Logout to Player Selection Screen

Is it just me or are half the changes suggested here born from either the user's laziness, or what the user thinks is "cool"?

I've gotten used to typing my password by now, anyways.

Forgive me if i'm wrong, as I know my memory is not always the best, but I do believe we DID have it prior to the first time they introduced the new user interface. There were two F key options, one took you to the character selection screen (F 10) and one logged you out (F12).

I remember thinking why did they take that away when the new user interface was first presented and instead of logging out on F12 we were now logging out on F10.

I fully believe there must have been a sercurity risk, perhaps an exploitable gap in their code at the time, but I also have played plenty of other online games that do allow you to jump back to the character selection screen without a full log off so its not outside the realm of being possible.

Because something is a no "now" does not mean it can not be a "yes" further down the developement road, and certainly this is a reasonable request to the devs to consider.

Laziness isn't the issue, it's convenience. If they made a car where you'd have to enter through the passenger side, are you too lazy to do that if you are asking for a driver side door? Are you too lazy to take the stairs instead of the elevator? Are you too lazy to bike to work intead of driving?

Thank you for a sane response.

It's been said before, and it's true...Dregos your analogies are horrible. Retyping your password is NOT akin to biking 40 miles instead of driving. It's like having to manually change the channel of a TV that is only a few feet away.

If it is so INCONVENIENT why not quit? If a change is really needed, people better be quitting because of the lack of that change. Otherwise, deal with it. You don't wanna retype your password? Go play WoW.

I guess I have a different build of guild wars then yall because when I click the "Menu ->
"logout" button I go to character selection. Then again, my guild wars shortcut set to autologin.

Set to autologin? Can you do that? >.>

Haha, eA-Zaku. What about my other anologies? I drive 8 miles to work so my example was perfectly legit in terms of convenience. My point in listing all those anologies is that things can be done the long way, but why? Plus you have to remember this is a game. The less inconvenience to a gamer who's looking to have fun, the better.

I don't see why there is so much resistance to valid suggestions such as this. If anything is that bad enough that players start to leave the game, then it's certainly too late. (Warning, another anology coming ...) Should a spouse not speak up about issues in a relationship until they are ready leave the relastionship?

And for the record, I do play WoW.

If ANet considers it a security hole, then so be it, that shall be the end of it. I can live with inconvenience to keep out the hacks and bots.

But still, this is a great idea to fix (to me) a very annoying problem.

/sign.

Valid points coming from both sides here:
-Yes it would be a bit more convenient to log out to the character selection screen.
-Yes it's not that big of an issue to retype your password.
But what is the big deal of having it as an option for those who want it? Even if you don't plan on using it and want to type your password in each time.

Here is my own analogy. I use Firefox (mainly for security and pop up blockers etc.) But I really enjoy tabbed browsing. Yes I could easily open up another window completely guessing what window is refering to what (after 5 or more it gets confusing), Or I could use firefox and have named tabs. This is something I would consider more convenient yet not absolutely neccessary, but a factor that would make me choose one program of identical properties over the other.

And this thing about a security issue from anet.. not so sure. Since you are already past the point of giving up your password, how does not logging out, not forcing you type it again create a security issue? (Taking a chance that I will be told to play "x" game by pointing something out). I have played many other games which do not force you to log out of the whole account ie Diablo 2. Yes it has its hacks and such but never could ANYONE get into my account since I didn't use hacks, had keyloggers (from downloading something moronic) or simply told them the password. This is the same for all games.

Anywho, my rant.
/signed

As a side note : I love this standard response to most comments.

If your too "this" or want "this" in, on or around this "current game" then go do "this" instead.

HAHA this makes me crack up laughing everytime. I think I may make that my sig in all the forums I visit.

Agree, come on, your talking about a savings of 3 seconds per logout.

A non-issue.

It takes 2 extra seconds.....

he said it all.

A woman should know her place.

OH NO HE DI'NT.

I vote yes. It a heck of a lot less of a security issue than the auto-login feature.

sorry to bump this but what auto login feature?

Just leave current system. Easy enough for me, comes natural by now, you're lazy. Doesn't matter whether or not it's a security issue, it's a waste of the Devs time.

[QUOTE=Loviatar]actually having to type your password over and over is a bigger security issue with key loggers out now. Dont know why you responded with attitude when people asked what security issues you were refering to. All ya had to say was A-net said it was a security issue.

Yes, we need a character select option.

Three ideas for why it's a security issue.

1) with the bots out there, you could have a bot that fills up his inventory, then scripts going to storage with his character, fill storage, switch characters, empty storage, etc. Then send the character back up, you could feasibly then have all four character filled to the max.

2) When typing your password, ANet does a one shot encrypted authentification to bring up your character list. It does not keep your password in memory, get your character selection, you are in the game. Your password is required to be entered to bring up your character list. So if you were to jump back to your character list and not enter your password, it would have to be stored somewhere in memory, making it more volunerable.

3) If you do step away from the computer, someone could switch characters and sell/trade all of your belongings on all character. I would rather know that my other 3 are safe if I had to do a quick bathroom break with people around me that I thought I could trust.
Also, With banking sites, your password times out an you have to retype it, as a way to ensure you are still the person accessing the account. That means you are typing your password multiple times but is a protection to ANet as well. This makes sure that they are ensuring that you are still using the account, makes it easier on them to deal with people saying they lost everything because a person...

Couple things about password security that most have been saying it's less secure to retype your password.
1) If you had a keylogger, it wouldn't matter how many times you retype your password, type it once and it's logged. If you don't have a keylogger installed on you machine when you start the game, you are probably not going to be installing any as you continnue playing that game session, even if you switch character.
2) For people looking over your shoulder. If people are looking over your shoulder, it's your own fault for typing in front of them. Make them turn around, look away, etc. It's called personal security and being aware of your surrounding. I would be more worried about people watching passwords to other more important information then them watching my GW password.

Just my thoughts