>>I tried to report right away as soon as I saw the yellow letter, but was prevented from taking action either by the room or being asleep.

AFAIK, anytime you go "REPORT OUSHODSIHJOFDIHJFDOIHJFD BLAH BLAH BLAH", GMs do get it even if room/condition messaging says otherwise.

---

"We're not "out to get you," we're here to enhance your playing experience with extreme prejudice.," DR-ARMIFER

<<But I wasn't AFK scripting.>>

<<That's fine, but the policy isn't against AFK Scripting. It's against Not Being Responsive to the Gaming Environment.>>


I was popped with a warning. I had a little too much drinky drinky, dozed off and woke up in the holding place. In fact, I snapped to only a few minutes after I was put in limbo. No complaints. The following is a direct copy from the DR Rules of Conduct page concerning scripting:

"Scripting: Long-term scripting to gain skills in DragonRealms is prohibited."

" In any case, AFK scripting is entirely against DragonRealms policy and is immediately a warnable offense (If you need to go grab a sandwich or leave your keyboard, you should stop any experience scripting to avoid being warned. The excuse that you left your keyboard only for a few minutes will not prevent you from gaining a warning since the GM will have no way of verifying that fact)."

Just thought I'd throw that out there since even long term scripting to gain skills, something EVERYONE is guilty of, is technically against the rules of conduct. Might just want to take your licks, be thankful that we are given a mile, and quit trying to take another inch. Take this as a wake up. Ooops, you screwed up and had to be slapped on the wrist. Be mature about it. Maybe you aren't capable of watching TV and playing DR. Just saying.

-Miiv

<<I'm going to go ahead and disagree with you, regardless of what you're interpreting some outdated policy document to mean.>>

Well, if it's outdated, then it should be taken down and replaced. Probably wouldn't be that hard. As for interpretation, the words are as straight forward as it gets. Soooo...yeah.

-Miiv

>>REELIN: even long term scripting to gain skills, something EVERYONE is guilty of, is technically against the rules of conduct.

The policy does not prohibit "long-term scripting to gain skills" -- you can script for skills as long as you want so long as you are responsive to the game environment (and are not being disruptive).

>>REELIN: Well, if it's outdated, then it should be taken down and replaced. Probably wouldn't be that hard. As for interpretation, the words are as straight forward as it gets. Soooo...yeah.

It would be nice if Simutronics updated the Rules of Conduct Web page, but you can read the current policy any time by typing POLICY. Scripting policy is described in POLICY 16 and NEWS 5 17. Changes to the scripting policy are announced on Play.net.

In the policy provisions that deal with scripting, the word "scripting" is often used as shorthand for "scripting that violates policy." So the line of obsolete policy that you quoted could be read as "Long-term scripting to gain skills in DragonRealms while unresponsive is prohibited." (I don't think that anyone has been warned for long-training while being responsive the whole time.) The rest of that section elaborates on the disruptive nature of long-term scripting while AFK.

The second excerpt that you quoted merely underscores the idea that the GMs aren't required to be lenient when you claim that you were only gone for a few minutes, because it's always against the rules to gain experience while AFK.

In any event, regardless of how you interpret obsolete policy, it remains obsolete policy. The current policy has been in effect for some time, with the most recent changes focusing on penalties.

POLICY 16

(Note: For the purposes of this policy, all violations will be referred to as "Scripting".)

Any activity that results in ANY benefit to either you or another player while being unresponsive to the gaming environment will be considered against policy. . . . In general, if you are running a script and are responsive to the game -or- are in Rest Mode or Sleep Mode and are not gaining any NEW experience, skills, money, or providing other players with an in-game advantage (e.g., casting spells), it does not fall under this policy. ANY activity that's deemed by Staff to be disruptive or not in the best interest of the game or its players can be warned when discovered. (E.g., if you are scripting moving in and out of a room, a warning may be issued because it causes undue screen scroll.)

---

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!

>>Moving as one fluid extension of power, an adult desert armadillo growls and demands you say your name, skill in perception and the sum of your wisdom and intelligence. [You're numbly balanced and in good position.]

If this really happened, I hope it was a single occurrence of poor judgment and not reflective in any way of the official policy/attitude on what would constitute a failed check.

The goal (I presume) is not to "gotcha!" by any means necessary but to actually promote an acceptable level of responsiveness to the game environment, no?

>>An alternative is to highlight the text for repetitive actions in a dark grey. You can still see it, but you can easily ignore it in favor of other unhighlighted text.

Nice suggestion... I think I'll do that.

>>I busted 4 people in the span of an hour, all in the same room, all in front of each other the other day. They were AFK scripting through an event, no less.

LOL

Talk about epic fail.

---

Ogdaro
From the chrysalis's manifold and disparate streams of consciousness, you infer that, upon maturing, it will claim its makers as its first sacrifices to the All-Seeing.

>>Talk about epic fail.

About the only thing more epic is someone who requests an assist or a referral and THEN goes AFK, when, after all, *they have just requested staff attention*

(after all, the event itself could have started after the during-event-scripters went AFK. I agree that it is epic idiotic if they started with the event going. But then, you can probably guess my thoughts on AFK scripting anyhow...) ;)

A friendly tip to the AFKer in the assist or referral queue: Sometimes all three or five or whatever people in front of you in line are there for the same reason, will all be handled or messaged that someone is looking into it, will thus cancel their assists, and suddenly you-who-were-fifth-in-queue are now number one, and still AFK.

-V., who has seen her share of people busted while in the queue.


"Reject me not, sweet sounds! oh, let me live,
Till doom espy my towers and scatter them.
A city spell-bound under the aging sun,
Music my rampart, and my only one."
-Edna St. Vincent-Millay

I guess the point of the OP that still hasn't been touched up on sufficiently, is that script checks should be representative of being responsive to the environment.

