Excelsior

Namorah - I'm not whining about current rules, which are fine by me, but I am worried how far this will go? I'm not that good a programmer but if a script can detect hostile mobs, can't it be configured to detect statues, GMs, whatever? And the afk person gets a loud *ding*, *ping* or something to let them know they need to check what's happening in UO. What anti-afk measures will be next then? A re-captcha every 10 seconds of playtime?

As to the timing - so if I happen to take off my glasses to clean them (which takes about a minute) I might put them on only to find myself in jail? And if what Dubskinz said is correct, please do use full questions like "What is 3 x 7?". Some people are not very quick in figuring stuff out and I'm not sure if I'd understand in 30 seconds what I'm supposed to do given a 3x7 by a strange statue. Unless what he said is not precise, then forget what I said - never had one of those afk checks before, only the standard ones which give 15 minutes (a bit longish IMO) to respond.

I have a suggestion. Lets do absolutely nothing at all. Then at least there will be no confusion whatsoever. Everyone can do what they want. We can continue exploiting the shard and cheating with our player characters (I mean, since everyone who thinks we operate with 100% immunity to our superior and devoid of any shred of moral standards is spot on), and exercising our favoritism for specific players while continually reminiscing of the days where we couldn't wait to catch people breaking rules so we could punish them, document it, ask them to please be careful, and then sit back waiting for the imminent retribution of a just and ever-so enlightening thread about how unfair the staff is on this shard.

Show of hands!

+V

To answer your questions, Ilsanor,

- The statue has been a certain statue, and has been unchanged during the first couple of weeks to get folks acquainted with the system. In the future, the statue will change frequently. Other items could include different types of statues, a brightly colored wall, a huge brightly colored boulder. Noticeable things that are static, meaning it's difficult to get a script to detect them (or the script would also be detecting items on the map).
- The statue is not named, so a script cannot easily 'ding' when it arrives.
- The statue's color changes frequently, a script cannot alert based on the hue it was the last time the scripter saw it.
- The statue always asks a full question. Yesterday was "What is 3x7?". The question, however, will change frequently (usually daily) so that a script can't be set to simply search for that question.
- If you are cleaning your glasses and miss the full 3x+ afk check, you will be moved to jail. This does not carry jail time. Once you get back / notice, you're free to use the red teleporter to leave jail. This is done so the person who is afk is no longer attacking/farming/etc, and we can document and send the appropriate warning. If this is not the first offense, then there would be jail time assigned according to the codex and a PM explanation sent.

Overall, we came up with this system to counteract scripters who did have systems to alert them when another player or a GM came by. Changing my name to something inane that did not include my +, unblessing myself, making myself appear as a 'red' or appear 'gray'.. none of these things got around the scripts, so V and I came up with this. Is it utterly perfect and unbeatable? No. But it is significantly more reliable than the previous system and it will be quite difficult for a scripter to get around it 100%. So far I have caught several very-afk folks who were scripting, and that's the goal.

We are making our best efforts to crack down on afk farming/killing/leveling. Anybody who is on the up and up, doing nothing wrong, will simply get afk checked and be on their way. Some will inevitably be afk/looking away/tabbed out too long and get a warning, but that carries no true punishment with it. We are out to catch the real culprits who do this for lengthy periods of time, not to give extensive jail times to the sorta-kinda-afk folks. However this means that some of the sorta-kinda-afk folks are going to get warnings, too, because hey - one is not supposed to be sorta-kinda-afk while one is doing these things. But I bet they won't keep doing it after that warning. Which might very well prevent more people from getting the idea that maybe they can afk while they do this stuff. As they say, an ounce of prevention...

I hope this new system is making many of our players more aware of our rules, and that soon everyone can realize we are doing this to better the shard. AFK killing/gathering/leveling has become a huge problem that has unfortunately gone mostly unchecked for a long time now due to the advanced scripts many were using to get around afk checks.

So, to summarize:

Thank you for the clarification, +Nyx. I only worried, because If I can get hypothetically caught cleaning glasses once, it might happen again. And since, as I understand, the warnings do not have an expiry date then I'll probably switch off UO whenever I need to look away from the screen. Just in case.

You're welcome. Generally speaking, stopping any scripts you are running and hiding where you are is plenty to keep you from getting an AFK check while you're busy doing other things, even brief ones.

+Nyx wrote:To answer your questions, Ilsanor,

- The statue has been a certain statue, and has been unchanged during the first couple of weeks to get folks acquainted with the system. In the future, the statue will change frequently. Other items could include different types of statues, a brightly colored wall, a huge brightly colored boulder. Noticeable things that are static, meaning it's difficult to get a script to detect them (or the script would also be detecting items on the map).
- The statue is not named, so a script cannot easily 'ding' when it arrives.
- The statue's color changes frequently, a script cannot alert based on the hue it was the last time the scripter saw it.
- The statue always asks a full question. Yesterday was "What is 3x7?". The question, however, will change frequently (usually daily) so that a script can't be set to simply search for that question.
- If you are cleaning your glasses and miss the full 3x+ afk check, you will be moved to jail. This does not carry jail time. Once you get back / notice, you're free to use the red teleporter to leave jail. This is done so the person who is afk is no longer attacking/farming/etc, and we can document and send the appropriate warning. If this is not the first offense, then there would be jail time assigned according to the codex and a PM explanation sent.

