Usa Forum - AFK banning - alt.games.warcraft

Lewis

5/8/2011 4:06:00 AM

A friend of mine was in an AV last night about 2am. He said he wasn't
paying particularly paying a lot of attention, but was engaged in PVP
combat at the alliance base defending wassisname. He was killed,
released, and was immediately tagged as AFK. He rezzed, ran down the
hill and shot at some hordies, which cleared the 'afk' debuff thingy.

The alliance won the BG a few minutes later and my friend logged out of
WoW.

This morning, he had an email telling him he'd been banned, and on
calling was told it was for 'being afk'. He explained exactly what had
happened and the CSR said that if enough people report you AFK, even if
you are never actually tagged as AFK, you can be banned.

Supposedly an in-game GM looks at it, but it seems that at least in this
case, they didn't look at anything.

Evidently, the is also an addon out there that auto-reports people as
AFK if they have 'too little' damage in the Battleground. (where 'too
little' is a number greater than 0).

Now, admittedly, he hadn't done much int he BG except wait for the horde
to run down and then run around shooting at people, but that's more than
a lot of people in PVP do and banning someone for PVPing poorly?

This seems like a SPECTACULARLY bad idea.

I mean, there is already a mechanism to remove AFK people from
battlegrounds, banning people for possibly automated reporting... Well,
let's just say it does not sit well with me at all.

I don't PVP much anymore, but this kind of crap makes me want to cancel
my account and walk away. There are 11 million players on WoW, and I
figure are least 4 million of them are complete and total assholes, and
it seems like a larger percentage are in PVP to begin with (which is why
I don't PVP much myself).

Now, I'm sure some of you will assume my 'friend' is me, but honestly,
that's not the case. If I were to PVP I would not waste time in AV, I
exclusively PVP in Tol Barad.

--
"There's a light that shines on everything & everyone. And it shines so
bright - brighter even than the sun". That's what Minnie thinks as she
walks to meet her brother, who is nearly two years older on a Saturday
night. He's DJ-ing at some do on the edge of town on the night that
Minnie Timperley died.

81 Answers

redvet

5/8/2011 6:10:00 AM

On Sun, 8 May 2011 04:05:52 +0000 (UTC), Lewis
<g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> wrote:

>A friend of mine was in an AV last night about 2am. He said he wasn't
>paying particularly paying a lot of attention, but was engaged in PVP
>combat at the alliance base defending wassisname. He was killed,
>released, and was immediately tagged as AFK. He rezzed, ran down the
>hill and shot at some hordies, which cleared the 'afk' debuff thingy.
>
>The alliance won the BG a few minutes later and my friend logged out of
>WoW.
>
>This morning, he had an email telling him he'd been banned, and on
>calling was told it was for 'being afk'. He explained exactly what had
>happened and the CSR said that if enough people report you AFK, even if
>you are never actually tagged as AFK, you can be banned.
>
>Supposedly an in-game GM looks at it, but it seems that at least in this
>case, they didn't look at anything.
>
>Evidently, the is also an addon out there that auto-reports people as
>AFK if they have 'too little' damage in the Battleground. (where 'too
>little' is a number greater than 0).
>
>Now, admittedly, he hadn't done much int he BG except wait for the horde
>to run down and then run around shooting at people, but that's more than
>a lot of people in PVP do and banning someone for PVPing poorly?
>
>This seems like a SPECTACULARLY bad idea.
>
>I mean, there is already a mechanism to remove AFK people from
>battlegrounds, banning people for possibly automated reporting... Well,
>let's just say it does not sit well with me at all.
>
>I don't PVP much anymore, but this kind of crap makes me want to cancel
>my account and walk away. There are 11 million players on WoW, and I
>figure are least 4 million of them are complete and total assholes, and
>it seems like a larger percentage are in PVP to begin with (which is why
>I don't PVP much myself).
>
>Now, I'm sure some of you will assume my 'friend' is me, but honestly,
>that's not the case. If I were to PVP I would not waste time in AV, I
>exclusively PVP in Tol Barad.

