When is it acceptable to AFK without warning?
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Mar 6th 2008 at 1:30PM
So you're standing in Tempest Keep, preparing for your third take on Kael'thas for the night. Suddenly, you hear a loud crash in the next room, where your husband is putting your daughter to bed. Do you tell your team "GTG" and hearth, or do you run out of the room instantly and leave your character where it is? What if it's your dog and not your child? What if it's a phone call?
There's a debate on this very subject going on in the Raids and Dungeons forum. Belak of Crimson Fury asks the simple question of whether there's any way to kick a raid member who suddenly took an extended AFK for an emergency so they can get a 25th player in the instance. The forumgoers tell him that sadly, there's nothing he can do about it. Several raiders noted that they don't believe in such things as an emergency AFK without warning, noting that it takes less time to Alt-F4 than it does to get out of your headphones for Vent.
A few members with children vehemently disagreed. Relaya relayed (ha!) the story of her daughter's dresser falling over, and noted that while her daughter was not hurt, "but had she been hurt coming back to the raid to explain would not have been on my list of things to do." The debate then degenerates into "what were you doing out of the room you terrible parent/why is your kid worth more than 24 other people/none of you have any human compassion" back-and-forth, but it raises an interesting question of etiquette.
Personally, if there was a perceived danger to someone or something I loved -- a child, a partner, an animal -- I'd be ripping off my headphones and running to the danger. Knock on the door, unexpected visitor, phone call from work? I'll take the time to tell the raid what's going on. Then again, my guild has had an MT inexplicably AFK for the night during Nef attempts because of doing too much coke and drinking and falling asleep, so I'm secure in that nothing I can AFK for will be as stupid as that.
What do you think is the proper etiquette for AFKing in an emergency? What's the dumbest AFK without warning you've ever seen?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Raiding, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Theadrick Mar 6th 2008 1:42PM
Whenever I feel it is necessary.
mindflayer Mar 6th 2008 2:38PM
Our main tank went AFK suddenly in the middle of an instance. Not like him, so we pestered him, and it turned out he had to have sex with his wife since her basal temp and everything else was prime. We then pestered him for being gone for all of about 3 minutes.
Had a PUG that was going well until druid said, "SHIT" on Ventrilo. We waited and waited, and finally called it. He got back on the next day - his house had caught fire. No major damage, and he was surprisingly apologetic. Fire >>> WoW.
Atrocita Mar 6th 2008 5:37PM
We had a friend that suddenly DCed mid instance and sentence off of WoW and vent. We didn't hear from him for a good month or two until he finally posted on our guild forums.
He had a really cruddy computer and we all knew that, but apparently it had finally reached its limit. The night he DCed, he had gotten electrocuted by his mic and been in a coma in the hospital for 24 hours. Needless to say, this took his computer out of the picture. The following week, he had been partying at a friend's house and gotten pushed off a balcony (accidentally, i think) and broken his femur.
He was supposed to come back after his leg healed, but a week or two after his projected return he got in touch with us again to tell us that where he lived in Australia had been badly flooded and he'd lost whatever was in the first floor of his house. That was a month or more ago though.. we haven't heard from him since then and we hope he hasn't had any more horrible luck.
Felwrathe Mar 6th 2008 5:55PM
@Atrocita - WOW.
superfrank Mar 7th 2008 5:54AM
@Atrocita - call me a cynic but....
Thrush Mar 7th 2008 11:57AM
Agreed .. its a game. If i gotta go, I gotta go.
Atrocita Mar 7th 2008 4:33PM
I promise, its true. He was an officer and our best healer too.. he played a pally. We're a really close guild and are worried about him.
borgman Mar 6th 2008 1:43PM
dumbest: going AFK mid boss fight to get a soda.
Most acceptable: one of my group members got a call from the hospital that his father was in the hospital and it was very serious.(adult group member with elderly father)
Funniest: Arrested by the plice and afk out(its happened twice to people ive grouped with)
Milktub Mar 6th 2008 1:43PM
Going AFK is fine for any reason.
