Turbine Games Q&A/Communications/Q-06

Original Link (now dead) - http://www.turbinegames.com/qa/view_questions.html?id=5974

Will we ever see the @lastseen command in AC?

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Asked:	2001.01.20
Name:	Archer West (Leafcull)
Question Title:	Will we ever see the @lastseen command in AC?
Category:	Communications
Question:	Would it be possible to add an @ command in the chat system so that a player could find out the last time someone logged on? For instance, if I wanted to know the last time my patron, Carnage, logged on, I would type @lastseen Carnage. This would display a message saying something to the effect of "Carnage was last seen in Dereth on January 20, 2001 at 5:00 PST". You could use this feature to find out when certain people tend to log on so you can try to catch them for quests, chat, trades meetings, or whatever you want. I realize that this would require extensive server logs, but I also think this would be a great addition to allegiance communication. What do you think? I have posted this idea numerous times on various message boards throughout our community, and have received some very positive feedback. I would like to know your standpoint on this idea, and if it is feasable.

Answered:	2001.01.20
Name:	Eric
Answer:	This isn't as easy as it sounds. An offline player isn't kept in the server's memory, so to find out when they were last on, the server would have to load that character from the SQL database, which is expensive, or else keep every player's last-logout-time in memory, which would require a good chunk of coding time due to the server farm's distributed nature. In other words, it's a good idea, but not real easy with the current tech, so I doubt that you'll see this feature added soon.