AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic

Ok, this is something that pisses me off. Before I begin, I just want to let you all know I'm not pointing at anyone in particular. It's just something I'm sure other people agree is very annoying.

It's the lack of attention some people seem to give during RP/playing.
I'm talking about people who just don't watch the game, or contribute at all to the RP. They often misclick, because they're likely in windowed mode and looking at something else. These people that just kinda come along, say something small... ten minutes later emote *nods*, and ten minutes later say something else.
I'm talking about the type of people who do this constantly, to everyone, regardless of the situation. This becomes very -very- frustrating in a 1 on 1 RP, where a conversation of 4 typed lines on their part takes 40 minutes.

And I'm not exaggerating, I've timed it.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm trying to say here. Alot of people read the forums and do other things whilst playing, sure, but I suppose it's the few that do this at the expense of RP... Leaving people to wait whilst they piss around doing something else.
If it happens every now and then, no one cares. But it just seems to consistantly happen with some people.

Some people are bound to say "Just don't play with those people.", but it's not that simple when they are key members of a society or group.

I'm sure other people have been in similar circumstances. Don't name names, but discuss?

Ask OOCly if they're busy with something else is the only option I can suggest.

In the cases I'm thinking about, probably wouldn't do anything to help.

Looking back, the one time I asked one of these people if they were busy... I then waited another ten minutes before they replied that they weren't.

*nods*

I fin people occasionally lose track of time, and are jump-started when they realise If they continue doing it , though, they are just being rude.

Well yeah, like I said... Occasionally, that's cool. Everyone makes mistakes or looses track. But if it happens every time. Every single time, every RP, every day, week....

You can imagine how annoying it gets.

Sorry, what where you saying?

Heh. Yea, okay, thats normal. People do get bored, lose there attention with something. Happens, can be annoying. I do it all the time, but thats because sometimes things feel like they are repeating themselves, which happens when you've been playing on the same rp server for over four years.

Drem speaks her mind....after 40 mins....

*thumbs up*

That's funny. I know of a couple people like that in particular and it stinks having to avoid people that may be IC important because you don't have an hour to spend on a 5 minute conversation. It's frustrating and I always find myself walking away from lack of interest. Taking a while to type is one thing, but waiting 5 minutes for one sentence can be frustrating, yes.

There is no solution though.

I'm not sure there is a solution to this problem either. The really slow-pokes who misclick around are likely multi-tasking more than they are capable of and it's hard to call them out on it without sounding like a jerk.

I've also had people do similar things while hunting. Their character just stands behind like they're dazed during the middle of fights, sometimes making them fall behind after the spawn is dead. Turns out they're logged onto MSN chatting away or browsing the forums, or both. They end up contributing almost nothing to the hunt and sometimes even become a liability. Fun times.

I'm learning how to avoid my windowed mode mis-clicks, as well as the fact that I use it for checking information on forums when I need refresher for in-game and do try to be swift.

<.<;;

I'm learning how to do it right, and only like Windowed Mode when I need it.

I'm a git.

I'm guilty of all the things that Marauth posted in the original topic (bar the windowed mode thingo, this dinosaur piece of crap laptop can barely handle nwn at lowest settings let alone two programs at once) BUT I'll give you all a reason why.

First of all, I'm using a laptop. I (censored) hate laptops. The touchpad is -horribly- sensitive and the keyboard is so small compared to a good gaming keyboard, it makes me feel claustrophobic. That being said I can't help but type slower and I feel urged to type shorter sentences because I feel so disgusted at using the laptop's bodgy keys. (I need to buy a USB board port, I'm out of USB ports so plugging in a proper keyboard isn't possible)

With my Salandran I also feel like I need to randomly throw an insult at someone so I tend to watch several RPs at once, at the disolving of my own. I'm a terrible multitasker, you should see me trying to play bass and singing at the same time.

Make sure at least some of the time you aim your statements or comments at a particular PC or PCs. And by that I don't necessarily mean prefacing it with *to Joe Blogs314* but coming out with something that Joe's player is going to (want to) respond to.

