It is so that people don't suck up bandwidth by just standing around doing nothing. It also adds a penalty of sorts for people who camp keys or rocks. Lastly, it's also realistic. I don't know about you, but if I'm doing nothing but standing around my mood drops pretty quickly.
I can't imagine how crowded areas would be if people who went AFK for long periods didn't get swooped down to hell. You just have to notice how many 'sleepers' there are in hell to know how bad it would be.
And the 'hell' area has multiple instances, so even if your trip there is not to an instance full of sleepers, they are off in other instances.
i know about that guys but im not sure that my energy drops when im sleeping... the staff should rethink their AFK.... no offence if any staff pops in this page but...... THE AFK SUCKS!
If you're going to be AFK for more than a couple of minutes, why don't you just leave the world? You don't have to log out. It just takes a few seconds to leave and then to come back. Why soak up bandwidth if you're not playing? Besides, you drool when you're asleep. I know - I've seen you!
OP has a point. The energy and mood loses at high levels are kind of ridiculous too, especially when you consider all the social and aspects of Glitch that have to be achieved outside of the main gameplay window, like the forums, auctions etc.
If you have full energy, and you stand around doing nothing, it takes a little over three hours for you to end up in hell, regardless of your level. If you anticipate being AFK for more than three hours, it behooves you to log out.
Small question that someone here might have an answer to...
what happens if your internet connection is severed - your computer dies, your router breaks down, there's a storm and your whole area loses service? Do you become "logged out" (because your computer will no longer respond to a ping) or do you just become "AFK" with the penalties that entails?
(not that it will be the worst tragedy to befall mankind if I end up in Hell because my laptop fizzled. But my computer's on its last legs and I do wonder what will happen when it finally conks out mid-game.)
I like this mechanic, it deals nicely with the problems of camping and just general overcrowding. It's so important that the game world is not instanced, and we are all part of the same persistent space, and this is one of the things that allows that. Otherwise the whole place would grind to a halt with afk glitches who've gone to do something else irl but forgotten to log out.
Energy and mood management also contribute to the planning required in game, and the new game day refills etc. If they didn't drop constantly, even while idling, it wouldn't be so compelling imho.
Okay, at level 40, if I do nothing I lose 12 energy approx. every minute and a half. So, I logged in, checked my energy, then disconnected my network for 7 minutes. If I were connected and AFK I would have lost at least 48 energy during this time. After 7 minutes I reconnected network and reloaded the browser page. Energy was exactly the same as when I had disconnected. That should answer your question.
Incidently, while disconnected you can still walk around the street you are on, but not do much else.
It may take 3 hours to die.. . but if you're away for 5-10 minutes you need to drink to boost your mood again. . .
And how does that apply when I'm in my house? I'm not clogging anything up.
But it means I can't chat with people in the groups because then I'm standing around doing nothing.
Also, the developers disseminate information via the forum. I'm penalised for coming here and reading the forum and responding to posts.
Also, if you have connectivity problems. Glitch doesn't like my browser and so sometimes I can try to enter a street and it won't load properly.
So I have to reload, but all the while I'm actually in the world as far as glitch is concerned so I'm wasting away. Any buff that was active would be gone.
This is especially crap in ancestral lands since I'll finally load the street and see half my ancestral time has passed. . .
You don't have to be logged into The World in order to be logged into your overall Glitch account to read the forums. Click on your name, select Exit The World, and *then* read the forums, no problem. You can also manage your Auctions, Skills, Friends and so on without being inside the game.
As for clogging up, I think there's two definitions of that.
On the streets, it gets visually cluttered if there are a lot of Glitchen in one place, and it can become awkward from the player end. Who wants to have to scroll through the pictures of a hundred sleeping Glitchen just to squeeze a chicken?
On the other hand, in your house there's just you there. Visual clutter at the user end isn't an issue (I think that's what you're saying). But in terms of TS's servers, you're still an active Glitch. They're still having to manage your inventory and your chat and your messages and your auctions in real time, all of which uses up "space" (or memory or bandwidth or Internet Pixies or however you prefer to think about it) at their end. I'm not exactly technical but as I understand it, when we play the game, we're playing *on* their servers with our computers just being used as terminals. You know how your computer gets more groggy and unresponsive as you open more and more windows? That's what happens when loads of people want to simultaneously be in the World. So it saves resources at the TS end if we Exit The World, because then all of the real-time activity and information for that player can be put on the back burner until the player signs in again.
Yes Batsgirl has it right "Exit the World" is the way to go, It only takes as much time to go in and out of the world as shifting between streets, freezes your energy and mood and keeps you in the same spot when returning, really don't know why AFK is an issue. I end up using Exit a lot because playing on a netbook most of the time, I only get about 10 streets worth of play before the whole thing is a painful slideshow - let's me restart browser, clear cache etc and then carry on where I was.
But you can't chat if you chat if you "exit the world". If they want it to be a social game then they shouldn't penalise people for being just that.
Exiting and going back may be easy for you but it takes ages to do for me. . .I often get caught in no-man's land and have to refresh a few times. So it sounds like a lot of faff to have to stop exit the world, buy/sell something at the auction and then come back.
I think there should be a few minutes of inactivity allowed before your resources start to drain down.
I'm not talking about being away from a long time. But just incidental absences of short duration. . . say 5 minutes tops.
Cant you just be disconnected automatically if your AFK for more than 10 minutes?
Im usualy on low energy most of the time and when something needs my attention sometimes it takes longer than I anticipated. Being logged out in 10 minutes if im AFK would be great...Maybe also log out folk who while havent reached the 10 minue mark may be about to go to hell??
Make it an option in case you like going to hell
Thanks to Hawkwell's checking above, we *know* that if your internet connection is severed, you no longer lose energy thanks to being AFK, because you are fully offline.
So why not set your computer's power-saving settings to suspend if there is no activity for 10mins?
That way if you're called away by something urgent (like screaming kids) then you don't have to log out.
If it turns out to have been something very quick to deal with (like laying down the law about shutting up and getting back into bed) then you've lost, what, 30 energy, which you can get back easily enough.
If it turns out to be something that actually warrants your attention for ten minutes or more (like they've set fire to the curtains), you'll lose about 70 energy before the computer suspends, the connection is cut, and you're automatically logged out.
For some it would seem that a way to get around this would be for us to be able to chat when we are not in world. I stay logged in so that way I know when a rook attack happens, which is announced through an alert chat window which can't be accessed unless I am in the game.
So it seems some changes to the chat would help those that are more social? and get rid of some of the afk's.......
For some it would seem that a way to get around this would be for us to be able to chat when we are not in world. I stay logged in so that way I know when a rook attack happens, which is announced through an alert chat window which can't be accessed unless I am in the game.
So it seems some changes to the chat would help those that are more social? and get rid of some of the afk's.......
you guys ideas are fasinating!!!! Im thinking the staff should totally reright the AFK because it mainly sucks, for example, if i have 70 energy and i am called away to do chores or to do homework or study, and i do not want to log out by the time im back to the computer and say "Right! Time for more Glitch!" and awake the computer from its slumber.... im swearing my head off becasue it turns out that i am in hell 564 or something...... all of your energy is mainly costly to replace...... and really, all i am asking is that AFK's are not losing energy... their just transported to Heaven or something, even dreamland so that we saves space.......... im just asking for a simple reright of the AFK that's all!
As an IT professional, TS' choice to "train" players away from AFKing is a great solution: the inconvenience is minor, and the resource savings are (I would guess) significant. It's an elegant solution to a problem that could destroy a small game like Glitch.
But the money-grubber inside of me also sees an opportunity: exempt subscribers from the energy loss wherever they are (or at least in their own houses). Not only do you continue to save resources, but it gives subscriptions a perk. Packing value into your subscription model is rarely a bad thing.
Then again, it wouldn't really change my spending habits: it's incredibly easy for me to simply close the window when I know I'll be distracted for long enough to kill me. And I doubt I'd be alone in that assessment.
Giving subscribers a "lose less while AFK" perk would be neat, might even get more subscribers. I agree that the way it is now is a bit on the harsh side, it's surprised me a few times when I've left my Glitch in my lil Glitchy house, gone and gotten a cup of coffee, and come back to find my Glitch's mood at the :| stage. I know it takes me a few minutes to go get a cuppa, but geewiz, guys.
Logging out of the game every time I have to step away for a few minutes would be a bummer, for one thing it seems to take just short of forever (in modern highspeed internet terms) to get passed the growing planet screen and actually into the game.
More brain storming: a draw back for giving that perk to subscribers would be that they could then camp the good spots while people who have free accounts couldn't, hence putting the free dudes at a icky disadvantage.
@ Batsgirl: it's like you've been in my house! ...and people wonder why I don't put up curtains anymore.
Instead of killing you, it should just log you out after 5 minutes. It's kind of ridiculous that you come back after being AFK and you're dead in hell (or even worse... have 4-5 energy remaining).
The point is to train people away from AFKing in the first place. I don't think implementing a 5-minute timeout is a bad idea, but I don't see any reason to remove the downward tick of energy and mood.
They can't log you out after 5m because of the chat system. There are loads of times where I fall asleep on a street somewhere because I'm caught up in a chat or three. And, yes, there are other times I'm sleeping because of work or other RL distractions. Sometimes I've wound up in hell. Oh well - there's another death towards the badge. It's not as if energy is all that hard to come by. Even if you don't have the cooking skills, grab some energy coins or nibble a few pigs and eat the raw meat until you can get some better food in your belly.
@ Belasco and Batgirl - I thought it was just me! (Also, miniblinds are a great investment on that front.) Batgirl's solution is very clever, I think, and I recommend it to those who are concerned about the subject.
Subscriptions (and other things that cost money) will never include anything that gives a significant gameplay advantage. So not losing energy while idle only for paid players (or losing less) is almost certainly out under that criteria.
Also, I do not believe that a trip to the loo lands a lower level player in hell. Even if it does, the penalty for death is infinitesimal and also doesn't take much for a lower level player to recover. I have an anecdote for the mid-range levels -- yesterday I forgot to log out and was afk for over an hour. My mood and energy were a lot lower than they were when I left, but unless those grapes squished themselves, I didn't die during that time. That's not a particularly onerous penalty, especially when contrasted with those present in many other games.
I agree with Magic Monkey...
At level 22, I'm a medium-ish level Glitchen, and I'm AFK whenever my wife has a project for me. Just now I started a load of laundry, took the dogs for a walk, fed the dogs, and tucked my kid into bed. I was gone for nearly 30 minutes and I’m just fine.
AwesomeDude, you're correct that 1550 energy is VERY costly to regain at level 10, but by the time you reach level 41 and have 1550 energy, you'll have the resources to easily recover. It's only 8 Awesome Stews. http://www.glitch-strategy.com/wiki/Level
So keep on playing and leveling up and getting more energy.