KYLOTAN:

Yes, Diodor''s idea would work. But I''d want to come up with some logical explanation for the character''s turning to stone syndrome. Plus, it still leaves room for abuse.

Example: 5 players are in combat with 5 enemies. One of the players takes the grunt of the beating in the beginning while the other players fight the enemies from a distance (or do whatever they''re doing). When the beaten up player is almost death, he disconnects...turns to stone...while the other four players beat up the now weakened enemies.

I know that the design could put a 30 second delay on the turning to stone, but still... it doesn''t sound watertight. Plus, I''d really want to come up with a logical explanation of the stone turning.

I think that in a situation like that, where multiple players are in a fight, one player disconnecting should just put that character in a pure defensive mode. This would still allow the other players to protect the other player and would still somewhat safeguard the disconnected player from harm.

Let''s change the setting a little. Say the characters are robots. The player controls the robots by remote control. But the player has also given the robots a ''mind of it''s own'' so that it can act on its own. When the player is disconnected, in-game the link between player and robot is interrupted. The robot will now act on its preset instructions. Now, adding a little Star Trek flair... the robot has a powershield. The player should set the auto-instruction to have the robot put all it''s energy into the powershield (instead of putting some into it and some into other sources). The powershield might be able to withstand enemy attacks until the player logs back in and retakes control.

This would SOMEwhat simulate the ''turning to stone'' in the fantasy setting.