Galenson wrote:

I'm a git.

I'm guilty of all the things that Marauth posted in the original topic (bar the windowed mode thingo, this dinosaur piece of crap laptop can barely handle nwn at lowest settings let alone two programs at once) BUT I'll give you all a reason why.

First of all, I'm using a laptop. I (censored) hate laptops. The touchpad is -horribly- sensitive and the keyboard is so small compared to a good gaming keyboard, it makes me feel claustrophobic. That being said I can't help but type slower and I feel urged to type shorter sentences because I feel so disgusted at using the laptop's bodgy keys. (I need to buy a USB board port, I'm out of USB ports so plugging in a proper keyboard isn't possible)

I also got a laptop but i bought a mouse ^^ (buy it! 8P )

I also agree that waiting and all can be frustrating. There are also poeple who lack in skills of RP and that trying to improve.
In my case, most of the time i make a warning that im slow to type and more rarely i admit that my RP is ok but not so good. So you also need a part in understanding to yourself but you cannot spot those who multitask and thoses who having hard time.

Ha! Is this all I needed to say to get Galenson to admit how terrible he is at Multitasking!? Ha men! I bet that's it.. it's just too hard for men to multitask.

I agree with Marauth. It truly makes my blood boil and makes my day sourer each minute I have to wait for a reply.

I can name a few players to the DMs, if it will ever solve anything.

Once I told off a player, in party chat, who was multitasking and got a lame excuse that if the player didn't have gone AFK again for a long time, I would have believed.

If they are key-players or not, I just avoid them as best as I can, as I know I can find more productive RP somewhere else.

I tend to multitask too, but I am very careful when doing that so I will not take too long to reply.

Funny enough, though, the times I misclick the most is when I am talking to someone through Tells, for whatever reason, and as I click on the portrait I sometimes click a milimiter off and then the misclick happens. >.<

Sometimes, in my comfy chair, like Uberruce, I might fall asleep. Its happened once or thrice...I'm guessing it might be the same with a few others...

But if that's not the case, I'll never intentionally leave another player hanging around for ages and ages like that. If I do, feel free to walk away...

I always multitask!

But I log off it something steals my attention to much.

I think the original poster is directing this more at misclicks caused by intentional multitasking to other distracting programs or the internet (particularly the forum), rather than the misclicks occasionally caused by cruddy touchpads.

I personally have experienced players doing these things, intentionally, after having been reminded that they were completely disrupting the flow of roleplay one on one, and in groups with particularly high ranking characters that the others were seeking a rather lacking insight from.

One occasion that I suffered through was during a DM event, which are still fairly rare in the underdark. So we were all excited, and pumped up, and ready go, with a nearly fool-proof plan. One extremely influencial participant in this event was strangely lagging behind. Considering the fact that we were -walking- and this particular character was -two areas- behind us when we started out together, I was little bit miffed. When we asked what the hold up was , they denied that there was one until we called them out for being on the forum. Then they simply stated they always did that. That's exactly the problem!

They were too busy posting messages, checking private messages, browsing the forum and chatting on MSN to play the game when we needed their character to get to the front of the line!

I've also experienced the 'waiting ten to fifteen minutes' example, and nothing is more frustrating than being the only one talking in a conversation and wasting your time waiting. I'm not the fastest typer in the world, but in five minutes I can spit out a good sized paragraph of detail and conversation where in fifteen minutes I'm getting '*nods*' and no explanation, followed by another ten minutes and '*nods in agreement*' again.

Like Layil I also dealt with hunting with someone like this who was just an XP leech and then whined and moaned if they were too busy being alt tabbed to heal themselves when a nasty mob respawned right on top of them.

I don't understand if these players are just acting like this around me and that particular group or what, because they always seem to get relatively high ranks which means I, and many others (potentially) have to suffer through the wait.

Is it too much to ask for someone to pay attention when they aren't the only one being affected?

