Setting BUSY

I think it's a courtesy to set BUSY when I have SL running and perhaps I'm just listening to the music but not at the keyboard so that people know I'm not at the computer.

However, it looks kind of weird and I think may take away from a club sim trying to keep the "real" simulation happening.

Should SL get rid of showing busy on the screen, while still sending a message to a person who starts a chat with that avatar/person who is currently busy and/or afk?

Also, I see some club owners getting mad at avatars that look like they died on the dance floor as this also detracts from the illusion of simulating "reality".

Do you think the busy and away settings need improvement and/or change? Or is it of no important to you?

no because you can turn off your tag and it not show everyone right in your preferences..

I'd like some way of setting a busy response that preserved the message, but didn't send inventory offers to Trash.

Okay, so if I set busy and turn off my tag, it will fix that problem because others won't see my name at all on their screen?

The problem with Busy is that it auto-rejects inventory offers.

Some inventory offer are expected (e.g. when using a vendor), and it is easy to make sure Busy is off at such times.

Other inventory offers are unbidden and unexpected and there is no way of telling when you switch Busy on that you will not get such an inventory offer.

Some of those unbidden inventory offers are spam and not worth bothering about - others, particularly at this time of year, even if unexpected are welcome and disappointing if lost. If you are a vendor or creator, some of these rejected inventory could be notecards from customers having problems, etc.

Coupled with the fact that no-copy items if rejected during an inventory offer due to the recipient being busy can sometimes end up in limbo rather than being returned to the sender (which can be unfortunate if the item was an expensive present), and Busy mode really is somewhat risky to use.

Matthew

i hate when people send me something and don't tell me they are.if they im'd first they would know it was a bad time to send.
but at the same time i remember busy stopping a couple of global attacks that were flooding everyone with prims so fast we were crashing..

I think the whole "busy/away" business in SL is just plain crazy.

What they really need is a "hidden" mode, where you can be "in world" but you don't show up as being logged in to the instant message system.

It might make more sense if Busy was renamed as something to use in an emergency (Panic mode?)

Matthew

if they scroll over you they will see who you are but it won't be out there for all to see unless they do..or you could set it to temporary where they scroll over you then it goes away..

thats what i would love.a choice of away or invisible hehehe

The Away or AFK tag is quite useful if you want to step away from the computer for a while, but not wish to completely log out or appear totally rude to anyone passing by. If it could also be seen by someone sending an IM, then it would probably replace the typical use of Busy, and we could rename Busy to be Panic for use when you are the target of an inventory spam attack.

Matthew

I'd like to see an Away mode that let people know you are away when they IMed and at the same time let inventory offers come through for when you return. I rarely set Busy mode because of the inventory offers going to trash. Instead, I just have a note in my profile that if I don't answer right away it is probably because I am in PS or wandered off to pet a cat.

you still get the IM and can respond to whoever is sending the IM..it just stops notices and other blue mail and gives a message you are doing something and don't want to be bothered..
it gets really irritating when you are in deep thought in a build and notices and items get dropped on you....it shoud be the same for anything else..if you are going to get an item it should wait until you decide to respond to an im to trigger it being sent.if you don't respond then or your im's cap from flood items then then they drop off.. or stay to at the givers side..

Okay, so away is better I'm getting from this thread, but that can take away from the illusion of certain land owners wanting to keep all the illusions of their simulated reality because the "away" thing shows over your avatars head and/or your have dead bots on your dance floor which some land owners get very mad about, and I personally don't like to see the away thing or busy thing because it takes away from the illusion or fantasy aspect of SL.

I don't use either myself, if I am too busy to be active in SL, I simply don't log on. But it isn't a great system for the reasons you mention and should be fixed.

Well..the cat part is more a joke, but a lot of times I am in PS because I am going back and forth between the two and don't want to have to keep relogging into SL. Sometimes I have the volume down on the computer and don't hear IM's come through and inventory offers don't make a ping anyway. Oh and I'm referring to when I am just standing alone in my skybox.... I don't go out dancing much anyway, but if I did, I would be focusing on SL during those times.

I'm pretty sure there is no way to turn the Busy or Away tag itself off.

Additionally, in Preferences where it says to Hide Group Title - that only applies to what you see. It does not affect what anyone else sees.

Away and Busy will both display small tags by your name, but only Busy will send an auto response back to an IM or Inventory offer - and those inventory items end up in the trash, which is a real pain.

I find myself logging in as an alt so I don't get spammed, and then that gets in the way of building* so I don't do that as much as I would like. What I want is a mode that splits the "instant message" aspects of SL from the "in world" aspects, so I can be in world but not show up on IM, on friends, IM still goes to email, and so on.

* Yes, I know the workarounds.

I am frequently in group discussions and have the local chat log on. Often people direct comment or questions at me, not using my full name but just "Mary" (if they know me) or "MBC". So the system has know way of knowing that the comment was directed at me.

Sometimes the phone rings or some other RL distraction occurs so I have to leave my computer. It would be nice to have something on the screen that I could quickly click on that would show "AFK" or equivalent over my avatar so people would know why they don't get a reply, but otherwise everything would function normally. I could then review the log when I get back to the computer.

Mary

yes that is true lol..sorry ..two hours of sleep and i am getting a lot wrong so far thismorning hahahah..

ummm ... so you are going to clubs, parking your av on the dancefloor and then going busy or AFK? How long for? Is this generally considered polite? (I honestly don't know as I don't do clubs much)

I don't think I'd feel comfortable doing this, but if I am only "half-there" in any sort of social situation because I am cooking, fielding phonecalls or just deep in IM, I just let people know and then type BRB when I need to attend to things. Seems to work.

We encourage AFK status at the Hangout........

so we can decorate your avi and post pics all over Flickr.

No. If I think I'm going to be afk for more than 5-10 minutes, I set the busy or away. However, I could be away longer because than the phone rings and then the cat barfed, and then ________________ fill in the many blanks. RL just "happens".

I do the brb thing too, but many people can miss that, and sometimes when I come back to the computer I find IM's and the people gone who sent the IM's have logged off completely. I think they think I'm being rude by not answering their IM's, that's why I set busy or away, BUT then that can take away from the whole simulating reality point of SL. Anyhow, yes I can answer the IM back if they log off and it will be stored, BUT if a person who left an IM is in the process of logging off right when I get back to the computer and their online status is showing even though they are shutting down, the IM message doesn't get sent back to them.

However, aside from me, yes there are some avis I see just parked there as a dead bot sometimes for as long as an hour! It is annoying and not courteous.