Nice post Lewis. I'ld like to add my personal narrative.

I've played on AV since I've been eligible. I very frequently work
Irondeep. First capturing the mine for the Alliance and then running
supplies. It was/is clear to me that there is a problem with this afk
reporting system. At the lower levels (below 85) it was not unusual to
be bounced out by the tactically challenged who don't understand the
importance of defense. This especially true if you're defending in
Warsong Gulch. If you don't have a base to come back too it really
doesn't make much of a difference if you are in possesion the flag. In
AV if the Horde overuns your base Gen. Vann dies, bunkers burn, and
your side doesn't get re-enforcements.

Unfortunately the strategic competence for most of the players who
report you afk is at the 5th grade level in a special school. I don't
believe WOW much cares about this issue and I find it a real irritant.
At the lower levels I even went so far to write a short macro asking
for help in killing the boss in Irondeep and explaining I'ld be
running supplies. It didn't *seem* to make a difference.

I don't buy the argument that Horde has no slackers either. - redvet

Tigero

5/8/2011 8:26:00 AM

I believe that this issue has to do with the players who reported you
not the system that ban people.

It seems that you weren't banned manually by a GM since if that was
the case then the GM should be checking whether you were really afk
and if he done that he wouldn't ban you. It looks like an automated
process getting input from multiple player report then you will be
automatically banned. Blizzard seems to want to minimize their
manpower by implementing automated processes to the point that even
account recovery from hack requires very little to non human
interference from Blizzard's side.

So the case here is the bunch of morons who think that damage or
healing output is everything and getting you reported as afk basing on
that. Numerous times when I play AV on my druid (Horde) I would simply
remain stealthed in towers while Alliance usually cap and run giving
me opportunity to recap them. No one seemed to be bothered by my last
position on the damage and healing report. And the case is true in WSG
or twin peaks as I usually go directly for the flags without
intentionally engaging in any combat.

If there is an addon that auto report players as afk I think you
should raise this up in the suggestion forums and pray that it won't
take more than a year until Blizzard do something about it.

In the meantime if I were you I would just flow with the current and
camp the field of strife and whack whoever passes through it.

steve.kaye

5/8/2011 8:36:00 AM

On 08/05/2011 05:05, Lewis wrote:
> A friend of mine was in an AV last night about 2am. He said he wasn't
> paying particularly paying a lot of attention, but was engaged in PVP
> combat at the alliance base defending wassisname. He was killed,
> released, and was immediately tagged as AFK. He rezzed, ran down the
> hill and shot at some hordies, which cleared the 'afk' debuff thingy.
>
> The alliance won the BG a few minutes later and my friend logged out of
> WoW.
>
> This morning, he had an email telling him he'd been banned, and on
> calling was told it was for 'being afk'. He explained exactly what had
> happened and the CSR said that if enough people report you AFK, even if
> you are never actually tagged as AFK, you can be banned.
>
> Supposedly an in-game GM looks at it, but it seems that at least in this
> case, they didn't look at anything.
>
> Evidently, the is also an addon out there that auto-reports people as
> AFK if they have 'too little' damage in the Battleground. (where 'too
> little' is a number greater than 0).

That really doesn't sound good.

> Now, admittedly, he hadn't done much int he BG except wait for the horde
> to run down and then run around shooting at people, but that's more than
> a lot of people in PVP do and banning someone for PVPing poorly?