If someone walks by a scripter, and starts trying to strike up a conversation, and that scripter doesn't respond, the scripter is detracting from the game play experience from the guy trying to initiate interaction.

Now suppose the scripter has set sounds to go off when someone enters the room and "says" something, or has those strings highlighted. Now suppose this scripter isn't totally paying full attention to the DR window, but watching TV on the side, or playing another game on a second monitor, etc.. then when someone walks in and says something, it would bring them to pay more attention to the DR window, and then respond to the person. In this case, the person ends up being responded to by the scripter, even though the scripter did not have his full attention on the game window at first.

Now suppose another situation: A scripter is paying full attention to the screen, and then someone walks by and tries to strike up a conversation. The scripter ignores the person on purpose, because you aren't required at all to interact with ppl (but be responsive to the game environment). The person then reports the scripter as a possible AFK scripter. A GM shows up and gives a standard-issue script check that only the scripter can see, and the scripter passes it. Even though this scripter was paying attention to the screen , the guy who tried to initiate contact walks away thinking that this guy is afk scripting, and also that the GMS are not doing anything about it.

I think the latter situation is more harmful on the gameplay experience for the average player.

I don't see any reason why script checks shouldn't be composed of GNPCs coming in and asking a turin-test type question to the player. It has the added bonus of being visible so other players can see script check enforcement, and are less likely to AFK script themselves.

I guess people are turned off at the idea of someone putting partial attention to DR, having some kind of highlight or sound, and then being able to come back and respond. But as long as they're responding what's wrong with that? Skill training is incredibly boring, but it's a fundamental part of game that is not easily changed without a complete redesign.

I employ squelches a lot to see past all the combat scroll, but when I see script checks like the armadillo one (and also one where things are tacked onto the end of shadowling messages), I am really shocked. Paired with the fact that script checks are invisible to other players, it's really easy to get paranoid about GM favoritism/bias on who script checks get applied to.

So... why not have script checks emulate player interaction? I know people will bring back the point that no one is required to interact with any other person, but the GMs could use GNPCs such as the local town guard to indicate that the player must respond.

The only other reason is that GMs like to be enigmatic beings that minimize their presence with players. But even browsing these forums, I can see that the developmental GMs post quite a bit on these boards, for a game with so few players.

>I guess the point of the OP that still hasn't been touched up on sufficiently, is that script checks should be representative of being responsive to the environment.

Oh, it was touched on.

>They are looking for unresponsive players, not AFK players. I understand that they may be one in the same at times, however as we have seen that's not always the case.

>That's fine, but the policy isn't against AFK Scripting. It's against Not Being Responsive to the Gaming Environment.

>The policy does not prohibit "long-term scripting to gain skills" -- you can script for skills as long as you want so long as you are responsive to the game environment (and are not being disruptive).

>POLICY 16
(Note: For the purposes of this policy, all violations will be referred to as "Scripting".)
Any activity that results in ANY benefit to either you or another player while being unresponsive to the gaming environment will be considered against policy. . . . In general, if you are running a script and are responsive to the game -or- are in Rest Mode or Sleep Mode and are not gaining any NEW experience, skills, money, or providing other players with an in-game advantage (e.g., casting spells), it does not fall under this policy.


I don't understand why it needs more explanation than that.

~Sulakhan

---

"Under the sword lifted high, there is hell making you tremble. But go ahead, and you have the land of bliss."

~Miyamoto Musashi

>>I don't know why script checks can't be an IC thing, that might bring about larger things, and more player driver events, i.e. the script check is the stimuli to get out of the scripting, and rank gaining.

Because the GM doing the script check isn't necessarily a GM focused on events, let alone that he or she has more time to do anything other than check if someone is AFK or not.

---

"We're not "out to get you," we're here to enhance your playing experience with extreme prejudice.," DR-ARMIFER

>>So... why not have script checks emulate player interaction?

We are not going to limit script checks to just one format. Some script checks do emulate the form you suggest, but not all of them do.

I understand the frustration you feel at reporting someone as possibly being AFK and nothing happens. I have had the same frustration as a player. We are going to maintain player confidentiality whenever possible. If a person is script checked, that situation is between the player and the GM doing the checking. It would be satisfying as a player if you could see the person being checked and busted, but this is unlikely to happen.

One thing that you can be sure of is that if you report someone for possible AFK scripting and you get a "Thanks" response, then the person will definitely be checked. The result may not be what you want, but the check will be made if you get a response.

Yes, those things could happen, it that wouldn't be right. Alright, just thought I would inquire, thanks for the responses.

_____________________________________
Victory Over Lyras, on the 397th year and 156 days since the Victory of Lanival the Redeemer.

Nice post, ENFO13.

---

>describe boar
It's a boar. It doesn't like you.

>>It certainly would have been one quickly if I hadn't answered.

Yep. That is how quite a few script checks start.

>>I busted 4 people in the span of an hour, all in the same room, all in front of each other the other day. They were AFK scripting through an event, no less. Now, I realize that if you're AFK scripting you have no idea any of that's going, but still that's pretty ridiculous. Every single one of them continued to script for 10+ minutes AFTER I put them in the holding cell.


Considering the current state of DR, I think what you really mean is you busted the same person scripting with his 4 accounts.

This is nothing unusual, yet strangely I notice the same people (characters at least, probably new owners) that were playing 10 years ago with multiple accounts and afk scripting constantly are the same that are doing it now. Which begs the question, why are certain people seemingly exempt?

It almost seems like there is a big reluctance to get rid of those paying for multiple accounts Vs those with only 1 basic account.