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Lockout function on an mmo.
Patere
Member Posts: 7
I came accros a Swedish community, helgon.net, that had a lockout function for the members.
The reason was that if you feel that you are to drunk or angry to maybe write something that youll regret when you calm down/sober up u can select from a drop down how many hours you want to be locked out, typ your password and then the site locks your account and you will be unable to log in again for the selected time period.
I felt, after playing EvE for 16 hours straight when I should have visited the gym and gone grossery shoping, that this might be a good idea for an MMO. Too keep you from logging in when you should be doing homework, work, cooking, loving..... etc.
What do you think?
Comments
No thanks, I like playing long times in MMOs, and I LOVE playing drunk.
- CaesarsGhost
Lead Gameplay and Gameworld Designer for a yet unnamed MMO Title.
"When people tell me designing a game is easy, I try to get them to design a board game. Most people don't last 5 minutes, the rest rarely last more then a day. The final few realize it's neither fun nor easy."
Thought I would throw my two cents into the hat on this. I like the "Lockout" idea from the viewpoint of a parent, I also am a gamer, and have been for many many years, so I know how time consuming they can be and the tendency to make time fly "when you're having fun". To be able to set it up to say "Ok, no playing from X:00 - X:00 so you can do your homwork" is a great idea, or to limit the play to only X number of hours during weeknights. I am more a fan to give parents tools to help with regulating their childs video game activity then for people to do it for us. Will I ever use it to regulate my own play time? Proberbly not. Should I? Most defanitly.
Playing:I can't say
Waiting:Tabula Rasa
Played:M59,UO,EQ,AO,SWG,L2,CoX
SB,EQ2,WoW,VG:SoH,GW,AC,AC2,
DAoC,DDO,DR,EVE,FFXI,PSO,RO,
RFO,RoE,MxO,H:EoI,N2,Imagine
My idea is to be able to lock yourself out, not someone else.
This so that you can make time to do the things you need to do but tend to neglect because gaming is so much more fun.
I actually love this idea. As someone who can sometimes get distracted when I have homework to do and deadlines to meet. It also doesn't help that nowadays everything is done on your computer. Even if it's only for a couple of hours this could really help focuses someone on doing what's important.
Agree with most posters, it's great for parents, not so great for yourself. The great thing about a lock out, is you can lock out your kid from his or her account, and he or she can't even play at someone elses house. Right now, your kid could say he's going to a friends house to do homework, then just log on using the account name and password, and play some more. So a lock out is great.
Locking yourself out? Why would I stop myself from playing drunk? Why would an adult play an MMORPG sober for that matter?
Absinthe Lovers
Exercise your willpower. If your real life is turning to crap because you have a problem, learn to recognize that problem. I’ve never had a problem enjoying a game, going out with my girl, doing my work and taking care of all other aspects of real life and having a social life – Just use common sense. Parental lock out makes GREAT sense, but for older players who have this problem here’s my suggestion:
Sign up for a rehab program where if you don’t take care of your real life, a big mean man shows up to smack the crap out of you until you stop being a basement dwelling loser [no offense but seriously now…] and get your shit sorted out. It’s a game. Enjoy it, have fun with it but remember you have your real life to live. When you’re on your deathbed, do you want y our flashback to be a gag reel of MMO MOMENTS? I hope not.
BOYCOTTING EA / ORIGIN going forward.
Yes as far as parents locking out their child for x amount of hours during the week
YES as far as myself, being a university student studding in graphic animation...
ugh how many times did i say "oh ill just log on and check out how they made the grass move or what textures do they use for the tree trunk?" and i end up 5 hours later " ok one more quest and then back to work" 3 more hours " ok i think its time to bed...hum.... let me rephrase that... its time to go to class... where is my barrel of coffee?"
If you don't want to do your homework, you'll find other things to do besides play an MMORPG. If you lock yourself out of playing an MMORPG it won't make you do something you should be doing, you'll just find something else to do that you shouldn't be doing. Now you'll need to lock yourself out of the TV, surfing the net, downloading MP3's, and so on. HOw are you going to lock yourself out of reading a Sci Fi or Fantasy book when you should be doing your homework?
seriously good point. but the reason to lock out MMORPG is because it has become an addiction. notice if you start it you could easely play for 2-5 hours straight. as if you surf the net or watch tv, shows usually last 30 -1 hour so you see the time go buy
what i have noticed, specially (but not only) WoW has become " biggest daycare in the world" not trying to offend anyone here. so highschool/elementary school (and even college) i rather see them reading a book instead of their homework rather than playing WoW instead of homework.
My idea is just to be able to lock your account for a few hours so that u can get your homework done or go to the store. A lock out function of that kind would not be very effektive against a full fledged MMO-addiction.
Speking for my self, I can usualy get my shit together and steer my self away from the tv or the vacum cleaner and do my homework but the computer, wow and Eve are mutch harder to stay away from.
I need the opposite utility, a timer that reminds me that I am paying for a subscription to a game I could be playing and then forces me to play.
Some of my kids used to play MMOs, but at this point, none of them have any interest in them whatsoever.
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This is where I draw the line: __________________.