Why do some people stay on 24/7 mostly AFK?

[Titan]

I'm curious because I think it wears on your PC and is quite costly for your electric bill to have your digital character sit still for hours or even days.

[str898mustang]

I always leave my PC on. I've heard both stories on how leaving your PC is bad for it and shutting down your PC is bad for it (mainly the start up). It doesn't hurt it though. I've always left my PC on unless I'm going out of town. My electric bill is only like $70 a month so it's no biggie.

Reason I stay logged in almost 24/7 is it's there and ready for me to play when I want to.

[Red*]

same reason

[DeathDragon2332]

Yep same I Leave mine on hibernate so once I open it. Its right there.

[darkante]

It hardly makes any difference for my bill.
But i do turn off things when i´m not using it.

[Nel]

I am never afk (exceptions happen)
I always turn things off when i am not using it... (edit: Since it not even takes 2 minutes and i am ready to play psu lolz.. leaving it on 24/7 just because i don't want to wait 2 or 3 minutes? Funny!)

Otherwise it would be like leaving on your light when leaving a room. Wasteful (edit: I pay 150 dollars a YEAR for my electric bill 70$ a month is crazy!!)

but the americans are good in wasting resources aren't they? lol i don't want to address certain people here

[Recon Tactical]

It's a lot worse on the 360. You see people who leave their console on for days on end and don't move from a single spot. Makes me wonder why they even have the game. If they're not making pitiful sexual innuendos, puns and whatnot, they're away from their console doing who gives a fuck what.

[darkante]

I fail to see the point either, but i´m not the one to judge.

[pikachief]

It's a lot worse on the 360. You see people who leave their console on for days on end and don't move from a single spot. Makes me wonder why they even have the game. If they're not making pitiful sexual innuendos, puns and whatnot, they're away from their console doing who gives a fuck what.

i had a friend who left his xbox on for months at a time :P he didn't AFK too much though, if he did it was in his room or he fell asleep doing a mission or he was spell leveling. Whenever he was done for PSU he went to the dashboard but he didn't turn it off :)

Somehow his xbox never got red rings of death and never overheated lol

[Ryno]

some of them stay AFK 24/7 to get attention. just like the ones on 4th floor

[TheAstarion]

i had a friend who left his xbox on for months at a time :P he didn't AFK too much though, if he did it was in his room or he fell asleep doing a mission or he was spell leveling. Whenever he was done for PSU he went to the dashboard but he didn't turn it off :)

Somehow his xbox never got red rings of death and never overheated lol

A friend of mine would leave his (out-of-warranty, old-ass broken) xbox on for weeks whenever he could, because he had to use the towel method to get it to turn on. Once it was running, it was fine, but it'd take about 4 hours to get it ready for that state.

As for the PC, I play my laptop lying down, sometimes for a lot longer than I should, and end up qwertyfacing sometimes. It happens.

[Keilyn]

I always leave my PC on. I've heard both stories on how leaving your PC is bad for it and shutting down your PC is bad for it (mainly the start up). It doesn't hurt it though. I've always left my PC on unless I'm going out of town. My electric bill is only like $70 a month so it's no biggie.

Reason I stay logged in almost 24/7 is it's there and ready for me to play when I want to.

This used to be true, but no longer.

I'd fully explain why, but you don't like my wall of text posts.

Please reply with a link to some "site" making claims, I'll reply by telling you I have a masters degree in computer sciences and have owned and operated a business of fixing and repairing computers for over 10 years.

[str898mustang]

This used to be true, but no longer.

I'd fully explain why, but you don't like my wall of text posts.

Please reply with a link to some "site" making claims, I'll reply by telling you I have a masters degree in computer sciences and have owned and operated a business of fixing and repairing computers for over 10 years.

Congrats? It really just depends on the computer. You may get a lemon, you may get a computer that never goes bad(had a PC that was 10 years old and never had a problem with it, an old Gateway). Then you have the PCs thatr fall in the middle. Even if a part were to go bad, computer parts aren't expensive anyways plus that gives you the option to upgrade the PC. You cant predict what a PC is going to do.

[DoubleJG]

some of them stay AFK 24/7 to get attention. just like the ones on 4th floor

4th floor was always bumpin' back in the day. Not sure how active it is on the 360 these days, but you could always count on finding an interesting personality up there. :)

[StriderTuna]

i had a friend who left his xbox on for months at a time :P he didn't AFK too much though, if he did it was in his room or he fell asleep doing a mission or he was spell leveling. Whenever he was done for PSU he went to the dashboard but he didn't turn it off :)

Somehow his xbox never got red rings of death and never overheated lol

His must have been in a well ventilated area and/or he didn't over-work it (CoD gamefests) as I heard the RRoD is caused by overheating issues, often caused by folks sticking it in poorly ventilated places.

