The First Descendant is being plagued by loot-lurking AFK players, and the community is demanding a vote-to-kick fix

“From the deepest of my heart: f*** you and all the trash in our playerbase like you”

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Third-person looter shooter The First Descendant might have launched a week ago, but servers are already besieged by semi-idle “players” leeching off of their teammates.

Frankly, the community is already sick of it. “Originally I’m opposed to a vote kick, because it can be easily abused and typically a solid AFK kick system tends to do the job,” Reddit user 2Board_ writes on the officialsubreddit. But after farming for in-game materials needed to unlock a newFirst Descendant character, they’re having second thoughts.

“I’ve changed my mind. Make a vote kick option, because holy f*** are there so many AFKing leechers,” they continue. Given how rewards (including rare loot drops) and XP are divided among the active players, this is a way for sneaky First Descendant players to do the bare minimum and still reap the rewards. AnotherReddituser took to the community with an equally colorful message for people like this. “From the deepest of my heart: f*** you and all the trash in our playerbase like you. Rant over.”

It’s not a crime to step away from an online multiplayer game for a few moments, but in the case of The First Descendant, it sounds like a tactical loot-grubbing strategy is gaining popularity. These fake-AFK gamers are crafty in their bid to evade the idleness timer, which would usually boot players from a server after a period of inactivity. But 2Board_ remarks how this particular problem sees supposedly away-from-keyboard players “slightly move every now and then, or shoot randomly once, so they don’t get AFK timed out.”

2Board_’s demands for a vote-to-kick option are echoed by others, including in a general discussion onSteam. “I’m not doing the grinding for you,” says one frustrated player.

Sneaky server-lurkers are never fun, but the truth is that vote-to-kick powers can be just as easily abused as a foolsome AFK timer. Developer Nexon has yet to address these community concerns, but if it’s keen tokeep rectifying its mixed review statuson Steam, a little acknowledgment could go a long way.

Here’s everything you need to know aboutFirst Descendant’s crossplaycapabilties

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Jasmine is a staff writer at GamesRadar+. Raised in Hong Kong and having graduated with an English Literature degree from Queen Mary, University of London in 2017, her passion for entertainment writing has taken her from reviewing underground concerts to blogging about the intersection between horror movies and browser games. Having made the career jump from TV broadcast operations to video games journalism during the pandemic, she cut her teeth as a freelance writer with TheGamer, Gamezo, and Tech Radar Gaming before accepting a full-time role here at GamesRadar. Whether Jasmine is researching the latest in gaming litigation for a news piece, writing how-to guides for The Sims 4, or extolling the necessity of a Resident Evil: CODE Veronica remake, you’ll probably find her listening to metalcore at the same time.

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