A simple solution to "Disconnecting to avoid Death"

[t0pz 173]

I see millions of discussions, which are even joined by the developer(s) to talk about the problems of disconnecting to avoid death (as well as server-hopping).

As rocket has already stated, logging the amount of disconnects is easily done, however punishment for it can be controversial as well as wrong.

Why think punishment? Here is an easy approach:

When you disconnect:

A) It will simply tell you to wait 30 seconds to one minute before it actually is able to log you out! Just like the "Do you really want to disconnect window, it could just freeze the player and make him wait 30 seconds to one minute"

or

B ) To avoid the problem of people using ALT-F4 or even plugging out the internet-cable, i am sure its possible to freeze the character in its position for half a minute even after disconnect, and register damage done to it. If the damage is enough to kill the player, he will be dead on the next login.

Isn't this much easier and fair at the same time?

Edited July 13, 2012 by t0pz

[Testificate 7]

You should read other threads, this is already mentioned ten times. -.-

[okano666@hotmail.co.uk 81]

YARR

but it needs fixing, lets fix some real problems instead of making bear traps

[t0pz 173]

Trust me, if i had the time to read through all possible threads i would not be able to play the game, or do anything else for that matter. I am just trying to bring this to popularity since rocket stated recently that he is undecided on how to punish people for logging. He obviously seems unaware of this simple solution.. or is not considering it for other reasons.

[joerivdvelden@gmail.com 6]

A) The client is master over his connection. You can't tell a player he can't disconnect.

B ) Rocket already tried this solution but this leads to numerous bugs and corner cases in the game

[McFluffy (DayZ) 3]

But what if you loose connection for valid reasons, that could be unfair for many players with unstable connections. Actually I think diconnections happens for just about everyone from time to time.

[t0pz 173]

"Loosing connection" and "Disconnecting" can be detected easily by a script function. So if a player hits abort or alt-F4 he could get frozen. If a player loses connection, it already shows a message saying "Player is loosing connection" in which case the character can just despawn. Also, loosing connection currently rolls you back anyways due to saving issues.

Lastly, its really an opinion whether or not a player should have the decision to insta-disconnect or not. The player is master over his connection, but certainly not master over his character. So, you may disconnect, but you certainly will not be able to escape immediate harm in that way.

But if rocket has already tried it and it didn't work, i got my answer and this suggestion can be closed.

[Texan (DayZ) 4]

so day i log out in the woods somewhere because i have to go to Football practice, i will be there 30 seconds after i would have logged out and someone could have easily found me within those 30 seconds and killed me on the spot. if you ask me, this was not the best idea

[t0pz 173]

so day i log out in the woods somewhere because i have to go to Football practice, i will be there 30 seconds after i would have logged out and someone could have easily found me within those 30 seconds and killed me on the spot. if you ask me, this was not the best idea

The point is: Don't use alt-F4 to log out. If you have no reason to INSTANTLY quit game then you can simply use "Abort" which will merely ask you to wait 30 seconds. If you see a zombie or player come near you, you can still cancel the logout process. Those people using the alt-f4 option are 90% doing so on purpose to quickly avoid confrontation. This needs to be stopped.

I'm also starting to believe there are people on this forum in favor of being able to log out to avoid death and they are afraid of a fix.. not saying you're one of them. I've just seen numerous lame excuses on here

Edited July 14, 2012 by t0pz

[zipper 69]

Trust me, if i had the time to read through all possible threads i would not be able to play the game, or do anything else for that matter.

So you created another brand new thread? Thanks we definitely needed this.

[t0pz 173]

So you created another brand new thread? Thanks we definitely needed this.

indeed you do. you may not realize it, but the more a topic is mentioned, the more attention it gets. Even though that was not my intention, since i just didnt find the right thread and didnt want my suggestion to go under in one of the many millions of replies, i decided to make a new one. Like it or not, it's a forum to express opinions/ideas. Don't read/post if you don't appreciate the thread.

Edited July 15, 2012 by t0pz

[Andyraven 0]

So what about some of the players like me whos internet disconnects sometimes. I dont want to be in the middle of a town then disconnect and come back to a dead body. What we need is some sort of save system maybe saving at tents but you can only store ammo, food and water in them. And only having like one save per tent and make them very rare to find.

[slicshuter 1]

I've alt-f4'd before, but the main reason is because of stupid bugs and some general problems in the game, yesterday my internet cut out while on a ladder and I went back in to be stuck in the wall, and I got attacked. I got knocked unconscious and was bleeding, so I logged out. It wouldn't exactly be fair to keep me there until my untimely death because I was stuck in a wall due to a bug.

