[Suggestion] Do not auto-idle people while writing

Bugs & Features
#1

A very simple thought: When doing more long-form in-depth paragraph back and forth RP with someone it’s quite easy to hit the 10 minute idle timeout consistently. Just taking 5-7 minutes between replies is already enough to cause it to trigger sometimes.

The suggestion is that actively editing the command input box, maybe with some minimum amount of text already there - 100 characters or something, should cause the player currently busy writing to not be marked idle (yellow). This would have a two-fold benefit:

  1. The player writing the message does not get pressured into wrapping up in haste or erasing to send an OOC ping to let the other player know they’re still writing.
  2. The player waiting for the response can trust a bit more that their partner is actually writing something and hasn’t gone actually idle, so they don’t need to start getting worried quite so soon.

Just touching the box should probably not un-idle an already idled player since it might be an accident, but it should keep a player from being turned idle.

#2

I like this idea and think they could just add a x is typing thing under their little avatar thing in the ‘In Room’ section. Or even just some dots on the side of the place like when they’re looking at your profile and have the yellow bar. This has probably been suggested before, but it’s just an idea I’ve had.

#3

Though I completely understand and do not at all want to poo-poo the intent of the original poster, I have to drop into this thread to express how much I don’t want people to know when I’m typing. Getting de-idled while writing a post over a certain length would be workable, but actively knowing when I’m typing would squick me; I’ve disabled it in every messaging app I’ve ever used that would allow it. :stuck_out_tongue:

3 Likes
#4

Fair maybe like other apps it’s an opt in type of thing then. I didn’t think that people wouldn’t want others to know when and if they’re typing.

#5

Yeah, this is why I personally added the part that a player that is already idle should not have their status changed by any of this. Only when you’re actively writing, it should keep you from being turned to idle. And if you stop typing for… a few minutes or so at most, then of course it should still work as usual.

I can see opt-in real-time typing state displays being useful, but there’s situations in which that’s not the intended communication… you’re typing to someone not in the room, etc. So definitely should be opt-in if that part is added.

1 Like
#6

Admittedly I do get a little irritated by being switched to idle while I’m typing, though in reality it’s only a cosmetic thing. If your roleplay partner took 8 minutes to send you a message and then you went idle because you took over 2 minutes writing a reply they’re not going to think “I guess they’re gone, I’m leaving.” Unless the encounter has just started, they should already have a feel of what pacing they should be expecting and I don’t think an idle indicator will be weighing into their decision.

As for the suggestion, simply having the text box active or with words in it probably isn’t really a reliable indicator - if I’ve fallen asleep at my keyboard I’ve probably started typing a response and fallen asleep mid-way through. Another layer of complexity would likely need to be added like yet another timer, with the time since the last text was input to prevent people becoming indefinitely active.

The typing indicator has already been discussed more extensively at So And So Is Typing…? (and a few other threads)

1 Like
#7

I have been in quite a few plays where the pacing is not consistent or the scenario changes enough that the pacing changes a lot. Short to long and back to short again. This happens in public ad-hoc scenes especially. And surprisingly often, I have gotten the “Still here?” a minute or so into being marked idle. While typing.

Just having the text box active is not enough and just having some content is not enough. Like I suggested the key is actively editing the contents. The further technical details of the implementation are kind of beyond the scope of whether the feature is good or not.

#8

I think the real key is for people to have patience with others who may be idle a little bit and if you get a ‘still there’ to use the buffer and politely reply ‘yes, I am busy typing’ before going back to what you were doing.

For those that are concerned about going idle, you do have the option of clicking on your portrait in the ‘room info’ section which will refresh your idle timer and mark you as active. You can even do this while you have text in the entry box when on a computer.

1 Like
#9

I don’t know if we have the means to patch people to increase their patience values, but we for sure do have access to change the system to require less obscure tricks and magic incantations to not trigger people. If you have the means to inject more patience into people en masse, I’m all open for that as a solution too. :slight_smile:

#10

I usually just click my name in the side panel to un-idle myself without mussing up my text box. I personally don’t mind if people know I’m typing or not, as I normally post OOC if I’m stepping away for a minute or two. I know some people type posts off-program, too. I use to be one of them. :stuck_out_tongue:

#11

My suggestion: If the input box contains a messaging command like Page or Whisper or Address and the name of a character who is awake, and that person has been delivered a page from the sender during this session: While the sender is typing, put a notice on their user placard in the user list that says “Typing…” unless they stop sending input for 10 seconds. Offer a feature to excuse this typing message if the person is muted (but don’t make it mandatory). Offer a feature to disable the typing indicator on the sender side, and make it so that if someone disables sending the typing hint, it also disables receiving typing hints for that user.

This is how all other messaging apps handle it (Telegram, Discord, etc).

#12

I’ve read through all the discussion.
And while ... is typing can be more controversial, the feature suggested by @Kelmi isn’t really a problem.

The purpose of the status colors is to tell others if they can expect anything from you. And you turning idle/yellow while you are actively typing surely gives the wrong signal.

So, I suggest this:

Whenever you type anything in the input console, the client might send a “active” signal to the server to reset the 15 minute idle timer, if and only if all of the following conditions are met:

  • The character is currently having the active/white status
  • Last active signal was sent more than 10 minutes ago

The 10 min cooldown will prevent clients from spamming the server every time you make a keypress. But it also means that, if you type for 9 minutes, and then end going AFK, you will still end up going idle/yellow after the remaining 6 minutes has passed.

And if you happen to go idle/yellow, no signal will be sent at all, so that you will remain in the idle status until you post your message. This is to prevent others to see when you start typing.

Would that be what you are after, @Kelmi?

4 Likes