Announcing a date for retroactive AFK SP removal is fine. The point is any idle detector is going to have some holes, and CCP needs to be able to close them retroactively if it wants to have an effectve deterrent. Otherwise people will be constantly hacking it and CCP would have to create a full time team dedicated to the project.

Having said that, people know that AFK SP farming is against the spirit of the game right now. It's rather disengenuous to claim that you had no idea CCP didn't want you doing it when they changed from a daily to a weekly cap to stop it last time and they announced that they were working on the detector.

Trust me, they know:
http://kotaku.com/5137673/hundreds-of-players-banned-in-final-fantasy-xi

TL;DR: Hundreds of players found an exploit where you could duplicate this game's equivalent of officer weapons+1 items in a loot pool at will and knowingly exploited it for almost an entire year with what seemed like no repercussion in sight. SE spent that time to accurately go through the server logs and permabanned every single player that used this exploit by tracking chatlogs, the coding on the duped items, and server data. Goes to show you that everything you do is watched.
Going 0/0 with 0 WP for extended periods of time should be easy to track.

Guys, my OP wasn't a request to implement the anti-idle system. CCP already stated they were working on one.

My post was a suggestion to CCP that they not try to play catchup with AFK players, but rather prosecute after the fact to keep their development costs down. So far I haven't read any arguments against that reasoning.

What I do read is a side argument about some folks feeling entitled to AFK because CCP knows about the problem. In my mind that's akin to claiming a store owner knows you can shoplift and doesn't put every bit of merchandise under lock and key, so you are entitled to walk off with it. The owner doesn't do that because it would be a pain in the ass for everyone. What he does do is install cameras to record theft so he can prosecute once you leave the store.

It's disengenuous to claim that it's "Working as Intended". Everyone knows it hurts the quality of play when some don't bother to participate. You can claim that "Well, gameplay sucks anyway so I'm not doing much additional harm.", but that's merely a rationalization. People AFK because they want the rewards but do not want to pay CCP for them with their active participation.

thus the reward for breathing is what you want to make up 99% of all sp. I hate that and I hate games the enforce that, breathing should not have more rewards than actually doing something.

just look at every fps with skills system in them, CoD is a great example, yes you get exp per match but the amount of exp you get is about = to a 5 kills(last time I checked could be wrong). in skirmish you would have get over 5000 warpoints. just to give you an example 5,000 war point = 100 kills, that 2/3 of the enemy clone count. and that's to break even with the breathing sp you would get for just sitting there. I dunno about you but I very rarely see people break 3,000 warpoint mark in an match. there are plenty of CoD shooter who max out so that point is invalid. look at battlefield if you want another example, its per match reward is actually even smaller.

the massive chunk of sp should slowly go away from passive and go to active sp. sure give newer players help to the weekly cap, the vets shouldn't need the cookie for breathing a whole match like someone who just came to the game and if it stays the cookie will keep coming to those who want it which will drop off when they no longer want to play the game and there goes the player base. to go witch hunting would also cause a big drop in player base

I suppose you could say that he contract only stipulates that the performer be downtown and only assumed he would be actively performing, but a judge in court might uphold that as a reasonable expectation. Especially if the town had stated they were putting measures in place to detect sleeping on the job. Either way it would be imprudent for said performer to live stream his nap for the benefit of the town council. Does someone really have to spell out that intention is that you actively perform? After all you already get another support payment for being a registered town resident.

I understand your indignation at being rewarded at nearly the same rate as a less accomplished performer. FPS players are a competitive lot and want to distinguish themselves in every way possible. That's not a problem in a standard FPS with no skill system and little difference in gear. There the rank beginners are segregated and everyone else is on an even footing.

However an MMOFPS presents true play differences at different skill levels. Each skill point matters and progression must be carefully managed to fall within an acceptable range. Too fast or too slow both cause problems. Thus CCP seeks a way to compress the range for those less personally skilled (not necessarily just beginners) and those elite players.

If you accept the basic premise that you have to limit the earnings gap for the long term health of the game you are immediately confronted with the difficulty of rewarding solely on performance. The range is simply too large.

You can play with the formula all you want, but if it serves to limit the range disparity it won't reward performance to the degree the competitive player desires. They not only want to win, they want all the loot too.

So what can you do? Well, you can offer other forms of recognition such as stats leader boards and content like PC that only reward performance and hope that it satisfies your elite players.