match and play for those who are actually playing the game.
Those that fight must fight harder to make up for the lost AFK players, which means they die more , which means they spend more isk/aur, which means they are frustrated more ( this game needs less frustration, not more)

Many proposals have been put forward that may fix the issue, I have one more. Lets list them for CCP to look at and evaluate.

Keep all current features and add to them.
Currently in FC if someone on your team kills you, you can tag them for kick out and once they get tagged by 2-3 people they are kicked out. Why not implement the same for AFK?
Teammates that see an AFK can tag them and once they get 2-3 tags, software looks to see if they have any kills or kills and if they are in any battles moving/giving damage (can't just trust your teammates not to pick on someone), if not then they are banned for24hrs.

2 x ban in a week, suspend account for 2 weeks.

Just a thought, looking for feedback.

I am totally in agreement. There are so many bugs with afking and its only gotten worse, before you cou;d've afked in a corner, now there is a bug that kicks you out of the game for chilling in the MCC, the latest bug kicks you if you are not moving which forces you to now go in circles.

I always said that the first step to fixing afking is to add a couch in the MCC, or simply, a sitting mechanic. Not only will it be easier to differentiate those that are simply standing still from those that are afking, but it will look cool while doing it. I call it "afking with style."

Also, exp and isk payout needs to be increased for afkers. At the moment, afters receive the lowest payouts than previous builds while those that do not afk receive a payout much larger. It is not fair for the afking community to have such low payouts like that. It takes just as much time for an afker to sit in a match as it takes someone who is not afking.

Ive never seen other games with an AFK problem like this one. Clearly though, the problem is obviously the players. Instead of looking at the reason they are AFKing, lets just punish punish punish. Thats always works. Treat the symptom instead of the problem and everything gets fixed, right?

Let me let you in on a little secret. No matter how many hair brained punishments you come up with, people will find workarounds, because you haven't fixed the real problem; Matchmaking and game balance. Allow me to elaborate:


Lets say a new player joins the game. Has a good time in the academy, since its not full of squad stompers desperate for vindication. Then, academy finishes...now what? Gets put into a match full of jerks. People that call in orbitals in the redline to shoot down the LAV you were going to use to get out of your starting base. I suspect these people being life by spawning on wet gym locker floors. Anyway though, whats this new player supposed to do? Here are the options:

1. Quit the game and play something else (most popular)

2. Squad up and lower yourself down to their level (2nd most popular choice)

3. AFK farm SP and ISK so that you have access to and can afford stuff better than militia gear (Popular enough thats its problematic. I suspect solo players who arent here looking for socialization do this the most)

4. Throw yourself in suicidal charges in militia gear so thjat the squads that have already made the match unpleasant can go ahead and pad their numbers a little more (Its a damn wonder why people dont log in to do this for 2 hours strait).



Say what you want, use whatever excuses you want (i got beat down and abused so now its my turn to do it to others ,ect). Fact is, until this is a game where a casual person can log in for a few hours and have fun without having to squad up with undesirables or play a role they dont want for endless hours....this problem will persist.

So you can either fix the problem, or waste time fixing the symptoms each time they manifest themselves in a new way. Anyone whos ever held a job knows damn well that its possible to look busy without actually doing anything useful. It will take 2 minutes to adapt AFK tactics to a fix that took 2 months to invent. Stop wasting time.

I AFK when I'm running solo and don't feel like getting proto stomped.

Oh wait..... That's 75% of my solo matches.

Don't fix AFK-ing till Proto stomping in Pubs is fixed.

Well you always get the chance to leave the battle and find a new one.
Proto stomping seems to be dying down in pubs, and rising in FW. I play FW 99% of the time and I have no problem (no I don't protostomp and neither does my squad) Asia servers must work miracles... yes I play on the Asia server (I'm American, but I play on Asia server to reduce lag)

what happens when they ban an innocent customer that got banned because there would be no clear line of how urgent his matter was to go AFK for.. is it ok to not crap my pants or save a dying old person from a well just so you can ride my coat tail in a match i waited 5 minutes to que for?

I have better solution, 10WP or no payout at the end of game screen, that will take away AFKers motivation for AFKing, they may even be able to extend the timer before you're kicked. (I know how it feels to have to do something important and come back to a 'you have been kicked' screen)

What they need to do is have the afker if standing stil be kicked. If a moving afker that has no kills or death. They get no isk or exp. Thoes who try will get WP unless killed multiple times for tring but sill getting bit of exp n isk

Why not take away all SP and ISK (+ any Salvage) for people who have less than 10 WP at the EOM screen?

Ive never seen other games with an AFK problem like this one. Clearly though, the problem is obviously the players. Instead of looking at the reason they are AFKing, lets just punish punish punish. Thats always works. Treat the symptom instead of the problem and everything gets fixed, right?