[unicorn]

I actually dont like to stay AFK too long because I want my play hours to be the hours I'm PLAYING.

Plus, if you send a message to someone AFK, you hope they get it. But sometimes they might lag out/dc and you'll never get a response.

[Keilyn]

Congrats? It really just depends on the computer. You may get a lemon, you may get a computer that never goes bad(had a PC that was 10 years old and never had a problem with it, an old Gateway). Then you have the PCs thatr fall in the middle. Even if a part were to go bad, computer parts aren't expensive anyways plus that gives you the option to upgrade the PC. You cant predict what a PC is going to do.

Actually I can...

...and this is training received from years of working with computers, knowing hardware from formal and informal education + hands on training. Please trust me on this.

I was notorious for walking into game servers in unreal engine and quake engine games and telling administrators their server settings to the point they thought I was hacking their comps.

That came from years of modding and working with the technology.

Much in the same way you play PSU and after a while you memorize and learn the amount of damage you will deal with a weapon and how a situation will play out from experience.

[dias_flac_0g]

Actually I can...

...and this is training received from years of working with computers, knowing hardware from formal and informal education + hands on training. Please trust me on this.

I was notorious for walking into game servers in unreal engine and quake engine games and telling administrators their server settings to the point they thought I was hacking their comps.

That came from years of modding and working with the technology.

Much in the same way you play PSU and after a while you memorize and learn the amount of damage you will deal with a weapon and how a situation will play out from experience.

Why would a GROWN man such as yourself do the fruity thing of calling himself a woman in a forum outside the actual game?

Some of you take this "i'm a girl" in the actual game a little too far.

Hahahahahaha!

The sad thing is that I picture you slightly over weight (with a gut) and a beard and over 30 yet calling yourself "Keilyn"

xDDDD

That's just plain sad lmao.

[Nel]

Why would a GROWN man such as yourself do the fruity thing of calling himself a woman in a forum outside the actual game?

Some of you take this "i'm a girl" in the actual game a little too far.

Hahahahahaha!

The sad thing is that I picture you slightly over weight (with a gut) and a beard and over 30 yet calling yourself "Keilyn"

xDDDD

That's just plain sad lmao.

said maya shidow..

[BIG OLAF]

I'll reply by telling you I have a masters degree in computer sciences and have owned and operated a business of fixing and repairing computers for over 10 years.

Smell that USI.

[bloodflowers]

Where I work we leave the PCs running 24/7 because shutting them down and starting them up leads to premature failures. What's the environmental impact of leaving a machine on vs landfill and the use of raw materials making a new parts?

I honestly don't have an answer to that question, for cars it's certainly the case that buying a new more efficient car is worse for the environment if you don't keep it for a good number of years.

[Nel]

Where I work we leave the PCs running 24/7 because shutting them down and starting them up leads to premature failures. What's the environmental impact of leaving a machine on vs landfill and the use of raw materials making a new parts?

I honestly don't have an answer to that question, for cars it's certainly the case that buying a new more efficient car is worse for the environment if you don't keep it for a good number of years.

50% bullshit
50% ?

as everything in this topic

[Keilyn]

Why would a GROWN man such as yourself do the fruity thing of calling himself a woman in a forum outside the actual game?

Some of you take this "i'm a girl" in the actual game a little too far.

Hahahahahaha!

The sad thing is that I picture you slightly over weight (with a gut) and a beard and over 30 yet calling yourself "Keilyn"

xDDDD

That's just plain sad lmao.

I named myself Keilyn because in-game my main character is a female newman by the same name. The two are tied together to make it easier to stay linked to the community. This is a very common practice among tournament MMORPG, RPG and FPS gamers.

As for myself..

I am 31 years old. I am in healthy weight range, in fact I worry more about becoming underweight due to an extremely high metabolism. I don't have a beard. I don't like superficial crap.

Comp Scientist by day, musician by night....and all around tactician....at your service. ^_^

[Taijutsu-Joshua]

wats afk??

[Crysteon]

Away From Keyboard

[Taijutsu-Joshua]

ohh ok wats usi? and qwertyfacing? sorry about being new to these words. lol

[Crysteon]

My slang knowledge is pretty limited D:

USI: Unwarranted Self- Importance
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=USI

Qwertyfacing: Falling asleep near your computer, using your keyboard as a pillow (I lol'd about this one)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=qwertyface

[Taijutsu-Joshua]

wow lol qwertyfacing's hilarious!

[bloodflowers]

50% bullshit
50% ?

as everything in this topic

Well you clearly don't have a clue. I'll give you the clue - it's disk drives. Spinning them up every single day dramatically reduces the life of the disk. I'll also tell you what happens in many large companies when the disk fails, because I work for one in the IT dept. It will get swapped out and stuck in the spares room. If it's very new, we'll call HP and they'll replace the disk, but if the machine was more than a couple of years old - it'll get disposed of. If the disk hadn't failed, it might have stayed on the desktop for far longer, not adding to landfill. SSD will soon make this problem go away as they start becoming the norm in office class machines rather than performance ones. We do ask that our users put their monitors into stand-by though.