How about you implement that when DayZ is fully fixed, not while it's in alpha.

[Ultenth 12]

The whole "staying in game frozen" thing would NEVER work.

Players would die and lose a weeks old character simply because of a thunder storm or a child tripping over a power cord. If you think the complaints on the forums now about other players using DC'ing to avoid zombies/pvp or ghosting in PvP, it's nothing compared to the rage that would occur when people start losing long-life and well-equiped characters from uncontrollable disconnects.

There is a solution out there, but it's not this.

Edited July 15, 2012 by Ultenth

[t0pz 173]

You're all very wrong on one part: "Disconnect" and "Loosing Connection" are identified as two very DIFFERENT client events. So if you loose connection, it would not do any of that. It would just log you out regularly (or roll you back like it currently does... :/ ) If you would have read my previous posts, i already adressed this issue:

""Loosing connection" and "Disconnecting" can be detected easily by a script function. So if a player hits abort or alt-F4 he could get frozen. If a player loses connection, it already shows a message saying "Player is loosing connection" in which case the character can just despawn. Also, loosing connection currently rolls you back anyways due to saving issues."

[aversionfx 63]

A) The client is master over his connection. You can't tell a player he can't disconnect.

A) As it turns out, yes you can. If Rocket can ban servers that people pay for because they are doing shady things, he can make it so you can't instantly leave the game (along with all of the problems that creates in the game).

You're not the master of anything. If you're going to play his game, you're going to do it by his rules. See how that works?

Also, ROFL "master over his connection." That was funny. There's that sense of self-entitlement again.

Edited July 15, 2012 by aversionfx

[Andyraven 0]

You're all very wrong on one part: "Disconnect" and "Loosing Connection" are identified as two very DIFFERENT client events. So if you loose connection, it would not do any of that. It would just log you out regularly (or roll you back like it currently does... :/ ) If you would have read my previous posts, i already adressed this issue:

""Loosing connection" and "Disconnecting" can be detected easily by a script function. So if a player hits abort or alt-F4 he could get frozen. If a player loses connection, it already shows a message saying "Player is loosing connection" in which case the character can just despawn. Also, loosing connection currently rolls you back anyways due to saving issues."

ok then players would just pull there plug then insted of alt-f4 there is no way around this problem. people will always find solutions to problems.

[t0pz 173]

ok then players would just pull there plug then insted of alt-f4 there is no way around this problem. people will always find solutions to problems.

Pulling the plug is POSSIBLE but it will drastically decrease the amount of people logging to avoid death (I expect the frequency of it to go from 70% to at least 30%)

Also:

A ) Some people may be on a wireless network, so i imagine they'd have to alt-tab for removing themselves from it

B ) As easy as it sounds, "pulling the plug" actually requires the user to go to wherever their plug is, causing them to not pay attention to their character. It will be a last resort, but at least not become the freaking norm, as it currently stands.

I've disconnected several times when i started playing, to avoid getting raped by zombie hordes, but i don't think i would have gone through the trouble of pulling the plug. Of course, people will still do it, but as i said, it will become a lot less frequent, which will enhance the game experience for everyone.

Until there is some type of perfect solution (doubtful) this is definitely a huge positive step.

Edited July 15, 2012 by t0pz

[zipper 69]

indeed you do. you may not realize it, but the more a topic is mentioned, the more attention it gets. Even though that was not my intention, since i just didnt find the right thread and didnt want my suggestion to go under in one of the many millions of replies, i decided to make a new one. Like it or not, it's a forum to express opinions/ideas. Don't read/post if you don't appreciate the thread.

It has already gotten attention from the creator of the mod. You will not get more attention than that. You do not need to create a thread every time you think there is a problem. The mods tell people to use the search function for a reason. You are knocking good ideas that people should be reading off the first couple of pages making them disappear. This is a suggestion forum. If a suggestion has already been made about the same topic you want to post about, reply to the thread. There is no need for anyone to still be reading about this topic. Rocket even discussed it in his interview on Gamebreaker.tv, and said that although the problem is easy to fix idea wise, it is fairly difficult to implement due to coding, so he may not even attempt to fix it until the game gets ported over into the new engine. That isn't going to happen for several months. We don't need to read about something that cannot be fixed within the current realm of the game, especially when it is on the mod designers to do list and there is nothing he can currently do about it.