Just be prepared to be kicked and replaced if you do. And when you come back and your guild asks "Where'd you go?", the answer shouldn't be "I wanted to see if I had any Sour Cream and Onion potato chips."
Manatank Mar 6th 2008 6:20PM
What if you AFK and no one notices?
I was tanking heroic Mech about a month ago, and the second after I engaged Calculator (the last boss), the pizza guy started knocking on my front door. I wasn't going to make the pizza guy wait for me, so poped avenging wrath, burned Calculator with every bit of threat generation I had in me, and then ran for the door. I paid for my pizza, and then dashed back to my computer expecting to have to apologize for a wipe.
Much to my surprise Calculator was at 20% and still glued to me. We finished him off, and no one mentioned my absence. God bless that resto druid that kept me alive through a good 30 seconds of no holy shield. And idiots say resto druids cant heal 5-mans, bah.
Andy Mar 6th 2008 1:45PM
If it's a real emergency, screw the raid. Real life is much more important than a game. If you have time to say something fine, if not oh well.
As far as "What's the dumbest AFK without warning you've ever seen?" "Oh, sorry guys, I had to take the trash out"?
MechChef Mar 6th 2008 1:48PM
Once after downing Maulgar (sp?), I ran to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. Thinking I could save myself some time and another dirty dish, I starting warming a pyrex bowl full of liquid on the stove-top. I added dry-ingredient, which absorbed the liquid. The pyrex experienced a high thermal gradient and popped. Leaving me with glass and smoking food everywhere. Surprised it didn't catch fire. Once I had the situation basically under control, I ran back to the computer and said, "Kitchen emergency. Start without me."
It's just a game, I'm melee DPS, they'll be fine without me.
borgman Mar 6th 2008 1:48PM
the other reason i was thinking of is two that have happened to me, im a college student living in a dorm building, the fire alarm went off in the dorm so i had to leave, another time i was playing and the tornado sirens went off so i had to leave again. both times i told the group i was with in the instance that i would be back when i could but if they found someone while i was gone to replace me that they could do that.
aggromonkey Mar 6th 2008 3:10PM
"AFK - Dog on fire"
Alastren Mar 6th 2008 3:23PM
@46: there's a guild on my server called "BRB My Cat's on Fire." Best guildname ever.
Applehoof Mar 9th 2008 8:18AM
On of our dogs (Carrie) was slightly brain damaged from birth, she was lovely, but never right.
Very often she used to stand in front of the fire enjoying the heat, but with smouldering hair. If she were still with us then she'd be the one who i'd have to type that for.
KJS Mar 6th 2008 1:49PM
Bottom line is that this is a game, and RL should take priority without a doubt. If you hear a family member upstairs screaming your first thought should be stop whatever your doing on a whim, and run upstairs, not "well let stop and tell the guild I need to make an emergency AFK." If they QQ about it then they have their priorities out of whack. Like you said though, anything such as a phone call, door knock I would say something to my raid party to give them a heads up.
Helm Mar 6th 2008 1:50PM
Stuff happens that we aren't always prepared for and sometimes we need to bail on a raid or a party whether we want to or not.
I've known some hardcore gamers who stayed and played even when stuff in real life really needed the attention and not the game. (The latest one was a guy coming back from a semi afk and saying very calmly "Oh, my wife's water just broke. So you guys ready for the next pull?")
I have known raiders and party members that, while are fun and good people, have very chaotic lives in the real world and would constantly have to go AFK. If a player constantly has to go AFK, then they need to not be grouping with others because you're just going to inconvience people.
But if it's a one time deal, or very seldom a problem, I don't see the problem with it. As long as it's not a continuing trend that inconviences everyone else all the time.
Ellyndia Mar 6th 2008 1:52PM
Two of the funniest /afk excuses I've seen/used in a raid:
"AFK raccoon" (apparently a raccoon had gotten into his house)
"AFK need to find my cellphone". (Alright this wasn't funny, but it went down in my guild's history as being the stupidest reason to AFK out.)
Hoggersbud Mar 6th 2008 2:16PM
Hey, that happened to me too!