As for cars - it's well known that the carbon footprint of building a car is significant enough to outweigh the benefits of driving a somewhat 'cleaner' one (assuming you're not one of those SUV owners at least). Here, learn:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/sep/23/carbon-footprint-new-car

[Keilyn]

Well you clearly don't have a clue. I'll give you the clue - it's disk drives. Spinning them up every single day dramatically reduces the life of the disk. I'll also tell you what happens in many large companies when the disk fails, because I work for one in the IT dept. It will get swapped out and stuck in the spares room. If it's very new, we'll call HP and they'll replace the disk, but if the machine was more than a couple of years old - it'll get disposed of. If the disk hadn't failed, it might have stayed on the desktop for far longer, not adding to landfill. SSD will soon make this problem go away as they start becoming the norm in office class machines rather than performance ones. We do ask that our users put their monitors into stand-by though.

As for cars - it's well known that the carbon footprint of building a car is significant enough to outweigh the benefits of driving a somewhat 'cleaner' one (assuming you're not one of those SUV owners at least). Here, learn:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/sep/23/carbon-footprint-new-car

You are close. Lets just say you are "warm" to the real reason. It goes far beyond just a HDD. Think about the following:

~Power Supply Build Quality and performance
~HDD Build Quality and Performance
~Load States among CPU and HDD
~Cases with Poor Airflow

SSDs have their own set of problems which at times makes them worse than HDD.

I wager that the system you own is better maintained and has a higher build quality than 90 - 99% of the systems you encounter out there. ^_^

[VectormanX]

I turn my PC off when I don't use it. it does not take long for it to boot and start up PSU, so it's no bother to me.

[bloodflowers]

You are close. Lets just say you are "warm" to the real reason. It goes far beyond just a HDD. Think about the following:

~Power Supply Build Quality and performance
~HDD Build Quality and Performance
~Load States among CPU and HDD
~Cases with Poor Airflow

SSDs have their own set of problems which at times makes them worse than HDD.

SSD don't supper from spinup stress though, you're right that all of those components can fail usually as a result of the heat/cool cycle (I repair arcade electronics as a hobby and bit of money on the side, and the heating/cooling cycle will even kill PCB tracks sometimes). However, at work it's always the disks that go first, or motherboards specifically on (Dell..) laptops.[/quote]


I wager that the system you own is better maintained and has a higher build quality than 90 - 99% of the systems you encounter out there. ^_^

Oh, I doubt it - most home built machines are like a dogs dinner of high performance and/or overclocked parts (don't even get me started on stupid neon lighting and windows), while the business use types we deploy to desktops are all extremely tidy inside and very well built indeed, but they cost more and have lower spec and limited upgrade options. Last time my system at work was fully powered off was when we had generator work done, 4 years ago.

[Keilyn]

I would imagine that your job really cracks down and puts safeguards against HDD Thrashing. That right there is the easiest way to blow a hard drive...as well as focusing on a maximum load state your work allows.

The major importance on the business end of things is power consumption. If you run a business of 1000 machines....or even just 100, the highest efficiency is important. VIA has a solution in which a small system can be built that will peak at 10W of power and do practically all the basic stuff.

I thought that your personal system would have been better than most you encounter. I do run an SLI system for gaming, programming and modding/modeling. I have a laptop I use when I am just working on basic work that I personally modded with an Aluminum Case to replace the plastic shell. Thanks to this it weighs a ton more but I havent had a single hardware failure in six years on that laptop.

[TheAstarion]

I've had a couple of hard drives go clunk on me, and I'm one of those people who shuts down his machine each time he's not going to use it for more than six hours. Had one DVD drive completely vanish off the face of the earth too; all of a sudden it wouldn't show up in device manager no matter how many times I checked and replaced the cables. Then again, this computer wouldn't install WinXP SP2 without getting stuck in a boot loop so maybe it was an all round lemon.

Had two consoles mess up in all my time; my first 360's craphics card went (but no red ring, so no replacement for me), and my ps3's file system keeps corrupting (always fixable, but losing all data is annoying as all sin).

Just curious, what problems do solid state drives have?

[Anime_Angel]

I always wondered that myself, at night I find it hard to get in the most popular server because it's full and yet, it is because of the AFK people like that lolilol

well I doubt there will be any updates but on Phantasy star online 2, I think they should make it so that those who are AFK for an hour or so should be automaticly moved onto another server to make room for people who do want to play lol

[Rukyius]

He he the AFK server :D