Talk:Policy:Scripting policy
General Comments
Please keep discussion on this issue to the specific topic of the page title. Other Policy subjects can be discussed on the other appropriate policy pages.
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Discussion
Should there be a portion here about not interfering with scripts/bots/etc? In terms of penalties, skill reduction still makes sense, but should the loss of TDPs outside of that skill loss (aka: outright removal of stats) still exist? I don't know if there should be a definitive "you will always be behind until the next respec/stat-wipe in the game" situation. Also wondering if Plat's penalty going straight to 3 is still something that's useful. --TEVESHSZAT (talk) 12:01, 9 October 2016 (CDT)
Some of my thoughts on afk scripting since there was a meeting about it recently.
- I don't want it fully legal, the fallen comes to mind.
- I don't want it too strict and harsh, the population of plat comes to mind. I think if the majority honestly wanted this full rp environment and no scripting plat would be full of people, but it's not.
- I think a lot people are not really honest about it, want to stay off the gm radar, or want to gain favoritism with the gms so most discussion I see on it reeks of that. Most people afk script sometimes. Some do it 24/7 (which is bad) and the people complaining I believe are really just frustrated they will never catch up to people good at scripting. I don't really think it has much to do with impacting role playing or making the mud feel dead like they like to claim.
- I'm very concerned about oversight and fairness if this policy becomes strictly enforced. God forbid a GM would warn one of their favorite players. I'm just being fully candid here.
- I watch my screen for the most part but I will admit there are times I'm not completely paying attention. If policy was enforced very strictly. I would probably get warned at some point and I would go play another game. I'm not interested in gaining favoritism to avoid gms targeting me for a video game. If I was confident the checks were completely random, which I probably have no way of being, I might be more inclined to stay and take my lumps and adjust accordingly. However, it often felt in the past like certain players were immune from script checks or just were able to pass them even though they were afk. I imagine some have an elaborate system set up for it. I picture all kinds of alarms going off on their phone when they're getting checked. So, what it felt like always ended up happening is the power scripters and serious abusers always got away with it, the gm favorites always got away with it, and the average video game player got completely wrecked.
- I think there would also be merit and making the game less necessary to script. 50 commands to mind lock a skill sometimes seems excessive. Why do you need 10 tools for forging? Just one example. Why not automate some of it on the backend so you can be afk while not actually typing anything in. Like, braid grass until mind locked. Isn't there some balance to be had here? I think simply going after punishing players with harsh punishments and not doing anything else is going to destroy the player base.
- The penalties are way too harsh as well. If I got warned, I would cancel and play another game. That's just the way it is. On the flipside, people cancel because they can't keep up with scripters. So give them the ability to keep up with them without having to write such advanced scripts? I know it's such a delicate balance, you don't want it to be too easy.
- Other ideas I've heard are to implement are xp and loot penalties if you're logged in for exceptionally long periods of time.
- This would be a fair system. Implement automated script checks, take GM bias out of the equation for AFK scripting purposes. Every day everyone gets at least one script check. Would have to code some new ones to use in the beginning. It's fair but it will never ever happen because we all know it would completely annihilate the player base. That's the reality of the situation and I hope it's considered with whatever is done. I hope the focus is on making automation less appealing rather than punishing people for it.
--JWARK4 (talk) 15:29, 10 October 2016 (CDT)
- For clarification's sake, scripting is allowed to Plat. I agree that the penalty for getting caught afk scripting is a bit extreme. But scripting is 100% allowed. --TEVESHSZAT (talk) 16:22, 10 October 2016 (CDT)
- One of the GMs made a beautiful post on the official forums about how they did lots of AFK checks when they first started, but basically do none now. I think their post (which I can't find a link to) ties into points 4, 5, and 6. Their point was basically A) AFK checks take a while to perform; B) even when they identify an AFKer, there is paperwork; C) there are better places to spend GM time; and D) the root cause is not AFKers, but that the game encourages AFK scripting so much. To point 8, I feel it would unduly impact F2P players. I keep some characters logged in for very long periods of time, but that's a necessity since I don't have offline drain. Build up field exp during the day, then let it drain overnight. SHELTIM (talk) 09:16, 12 October 2016 (CDT)