I think that if people are sleepy they should not even log on in the first place. Or, if they are asleep and think they might fall asleep anytime, loggout so people won't be waiting for a reply that will never come once you have fallen asleep without warning.

I think it's very disrespectful when it happens.

If you are tired, do not log in, or at least warn people that you might fall asleep any time - though it's still critical if you are in the middle of some important RP and the person suddenly stopped responding.

Yes, this reply came because of soundofastream's response, but it is aimed at anyone else who is inclined to easily and suddenly fall asleep if logged in.

I've tabbed out because of msn's, and tabbed out to check my notepad notes for each one of my PC's for varying info, particularly when recounting stories/history of them.

Any time my responses take more than a small bit of time usually are because i'm either in tell hell, or I'm multi-tasking IRL, ergo, I get a long distance phonecall or I'm cooking dinner, I've been sleepy enough I've felt myself nodding off, and it slows my response time, because body is tired..

Especially back a few years ago I was very prone to it due to the medication I was on. I've been recently put on some new stuff that does the same. But usually when I feel myself starting to nod off is when I do break, and say I need to get to bed. Which can sometimes be abrupt, and I feel is insulting as well...

My misclicks are due to sending in game PM's, since I always alt tab back in game. >.>

I also tab out to do things, occasionally, if something doesn't peaks my interest. If it does, or I am required for anything, has the game my full attention..

Also, 40 minutes for 4 lines, pah, I had to wait once whole hour for my RP partner to even start anything! I then just walked away after he didn't pose anything.

I Alt+Tab around every other second, unless I'm RP'ing with someone who's fairly quick on their fingers, or if I'm RP'ing with a group of people. If it's 1 on 1, I have to admit that I often check the forum, change tracks on my list of music, manage files I need to move around, and other things like that. Of course, I check back every other second aswell, and reply to anything written before doing anything else.

secondary monitors, get some...

and then still only use nwn and tab it behind your browser window to read forums while you watch a movie on your second screen

Speaking of misclicks: When you eventually return to the NWN window (what else), and you had already started typing something before you tabbed out to do something (read forum, check online dictionary) and you want to where was I?

Is there a way to get back to the chat input that doesn't delete its contents (like enter does it)? Other than with the mouse? Any clever trick?

Thanks!
Ts

PS: Ctrl-Alt-Left/Right > Alt-Tab. :)

Most of the time when I take awhile to reply is due to brain farts and fear of breaking character, as in. 'I have no idea how my character would respond to this and how they would phrase it.' Leaving me sitting there wondering what to type while the person I'm roleplaying with is probably tearing their hair out in frustration. >_>

Any of you had these moments, or is it just me?

Genar_Detkasa wrote:

Any of you had these moments, or is it just me?

I have them for some of my characters. Elves, or any PC that isn't CN.

Even on my CN characters sometimes too! I think it happens to us all at one point, either as a PC or NPC.

While I'm sure what is described here happens frequently, what gets my goat are the people that refuse to do anything when they are there. I can't count the number of times that I've been out hunting and met another party that players on either side say "hello" and then just stand around waiting for someone else to say something.

Also, I was spying on some people the other night and the first 30 minutes consisted of one person standing there crafting their armour with the occasional emote and one player emoting playing with an animal with one short sentence every five minutes or so from two of the 5-8 people there... and the one player emoting playing with the animal (ie the most active person there) was a former DM.

Meh, if someone goes inactive or //AFK on me they shouldn't expect me to stand around like a dumbie for more then 3-5 min. Infact, chances are then I try to explain mental absence ICly which makes absent person look ICly weird too.

And for the LOVE OF SANITY! If you're ignoring someone at least type: *Ignores Person X*. Or something equally enlightened.

I have to say that it has happened to me though my personal record for waiting for a response was 10 minutes before the individual concerned finally said that they were going AFK.

The same rules should apply to if you are busy and / or tired, dont get involved in the rp in the first place, it is highly inconsiderate towards other players and can be so very annoying, as the responses above me indicate.

