Suggestion. AFK Guard spamming = illegal. Thoughts?

[Mikel123]

I still don't get why this is a problem. If I'm saying "guards" once per second, at the West Britain Bank, is it spamming? What if I'm in the butcher shop, in which maybe two players enter over the course of a whole day. If a player spams in the butcher shop, is it still spamming?

Calling the guards proactively is NOT an exploit. 75% of the player base does it every time they open their bank or buy from a vendor.

Are we really going to come up with a cutoff for how frequently one can call the guards, and the approximate tile radius from shops/banks/etc in which it is allowable or against the rules? I don't see what this would even accomplish. You can still kill anyone spamming guards, whether they do it every second or every five seconds. I don't think staff should implement rules to make it easier for someone to accomplish something that can already be accomplished with, frankly, not too much effort.

[Kaivan]

The reason for placing some limit on the use of guards in macros is that in high traffic areas a significant portion of the player base will see your text. While it is not unreasonable to call guards once every few seconds, calling guards once every second serves no functional purpose and causes a large amount of text to get in the way of other players who may legitimately attempting to converse or sell items at the bank.

In terms of where this kind of conduct might not be acceptable, a good gauge is any location at the bank, or where players along the wall of the bank might be in earshot if your text, provided that particular location is an avenue that might be used by a player to get to the bank. A good example is that a player backed up against the wall of the tavern south of West Britain Bank is probably just outside of the range of this sort of policy. A second example would be that this sort of text would be acceptable at the jewelers shop, despite its proximity to the bank (that is not a highly traveled path to reach the bank).

As for other possible options, something I don't see done often is whispering. A player could run a guards macro at the bank without any issue as long as they avoided being in very specific locations (the doors to the inside of the bank would be a good example), and their macro in its entirety wouldn't be a problem to anyone who didn't intentionally stand right next to the player.

[sirrayiv]

Macroing has always been illegal in UO...

That said, It should be illegal here too!!!

I propose that macroing anywhere AFK in a town or guard safe zone become illegal ASAP. Players will still be able to safely macro inside their homes. or take the chance and macro outside of towns.

This IS the way it was back in the day on OSI servers....and even then sometimes, players would get reported.

I also propose that any player who is murdered has 10 minutes to report it, before the murder gump disappears from his screen. This will simply allow player justice to occur without people taking murder counts for killing afk'rs.

Macroing has always been looked at as cheating in the eyes of OSI, and since it was widespread and EA/OSI was more concerned about making a profit then banning macroing, they never enforced it. However by making these simple changes, it would allow Players to police themselves....which is the way things ought to be.

[Nayee]

I still don't get why this is a problem. If I'm saying "guards" once per second, at the West Britain Bank, is it spamming? What if I'm in the butcher shop, in which maybe two players enter over the course of a whole day. If a player spams in the butcher shop, is it still spamming?

Calling the guards proactively is NOT an exploit. 75% of the player base does it every time they open their bank or buy from a vendor.

Are we really going to come up with a cutoff for how frequently one can call the guards, and the approximate tile radius from shops/banks/etc in which it is allowable or against the rules? I don't see what this would even accomplish. You can still kill anyone spamming guards, whether they do it every second or every five seconds. I don't think staff should implement rules to make it easier for someone to accomplish something that can already be accomplished with, frankly, not too much effort.

I was unintentionally guard whacked after stealing quite an expensive item today due to an AFK fisher spamming guards.

[Duke Jones]

Macroing has always been illegal in UO...

That said, It should be illegal here too!!!

I propose that macroing anywhere AFK in a town or guard safe zone become illegal ASAP. Players will still be able to safely macro inside their homes. or take the chance and macro outside of towns.

This IS the way it was back in the day on OSI servers....and even then sometimes, players would get reported.

I also propose that any player who is murdered has 10 minutes to report it, before the murder gump disappears from his screen. This will simply allow player justice to occur without people taking murder counts for killing afk'rs.

Macroing has always been looked at as cheating in the eyes of OSI, and since it was widespread and EA/OSI was more concerned about making a profit then banning macroing, they never enforced it. However by making these simple changes, it would allow Players to police themselves....which is the way things ought to be.

