2020-06-09 21:38
#0
From time to time I see complaints from players on the Forums about Ghost and Hidden EJs Cams.
If my memory still serves me, I think I remember this issue being lamented to the Developers also in a past Meet and Greet...., maybe even in more then 1 ?
How about to finally stop the ability to use Ghost and Hidden EJ Cams in such an unfair and unbalancing way ?
Yes, supposedly the Exorcism spell should rid of Ghosts but, unfortunately, it only works (when and if it works, as I understand it not always functions effectively.....) in very limited and restricted Champion Spawn regions which it means, that having these Cams sitting in other places where they can still monitor players' activity, they cannot be countered in any way....
Not to mention, EJ hidden characters which are not subject at all to the Exorcism spell and, thus, can freely be used by the numbers (they are free, no charge to use them....) to report to their controllers any and all players activities in a given area...
Yes, in theory players with Tracking and Detect Hidden could detect such hidden EJ characters but let's be realistic, how many players really go around playing all the time checking an area every 10 tiles or so should there be hidden EJ characters there ?
Gameplay would take forever if one was to have to double check any and all areas that they go to play to, all over the place....since EJ hidden characters could have been placed anywhere to monitor the activity in that area.
Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that this monitoring should not be possible at all, if a player on a subscribed, paid account wants to pass their in game time watching a given spawn in case someone shows up I am ok with it, but only as long as they pay for that account AND they actually use their time in the game, actively, to do such moitoring....
What I have a problem with, is when accounts not subscribed are used and/or the player is not actively using their in game time to do such monitoring activity because scripted Cams are used....
What I am trying to say is that, to my opinion, such monitoring activity should REQUIRE subscribed accounts (not free EJ ones, at least players would have to pay to do such monitoring....) AND, also, the character there should actually be actively controlled by the player spending 100% of their playing time to stay at the keyboard to check that Cam, continuously, and not that Cam be possible to be used with scripts and AFK as I imagine these Cams could be used as, while the controller does something else whether in the game or out of it, and only when they get reported by the Cam any activity in the surroundings of a Ghost or Hidden EJ Cam because the AFK script reports such activity to them, they then decide what action they want to take in that regards.
To my viewing, fixing the use of Ghost Cams could really be rather easy.... as we all know, it ain't possible to play UO as a Ghost.... to get anything done, one has to be alive in the game, pretty much.
This means that, to my viewing,an account should be automatically suspended and require GM Supervision if, even intermittedly, during 24 hours that account is detected as having a Ghost online for more then 10 minutes. Yes, having an account have a Ghost logged for more then 10 minutes (even interruptedly, not necessarily continuosly), should to my opinion flag and suspend that account.
Even if one was to die multiple times in a day, considering the short times to resurrect, it only gets one to stay a Ghost a few seconds before they get resurrected by a fellow player, find a healer or a Shrine.
So, 10 minutes in 24 hours should be plenty allowance for an account to stay as Ghost. Past that, the account would get suspended automatically and need a GM to review the extended use of a Ghost character in game before the account is reactivated. If that account is found to be used for scripted, Ghost Cam reporting, then the account would get perma banned.
Hidden EJ Cams I guess would be a more difficult thing to tackle as actively playing an EJ character that is hidden and perhaps also stealthing is, of course, a legittimate thing.
Yet, if they are used scripted and perhaps AFK to report activity in the area in which they are located to their controllers, that would be, to my understanding, against the TOS and thus sanctionable.
But how to find that out and thus stop such an abuse, if any ?
One starting way could be some automated monitoring of characters from the servers when they sit moreless in the same given area, hidden and/or stealthing, doing basically nothing or hardly anything for extended times.
Sure, a player might sit in a given area even for hours for farming purposes but they actually "do" something there like fight spawning characters, mine, chop woods etc., all activities which "reveal" the character.
A character staying in the same given area, hidden, or at most stealthing around for more then a few minutes, should ring some bells about the why it really is there and to do what, and possible actions against it could be the suspention of the account pending a review by a GM, if the server detects such a character to stay hidden and/or stealthing in a given, limited area, for longer that, say, 15 or 20 minutes even when coming out of hiding now and then....
Yes, I know that many players often play as hidden like tamers or others but, as I said, their pet would still interact with the surroundings and thus not flag their account for suspicious Hidden EJ Cam activity...
The entire point of an Hidden EJ Cam is not to be seen because if it is, its presence is of course reported to others in the area. So, even if the script was to now and then take the Hidden EJ character out of hiding not to have it flagged by the server and have the account automatically suspended pending GM reviewing, such breaking of the hiding would highly put that EJ Cam at risk of being seen by others in the area and, thus, make its use pointless as a reporting Hidden EJ Cam......
What my point is, that I think that there can be solutions that can be found towards getting rid for good of Ghost Cams and Hidden EJs Cams, then why I keep seeing players on the Forums now and then lamenting about them ?