Overall, we came up with this system to counteract scripters who did have systems to alert them when another player or a GM came by. Changing my name to something inane that did not include my +, unblessing myself, making myself appear as a 'red' or appear 'gray'.. none of these things got around the scripts, so V and I came up with this. Is it utterly perfect and unbeatable? No. But it is significantly more reliable than the previous system and it will be quite difficult for a scripter to get around it 100%. So far I have caught several very-afk folks who were scripting, and that's the goal.

We are making our best efforts to crack down on afk farming/killing/leveling. Anybody who is on the up and up, doing nothing wrong, will simply get afk checked and be on their way. Some will inevitably be afk/looking away/tabbed out too long and get a warning, but that carries no true punishment with it. We are out to catch the real culprits who do this for lengthy periods of time, not to give extensive jail times to the sorta-kinda-afk folks. However this means that some of the sorta-kinda-afk folks are going to get warnings, too, because hey - one is not supposed to be sorta-kinda-afk while one is doing these things. But I bet they won't keep doing it after that warning. Which might very well prevent more people from getting the idea that maybe they can afk while they do this stuff. As they say, an ounce of prevention...

I hope this new system is making many of our players more aware of our rules, and that soon everyone can realize we are doing this to better the shard. AFK killing/gathering/leveling has become a huge problem that has unfortunately gone mostly unchecked for a long time now due to the advanced scripts many were using to get around afk checks.

So, to summarize:

Seriously, AWESOME work and THANK you staff for caring about us.

Guys, please take a moment to see all the effort the staff is doing to help better the shard for all of us. Overall, if you are scripting to level a weapon, dont be upset if you get afk checked. Its like mining, it happens. Over 30sec to identify yourself is fine. And the first offense is a reasonable warning. Sitting in jail waiting to explain yourself is reasonable. 2nd offense is more severe, you been warned. Its up to you to prepare.

I use script to kill, loot, open doors, heal, discordance, buff, etc, etc, etc. But i know the following, if a GM comes up or any player, i pause the script and talk. If I have to go afk, i recall out or just go hide. If its an emergency, I go take care of the situation.
In the emergency situation, i am risky everything in Excelsior to take care of REAL LIFE. No brainer to me.

Now, not trying to pat myself on the back, but i never been afk checked or been in jail. I believe the reason why is because 1, im at the pc and constantly watching the monitor. 2. I prepare my mouse to be on the PAUSE button of my script so its literally a 1-3second delay.

Overall, I seen a decline on ppl scripting in Doom. So thank you Staff. to the casual script level, if you are worried about being jailed for scipting, maybe just maybe you are doing something wrong. But if you dont think you are doing something wrong, than I'm sure you are fine. Lets not try to play, I was this or that. Because in the end, the staff is giving you plenty of opportunity to defend yourself. Its not like guilty by claim.

*edit; I am now starting to "recall" in to places instead of "sacred journey".

Also, for folks worrying about their macro recalling them away during a check: don't fret. If you recall away, I'm just going to follow and ask again.

Stalker. i wanna be stalked too

Also, Kenekeo I've noticed the afk levelers are fewer now too. Nice job Staff!!

Kenekeo wrote: I use script to kill, loot, open doors, heal, discordance, buff, etc, etc, etc. But i know the following, if a GM comes up or any player, i pause the script and talk. If I have to go afk, i recall out or just go hide. If its an emergency, I go take care of the situation.
In the emergency situation, i am risky everything in Excelsior to take care of REAL LIFE. No brainer to me.
Overall, I seen a decline on ppl scripting in Doom. So thank you Staff.

That's exactly how it should be. They allow you to script or macro anything on this server, with no penalties for doing so; provided that in some instances you are at the keyboard and able to show you are not scripting/macroing while out buying groceries. +V already mentioned the rules that you have to do this for. I've already said in this thread, but the "Person.Is.Macroing.Things.While.Not.Physically.At.The.PC.Or.Not.Paying.Attention" (afk is really a broad term, and you can be at the keyboard but not paying attention) type people who *were* breaking the rules has been cut down quite a bit. There are several spots frequented by people who were breaking the rules that were normally empty of mobs all the time,that are now usually at full spawn.

There is no difference in the rules, they have not changed with regards to these types of situations. They are only being enforced more than before, with noticeable results. There is no favoritism. There is no person exempt from these Are.You.Paying.Attention checks. There is no ambiguity as to who they check and why. Takes less than 30 seconds to perform the check, then back to leveling.

tl;dr - Keep Calm and Answer the Statue

Lol @ this thread!

Very entertaining...just my 2 cents