+1 for the basic idea.
Long time inactives gets annoying for the very active players and only very few players have the courtesy to write on their profile if they are away for a longer period of time of if they have choosen to quit the game.
Someone suggested about 2 month of inactivity - that seams like a fair time if a player has not played once in 60 days.
A few ideas:
- Perhaps a simple small red · dot could be shown on the player icon, for longer term inactivity. Goes aways when the player revisits.
- Perhaps two special Icons could be made for the Achievements Icons - adding a Temporary Away and a Inactive.
That would make it easier for the player to show their status and visually easy to check/see for the players visiting.
I have played this game for years now and often I write players on freind lists and ask if they still are active - That is seldomly answered.
Either the player has quit or is temporary inactive for RL or the player might simply have missed the message, due to the rather short post thread window.
In either case that sort of micro management with an already click heavy game is not really optimal.
I do understand that showing inactive players might send the wrong signal about the games popularity, but it must possible to find a mendable way for this.
I am sure that the devs has good stats on entry level players vs medium and top end players. Adjusting the Inactive Time Perimeter for the various player segments/types could help manage this challenge in a way that FoE does not scare new members away, while at the same time not making "old" players annoyed about managin inactive players.