That pretty much sums it up for me to. And I agree with it on many levels.

[Chaos]

i might agree if i had NEVER macroed any skill in town .. how ever i have .. many times many char. so i don't think it would be fair for me to say that and not ask for skill nerf.. but then that wouldn't be fair for you who did earn his skills without using this practice .. so i just don't see this happening myself.

[Duke Jones]

Well, I personally feel that if a problem warrants change to fix, we shouldn't be afraid of change.

I mean we can't just ONLY change when it's beneficial or makes UO easier for players. Things change, players may be reluctant, but they adapt or leave.

[archaicsubrosa77]

Should hiding afk be illegal then?

[sirrayiv]

Should hiding afk be illegal then?

If it is inside a guarded zone....and then if discovered a player could either kill you, and take the chance that you won't report him for murder until the 10 minute deadline expires, or report you to a GM.

Most people probably wouldn't even bother you, however for those players who are annoyed by all of the unattended macroing going on inside the city walls, it lets us take matters into our own hands!

[archaicsubrosa77]

Should hiding afk be illegal then?

If it is inside a guarded zone....and then if discovered a player could either kill you, and take the chance that you won't report him for murder until the 10 minute deadline expires, or report you to a GM.

Most people probably wouldn't even bother you, however for those players who are annoyed by all of the unattended macroing going on inside the city walls, it lets us take matters into our own hands!

Just dont let ghosts chase you to call guards, they may have an alt waiting to loot you

[Kaivan]

I see no reason to change our entire policy on macroing in town due to a few people who spam guards too frequently in their macros in high profile areas. The reality is that players can still be killed in areas that are not next to the bank, where they are allowed to have guards more frequently in their macros, and players who are at the bank are required to keep their guards macros within reason. Beyond that, changing the murder gump to only appear for a short period of time is not accurate and gives unprecedented power to players who choose to attempt to kill afk macroers.

[sirrayiv]

I see no reason to change our entire policy on macroing in town due to a few people who spam guards too frequently in their macros in high profile areas. The reality is that players can still be killed in areas that are not next to the bank, where they are allowed to have guards more frequently in their macros, and players who are at the bank are required to keep their guards macros within reason. Beyond that, changing the murder gump to only appear for a short period of time is not accurate and gives unprecedented power to players who choose to attempt to kill afk macroers.

I suggested this idea, and my reasoning has nothing to do with players that are frequently calling the guards. Besides, changing the murder gump would allow players to police themselves....instead of having to report people for macroing afk inside town. Ten minutes is more than fair, and even then the player doing the killing is still taking a big chance, so to say it gives unprecedented power is a complete joke, and I whole heartedly disagree with you.

Macroing AFK was illegal on OSI servers, and therefore in order to replicate the environment we had back then, it should be implemented here as well. The murder gump suggestion was merely a SUGGESTION to prevent players from paging GM's nonstop.

[Duke Jones]

Macroing AFK was illegal on OSI servers, and therefore in order to replicate the environment we had back then, it should be implemented here as well.

The Mechanics are only one half of era accuracy. If policy isn't replicated as well, you only have a heartless shell of the T2A era. It might LOOK like T2A, but you play and you run around in a "Twighlight Zone" or "Bizarro" T2A.

I think people underestimate the effect of Policy on gameplay here, and that's why there are player-related issues such as these.

[sirrayiv]

I agree...the sad thing is, some of the staff are just as clueless....which is sad.

If afk town macroing were deemed illegal, and murder gumps were reduced to 10, 15, 20 minutes...

the following changes would happen:

1. The majority of players would macro inside their homes. (era accurate)
2. Arrogant players would occasionally test their luck in-town.
3. Player Justice would take place occasionally.
4. Most people would neither care about macroing players, or do anything about macroing players.
5. Players would make placing a house a priority, in order to focus on macroing.
6. AFK players in towns would decrease.

Thats how I see it, so what's the big deal???

[Dagon]

Murder gump time limits are not era accurate, so drop it. If you want to kill TAKE THE COUNT.