I've done one AV where I haven't touched a single player - I even think
that I did zero damage for the whole BG. I went to defend a tower and
the Alliance didn't attack it - not even once - for the whole game. I
didn't want to leave it because sod's law says that it will be taken as
soon as I'm far enough away to not defend it.

steve.kaye
--
Jelan, 85 Priest Clokk, 81 Druid Belugar, 76 Warrior
Kibbs, 83 Paladin Jengu, 81 Death Knight Mingan, 76 Shaman
Miho, 82 Rogue Jaille, 80 Warlock Aloola, 65 Mage
[ Ravenholdt-EU (Horde) ] Yopp, 64 Hunter

SF

5/8/2011 1:10:00 PM

Op 8-5-2011 10:35, Steve Kaye schreef:
> On 08/05/2011 05:05, Lewis wrote:
>t seems that at least in this
>> case, they didn't look at anything.
>>
>> Evidently, the is also an addon out there that auto-reports people as
>> AFK if they have 'too little' damage in the Battleground. (where 'too
>> little' is a number greater than 0).
>
> That really doesn't sound good.
>
>
>> Now, admittedly, he hadn't done much int he BG except wait for the horde
>> to run down and then run around shooting at people, but that's more than
>> a lot of people in PVP do and banning someone for PVPing poorly?
>
> I've done one AV where I haven't touched a single player - I even think
> that I did zero damage for the whole BG. I went to defend a tower and
> the Alliance didn't attack it - not even once - for the whole game. I
> didn't want to leave it because sod's law says that it will be taken as
> soon as I'm far enough away to not defend it.
>
>
> steve.kaye

I don't know what that number specifically is which is considered too
low, but if i go into a bg with a low level char, often i get killed
before even being able to do damage at all to the higher levels (i think
blizz should make the gap in between level 20-30 smaller)
SF

Shiflet

5/8/2011 1:41:00 PM

<redvet@lava.net> wrote in message
news:hdbcs6h3247c86m1n00jms27u5sbc92eor@4ax.com...
> Unfortunately the strategic competence for most of the players who
> report you afk is at the 5th grade level in a special school. I don't
> believe WOW much cares about this issue and I find it a real irritant.
> At the lower levels I even went so far to write a short macro asking
> for help in killing the boss in Irondeep and explaining I'ld be
> running supplies. It didn't *seem* to make a difference.

Of course it doesn't make a difference. Defense IS important, but any
halfway decent PvPer will tell you the mines provide such a small number of
reinforcements that devoting time to taking it is wasting time you could be
defending/attacking/recapping bunkers and towers, which are FAR more
important to winning AV. Most games end when the boss dies(which
automatically sets reinforcements to 0, meaning having extra prior to then
is not beneficial anyway), not because one side has just manually exhausted
the other side's reinforcements(and if they have, it's typically because
that side is simply dominating the other team and are just honor farming
them-again, the extra reinforcements the mines provide will simply give the
opposing side a few more honor points). Going after the mines is a waste of
time-if you want to win AV, RECAP TOWERS/BUNKERS, and if at all
possible(many groups it won't be), delay or stop the opposing side when they
try to kill Balinda/Galv. Stopping the initial rush at the boss there can
often be a gamebreaker, though this requires a reasonably sized force to go
on defense, which most won't do. And in that case, the key to playing AV
effectively is to recap bases. Having a recap team of 3-5 players(rogues and
ferals are especially good for this) that can just keep the opponent from
destroying your stuff can again, be a game breaker.

> I don't buy the argument that Horde has no slackers either. - redvet

C J Campbell

5/8/2011 3:31:00 PM

On 2011-05-08 06:41:03 -0700, Shiflet said:

