Me and Buster brainstormed a new concept for an AFK mechanic, which I started writing last night.
We only intended it to be active when the server was almost full though, due to the controversy that surrounds AFK managing plugins.
I think it should run full time on VSH. Where as on Jailbreak or x10 just having some dude not do anything is not a big problem, having a player not doing anything on either side of VSH screws with the balance of the game itself. Especially when there are only a small amount of people on the servers.
For example, if there were only 4 people on a VSH server and one of them was AFK, it would mean either two active REDs and one active BLU or 3 active REDs and no active BLU. Now, we all know why an AFK Hale sucks, because it's simply a waste of a round, but when there are only two people fighting a hale who's health is adjusted for three people, the Hale is going to be overpowered. Not to mention, neither of those two players are going to have crits. Usually if there are only two players left alive, each player gets mini crits to help make the odds tilt a little less in Hale's favor. When there's only one person left, the last person gets crits in order to make it not be an instant win for Hale. However, Hales will chase active players first as to not give them crits, so these mechanics meant to balance the game do not come into play and the Hale (who will usually always win a game with less than 5 people on RED anyways) is practically guaranteed to win.
I think if AFK players were to be moved to spectate as opposed to kicked when the player count was low would be fine, since players in spectate do not affect Hale's HP or crits, and the AFK players would be able to drop back in at any time in the scenario where they just had to go walk their dog or something. I don't know how how player counts work in the server browser, but they could also make servers appear busier than they are (if you're about that life)
