Appropriate time to kick? How to determine inactivity?

this is really one of those subjects that falls under let it go, the game is too large to get hung up on one perceived bad experience...

If you're playing with a team and have star, what time would you allow a player to stand still and do nothing before kicking?

Would you give them 30 second?

Would you give them a minute?

Would you give them a mob?

Would you give them a room?

Would you give them till the end of the mission?

Would you take any steps to see if the player has disconnected, such as sending a private message?

Or would you simply say something pithy in channel, then immediately kick?

You can probably guess where this is going. Ran into a player who quite literally kicked an avatar of mine after standing still for 30sec~1minute. No PM's. No pre-warnings when joining the team. Just pithy comment, kick.

Now, maybe it's just me, but I've teamed with a wide range of internet connections and processing speeds. I've run with players who are left waiting on their internet connection to catch up, or for their GPU to render more than 1 frame a second. I've also teamed with legit leaches who repeatedly join teams, then find reasons to go afk. I've teamed with jerks that start TF's, then log out, then casually log back in 2 hours later proclaiming an emergency came up. Despite this, I'm still willing to give most players that I've never encountered before, nor heard anything about through global channels, a few missions before I start asking questions about connection quality, computing quality, or forming an opinion that they aren't there to contribute.

If you ran into a player who makes snap sub 30 second decisions to kick players who aren't actively moving about or triggering animations, would you note them?

If you are the type of player who does make such sub 30 second decisions, why? What's the reason? Is there a reason? Or is it just the fear that somebody's going to get some kind of reward or drop that they didn't actively kill an enemy for?

Usually what I do is give them the benefit of the doubt and let them have to the end of the mission. I'll usually ask what's up if they're still for a while though. After the mission ends, if they "conveniently" come back, I watch and they get booted if they do it again. If they don't come back in, I let them know to message me if they come back, boot, and give them to the end of the next mission before refilling.

Honestly though, is this a question or a vent? Do you really expect many people to agree with booting people at a moment's notice, or did you just want to call someone out?

Quote:

Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.

It's a vent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dispari I don't know why Dink thinks she's not as sexy as Jay was. In 5 posts she's already upstaged his entire career.

Don't ponder too hard on the matter, many players have different reasons. Some don't care, some have edgy clicking fingers, some are plain and simply "noobs." It probably wasn't the first time it happened, nor will it be your last. When it happens to me, I just look for another team as I then realize the previous leader had questionable leadership qualities. *shrug* Just move on, no biggie.

I'm too laid back to kick people most of the time, unless they are obviously and repeatedly trying to take advantage of the rest of the team. If the team is steamrolling everything in its path, I couldn't care less if someone wants to go AFK for 5 minutes, or stand there doing nothing while they get a phone call. However when it becomes a recurring pattern of AFK's, then it crosses the line and my kick finger starts getting itchy.

The only exception to my normally laid back attitude is any type of self-described "healer", who stands back spamming an aura heal on auto and not attacking. One warning for them, then booted with extreme prejudice.

I give to the end of a mission but that's only assuming the person gives no reply to why they are AFK. If they have to let a dog out or kid/spouse aggro and they say they may be 10 minutes then I won't kick them at all.

To the OP: Aren't you glad you didn't get the benefit of that leadership style for an extended period of time?

I will give you the map we are on if you dont say anything. Tell me whats going on and you can take whatever time you need.

Depends what's going on. If we've gone through, say, half of one of the large Orenbanaga maps and you're by the door, and haven't said anything, I'll say something. If it's a repeating pattern (fight the first 2-3 mobs, sit back for a long chunk of the map,) I'll say something.

30 seconds? Pfft. 30 seconds is nothing.

See my Guides and Tutorials

"Trust your feelings, Luke."

You are the boss. Do what feels right to you. If the players don't like it, they'll let you know.

If a player you kicked comes back with a reasonable explanation, then bring 'em back on. There's no harm in changing your mind.

I understand having to AFK for different reasons and I'm pretty reasonable about the whole thing.

I'm noted for telling people who have to log out for work/ school/ house on fire to just go sit in a safe corner and get their end reward, especially if they've been a contributing member of the team up till then.

Yeah, I would at least wait till the mish ends, or I see repeated afk without explanation.


I recommend reserving quick kicking for those days when you are an omniscient (all-knowing) being.

If you absolutely know what is happening for that person at that moment in RL?
and you know absolutely what is going on with their internet connection?
Sure. If you are omniscient . . . 30 second kick is OK.

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I will give them to the end of the mission before I kick, if they persist after I ask them to pick it up.

Unless that is, they get snarky...Then I play the "Knock Knock" game

"Knock Knock!"

"Who's there?"

"Not you anymore!" click

If someone hasn't made an *** of himself/herself, but I can't get any response for a while, I will sometimes kick with a /tell saying "Had to kick you, send /tell if you return and we'll reinvite."

