There has been a great increase of AFK Players who are sitting at stations in the NFZ. Most believe that they are there as Spotters for the player who owns them. They are also in some WH. I have hailed some and honked as some with no reaction from them. They are in the same spot every time I fly into the sector.

My suggestion is that any ship that is not being actively piloted and sitting still for over 30 min would be logged off. I know this won't sound good or be liked by those who are doing the spying, but fair is fair. If you want to sit and spy, stay on that character and move about some.

This suggestion would also eliminate some that are AFK mining and greatly overheating the roids.

I love this game when it is played the way it was intended and not dominated by AFK players who want to spy and stop others from playing and visiting any station without worry of some RAT showing up because a bot spotted them somewhere. If you want to Pirate, do it the right way and spend the time hunting your prey.

So you want to dictate how someone else plays the game?

Hi Boanerges,

I sometimes go afk in game. Potty breaks, or a run to store. If I'm spotting for my guild, what is the problem? I mean I see your guild members all the time afk in I8 or F6, or Pel O15 spotting for you. Why is it ok for TGFT and not for the rest of us?

What is wrong with overheating roids? They are not your roids. They are mine (hehe) to overheat and glow.

I play the game the right way for me. I don't hide in B8 ,which is the piracy technique your guild endorses. B8 piracy keeps all the pirates in one sector while the traders are free to move about the rest of the galaxy. Its good for your guild, but it doesn't appeal to me.

Also, do tell me, how is the game "intended to be played". I'd love to hear what the official developer style of play is. I have never seen it listed on the sidebar on this site.

Are you willing to permanently shut down tcft2?

Have a good day,

-WAF

I don't think bringing guild politics into the suggestion is really relevant WAF

If an idle disconnect were made all that's going to do is make people add non idle things to their bots and therefore the problem will never be solved rendering this thread moot

I'd personally prefer if spotters/probes became a legit game thing you could craft or buy and they were able to be found and destroyed by players

Aug 26, 2018 incarnate
"- Spotter bots are undesirable and are being eliminated from the game. But, as I mentioned before, we're doing it carefully, to avoid impacting "store" bots and the like."

As for leaving on while going to bathroom, it don't take 30 min to do. As for going to store, you should log off. As for TGFT doing this, we were asked to stop and we have.

I seems like this has been increasing a lot in past few weeks. This type of thing will run off any new players.

I know what Inc has said about it and am just offering this suggestion as a way to do it. The store bots are normally inside the station so they should not be affected.

If we were allowed to shoot the spies, we would not have a problem, but we are NOT willing to tank our standings over some stupid bot that has been put there to spy on us.

And thanks Whistler for reminding ALL of us what Inc has already said about it.

He also said capship combat is not officially implemented yet but the capswarm buff to be able to shoot other capships is still in place. So he says a lot of things with varying consistency, in other words right now its irrelevant.

If Inc asks me to log off when I go AFK, then i will start doing that. Do you propose a captcha for all players that pops up after 30 minutes?

I would support loss of sensor functions vs. players.

Hi Tsreknor,

Do you suggest after 30 minutes, all players get blinded? I'd be ok with that. How much activity would be required to unblind the sensors? I farther suggest that after 30 minutes even chat functions (viewing and typing) are disabled. Completely blinded.

I'll farther expand on this: How about after 30 minutes of inactivity, Admired/POS standing is temporarily reduced to neutral. And NFZ restrictions are lifted for that player. So anyone can shoot them without repercussions.

I mean blinded only with regard to other players. Bots and roids should remain visible.

Actually, I would lift all restrictions on spotters. I believe that thinking of rules that define what a spotter is, is a fool's errand. Some player will always be more clever than the prevailing rules. I furthermore don't see how intel collection violates any primary gameplay principle. (But then, I'm a former intel dude, so possibly biased.)

But if the devs are determined to eliminate spotters, as they say they are, let's focus on what that function actually is. Namely, sitting in a spot or cycling through an area with no purpose other than watching traffic. I don't think it can be done.

Incarnate, I have a better idea than all of this. Introduce a cloaking device. Make it expensive or hard to get, whatever you think appropriate. That will shut down the spotters.

How about after 30 minutes of inactivity, Admired/POS standing is temporarily reduced to neutral. And NFZ restrictions are lifted for that player. So anyone can shoot them without repercussions.

+1 to that

Interesting, Drevent1. +1 to that.

But I still think a countermeasure is the way to go. Give players the ability to counter a spotter if they're willing to pay a price.

