Clone dupe fail

[FenTiger]

So I've had a clone spawn 3 times now. Twice I have killed and looted it but as this shows, that's not always a good idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvY1G-ektrE

And yes, I reported the clone bug the first time it happened but bugs like this are not going to be on the short list of fixes.

Dupe? Don't Dupe?

I'd rather kill my clone on sight - better that then having one more random chance of death to worry about while I am wandering the game world.

If you didn't watch the video I shot my clone in the face and dropped dead.

[Von(2)2]

What happens if your clone kills you when it inevitably becomes sentient?

[RawkMode]

You will never be miles away.

The clone-dupe effect only happens as an artifact of a bad server connection.

Essentially, you log in, your avatar enters the game world, but the server never connects with the client. This is the source of the "Please Wait," message that many people were receiving last week.

So, you see the "Please Wait," message, know that you're not connecting correctly, so you exit and try again. If you log back in to the same server within a few seconds, you can find yourself standing next to your clone...simply because the server received the initial instruction to log you in the first time, but then never got the instruction to log you out.

So your body is just standing there with all your gear, oddly soulless.

Now, you immediately log back in, and if you connect successfully, you find yourself with a clone.

I have seen quite a few of these, including my own clone once last week. What I have never seen is someone dying because their clone is killed. What I have noticed though is that if you don't deal with the clone pretty quickly (kill and loot it,) it just dies suddenly. It's as if the server suddenly syncs up and realizes that there are two of you...counting you (the client that it is actually communicating with the server,) as the "real" you, it then stops spawning the clone.

It's like you go stale or something.

However, depending on the problems the server is having syncing up with you, the speed of your internet connection, the quality of the server itself, and probably several other factors, I believe that the server can get into an, "undecided," state regarding which you is the real you. If the server was in that condition, and you shot your clone, the server would have only three possible options:

• Guess which one of you is real, and kill the other one.
  
• Act stubborn, and do nothing.
  
• Act efficiently, and kill you both.

Computer systems rarely guess, unless they are told to.

All sorts of machines can and will go into some kind of, "reset," mode when they don't know what to do, but in this case, the machine has clear instructions to kill you, so doing nothing seems unlikely.

Machines love efficiency.

So yeah, I'm guessing that the server was confused, got a clear kill order on you, and simply killed you both, mystery solved.

But, going back to my original point, you will never have your clone killed by someone else when you are miles away, it's not possible.

[RawkMode]

Originally posted by Orange Julius:

What happens if your clone kills you when it inevitably becomes sentient?

And that, of course, would be the real question here.

[BuIIethead]

RawkMode nice write up :)

[RawkMode]

Originally posted by =FTS= BuIIethead:

RawkMode nice write up :)

Thank you, I honestly appreciate it.

[FenTiger]

Thanks RawkMode.

Now I know I am safe to leave the clone I will refrain from killing it.
Partly out of honour and not wanting to cheat but mainly as I don't want to die again :-)

[maslac]

@RawkMode : Hmm what about using handcuffs, and simply removing all his gear ? Without risking killing yourself ?

[RawkMode]

Originally posted by maslac:

@RawkMode : Hmm what about using handcuffs, and simply removing all his gear ? Without risking killing yourself ?

It doesn't work for some reason related to the fact that it's just a server artifact. You used to be able to do this on purpose right after the Alpha began, and either the clone had to be killed, or restrained with cuffs in order to access the inventory.

That was fixed, however, and it's not really the same thing as what it happening now, despite seeming to be the same "duping" behavior.

[maslac]

Thanks !