Account sitting

[f0xx]

Account sitting

INTRODUCTION

Every player is aware of the fact that Bushtarion has been loosing players for more than 10 rounds now. In this suggestion I will try to cover what I believe to be the main reasons for this downfall of the playerbase.

As the title says, this suggestion is about account sitting. Now before you hit the reply button and flame me, I will ask you to at least have the respect and read the whole suggestion and then post your constructive reply, otherwise you are going to trigger the bad side of f0xx and we don’t want this, do we?



THE MAIN IDEA

The TW crew is already familiar to the concept of this idea. I have modified it a bit to make it apply-able to Bushtarion. Here it goes:

Player A, knows that for some reason he will not be able to play bush for certain amount of time, so he sets an account sitter. The account sitter will then be able to log into Player A’s account and play with it.

Restrictions:
• Player A can be sat no more than 240 hours (10 days) each month. This time is not the actual time that the account sitter plays the account. This time is measured from setting the account sitter to ending the account sitting process. It does not mean that your account sitter will be playing your account for the whole account sitting process.
• The only person that can set a sitter for certain account will be the original owner of the account.
• This feature will be introduced to alliance players only.
• Account sitters of Player A can only be members of the of the same alliance he is in.
• A player can sit no more than one account at a time.


WHAT POSITIVE THINGS WILL THIS SUGGESTION BRING TO BUSHTARION?
• It will reduce the time a certain person needs to be logged in to be able to do well in the game.
• It will give the boost that alliances need to become attractive again.
• It will give chance to alliances with good organization but not so active members to do well in the game.
• It will finally make skill the more important quality than activity.


WHAT NEGATIVE THINGS WILL THIS SUGGESTION BRING TO BUSHTARION?
• It will perhaps remove all the pure LET one unit rushes. I personally do not think this is a negative side though.
• There is a chance that this feature will increase the level of bashing, I personally do not consider this as a negative side as well, it is a war game after all.


I ask again only for constructive criticism. Also do not forget that this is still just a rough idea so there can be a lot of things to tweak in it to make it better.

 

[DarkSider]

Re: Account sitting

I have thought about it before, and i don't like your sugested way to implement

I'd say just to cover holidays not the lack of activity. If every account is reacheble 24/7 that's no fun.
I think you should be able to get a sitter for a predetermined amount of time when you have a planned a holiday. If he stays logged out and just logins for one tick when the ally tells him shouldn't be any diference. And also the original owner can't play active while the sitter option is activated, so no 2 players play in the same time.

 

[Garrett]

Re: Account sitting

ah but when you say holiday what is your definition?

maybe f0xx using 'activity' is incorrect, but it would be the best way to implement because what if I was going away on a 'personal holiday'?

Or what if I binge drink on friday or planned on doing something outside sat/sun? I set on friday for my sitter. turn it off sunday/monday. my weekend holiday is complete.

please define holiday and would like to see implementation suggestion based around that. Otherwise we'd need to mandatorily set nation and religion preference and log all those holidays... based on your broad comments.


Tons of other games such as travian, mech assault, dead awaken, etc all have rules around account sitting.

personally, i dislike the idea of account sitting, but power gamers find a way to share their accounts here anyway. It happens. everyone knows it happens, because either a) it happens or b) TONS of people are LYING which is still AGAINST the EULA but yet they never are punished. Which makes the EULA a joke anyway as it's enforced when the sole creator feels like enforcing it.

honestly the first and only suggestion that needs to be implemented to turn this game around is to have a set of ground troops (i.e. bush admins. (not managers,irc ops, helpers) ) that have the ability to research cheating claims and at the very least suggest punishments. As long as azzer is the sole creator and keeper of punishments, his time away from the game (which is fine and inevitable, but counterproductive to running bush as a company/product) will continue to sour the playerbase as they will continue to see slower responses to perceived cheaters and consequences.

If someone is doing a massive infraction but it takes 3-5 days to see anything happen, that changes alot. Ruins rounds. Puts people into power than shouldn't be. Either tons of things need to be legal and allowed or Azzer needs to have some top brass (that will stay active and on top of the job, which rules out all our current managers,ops,mods,etc)

 

[Rosa]

Re: Account sitting

I believe that there is no need for account sitting. If you know you're going on a holiday, go into sleep mode. That's what sleep mode is for if you don't want to die.
I can't really see anything positive about account sitting. You can argue you don't need as much activity, however it is up to the player to care that deeply about the game. Everyone was frustrated that everyone took forever to die with the new injury system, if account sitting comes into play then it'll be even more frustrating.

 

[Polo]

Re: Account sitting

It's a nice idea...but as Rosa says, that's what sleep mode is for.

How about changing sleepmode somewhat though? I haven't put much thought into this but anyway:
- You can be attacked in "sleep mode".
- You get 70-90% injury in "sleep mode".
- You get 70-90% income in "sleep mode".
- You cannot send out any attacks or defence in "sleep mode".
- Possibly your max land grab is reduced also?