[aversionfx 63]

On a wired connection, pulling your plug doesn't work that way. It takes a few minutes for your computer to realize that it isn't receiving any packets back from the server. In almost every single instance that I've seen in a large number of games, when a player suddenly loses their connection, their character remains in the game for several minutes.

As to fixing the Alt-F4 problem: Hard code ALT+F4 as a suicide command that has no "are you sure?" pop-up. This way, not only does your character kill himself, but then your game closes on top of that. Adding insult to injury.

And lastly, the often-mentioned delay before you can "log out." Stops people from logging out while they're being chased by zombies, and it also prevents players from disconnecting to avoid death in PVP.

[Andyraven 0]

Pulling the plug is POSSIBLE but it will drastically decrease the amount of people logging to avoid death (I expect the frequency of it to go from 70% to at least 30%)

Also:

A ) Some people may be on a wireless network, so i imagine they'd have to alt-tab for removing themselves from it

B ) As easy as it sounds, "pulling the plug" actually requires the user to go to wherever their plug is, causing them to not pay attention to their character. It will be a last resort, but at least not become the freaking norm, as it currently stands.

I've disconnected several times when i started playing, to avoid getting raped by zombie hordes, but i don't think i would have gone through the trouble of pulling the plug. Of course, people will still do it, but as i said, it will become a lot less frequent, which will enhance the game experience for everyone.

Until there is some type of perfect solution (doubtful) this is definitely a huge positive step.

most players who use a wireless connection use a usb device what can easily be removed with abit if speed.

and most players who own this game have a decent rig and if there like me dont want alot of dust inside have it out in the open or on top of there desk for easy access to the back/components.

[Ultenth 12]

Pulling a plug is very easy, and if it's something you plan to utilize you will take steps to make it even easier, like putting your modem next to you, or putting your USB wireless adapter on the front of your tower. Even if that's not the case, there are times when I alt-tab out to check a website (like this forum) and come back to a crashed game. There is no reason to suggest that instead of alt-F4'ing, that I can't just end task on the program instead, which would appear as a crash.

Again, there has to be a solution out there for this problem, but it's not this.

[t0pz 173]

Pulling a plug is very easy, and if it's something you plan to utilize you will take steps to make it even easier, like putting your modem next to you, or putting your USB wireless adapter on the front of your tower. Even if that's not the case, there are times when I alt-tab out to check a website (like this forum) and come back to a crashed game. There is no reason to suggest that instead of alt-F4'ing, that I can't just end task on the program instead, which would appear as a crash.

Again, there has to be a solution out there for this problem, but it's not this.

Obviously those, who "plan" to exploit from the start, will always find some crooked way to do just about anything in this game. It is Arma after all. Exploit/Hacker heaven.

This is not the point here, at all. The fact is, avoiding death is VERY easy, and appears like part of the game/mod. Almost all players throughout this game have done it, from newbies (~20%) to regular players (~70%) and long-time hardcore gamers (~10%). And yes, most of the DayZ players are NOT AT ALL hardcore gamers or even familiar with Arma.

Removing the option to quit instantly to avoid death, and warning players that it is against the mod rules WILL drastically change this type of behavior. I am not arguing that it won't be possible anymore, however most of the playerbase will cease to do so.

I would go as far as sending regular warning messages "Disconnecting to avoid Zombies/Players may delete your account/kill your character" even if thats not the case. I mean, it says "Illegal copies may degrade" all the time, which is entirely useless and untrue. Might as well do the same for exploiting.

I will stand by my words on this one, and you have to understand that its not always the "perfect feature" that fixes a problem, but a measure that will cause people to have second thoughts.

Edited July 17, 2012 by t0pz

[teppo 13]

Hm. Dont see why you shouldnt punish someone for bad connection, thats just realistic. But, maybe a semi-solution would be for connection issues, when this happens to have the character stay there blinking, with no possibility to have any harm happen to it, say for 3 mins(or what time it would usually take in such situation to get back), after which it becomes available to be killed and looted if player hasnt gotten his system running again. Maybe, to avoid making matters worse for someone with connection issue, it could throw this blinker only when player has either shot his gun during last 30secs, has a zombie aggroed, or is bleeding(having the Z stay there but not damaging more, and if bleeding, bleeding would continue again after player gets back or when 3 mins has passed). If nothing such is going on, just keep the character there for the normal time and if character receives any damage during this time, start the 3 min clock there without damage to character so giving player every realistic chance to not die becouse of honest disconnect.