One of the most frustrating parts of playing New World is dealing with a queue that can last for hours. Whether you’re playing on a server with a popular streamer or even just a crowded one. Unfortunately, it’s easy for the queue to fill up with servers only having a 2,000 player maximum at release. That’s why I put together this guide on how to avoid the AFK kick and how long the timer is.
Quick disclaimer: Obviously I don’t recommend doing this for long periods of time like several hours. The reality is, you don’t want to be on a server where half of it is just people AFK. But, I understand if you need to run away for a short amount of time. Not everyone has the luxury of playing at odd times of day or night when queues are low.
Update (10/6/2021): Update 1.0.1 reduced the AFK timer from kicking you at 25 minutes to 20 minutes. And the warning message regarding the kick is now at 15 minutes instead of 20.
Update (10/2/2021): A New World developer posted a statement regarding people trying to avoid the AFK kick timer. The statement addresses the problem and states that those dodging the timer will be kicked to the menu when detected. And if they continue taking advantage of avoiding the timer, “more harsh penalties will be applied.”
Original article:
How to Avoid AFK Kick in New World
All things considered, a player queue over 600 isn’t even that high compared to servers over a thousand.
Two popular methods that people are currently using to avoid getting kicked for being AFK don’t work. So it’s important to address those first for those of you trying it or thinking about it. First, you can’t use the autorun button to run against a wall. This will still lead to you getting kicked once the timer hits.
Second, I haven’t tested it but I’ve heard spamming emotes also doesn’t work. My guess is that people use a macro to keep using an emote such as sit or dance. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to prevent New World from kicking you off the servers.
Make sure you don’t pick a popular New World server for streamers since those queues have supposedly passed 20k.
The main method I recommend using to avoid the AFK kick timer is to run in place, but using a different way. Instead of using the in-game autorun button, you’ll want to use the W button or rebind it. It’s likely the developer didn’t want to accidentally kick players who are simply using the W button to move around as they normally would.
However, you can still simply run into a wall in place without moving and it doesn’t detect you as AFK. I wouldn’t be surprised if the developer figures this out at a later time though. So this may be a limited option for now. Instead of putting something on your W key or sticking a quarter in-between the keys, you can rebind it too.
If you see a ton of players running into walls, this is probably why.
A friend of mine rebound the movement key on W to their left-click button and simply taped it down. This can be a simpler method depending on the keyboard you have if you can’t easily keep that W key down.
How Long is the AFK Timer in New World
The AFK timer for this MMORPG is a little on the shorter side especially if you need to a short break.
Spending hours queuing into New World can be a pain already, so the last thing you want is to get kicked for taking a short break. The punishment for taking a short break to go to the bathroom or eat something is way too high for the queue times it can take to get into a server. Not all of us were lucky enough to pick a server with a low population.
The only good thing is that Amazon Game Studios has put out a statement saying character transfers will be available soon. This will at least give players a chance to switch servers if the one they’re playing on is unbearable. Especially when Steam is hitting peaks of 700k-800k players daily. And that doesn’t even include the number of people playing through Amazon.
Getting kicked by the AFK timer is a sure way to prevent you from playing for hours depending on how high your server population is.
Regardless, the AFK timer for New World is 20 minutes. You’ll get a warning at 15 minutes letting you know that you’re about to be kicked if you don’t do something to cancel it. Make sure to move your mouse cursor or even attack real quick to prevent it from booting you off the servers. Nobody wants to deal with a long queue of even over 1k players.
That’s all there is to this guide on how to avoid the AFK kick in New World. If you have any other questions, feel free to comment below the article. And if you have a trick of your own for dodging the timer, let others know too. Be sure to visit one of the many guides below for more common questions.
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.