Jailed for the first time since 2009

[+Nyx]

Also, everyone should be aware that the AFK check doesn't pop up only on your character. The question will spam over your head (which will also show up in the journal), and the bright-color wall/flame effect will pop around your character in a 2-tile radius, moving every 2-3 seconds.

Here's an example:

radius.png (35.91 KiB) Viewed 6575 times

All of the neon green tiles are tiles where an AFK check wall/spell effect will pop around you. Even if you have mobs on you, or a gump open over your character, it will not fully block the appearance of the effect. You'll be able to see it numerous times during the check, if you are looking.

[+Nyx]

This is the Codex Link correct ? http://uoex.net/codex

I might be blind but at no point in the Codex does it say "if it takes longer than that for someone to reply, they are in violation of the codex"

Maybe you should revise the codex to include : http://uoex.net/codex/penalties and http://uoex.net/wiki/AFK

I loved your UOEX Server. Sadly, I made a single post where I support AFK checks but don't feel 60 seconds is enough time and I personally feel like I am being attacked because of my post.

http://www.uoex.net/codex/penalties

When killing spawn, leveling weapons, taming animals: you need to be at the keyboard at all time. If you do not reply within 60 seconds, it will be understood that you are AFK.

Replying to your post to explain something that you clearly didn't fully understand at first isn't you "being attacked". It's an attempt to educate you, since you are new here.

[+Requiem]

This is the Codex Link correct ? http://uoex.net/codex

I might be blind but at no point in the Codex does it say "if it takes longer than that for someone to reply, they are in violation of the codex"

Maybe you should revise the codex to include : http://uoex.net/codex/penalties and http://uoex.net/wiki/AFK

I loved your UOEX Server. Sadly, I made a single post where I support AFK checks but don't feel 60 seconds is enough time and I personally feel like I am being attacked because of my post.

Yes, the link to the codex is what you posted. The penalties are a seperate page of the codex, but are still a part of the codex. It was broken up to make it easier to read. There are other sections of the codex as well, namely all those links on the left hand side of the main page.

The wiki is mostly player-made, and doesn't have the most up to date information in some cases. If something is listed on both, the codex takes precedence.

When you choose to reply to a topic on a public forum, your opinions become public knowledge, and you're opening yourself up to comments and criticism from other people. Some may like what you have to say, others may not. You have to accept both sides of people agreeing with you, and people disagreeing with you, when you choose to voice your opinions publicly.

We are trying to show you our side, and why it is different than yours. If you choose to see disagreement as an attack, well, there's not much I can do about that.

We all feel (as staff), that 60 seconds is more than enough time for the average player to answer the afk check. It also is less of an inconvenience to US who have to do the checks. I bet nobody thought about that. 30 players - 1 minute each is a minimum of 30 minutes of *my* time. If that were increased to 3 minutes, it would take me an hour and a half to afk check 30 people at a bare minimum. Not to mention the time involved if I catch someone afking. (moving them to jail, looking up previous penalties, assigning tasks, recording the violation, sending them a pm explaining why they are in jail).

[Miranda Ventrata]

The afk check questions are extremely simple, if it takes longer than 60 seconds to know what month it is, or what 2+2=, then i don't know what to say. 60 seconds and 2 tasks, is very generous. In my opinion, it should be 30 seconds and a 3 day ban for first offense. If combat spam is an issue as it is claimed to be, when you see the graphics, just say need a sec please, then turn off scripts and let spam clear a bit. The question is spammed every 3 seconds, so it will become clear fast enough to answer.

[Pariah]

I was jailed once for being AFK as well, in odd circumstances. I was in Doom, but needed to go AFK so I ran to the top part (where the sparkle exit is) and stayed put. Since there is no hiding allowed and no mobs spawn there, I thought I would be safe. However, another player either dragged or didn't kill the mobs in the Dark Father room and allowed them to escape all the way up to the very top where I was stationed. As a result, the mobs attacked me and I was technically AFK killing mobs. While I didn't think this was very fair as no mobs spawn in that area and I felt someone would've had to intentionally pull them up there (as another player paged about me), I handled it a bit differently. I paged with a response to +Nyx and she did for me exactly what she did for you. She gave me a warning and reduced my sentence to 1 task. Also, this is a VERY common practice across players that you will see regularly. While I would never target someone doing the same, it led to me being a more informed player. I asked +Nyx to clarify certain things for me which she willingly and helpfully did. I didn't take this to mean that I was forever branded as a cheater. I've played here for years and it was my first offense. I think you'll find that many others have had similar stories where it maybe doesn't seem right, but you're better off knowing in the long run.