Cloaking device that can be used for 2 minutes, then has to be off for 30. You can think of all sorts of variations on this theme that make it entertaining. E.g. a sliding range effect during the 2 minutes of use. W/e. +10

Wait, this is coming from a certain guild that implemented a certain plugin with a view to spying on people don't want actual spybots ?

But while we are at it can we also permanently shut down tcft2? I mean, seems pretty immoral to be complaining about 1 type of spybots while flying around and being one for your guild. Eh, I guess I should not bother posting this but the certain guild are the biggest users of said bots in game, they always have bots local to a station when attacking one, so did you run this idea past your superiors?

+1

As for leaving on while going to bathroom, it don't take 30 min to do.

Don't you tell my guts what to do.

Anyways, spotters are obviously "undesireable", but there's always a bright side to it! For instance, pull into a sector, taunt the bot(a.k.a, you're actually taunting the owner) and when they get so steamy that they jump in to kill you, zip away and laugh. Plus, they add some sort of adrenaline-inducing mechanics. That's why i like VO.

Vendetta Online! Over-using peoples adrenal glands since 2004 =P

Eh now you mention it, a big part of my 'meta-game' is infiltrating guilds, getting whatever plugin it is they use shoved down my throat and then feeding that data into my own plugins for personal use. I mean, I even feed them back false data so it has become quite a convoluted game in itself.

I reverse my +1 and raise your -1 to a -2

I guess subterfuge is a big part of VO and although I do understand why most spy bots are "undesirable" to the developers, I guess this is more from a developer view and not to kill the meta-information-game we play. Heck I'd wager if we could do it in such a way that didn't involve keeping sectors alive for months upon end (and people tying up their ticket system with complaints) they would care even less.

I'm 95% certain we could work a solution out without dev intervention just for convenience sake, but the only issue with that is that nobody cooperates on ANYTHING anymore.

+1. Good post.

It seems to me the developers wishes are crystal clear. Exactly who is it amongst us that does not understand the game developer’s stance on spotters? (Looks at WASH). The game developer’s stance on spotters is clearly stated right here where Incarnate writes:
Aug 26, 2018 incarnate
"- Spotter bots are undesirable and are being eliminated from the game. But, as I mentioned before, we're doing it carefully, to avoid impacting "store" bots and the like."

...and yet “SOME” continue to make spotters that continue to defy the developers wishes.

TGFT removed all of their sector sitting spotters, as per Incarnates wishes.
FYI: TCFT can ONLY tell me what an ACTIVE PLAYER SEES, exactly as if I said in guild chat: “I just passed [YOUR NAME HERE] @ B-16”. If passing locations of ACTIVE PLAYERS to ACTIVE PLAYERS is troubling to you, stop doing it yourself! YOU GO FIRST, YOU BE THE CHANGE.

If WASH, (@ WASH, this is not a dig at you, it is intended as an example only), PCB’s a capitol ship and holds it until a WASH FRIENDLY bomber shows up, are you telling me there is no communication of locations between the two? Of course there is, so WHY DO YOU CARE if this type of communication is done manually are mechanically?)

TCFT does not sit in a sector and spy on that sector. Said another way, TCFT can not tell me anything unless an active player is using it, (and that active player could and would relay game info to their guild mates anyway).

If you have TCFT you know this is true, if you do not have TCFT you should not talk about what you THINK it does. FAMY has a version of TCFT, and yet I never hear anyone complain about them.

Here is the thing: I like a spotters! I even like a spotter that would harm my game character, (GA).

I think pirates need traders, but traders also need pirates. Without you guys, there is no random here, it is all grind. I welcome your game play.

I personally would be for spotters, if the devs wished them to be here. We (TGFT) would deploy our watchers to watch your watchers, and it would be fair.

What happens now is not fair, and it is nothing more than seeing what “some” can get away with from the devs. Until everyone is on the same page about spotters, I propose the Developers immediately make spotter hunting not only encouraged, but something you can receive a badge for! (MVOGA)

Killing new players in station sectors is bad for the games long term survival. Let them “like the game enough” to accept your style of game play, so we have players in the future too.

I am Galactica Actual, and I am a proud to be a TGFT council member and Lieutenant. I like the idea of spotters, but Incarnate does not, so stop spotting.
Game on Wayne, game on Garth

Badge for killing spotters? Wouldn't that just be giving a badge for something that was never intended?

Now, the reason nobody complains about FAMY is because they simply aren't around anymore TO complain about. I've seen 1 in-game, in just over a year.

I think the true issue is people using their bots not just for "spotting", but in a more "troll/griefer" type of way.

Then, there is the people who completely overdo it by having a bot in every single frequented sector. IMO, if you want to know if something is there, go see for yourself.