Global absences thread?

[Zhym]

Would it make sense to have a thread, not attached to any particular game, where people could announce that they'd be away from the forums for a while? Right now, we do that in each game we play in or DM. That works fine except that some of us who don't know when enough is enough need to do that in half a dozen different places (at least). Sometimes when you are going to be away you barely have time to log in and say you don't have time to make updates, let alone do it several times. Also, when people are in multiple games together, it means seeing a lot of repeated away-from-game messages. If there were one thread, we could just post there and, assuming everyone saw new posts, rely on that as notification of game absences.

What do you think?

[OGRE MAGE]

Half a dozen? HA!

This is a great idea Zhym!

[GreyWolfVT]

Great idea and ha half a dozen I have a player in mind for that reference

[Alethan]

I suppose the main argument against this would be that it puts the burden on the GM to check that thread to see if any of their players have posted an absence.

You couldn't count on just checking the name of the last person to post in that thread to see if you needed to read it; if you hadn't been on the forum for two days, there could have been multiple posters.

Just throwing out the counter-point.

[Zhym]

That's a good point. I see DM usage of that thread being on an as-needed basis. If a DM is waiting on a player, he or she could check the thread. Or, even more easily, go to the player's profile and use "Show user's posts." The top result ought to be an AFG message if there is one.

But it would be more work for DMs to see AFG notices in a global thread instead of one in his or her game.

[GreyWolfVT]

I suppose maybe like with email and "OUT OF OFFICE" status for players maybe? Except call it vacation mode or i d k something that indicates to other players and DM's that the person is out and won't be returning until specified time or something. But yes the counter point makes sense as well.

[Alethan]

That's a good point. I see DM usage of that thread being on an as-needed basis. If a DM is waiting on a player, he or she could check the thread. Or, even more easily, go to the player's profile and use "Show user's posts." The top result ought to be an AFG message if there is one.

But it would be more work for DMs to see AFG notices in a global thread instead of one in his or her game.

All of those options put the onus on the GM to figure out something that the player is responsible for doing.

Again, just offering a counterpoint.

Ultimately, it would be up to the GMs of all the games you participate in. If they are willing to check threads and user posts every time they're waiting for a player to respond, then it might work. But there could be GMs out there who expect the player to post the appropriate message in their game thread.

[AleBelly]

I wonder if we couldn't do something with our avatar to show that we're out. And in the crudest implementation, the admins wouldn't need to change anything. Just make a .jpg or .png that says AFK until xx/xx and use that until you return from vacation.

Edit: Or, I'm wondering if it's possible to put a list of those AFK near the bottom of the home page where the "currently online" section is. The GM wouldn't have to click on a thread and the information would be readily available.

[Zhym]

Interesting idea. An even better implementation, IMO, would be to have an "away from table" field in the profile that could be displayed with all the other stuff in the right hand pane of a message with the time zone, real name, etc. But I'm guessing that's more work than creating a thread.

[Zhym]

Or when players are going to be away for a while, they could just set their signatures to contain a message to that effect.

[ToniXX]

r, I'm wondering if it's possible to put a list of those AFK near the bottom of the home page where the "currently online" section is. The GM wouldn't have to click on a thread and the information would be readily available.

This would require special coding, changing the forum code itself. It's an option, but not an easy one.

An even better implementation, IMO, would be to have an "away from table" field in the profile that could be displayed with all the other stuff in the right hand pane of a message with the time zone, real name, etc. But I'm guessing that's more work than creating a thread.

Or when players are going to be away for a while, they could just set their signatures to contain a message to that effect.

These are both good ideas, and I may try implementing the first one. It should be pretty easy.

[Inferno]

Or when players are going to be away for a while, they could just set their signatures to contain a message to that effect.

Great idea.