As for those AFK checks. I will say, they scare the bejesus out of me so I can understand that sentiment. I've never failed one but a few times in my haste I've written gibberish or the wrong answer because I was stressed about the environment. I would actually prefer if you completely walled me off and perhaps made me invulnerable as well as provided an upfront explanation to lower the tenseness moment. Perhaps something like "No need to panic, this is a simple AFK check and you have 60 seconds to respond." Just throwing it out there that just spamming a bunch of weird objects and a question over and over again tends to raise anxiety. I think that's why people prefer the automated checks. They tell you more about what is going on and it's a bit more familiar.

[Jax2]

Just wanted to add - thanks for those who've spoken up in support of me rather than, as I said before, just made me out to be someone who is using scripts and being afk - without knowing a thing about me. And to assume because I've been here for a long time I should have known it was an AFK check - well, that's just your assumption and it's incorrect. And I know what it feels like to feel "attacked" for posting your opinion - I never claimed I was a "dedicated veteran", yet one of the replies made me out to be some arrogant conceited player who thinks he's above everyone - definitely not the case.

[+Nyx]

yet one of the replies made me out to be some arrogant conceited player who thinks he's above everyone - definitely not the case.

Perhaps not, but expecting special treatment over what everyone else received in similar circumstances, then going to the forums to rant about it, and then continuing to bash the staff on the shard - it all comes off quite arrogant and that you think you're above the rules here. If you're aiming to have better interactions with the staff, you should start by behaving better toward us, and with more respect for us and what we do here.


Pariah, I can understand that some folks would have a nervous reaction to afk checks, but we can't really provide a quick verbal hug in the form of explaining they're about to be afk checked - otherwise it's a simple matter for anyone to script an alert based on that message, even if it changes. Even the gump checks you see for resource gathering are simple to script so that they are answered while the player is completely afk. It's why we don't use them for the more important types of afk checks.

[+Requiem]

Just wanted to add - thanks for those who've spoken up in support of me rather than, as I said before, just made me out to be someone who is using scripts and being afk - without knowing a thing about me. And to assume because I've been here for a long time I should have known it was an AFK check - well, that's just your assumption and it's incorrect. And I know what it feels like to feel "attacked" for posting your opinion - I never claimed I was a "dedicated veteran", yet one of the replies made me out to be some arrogant conceited player who thinks he's above everyone - definitely not the case.

I think a lot of people want the afk check to be grey instead of black and white. In an ideal world this would be possible. Here though, it's really something that is black and white. You either answer the question in 60 seconds, and pass the check and go on with your activities, or you fail the check and are considered afk. The reason you failed is irrelevant. Failing means you were afk for the purposes of the check, which has penalties listed in the codex. The rest of it doesn't matter. We can't prove or disprove if you're using a script, or not using a script. If you just glanced away for "a second", or are in the other room watching TV with something to alert you that you've been moved to jail.

You get 60 seconds to pass or fail, and that's it. Sorry, but that's just how it is. If you'd rather be doing something else, then go do something else. If you need to get up to do something, go somewhere and hide, or recall to a city, or whatever it is where you're no longer doing the things that are against the rules to do afk. It's no more or less complicated than you make it. Pass/Fail is one of the simplest systems I can think of.

If the monster spawn is too intense and causing too much spam to see the afk check, perhaps we can thin it out a bit. Then everyone would complain about that. Pick the battles you want to fight, and be prepared for the consequences of your actions.

[Jax2]

Again - I have never mistreated staff, nor was I bashing on you nyx, I simply said I felt it could have been handled differently. I've always been polite to staff, players, and try to do things for everyone to make things fun around here like the hide n seek games last night. You seem to take things very personally when they're not meant to be so. I understand why I was sent to jail - I just wanted it known that I was not afk, not using a script, or anything else that you, req and other players have continuously been saying I was. I don't consider that bashing anyone. I disagreed with your judgement, and while that makes no difference in the end, that's all it was and people do and will disagree with each other on a daily basis.