If you are tired and you just want to be logged in and playing then fine, go and kill something in PvM but dont strike up conversations you know you cant give your effort to even if you would like to.

Yes I might multi task myself but only ever to read the forums and normaly when I am waiting for someone who has gone afk.

Oh and my top tip which I find works well for me a lot of the time, if you think someone has gone switching windows and want them to come back make a noise with the emotes, or attack some poor placeable object, I often find that the individual comes running back quickly enough to see what happened :twisted:

Athyonn Ursidae wrote:

Oh and my top tip which I find works well for me a lot of the time, if you think someone has gone switching windows and want them to come back make a noise with the emotes, or attack some poor placeable object, I often find that the individual comes running back quickly enough to see what happened :twisted:

If they also do a missclick then you got your confirmation.

I have Attention Defist Hyper Disorder, so yeah I get distracted easy, yeah I try to multitask, but I also always try and respawned fast.

I tend to do this when no one's around in town or when there's just not much going on nearby. I misclick constantly, but no one's around to see it, thankfully. Though I can understand why it might tick people off in 1 on 1 RP, provided it's not casual conversation or anything.

I'm allowed to name myself, right?

Torzeng wrote:

I'm learning how to avoid my windowed mode mis-clicks, as well as the fact that I use it for checking information on forums when I need refresher for in-game and do try to be swift.

<.<;;

I'm learning how to do it right, and only like Windowed Mode when I need it.

I know a way to avoid MC'ing in window mode, if you've rotated the camera view with the mouse wheel, then clicked the desktop, this can make you MC, so before doing that, click your portrait, or on your own char, then click the desktop, or other program, it usually stops it.

Neus Scario wrote:

I tend to do this when no one's around in town or when there's just not much going on nearby. I misclick constantly, but no one's around to see it, thankfully. Though I can understand why it might tick people off in 1 on 1 RP, provided it's not casual conversation or anything.

I'm allowed to name myself, right?

You're never really alone. The Shadowdancers see you do it.

So does Ceiling Cat.

You can avoid it by Alt+Tabbing between windows, even when you're in Windowed Mode, you know.

*Coughs* Not to encourage you to do it more. >_>

IronAngel wrote:

You can avoid it by Alt+Tabbing between windows, even when you're in Windowed Mode, you know.

*Coughs* Not to encourage you to do it more. >_>

Yeah, I do something like that, although I've found that usually just clicking the link-tab on my start bar to the open program does the trick. On rare chance it's caused my character to want to run to a boundary of the map. o.o'

I should learn zee Alt-Tab method! ... Will be tricky to train my fingers to that though, I find it really odd since I don't do typing in the proper fashion.

I play in Windowed Mode all the time, and when I do misclick, it's not because I'm returning to the window.

All I can say is "S happens." Some people fall asleep easily, some people can't fall asleep even when tired and try to kill time by playing and may fall asleep while on, Some people might be tipsy, some people might have some other personal issue like Narcolepsy, etcetera. If it happens a few times, relax. We're all human, you're not perfect either, stop taking a game so personally. If it happens nearly every time the person logs in, alright, fine, ask them about it and see why. If it's something you find "not good enough" for you, then don't RP with them anymore. Problem solved. Don't take something so petty as a personal insult.

With that said, I do know a few people who take forever to respond or fall asleep very very regularly, and yeah it can be a bit annoying. Guess what I do? If they don't answer in 2-3 minutes, I leave, no biggy, I already know they're prone to doing it. If a number of minutes later I don't get a "Sorry, I was AFK" or something to that effect, I might go by and see if they're still there in the same position. If they are, I tell a DM and the DM boots them. Problem solved.

o0GuNz_N_RoSeZ0o wrote:

If they don't answer in 2-3 minutes, I leave, no biggy, I already know they're prone to doing it. If a number of minutes later I don't get a "Sorry, I was AFK" or something to that effect, I might go by and see if they're still there in the same position. If they are, I tell a DM and the DM boots them. Problem solved.