I do tend to wait longer than 30 seconds. But I figure they can't get mad with a tell like that. If they reply a long time later and I've filled their spot, they get a pro forma apology, but honestly, anyone ought to be able to understand that.

Neither kick or warn. Instead promote them to leader, then wait for the rest of the team to see that they aren't doing anything. Sit back watch the chaos.

i usually don't lead teams, but when i do i usually give non-contributors at least until after the mission is completed before i take any action. If i notice someone consistently not participating after they enter the mission i will politely suggest they come help, and if i'm not the leader i will send the leader a private tell saying that i've noticed that teammate Y doesn't seem to be keeping up. If this continues past the first mission i will either send them a tell asking if there's a problem or publicly comment if i'm not the leader.

Past that it varies. If the leader refuses to do anything and the team actually needs their contribution i will usually leave the team, and if it's my team i'll kick them with a statement that they can come back later if they're willing to actually contribute. In either event i add a player note with one or two stars and what they were doing.

The other month i was on a Synapse TF team where i wasn't leader, but one of the other members sat at the door and did almost nothing for over half the missions, including the final fight with the Clockwork King. Now the slacker was someone with an account i recognized from the server global channel of having been around for years, and we really didn't require his help, but it was annoying to have him being an xp drain while doing almost nothing. Since we didn't really need his help i didn't push the issue, but i did add a note and will now avoid teaming with him for TF's or inviting him to teams i'm on in the future.

If someone doesnt tell the group they are going afk and they are still for over two to five mins i will say something in team chat and wait for a response for another min or so and then say it again with a private message to them and ask if anybody on that team is friends with them to see if they know what happened. If nothing after a couple mins of the private tell i will kick cause they meant to go unnoticed or they are dced. If they say they are going afk i will assume its for a couple mins if its like six mins or more i will do same process unless they give me a time frame for how long they will be gone.

Hmm...

I never been kicked... and I only kicked one person on all my history on CoX (not counting WWhawk, as he is a very close RL friend and sometimes I feel like kicking him). Even that one kick was because the person was really obnoxious, making some very inappropriated comments (yes, even I have to draw a line someplace).

I play mostly with friends, and we all know each other on Guardian. We know our playstyles... We know that sometimes &$%# happens and we have to step back. We also do that in a way that we wont hinder the team (hint - go to your base, so you wont cause the game to get stuck on a TF/SF).

Kind of depends on the situation and if there was any previous notice by that player that they might be AFK a bit. I'd say always until at least end of mission.. Hey if the team you built is so fragile that one player being AFK is the difference between victory and a team wipe you have a lot more problems than just one player not moving.

If a player actually said hey guys I have a RL thing to take care of anyone mind if I go AFK? You can even kick my if mission ends and I am not back yet. I have seen numerous Team Leaders even give that player the benefit of the doubt once the mission ended for a but... Hey we all need time to level up. enhance, sell at Wentwirths and crft from time to tim e anyway so why not? Esepcailly if the player in question had been a major contributor prior to RL interrupting. So why not give him a few minutes to come out before booting him/or her out?

This does get tricky at time.. One one occasion on the Synapse TF we were all looking forward to the battle with Babbage just before the final mission. Well one player went AFK and when we all came out and waited, and waite, and hunted... No Babbage. The only thing we could figure was because that one player was still inside, technically meaning the previous mission wasn't over, Babbage NEVER spawned. Even after the that player finally dc'ed inside the mission for lack of activity. Too much time had gone by since Mission complete and the only thing we could figure was it messed up the spawn so Babbage never showed up.

But kicked after 30 seconds? No I have had mapservers that didn't actually log me off but made movement of any kind impossible last longer than that... I'd be just a bit upset if I came back and found myself outside the mission just because the game got laggy for half a minute and I couldn't move

It's always a judgement call and depends what it is you are doing...
Running a TF, Pug team radio/newpaper mishes, farming (yeah I said farming!) As the leader of a team it is up to you to find/pick players that are going to do what is needed and if they don't fill that role then you make the call to keep or dump them! Most of the times when I pick up a random I use "info" to get some idea of what I'm getting... it doesn't alway tell you the whole story... I have seen some people that I have invited bring toons that are not what you think they are ... Example: A guy playing a tank NOT tanking but healing because he got the medic pool powers and wanted to be "different" which is fine, I have no problem with people playing outside of the box... but if i'm looking for a tank to tank then that is what I want! also for me, an auto kick is someone trying to !@#$ up what is going on, trying to get the team killed or just not playing nice with others! I find one of the most important things when running a team is being willing to listen, you never know, you just might get some good advise on doing something a better way... also make it clear from the start what you are doing and looking for so people know what is expected. I also try to help the newer players when I can by giving advise or teaching them something they might not know to help them be a better player...