Let me let you in on a little secret. No matter how many hair brained punishments you come up with, people will find workarounds, because you haven't fixed the real problem; Matchmaking and game balance. Allow me to elaborate:


Lets say a new player joins the game. Has a good time in the academy, since its not full of squad stompers desperate for vindication. Then, academy finishes...now what? Gets put into a match full of jerks. People that call in orbitals in the redline to shoot down the LAV you were going to use to get out of your starting base. I suspect these people being life by spawning on wet gym locker floors. Anyway though, whats this new player supposed to do? Here are the options:

1. Quit the game and play something else (most popular)

2. Squad up and lower yourself down to their level (2nd most popular choice)

3. AFK farm SP and ISK so that you have access to and can afford stuff better than militia gear (Popular enough thats its problematic. I suspect solo players who arent here looking for socialization do this the most)

4. Throw yourself in suicidal charges in militia gear so thjat the squads that have already made the match unpleasant can go ahead and pad their numbers a little more (Its a damn wonder why people dont log in to do this for 2 hours strait).



Say what you want, use whatever excuses you want (i got beat down and abused so now its my turn to do it to others ,ect). Fact is, until this is a game where a casual person can log in for a few hours and have fun without having to squad up with undesirables or play a role they dont want for endless hours....this problem will persist.

So you can either fix the problem, or waste time fixing the symptoms each time they manifest themselves in a new way. Anyone whos ever held a job knows damn well that its possible to look busy without actually doing anything useful. It will take 2 minutes to adapt AFK tactics to a fix that took 2 months to invent. Stop wasting time.

That seems like a good solution that needs development.

Was also thinking, that CCP does not want to ban players who abuse the system because it might hurt their profit. So instead of banning them make them pay a fee to give them some hurt. So something like you get kicked by new AFK system then at end of match no isk/sp and a deduction of isk/sp equall to the #1 player for that game.

Just a thought

Believe it or not, AFK farming never existed until ISK and SP rewarding system was changed with the implementation of "time in game" being one of the factors.

As it stands, Scotty often put us into matches are either already half-way through (usually on the losing team) or almost finished and players that just recently came in deserve some compensation for having to go through the trouble of waiting for a match only to be put into a bad one or an almost-finishing one. That's what the current system was suppose to be for. To compensate you for the trouble of waiting only to see your patience wasted on a match that is almost over or with a team that's already losing.

AFKers, unfortunately, have been exploiting that since its implementation. We could take away the "time in game" factor from the rewarding equation, but that will only punish players who I just described above.

My proposal is to implement a tracking system similar to what Eve Online has for tracking bots and macros. The server would keep an eye out for players who seem to be AFKing, flag them, track their progress, and then ban them if they continue with the pattern of behavior exhibited by AFK players. Eve Online's Tranquility server does this without any problem and this is the same server that manages millions of transactions every day, billions of clicks, thousands of weapons at one time, and application of bonuses. I'm pretty sure Tranquility can handle it.

Regardless, I'm not going to leave a match just to be put into another and get the same scenario. Imma sit my ass down, spin in circles, and get some isk & sp. This isn't a new issue, this has been a rising issue in DUST for almost 1 1/2 years now.

CCP can fix this **** or they can allow afk farming. If you want players to participate more, find the issue why most of them don't ptfo. For me, it's proto stomping. I play pubs to make isk not get my ass stomped by squads who run proto on purpose... *cough* *cough* General TSO's Alliance members *cough* Rise of Legion Members *cough* are prime suspects of doing this. There are other alliances and corporation that do this, but from my experience I usually face them that do it.

There are others but this isn't a issue that hasn't just come out of the rise for nothing. Fix Proto Stompers/squads I won't have a reason to AFK anymore in pub matches.

I've seen newbies get 0WP plenty of times. If they're just out of battle academy and are using starter fits, they might frequently get 0WP and plenty deaths. They shouldn't be punished.

rt. So something like you get kicked by new AFK system then at end of match no isk/sp and a deduction of isk/sp equall to the #1 player for that game.

agreed if they are not afk, that is why I started this chat to try and find a solution so we all can have fun.

Not going to happen. AFK can't be "fixed" without full reconstruction of ISK/SP payout system. At this time CCP just can't fix it

There is a lot more reasons why the won't fix AFK Everyone should understand, that AFKers run for SP, they pay for boosters and etc, if they can't AFK - CCP lose profits



With current SP system there is no good solution, only bad and epic bad

Something more needs to be done, AFKn hurts those that are trying to play and win which costs them isk/aur and frustration.

How many times have you been in a game and got frustrated that you could not get anything going and in the end found out that your team had 5 afkrs and 5 200 sp on it ?