Pretty much this.

It is only kind rude when you are RPing with someone that seems to be typing fast or responding quickly. If they are waiting like full minutes to get a response something is probably amiss.

Xaviera wrote:

o0GuNz_N_RoSeZ0o wrote:

If they don't answer in 2-3 minutes, I leave, no biggy, I already know they're prone to doing it. If a number of minutes later I don't get a "Sorry, I was AFK" or something to that effect, I might go by and see if they're still there in the same position. If they are, I tell a DM and the DM boots them. Problem solved.

Pretty much this.

It's what I do too. Though I normally send a Tell to the person saying I am going to do something else and if they really want to RP, to nudge me when they are back from their AFKness.

The "lagging while hunting" example is not so good of one. I for one try to rp as I hunt, which means I might be typing something, when suddenly everyone runs off. I'll finish typing, then run after them, and when it's reasonable to "say" what I had typed, I'll click the convo line and hit enter. Sometimes though, whatever I'd just typed out may no longer be appropriate to say, or some other response may suddenly be required, so I may not always even say what I'd just spent time typing out.

Means that it looks like I'm lagging behind, but it's really that the others are running ahead. Very annoying.

Cori wrote:

The "lagging while hunting" example is not so good of one. I for one try to rp as I hunt, which means I might be typing something, when suddenly everyone runs off. I'll finish typing, then run after them, and when it's reasonable to "say" what I had typed, I'll click the convo line and hit enter. Sometimes though, whatever I'd just typed out may no longer be appropriate to say, or some other response may suddenly be required, so I may not always even say what I'd just spent time typing out.

Means that it looks like I'm lagging behind, but it's really that the others are running ahead. Very annoying.

That kind of "lagging behind" happens to me quite often too.. however the lagging behind mentioned in earlier posts talked about people being 2 to 3 areas behind the main group.
Are they roleplaying? I doubt it.. unless they're some kind of expert(ly slow) trackers who're analizing every single detail of the tracks the group left behind.

If you stay that far behind... then you're either AFK or multitasking. You can't lag half a map, let alone 2-3 maps behind by typing.. unless you're exceptionally slow.

I multitask a lot.. sometimes I miss what people say. But my multitasking only starts when the other part takes too long to come up with a reply. There's people out there who can't play without multitasking.. and that kills the experience for those unfortunate enough to cross paths with them.

In defence of the occasionally lagging behind team, I know that I for one get periods of 30-40 seconds lag, a few seconds of it working correctly when I'm bombarded with everything that has happened, and then another 30-40 seconds, repeat ... in that time I can easily fall an area behind, especially considering it can continue until I relog (a couple of times *grumbles*), and I may not even notice that it is lagging until I finish typing.

AS for not being able to lag half a map ... 64k modem or slower.

I lack patience. >.<

I usually leave and go to do something else, unless is a friend, so I send a tell, hey dude, I am going to find something else to do. Sometimes though, there are just too many tells going on. I had to stop rp once or twice finish the tells and go back to it. Sometimes, I have to ignore the tells, is not nice, but necessary.

But, yes it is quite common.

No-one is complaining about seconds of delay in a reply.

My grudge is against huge delays of like... 5-30 minutes.

Well my proplem is that I am not very patient person. I often get something like "Hold on!"

But sometimes, mostly when there is more than three players, I get the feeling I am being ignored. No emotes or words are done so I could understand that it was a IC thing and not OOC. I also remember a few times when I had to wait couple of minutes before the answer..

the person "came back" and said: //Oh sorry what did she say??

Very.. frustrating..

Best solution, just dont rp with em but if it is a must.. Well nothimg much you can do about it, without OOC bitching, try it, its fun!! Or do something in IC like *Takes her sword and then cuts hes head off.* When he after a while comes back, just say "//Sorry.. too late, we already continued over that part."

Sorry, what was that? I tabbed out this thread two days ago and wasn't paying attention?

Please note: Attention span.

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