[Sir Blood]

Hopefully exact spelling isn't an issue for AFK checks. Knowing my luck... it would take me 5 or 6 attempts to correctly spell February... lol

[+Nyx]

Again - I have never mistreated staff, nor was I bashing on you nyx, I simply said I felt it could have been handled differently. I've always been polite to staff, players, and try to do things for everyone to make things fun around here like the hide n seek games last night. You seem to take things very personally when they're not meant to be so. I understand why I was sent to jail - I just wanted it known that I was not afk, not using a script, or anything else that you, req and other players have continuously been saying I was. I don't consider that bashing anyone. I disagreed with your judgement, and while that makes no difference in the end, that's all it was and people do and will disagree with each other on a daily basis.

You've been rather aggressively nasty about this issue in-game. Things get reported to us, and then we have to look into it.

I'm not sure how you think I'm taking anything personally, when it was you who went to the forums to angrily exclaim your innocence and claim that we were labeling you a cheater by enforcing the afk rules on you. I've replied to explain the situation and, since you forced the issue, to provide what evidence I had at hand to back up my statements regarding your afk check. You could simply have emailed +c to discuss the matter, which would have been the appropriate course of action, but instead you brought it here, and I've replied in kind. Its not personal to me - but when you make statements/accusations against the staff or our rulings, we have to back up our actions with information and evidence, as I have.

[Jax2]

Nyx, that's fair enough - you're right on that point and I agree with you. I guess it was more your comment about how I think I'm some dedicated veteran that really got under my collar - Your replies like that seem pretty standoffish which is what I was complaining about "in an aggressive manner". I apologize for arguing about the jailing - I was just caught by surprise and being the first time I thought perhaps it was just a misunderstanding (which it was on my part) and would be forgiven, so when I still had to do some task it did feel like I was being called a cheater. Yeah, I took it too far and I get that now.

We cool?

[+Nyx]

My remark about your vet status was based on the title you chose for the thread, which seems to imply you've been playing here since 2009. With the long absences and account decaying multiple times, that comes off a bit deceptive. Just wanted to clarify that.

If I seemed standoffish, it's because we get crap like this (and often far worse) all the time. You didn't follow the proper channels and then forced me to have to publicize evidence which is never fun for us. We hate these threads/incidents. I'm using the word hate there, and not overdramatically. Genuinely hate it. I'd rather be working on fun stuff than ever deal with situations like this.

Cool as ice, yo.

[Yoda]

I am all for transparency and I respect the + parties decision to allow threads like this to exist but in truth what has always struck me is this.

why isn't the thread generically responded to with something to the effect of " we can handle it this way ________ " (with blank being the staff appropriate/prefered appeal/debate process if any. then locked as immediately as possible.

I know that sounds very harsh but in the years spent here i have yet to see a thread about "I've been jailed woe is me" not degenerated into 2 or 3 pages of back and forth followed by other players diving on the pile for and against this thing or that thing, and the odd player holding a long standing beef/disputer with staff yada yada yada.

what it boils down to is this.. the codex explains the rules VERY CLEARLY. and the afk check gives you a 60 second period time to answer a grade 1 spelling/math question or light general knowledge question. the excuses are just that EXCUSES. and the staff isn't doing these checks out of personal spite.

and above all and I apologize in advance for the caps

THESE THREADS NEVER ACCOMPLISH A SINGLE THING, NOT ONCE IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF EVERYTHING!!

thanks

[+Nyx]

I agree on all counts. Problem with a quick lock is then they either make another one, get jailed for that, and start even more drama; or they go on a high horse of "they locked the thread because they knew I was right and was gonna prove them wrong" (or, "they locked it because they're tyrants / they hate me/ they don't care how much I help the newbies/etc"). There's just ... No real way to handle these threads that works out perfectly. I've gone out of my way to be more transparent in them, rather than just jail the poster for making drama and removing the thread, but sadly that hasn't been appreciated either. It kinda goes in cycles, I guess, so maybe it's time to start trying the lock+jail method again for awhile.