 

[tomtree]

Re: Account sitting

i like the concept, having played TW myself and having used the account sitting feature on that i can say that there it works fairly well, and with some carefull thought i think it could be introduced on bush aswell.

 

[Ranzou]

Re: Account sitting

I like the idea, mainly because of this point:

• It will finally make skill the more important quality than activity.

I think the activity required by this game is a killer, especially if you want to do well. Many people quit because they can't play just 1-2 hours a day without sucking.

Going into sleep mode as it is doesn't really help you if you expect to do well.

However, the point about people being online all of the time and being able to send out does seem like a problem. Needs work, but good idea!

 

[f0xx]

Re: Account sitting

I have thought about it before, and i don't like your sugested way to implement

If every account is reacheble 24/7 that's no fun.

That is just the way it is at the moment. Especially at the start, not 24/7 perhaps, but 22/7 is guaranteed. Besides account sitting will not completely make every account reachable 24/7. The owner of the account still has to set an account sitter before he leaves, if this doesn't happen alliances are still back to pranking the target under attack hoping he will get online it time. Not to mention that fact that your account sitter can be offline while he is sitting you... so there is still noone to play your account.

I'd say just to cover holidays not the lack of activity. If every account is reacheble 24/7 that's no fun.
I think you should be able to get a sitter for a predetermined amount of time when you have a planned a holiday. If he stays logged out and just logins for one tick when the ally tells him shouldn't be any diference. And also the original owner can't play active while the sitter option is activated, so no 2 players play in the same time.

Okay, good enough, but how am I supposed to know when is my internet going to fall? Or when will a relative of mine get sick so I have to spend a few days in the hospital with him? And how am I supposed to know how much time exactly I am not going to be able to log in?

I believe that there is no need for account sitting. If you know you're going on a holiday, go into sleep mode. That's what sleep mode is for if you don't want to die.
I can't really see anything positive about account sitting. You can argue you don't need as much activity, however it is up to the player to care that deeply about the game. Everyone was frustrated that everyone took forever to die with the new injury system, if account sitting comes into play then it'll be even more frustrating.

This is not just holidays I am talking about. I am talking about OVERALL activity. This will allow people to have normal sleeping patters, it will allow them to go out more often with their GFs/wifes/kids. It will basicly give them a lot more free time. And that just does not go only for holidays.

A lot of people ignore the positive sides this idea will bring. Currently this game has so heavy requirements if you want to go FTW, that it is basicly completely impossible to do it without any kind of cheating and even if you put in the 20 hour/day activity, even then there still is no guarantee that you wil win the round.

The top alliances are already active as hell. This will not change much about them, yes it will increase their overall activity with out what? 10%? If you look at the lower alliances though, it will allow them to increase their activity almost TWICE.

I also don't like how people are looking at this suggestion only from their point of view: "I am already active, this suggestion will improve the game very little for me but will give a huge advantage for my enemy becuase they are not as active as me". That is just not the right way to think...

Not to mention the fact that it will reduce the impact that personal activity has over the game so it is very likely that people will stop leaving because "they don't have time to play" any more. Alliances will become fun and attractive again with the attacking alliance having advantage over the defending alliance which will also spark more wars.

I just fail to see how people can be against such improvements. Or perhaps you like the current path that bush has taken?

* 1,410 IDs in this world have been registered to date this round.
* 352 of those IDs have actually been deleted.
-------------------------------------
1058 accounts created up to the moment
293 accounts that have 5 acres!
-------------------------------------
765 active accounts?

Is that what you want? If yes, then be my guest.

But I am not going to play a game which requiers 20 hour/day activity and 24/7 contactability if I want to go for the win. Even if it is free.

Also, do not forget that an account can be sat only for 10 days each month. For an account to be online 24/7 with that rule, the original owner of the account must have an average activity of the smashing 16 hours/day, which is basicly impossible for anyone in the game.

 

[Garrett]

Re: Account sitting

join my ally next round f0xx. it will cure all your ills.

 

[f0xx]

Re: Account sitting

Alright, since there has been some noise about a topic close to the subject and since this thread has recieved no reply from the admin yet, I would like to revive it.

There have also been some other nice suggestions (Polo's).

I would also like to see what people think about baby sitting each other's accounts. Yes, it is not legal, but what are YOUR thoughts about it (Have you ever done it? Do you know players who do it? Do you have plans about doing it in future?)

 

[Alcibiades]

Re: Account sitting

I like the idea of being able to reduce activity; but i don't think this is the appropriate way. We have sleepmode, there are ways to alter that system so that it works. It needs a little bit of alteration and it would be fine. Your system, whilst noteworthy in the effort you've put into it, i think isn't really needed when all we need to do is tweak sleepmode.

Babysitting accounts smacks too much of cheating/multiing and unfair gameplay to me. I know that's not the case in all games, but i just find the idea repellent. If you aren't going to be active then use sleepmode. If you are active it's not a problem. And as you say, it's a wargame, you should expect to die a couple times a round.

