Internet vocabulary: Is 落ちる an equivalent of "being AFK"?


## