Topic

Time-out for long inactive players?

If a Glitch doesn't go online for something like six months, I think their account should be suspended. There could be an option to recover it.
How I got this idea:
When I created my account a couple months ago, my desired name was taken. I recently searched them, and that player is still at level one. They probably got their account on a whim and haven't been back since the first day.
I'm guessing that there are hundreds of accounts like this, and if they were suspended after a set inactive period it could help the servers. and all the people whose names are taken.

EDIT- I take back this suggestion. One of the good things about Glitch is that players will always be welcomed.

Also, I didn't mean for the original post to sound like I was complaining about not getting my first name choice. Sorry about that.

It was good to discuss this, anyway.

Posted 12 months ago by Fernstream Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • How can a game that was only released for a few months and is now back in beta have inactive players?

    Perhaps they can only play in their holidays?

    Or at a friends/relatives house?

    Hospitalised through illness or accident?

    Perhaps after another 10 years of inactivity it would be valid to raise the question of 'inactivity'
    Posted 12 months ago by IrenicRhonda Subscriber! | Permalink
  • ^This time infinity²
    This is the same idea and will be met with the same reply.
    Posted 12 months ago by Rodger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My usual username (this, without the stars) is "taken" by an inactive level 1 player who apparently did nothing whatsoever (no quests / badges / achievements / traveling around), just logged in, got dressed in a non-default outfit, then quit.

    That said, I am not going to agitate for this person's account to be stripped from him / her. That's unsporting. S/he takes nothing from me. Just because s/he isn't playing, that doesn't give me the right to demand that his/her account be stripped from him or her just so I can have "my" preferred username without the little graphical symbols bracketing it.
    Posted 12 months ago by ✰ Lorelei ✰ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • -1  No.  As with all the other threads asking to punish people who don't play the way other people want them to, just No.

    Additionally, any form of "suspending" an account will not help the OPs problem, because if they will be allowed to reactivate it, it has to keep the same user name.  This won't free up the name they want.

    P.S.  In RL, the favorite URL I want for my website is taken by a cyber-squatter demanding a bunch of money.  Also, some guy named McDonald named his restaurant McDonald's Restaurant, and was promptly sued by a fairly well-known large corporation.  The world will never make way for your needs, much less your wants.
    Posted 12 months ago by KhaKhonsu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • To clarify- the username thing isn't the problem, it just gave me the idea.

    It isn't because people take usernames, it's because they take server space (at least I think so- what do I know). Didn't expect all the negativity- just an idea. I have friends in real life who make account after account but play each game a week or so before moving on. Indeed, I've done the same thing myself.
    Posted 12 months ago by Fernstream Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I realize now that the way I phrased it, I'm a jerk who has to have their particular username, or else. I like my current username and thank the other player for taking it so I could come up with this one. It just made me realize that people do make accounts that they never use again.
    Posted 12 months ago by Fernstream Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Fernstream, I'm sure TS has plenty of data about their server space, and the ability to decide how to allocate it.  And how to pay the bills for the electricity that those servers use.

    It makes just as much sense for people to propose punishing players for wasting electricity as it does to punish them for wasting server space.  

    Do you really want to propose penalties for players who waste electricity?
    Posted 12 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So far it's active players rather than inactive ones causing the most technical issues for other players.  Ask anyone who's been on a street with more than 10 people for a party, or street project, or candy trade.  And for some reason GG Way in Ix is almost always too laggy to load right the first time.  I'd rather have the Devs worrying about how to scale or avoid those issues, which we actually see all the time.  And I'm sure they'll manage anything else that hides under the hood.
    Posted 12 months ago by KhaKhonsu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Haha, yeah, if we're going to go the "using up resources" route, a logged-in player is always going to waste more than someone who has a registered-but-unused account. I mean, we lose energy when we're AFK precisely to encourage idlers to log out...
    Posted 12 months ago by Spaghetti Thompson Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The database requirements for storage of a player, even a player with many items, is completely negligible in the grand scheme of things and a strawman argument to support your idea.

    I Vote an unequivocal NO
    Posted 12 months ago by Woochi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would also note that I know of at least one player who is very active and involved in another game and is sometimes impersonated on other platforms. He routinely will log into a game, including this one, and create a character to preserve his name for himself. I have done the same on platforms where someone impersonating me could be problematic.
    Posted 12 months ago by Fogwoman Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Are we for real having this conversation again? Seems like every week anymore...
    Posted 12 months ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I apologize then, I hadn't thought of it as punishment and I know nearly nothing about servers. Many MMOs have inactivity suspension type things. I guess it is one of the good things about glitch that we don't- people are always welcome. I almost wish now that there was a way of deleting a thread.
    Posted 12 months ago by Fernstream Subscriber! | Permalink