I've been AFK-Banned in PonyTown, what does that mean?

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!!Disclaimer: This wall of Text was made to explain my situation and why I keep poofing/prefer to not converse with strangers on PonyTown anymore!! Read the text carefully if you're interested in this topic.

What happened?
With an Update in October 2024, a new storm of Moderators came to the game, resulting in a mass banning of people. This includes normal banning and extreme AFK- Banning. The mass banning of players is a recurring problem PonyTown faces up to this day whenever there is a big Moderator-Update. Those happen at least twice a year and have not only banned people who just started playing the game, but also completely new accounts and people who were playing for a long time already.

What is an AFK-Ban?
AFK-Banning in PT means that the player's account gets flagged for going AFK. They can no longer stay AFK any longer than what the Maximum of the in-game AFK-Timer allows. In other words, no matter what the player does, they WILL be kicked every 15 Minutes. They can chat, walk, move in any other way, click - the AFK-Timeout will happen regardless. The player also loses access to the /playtime command and the playtime-count entirely.

For non-Supporters the AFK-Timeout is at either 5 minutes, 10 minutes or 15 minutes.
For Supporter Tier 2 the AFK-Timeout is at 30 minutes or lower.
For Supporter Tier 3 the AFK-Timeout is at 45 minutes or lower.
For Supporter Tier 4 the AFK-Timeout is unlimited or lower.

How did the AFK-Ban exactly happen?
The moderators have seen a non-Supporter AFK for longer than 15 minutes without moving/talking etc. and flag the player's account for using an "autoclicker". It doesn't matter whether the player actually used an autoclicker or similar tools. To stay longer in-game without moving/talking had many people falsely flagged and AFK-Banned. It is prohibited from the game to be AFK longer than the AFK-Timeout allows with the purpose of staying longer in-game without engaging with other people or the game, even if not directly addressed in the game's rules.

Why is it prohibited to stay AFK longer than the Timeout allows without engaging in the game directly?
The higher the playercount, the more space and rescources they need for the servers, simple as that. They want to prevent the servers from lagging if too many players are on the servers at the same time. The other reason is that the higher AFK-Timeout is a benefit for spending money on the game (Patreon, Supporters). If they let people get away with going AFK for longer than the Timeout allows, the Supporters could possibly complain or sue PonyTown for scam with the Supporter Tiers. They can't ban everybody, that is obvious - however those that were banned, were banned and probably will stay banned as well.

What does this mean for me now?
All of this means that anybody without the Supporter Tier 4 will be kicked after their AFK-Timeout ran out. For me personally this means being kicked whatsoever every 15 minutes. It's a punishment worse than a ban for active players because one can simply not enjoy the game anymore. This doesn't only affect the player, but the people the player tries to converse or game with. I can't hold a conversation without being kicked out of the game, which means I might miss some of what other people said. be it friends or strangers trying to converse with me. Every 14 minutes I have to warn anybody that's trying to converse with me that I will be kicked any moment and they need to hold their thought.

Leaving PonyTown
Finally, I had a long pause of playing PonyTown as a result. I can't enjoy the game anymore and I'm only playing rarely now. I have filed a request to have the ban removed back when it happened, this is when I first heard of being longer in the game without engaging with the game directly (moving, talking) is actually prohibited and will have you AFK-Banned if you come across the wrong Moderator or Admin. The rule is hidden and very unstable, as PonyTown Staff cannot confirm whether or not you were actively reading the chat or looking at your screen etc. (probably why it's not directly mentioned in the rules). I've been playing this game since 2017, I was furious when I was falsely flagged and AFK-Banned back in October 2024, but by now (April 2025) I have come to accept that my PonyTown era might be over. I have by now given up to ask PonyTown staff to give me my privilege of going AFK back and therefore won't actively try to send PonyTown E-Mails that they will reply to with the same answer.

If I leave for longer periods of time, I'm sorry - I probably WILL be back to hang out from time to time and if you do see me, feel free to say hi or exchange discord/instagram with me to keep in contact <3

; home ;

Edit

Pub: 26 Apr 2025 06:43 UTC

Edit: 26 Apr 2025 06:47 UTC

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