AFK Timer is Broken

General Discussion
1

Post your AFK Timer horror stories here.

Today:
Queue up for Junkenstein Endless Legendary for achievement
I pick Brigitte
Teammates are guarding doors while I guard the gate
Teammates are doing a really good job and killing everything the second it appears
Nothing to kill
Teammates not taking any damage
Feels pretty good so far, maybe this will be the one
WARNING: You have 10 seconds to prove you are not AFK or you will be kicked
Start running to the other side of the map as fast as I can
Teammates still killing like crazy
If I stop running to type I will get kicked
Made it to the door where they spawn
Nothing spawns
I get kicked from the group and there’s no way to rejoin

Another one from a few weeks ago:
I queue up for Competitive
Queue up as Healer for the 25 Credits
Pick Lucio
We’re defending the Payload
The entire enemy team are throwing by standing AFK in their spawn room
I start reporting the enemy team for throwing
6/6 reports filed
I hate to win like this but I’ll take it
(One of your teammates has left the game)
Huh, that’s weird guess they didn’t want a free win
(Another teammate has left the game)
WARNING: You have 10 seconds to prove you are not AFK
You have got to be kidding me right now
Press tab to check if any of the actual AFKers are getting kicked
Nope
Jump off the map to reset the AFK timer
The second I respawn I get:
WARNING: You have 10 seconds to prove you are not AFK
I’m now half a map away from the enemy team
Start mad dashing towards the water as Lucio
Speed boost as hard as I can
You have been kicked from the match due to inactivity

I just love the fact that the entire enemy team can be literally AFK and the timer does nothing, but it can somehow kick people who are not AFK because they haven’t dealt damage in the last 60 seconds despite actually defending an objective and running around like mad trying to cancel the timer. So not only does it not fix the problem, but it actively punishes players who do nothing wrong. I shouldn’t be getting kicked because the OTHER team is AFK.

6 Likes
2

If you are getting kicked for being AFK then you are doing something wrong.

The only times I have ever been kicked for being AFK was when I genuinely was.

4 Likes
3

I’ve seen a warning that I won’t get custom game XP if I don’t participate (do damage), but moving around has always removed the 10 second AFK kick timer. Is this new with the patch?

2 Likes
4

Woah, this stuff can happen? I think the only times I’ve ever been kicked for AFK were once when my controller batteries died and I had to mad dash around the house for more, and the instant I sat back down after running to my room I timed out. The other time I was just baked and died and thought I got a game over so I just… Put the controller down. Oops

5

Idk if it still works, but in custom games we would just spray the ground from time to time and that worked.

6

Got booted out of a Hero Gauntlet match because I was in first place (meaning I was Torbjörn with hammer only) and I couldn’t hit anyone long enough to get kicked.

4 Likes
7

You could’ve just given an armor pack. Heals, even if over heals, definitely resets the timer.

1 Like
8

all my nightmares come from me doing a custom game, and then getting kicked for editing bots and stuff. just sucks.

9

Thanks for not reading the post

10

I did. I stand by my statement. There is zero reason to be kicked for afk. There is ALWAYS something to do.

1 Like
11

I didn’t really have time to think about it in the less than 10 seconds I was given, but thanks for the tip.

12

No, sometimes there isn’t.

13

Lol. When in doubt, press all of the buttons.

14

Also when enemy team lots of leavers and they are getting spawncamped. Your team is killing them fast, or they just hide in spawn most of the time. If you can’t deal any damage, you will get kicked for being AFK.

1 Like
15

I was kicked due to inactivity while - get this - the map is still loading.

Apparently there is absolutely nothing i can do when the game decided that ‘waiting for map to load = afk’.

16

So, what to do when it’s 6 of you vs 1 of them, and that 1 is hiding in the spawn for the remainder of game?
Don’t know if they improved anything in comp regarding this, since I haven’t played it in a while, but it was happening, happened to me few times … you needed to shoot or get shot to stay in game…

17

This has happened to me too, turns out it was a slow HDD, so I swapped it out.

Never had a problem since.

18

You’re literally doing everything but playing the game.

You’ve had 2 experiences thus far with one thing in common: you’re not using using primary abilities.

The game is worked in a way that doesn’t respond to movement or actions for feedback, but rather actions against/for players.

It’s pretty plain as day from your statements you weren’t contributing at all. Maybe, don’t do that next time?

19

I am a gold border and I have never even SEEN the afk timer outside of times I was actually briefly away from keyboard.

There is always something to do. If you are finding yourself with nothing to do then you ARE away from keyboard.

Sounds very much like a client issue actually. Where you were fully connected but your pc was not loading into the session. Essentially frozen. Making you afk due to technical difficulties.

Which would mean the AFK timer is working as intended.

Actually being on the objective is enough. You only need to shoot or get shot if you triggered the afk timer by doing nothing at all.