The Dilemma of Booting

No one likes to be booted.
Once we do, we start jumping to conclusions (most likely not good ones) about the person who booted us.

Not to make booting a more of a hassle (such as a vote kick or reason typing etc.)

How about we have a list of reasons you must choose prior booting?
Such as. 1. Personal Preference 2. Low Level.. etc..
This would most likely help the person who got booted understand instead of creating hate! :)

(Please note: I'm aware this suggestion has been brought up before, but the thread has been lost and I haven't seen a response from a dev regarding the matter. I added additional helpful reasons in implementing this)

If I have to boot someone I send them a message just before I boot them telling them why I booted them. Most likely it's because they are too low level for the rest of the group.

most of the time i boot ppl is when im saving a spot !

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Originally Posted by Invictus

If I have to boot someone I send them a message just before I boot them telling them why I booted them. Most likely it's because they are too low level for the rest of the group.

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Yeah, I do that too. "You're a lvl 16 in the Swamps?" BOOT.

This problem is more a matter of etiquette than anything else. It's simply rude to boot someone without giving the boot-ee the courtesy of an explanation. Because it's an etiquette problem, I don't think that a technical fix is really necessary. People just need to be a bit more polite before they boot folks.

If we are going to have a technical fix, I'd like to see a multiple choice option for booting, such as:

• too low-level for the map
• saving a spot for a friend
• this party was meant to be invitation-only
• no reason at all / prefer not to say

Tap the Boot button, choose your reason, and there ya go. Now the boot-ee knows why he or she was booted.

I have an idea, just deal with it. Odds are its nothing personal the group leader just doesn't want a Fifth wheel. Don't beat yourself over this online rejection, I don't want 5 different buttons there to re assure the guy i booted, i still like him. If you don't want your feelings hurt, Mmo might not be your thing.

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Originally Posted by SlipperyJim

Yeah, I do that too. "You're a lvl 16 in the Swamps?" BOOT.

This problem is more a matter of etiquette than anything else. It's simply rude to boot someone without giving the boot-ee the courtesy of an explanation. Because it's an etiquette problem, I don't think that a technical fix is really necessary. People just need to be a bit more polite before they boot folks.

If we are going to have a technical fix, I'd like to see a multiple choice option for booting, such as:

• too low-level for the map
• saving a spot for a friend
• this party was meant to be invitation-only
• no reason at all / prefer not to say

Tap the Boot button, choose your reason, and there ya go. Now the boot-ee knows why he or she was booted.

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Add our ideas to your thread. Mine are (including other people's ideas):

• Certain class/classes only.
• Certain level only.
• Certain amount only.
• Your too low level.
• Your too high level.
• Saving a spot for friend.
• Personal Preference.
• No reason/rather not say.
• Other.

Tap the Boot button, choose your reasons by checking the boxes next to the reasons, and there you go.
Also there doesn't need to be a confirmation screen on booting, since the "choosing a reason" would be sort of like a confirmation screen.

P.S. Feel free to add, replace, change, and take out things to my list. Just do so by sending me a PM or posting here.

Please lets not crowd our already limited space, with something that's not necessary.

While I get VERY annoyed when I am booted without being given a reason, I don't think the developers should spend a whole lot of time working on this. But people, PLEASE give a reason before booting. And if you're playing with set spots then use a password.

Well, another reason I'm suggesting this is because we have a small community.
I don't want to see future problems with our current booting system. Such as abuse or "Omg, "name here" boots everyone. Don't play with him!" type of thing.
Maybe adding this will create less of a tension when booting.

This is different from online rejection.
When someone is booted, they are interrupted and the feeling that someone threw them back to the main menu is not so great.
Anyways, the first thing they look for (in most cases) is the REASON for being booted! Otherwise, when people just boot without reason, it can potentially damage their reputation.

I get booted all the time. Can't be so shaken up about it. Booters have their reasons. For me, I'm lvl 35 with a lot of the high end gear... often times I'm booted from farming groups because they don't want to share. Other times, I join a game via the 'Friend Tab' and get booted because that game actually had a lock on it that was avioded.

Ok, this is a valid point, but players should worry about their own reputation and manage it themselves. If a player boots me without giving a reason then I am not going to like them, especially if I notice them doing it to me multiple times. But, if they say "Hey, I'm really sorry but we're playing with set spots" then I'll say "Ok, use a password next time, but no problem I'll leave". No hard feelings there.

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Originally Posted by nerdherd

Ok, this is a valid point, but players should worry about their own reputation and manage it themselves. If a player boots me without giving a reason then I am not going to like them, especially if I notice them doing it to me multiple times. But, if they say "Hey, I'm really sorry but we're playing with set spots" then I'll say "Ok, use a password next time, but no problem I'll leave". No hard feelings there.

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Yea, the second outcome is much better than the first. This is what I was thinking it should be like.