That being said, sleepmode does need to be tweaked but it shouldn't be hard to alter; and definitely doesn't require the introduction of a whole new system *especially* when we're on the verge of a whole new age.

 

[f0xx]

Re: Account sitting

Any ideas on what tweaks exactly might make sleep mode work?

 

[Alcibiades]

Re: Account sitting

Any ideas on what tweaks exactly might make sleep mode work?

Off the top of my head:
- an increase in your seed harvesting from the 15% it is now perhaps on a sliding scale up to say 80% depending upon the length of time in sleepmode. With a lower ratio for longer time spent in sleep so that you can't just sleep the round away and then score boost when you're online.

- More time options not just the 8, 24, 72, 7day, 12day ones that are currently there. Perhaps be able to set it for a minimum amount of time (4 hours to prevent short term abuse but could be extended as necessary) and then be able to set the next number of ticks the ID should be in sleep. Minimum 4 hours followed by an optional number of ticks (maybe in 3 tick increments).

As it's 9:00 AM and i haven't been to bed yet i haven't put as much thought as i would like into this answer which will be evident. I'll think on it but i'm not the best at this I'm certain i can't be the only one to have thought of improving sleepmode...

EDIT: Or if you don't feel comfortable giving someone essentially free, untouchable income whilst asleep you can make sleepmode IDs attackable and defendable. (as polo said) This would be trickier to work out with solo players unless you were to make AR function essentially the same for sleep and awake IDs. In this case since the player wouldn't be able to send out mobs (i assume) you could give a temporary boost to injuries in general (or perhaps only harvesters in particular to a maximum cap to prevent harvester flak abuse) so that they don't totally lose income.

Like i said, very very rough draft. But let's try to fix something we have in place first, before scrapping it and going with a whole new system. how easy would it be for Azzer to monitor account babysitting and make sure it wasn't being abused? I'm not saying it can't work, i just find the idea personally distasteful.

 

[pinpower]

Re: Account sitting

similar to what alci said i think this idea has merit but i would personally prefer to explore the ideas of changing sleepmode before we go down this route...

I like the idea of increased seed production in sleep mode (maybe not as high as 80% tho?) counterbalanced by the fact that you can be attacked...definately like the idea of a higher injury rate as well while in sleep and alci's idea of making the injury change depending on time is really good!

I also agree sleepmode should have more available options, but i dont think it should be customisable by the player...i just think there should be more set times. Maybe: 4hrs,8hrs,12hrs,16hrs,24hrs,2days,3days,1 week, 2 weeks.

This is a good line of discussion tho!

 

[BlackWolf]

Re: Account sitting

I will post now what I have posted to previous forums from time to time:
As long as sleepmode does not produce 100% seeds it is not valid option for people to use and as such it will never be used in the scale where it would benefit this game any way.
So like it or not, but you cant harm people from that they have lives and as such they must be given 100% safe way of going to sleep mode without any drawbacks or it simply wont work as intented to be the saviour of this game vs its activity demands.

 

[Alcibiades]

Re: Account sitting

I will post now what I have posted to previous forums from time to time:
As long as sleepmode does not produce 100% seeds it is not valid option for people to use and as such it will never be used in the scale where it would benefit this game any way.
So like it or not, but you cant harm people from that they have lives and as such they must be given 100% safe way of going to sleep mode without any drawbacks or it simply wont work as intented to be the saviour of this game vs its activity demands.

Then what's the point in ever being out of sleepmode? There has to be a drawback to using sleepmode otherwise we'll have *no* fighting, and 1k accounts in sleep for 22 hours a day. :|

 

[BlackWolf]

Re: Account sitting

Maybe you are the one who must figure out what I meant and what is the drawback.

 

[Alcibiades]

Re: Account sitting

Or instead of stonewalling and not being helpful, you could try to explain it to someone who is curious and genuinely wants to help.

Sorry for asking for clarification, next time i just won't contribute...

I await your reasoned explanation here, patiently, calmly....

 

[BlackWolf]

Re: Account sitting

You can read my previous comments (where I was refering to) from old forums about sleeping matter, I really am too lazy to go there and search for such.

 

[BlackWolf]

Re: Account sitting

To right thread this time...
After Alcys couple of intencive PMs I decided to put these up here...
Please dont complain if you dont want to read them... I didnt either!
http://www.bushtarion.com/forums_old/vi ... eep&t=6586
http://www.bushtarion.com/forums_old/vi ... ep&t=12637
http://www.bushtarion.com/forums_old/vi ... ep&t=13436
http://www.bushtarion.com/forums_old/vi ... ep&t=18279
http://www.bushtarion.com/forums_old/vi ... ep&t=15687
http://www.bushtarion.com/forums_old/vi ... ep&t=14525
http://www.bushtarion.com/forums_old/vi ... ep&t=19137

Thats only how many times I have spoken for sleep mode and well here we are...

BW: Fighting for poor inactive players since Thu 07 Oct 04 08:26 am
Bit over 4 years and we are still stuck to same thread, and nothing has been tested/done or even tried by Azzer... quess how eager I am to respond to your "questions".