> <redvet@lava.net> wrote in message
> news:hdbcs6h3247c86m1n00jms27u5sbc92eor@4ax.com...
>> Unfortunately the strategic competence for most of the players who
>> report you afk is at the 5th grade level in a special school. I don't
>> believe WOW much cares about this issue and I find it a real irritant.
>> At the lower levels I even went so far to write a short macro asking
>> for help in killing the boss in Irondeep and explaining I'ld be
>> running supplies. It didn't *seem* to make a difference.
>
> Of course it doesn't make a difference. Defense IS important, but any
> halfway decent PvPer will tell you the mines provide such a small number of
> reinforcements that devoting time to taking it is wasting time you could be
> defending/attacking/recapping bunkers and towers, which are FAR more
> important to winning AV. Most games end when the boss dies(which
> automatically sets reinforcements to 0, meaning having extra prior to then
> is not beneficial anyway), not because one side has just manually exhausted
> the other side's reinforcements(and if they have, it's typically because
> that side is simply dominating the other team and are just honor farming
> them-again, the extra reinforcements the mines provide will simply give the
> opposing side a few more honor points). Going after the mines is a waste of
> time-if you want to win AV, RECAP TOWERS/BUNKERS, and if at all
> possible(many groups it won't be), delay or stop the opposing side when they
> try to kill Balinda/Galv. Stopping the initial rush at the boss there can
> often be a gamebreaker, though this requires a reasonably sized force to go
> on defense, which most won't do. And in that case, the key to playing AV
> effectively is to recap bases. Having a recap team of 3-5 players(rogues and
> ferals are especially good for this) that can just keep the opponent from
> destroying your stuff can again, be a game breaker.
>
>> I don't buy the argument that Horde has no slackers either. - redvet

So, what are you saying here? You favor banning people who aren't as
competent at PvP as you are?

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

C J Campbell

5/8/2011 3:41:00 PM

On 2011-05-07 21:05:52 -0700, Lewis said:

>
> Evidently, the is also an addon out there that auto-reports people as
> AFK if they have 'too little' damage in the Battleground. (where 'too
> little' is a number greater than 0).

It is called AFKTracker. It was written by ignorant jerks -- the same
sort of people who thought GearScore was a great idea.

Here is the complete description:

AFK Tracker is a World of Warcraft Addon that will automatically detect
players who are AFK in a battleground and report them.
Any questions, comments, updates, or bugs can be addressed at our
website (www.infestedraynor.com/afktracker)
Players will be reported AFK if they meet the following conditions over
2 minutes:
The Player does not move
No Damage has been dealt to enemy Players
No Healing has been done to friendly Players
The Player is not defending a Battleground objective
AFK Tracker considers "defending" to be within approximately 40 yards
of the objective. Battleground objectives are defined as the following:
Warsong Gulch
Defending the Player's Flag room while their faction Flag remains there
Defending the Player's faction Flag carrier while the carrier holds the
enemy Flag
Arathi Basin
Defending a base while it is assaulted or controlled by the Player's faction
Alterac Valley
Defending a Tower while it is assaulted or controlled by the Player's faction
Defending a Graveyard while it is assaulted or controlled by the
Player's faction
Defending a Mine while it is assaulted or controlled by the Player's faction
Eye of the Storm
Defending a Tower while it is assaulted or controlled by the Player's faction
Defending the Player's faction Flag carrier while the carrier holds the Flag
Strand of the Ancients
Defending a Gate while it is not breached
Isle of Conquest
Defending a base while it is assaulted or controlled by the Player's faction
Defending a Gate while it is not breached
Also includes an option to announce reported players in Battleground chat.
Tags: pvp, afk, tracker, afktracker, auto, report, alterac, valley,
battleground, bg
--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

Debbie

5/8/2011 7:54:00 PM

> It is called AFKTracker. It was written by ignorant jerks -- the same
> sort of people who thought GearScore was a great idea.
>

How exactly are those ignorant jerks?
If you dont move, arent close to a pvp objective, didnt do any dmg or
healing how exactly are you contributing to the game?

Debbie

5/8/2011 8:01:00 PM

> So, what are you saying here? You favor banning people who aren't as
> competent at PvP as you are?
>

Well the mines are useless and gettting the quest items from the mines are
even more useless. A player spending the entire game just going for the
quest items in the mines is contributing same as an afk player. If killing
the harpy in the mine helping in any way your team to win? No.
If someone is getting reported for staying the whole game in the mine he
should ask himself what is he doing wrong...
Will people that join an instance and go solo useless trash instead of
helping the group be booted? Yes...

Debbie

5/8/2011 8:01:00 PM

alt.games.warcraft

AFK banning

Lewis

redvet

Tigero

steve.kaye

SF

Shiflet

C J Campbell

C J Campbell

Debbie

Debbie

Debbie

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