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I get booted all the time. Can't be so shaken up about it. Booters have their reasons

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Couldn't agree more, as the community grows and evolves social fopa will develop. Do we really want developers telling us how to communicate?

When you click boot, it would just pop up a screen with a list a reasons, then you click one, then he is booted and you are back to playing the game, it won't crowd the screen.

Personally, a "reason to boot" interface would save me some time. I was hosting a Lost Expedition game this afternoon (getting XP for my Enchantress), and a number of mid-teens characters kept joining. Over and over, I typed "come back at lvl 20" and then hit the Boot button. Each Boot took a while. Frankly, the PL chat interface is slow & awkward. If I could just send a canned message with my Boot, then it would be a much more efficient method of controlling the game.

Frankly, if the Devs would provide such an interface, I think most people would use it. You're talking about one extra click to clarify why you're giving someone the Boot. That's not a lot, and it's a whole lot faster than our current option.

On the other hand, the boot-ee can also take matters into his/her own hands. I noticed that a particular player who is active on the forums (name withheld) kept booting me from his games. So I sent him a PM (via the forums) to ask why. He explained that he was farming with guildmates, and no offense was intended. Mystery solved. No hard feelings!

On the other (other) hand, many players won't be active in the forums. So I'm back to looking for an in-game option to communicate....

Aren't they going to be adding a level restriction option for new games sometime soon? (I seem to remember this being mentioned somewhere I just can't recall) That would help with that particular issue. Also, I find that since the looting system was redone, and loot is now independently calculated, it really doesn't bother me when some under-leveled players join me as much. They aren't going to "steal" a good drop from me, and since XP is upped when you're playing with a group (I haven't done any testing/calculations so I don't know how much) I don't mind it as much. That being said, if my team gets full and it's me + four level 10s then I might start kicking.

Don't get me wrong, I think a simple popup with a few options like "Level too low", "Playing with a set team", "Want to play solo", etc would be a fine thing to implement. I'm just saying that I'd rather see development efforts put elsewhere at this point.

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Don't get me wrong, I think a simple popup with a few options like "Level too low", "Playing with a set team", "Want to play solo", etc would be a fine thing to implement. I'm just saying that I'd rather see development efforts put elsewhere at this point.

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/Nod
Plus why is a explanation necessary, just deal and move on.

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Originally Posted by Leach

/Nod
Plus why is a explanation necessary, just deal and move on.

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No explanation is necessary, but explaining is a good thing. The people who are being booted are real people, not bots, and they have real feelings. Those feelings can be hurt by non-communicative booting....

"Just deal and move on," isn't a particularly good argument because it's too broad. Let me give you a few examples:

• Don't like profanity in your games? Just deal and move on.
• Got cheated out of a pink item by a scammer? Just deal and move on.
• Don't like games with offensive names? Just deal and move on.

In each of these cases, the Devs took some sort of action to protect people's feelings. It wasn't always the same action, but some action was taken each time.

Part of playing an MMORPG is the community. When people act like antisocial twits, that community can be harmed. In this specific case, being booted without a reason makes the boot-er look like an antisocial twit. However, in the majority of cases, I believe that boot-ers would explain the reason for the boot if they had a convenient way to do so. They're not actually antisocial twits. Let's encourage the Devs to give them a convenient way to explain the boots, so that nobody has to appear to be an antisocial twit.

I think a list of reasons and the ability to choose one when booting is a good idea. Although, I think the reasons need to include more than just the polite "Oh so sorry dear, you aren't a high enough level" since sometimes people are not nice and that's the cause of booting. If I join a game and there's all the sexual stuff in conversation, I just politely leave. It's not my game, and others may be fine with it. In my own hosted games, I've only booted twice. Once for a person who came in each room but stayed on the edge to get XP points which not fighting. They did this for one entire lvl so I booted them. The other time I booted someone was a person who ran into the haystack room w all the chests alone which we were all fighting. The first time I thought maybe it was an accident. But the second time, I booted them.

So... I think there needs to be a "You were booted for unsportsmanlike behavior" in the reasons for booting list. No need to explain further as I'm sure the bootee will know what behavior was unsportsmanlike...

Truthfully I think this is a little to complicated. If I'm in battle, I don't want to scroll through menus to boot someone. While it is nice to let someone know why you booted, this isn't something that has to be done. Like someone already said it's a courtesy thing.

True... What if there was a tiny quick menu that showed up with the reasons, short and succinct, on the page with the boot? And the menu of reasons doesn't have to be used but can be utilized if one wishes to provide feedback to the bootee?

I personally never boot anyone, if they choose to enter the swamps at low levels then they accept the fact that they will die alot. I will on the other hand ask politely for a person to leave if they are just standing there stealing exp and gold, if they choose to remain then they won't be healed or revived. Your ideas for a quick message interface is a very good idea though.