Why cannot they be addressed for good, once and for all, with a solution that was to deal with them permanently, making their use no longer possible or viable ?
If my memory still serves me, I think I remember this issue being lamented to the Developers also in a past Meet and Greet...., maybe even in more then 1 ?
How about to finally stop the ability to use Ghost and Hidden EJ Cams in such an unfair and unbalancing way ?
Yes, supposedly the Exorcism spell should rid of Ghosts but, unfortunately, it only works (when and if it works, as I understand it not always functions effectively.....) in very limited and restricted Champion Spawn regions which it means, that having these Cams sitting in other places where they can still monitor players' activity, they cannot be countered in any way....
Not to mention, EJ hidden characters which are not subject at all to the Exorcism spell and, thus, can freely be used by the numbers (they are free, no charge to use them....) to report to their controllers any and all players activities in a given area...
Yes, in theory players with Tracking and Detect Hidden could detect such hidden EJ characters but let's be realistic, how many players really go around playing all the time checking an area every 10 tiles or so should there be hidden EJ characters there ?
Gameplay would take forever if one was to have to double check any and all areas that they go to play to, all over the place....since EJ hidden characters could have been placed anywhere to monitor the activity in that area.
Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that this monitoring should not be possible at all, if a player on a subscribed, paid account wants to pass their in game time watching a given spawn in case someone shows up I am ok with it, but only as long as they pay for that account AND they actually use their time in the game, actively, to do such moitoring....
What I have a problem with, is when accounts not subscribed are used and/or the player is not actively using their in game time to do such monitoring activity because scripted Cams are used....
What I am trying to say is that, to my opinion, such monitoring activity should REQUIRE subscribed accounts (not free EJ ones, at least players would have to pay to do such monitoring....) AND, also, the character there should actually be actively controlled by the player spending 100% of their playing time to stay at the keyboard to check that Cam, continuously, and not that Cam be possible to be used with scripts and AFK as I imagine these Cams could be used as, while the controller does something else whether in the game or out of it, and only when they get reported by the Cam any activity in the surroundings of a Ghost or Hidden EJ Cam because the AFK script reports such activity to them, they then decide what action they want to take in that regards.
To my viewing, fixing the use of Ghost Cams could really be rather easy.... as we all know, it ain't possible to play UO as a Ghost.... to get anything done, one has to be alive in the game, pretty much.
This means that, to my viewing,an account should be automatically suspended and require GM Supervision if, even intermittedly, during 24 hours that account is detected as having a Ghost online for more then 10 minutes. Yes, having an account have a Ghost logged for more then 10 minutes (even interruptedly, not necessarily continuosly), should to my opinion flag and suspend that account.
Even if one was to die multiple times in a day, considering the short times to resurrect, it only gets one to stay a Ghost a few seconds before they get resurrected by a fellow player, find a healer or a Shrine.
So, 10 minutes in 24 hours should be plenty allowance for an account to stay as Ghost. Past that, the account would get suspended automatically and need a GM to review the extended use of a Ghost character in game before the account is reactivated. If that account is found to be used for scripted, Ghost Cam reporting, then the account would get perma banned.
Hidden EJ Cams I guess would be a more difficult thing to tackle as actively playing an EJ character that is hidden and perhaps also stealthing is, of course, a legittimate thing.
Yet, if they are used scripted and perhaps AFK to report activity in the area in which they are located to their controllers, that would be, to my understanding, against the TOS and thus sanctionable.
But how to find that out and thus stop such an abuse, if any ?
One starting way could be some automated monitoring of characters from the servers when they sit moreless in the same given area, hidden and/or stealthing, doing basically nothing or hardly anything for extended times.
Sure, a player might sit in a given area even for hours for farming purposes but they actually "do" something there like fight spawning characters, mine, chop woods etc., all activities which "reveal" the character.
A character staying in the same given area, hidden, or at most stealthing around for more then a few minutes, should ring some bells about the why it really is there and to do what, and possible actions against it could be the suspention of the account pending a review by a GM, if the server detects such a character to stay hidden and/or stealthing in a given, limited area, for longer that, say, 15 or 20 minutes even when coming out of hiding now and then....
Yes, I know that many players often play as hidden like tamers or others but, as I said, their pet would still interact with the surroundings and thus not flag their account for suspicious Hidden EJ Cam activity...
The entire point of an Hidden EJ Cam is not to be seen because if it is, its presence is of course reported to others in the area. So, even if the script was to now and then take the Hidden EJ character out of hiding not to have it flagged by the server and have the account automatically suspended pending GM reviewing, such breaking of the hiding would highly put that EJ Cam at risk of being seen by others in the area and, thus, make its use pointless as a reporting Hidden EJ Cam......
What my point is, that I think that there can be solutions that can be found towards getting rid for good of Ghost Cams and Hidden EJs Cams, then why I keep seeing players on the Forums now and then lamenting about them ?
Why cannot they be addressed for good, once and for all, with a solution that was to deal with them permanently, making their use no longer possible or viable ?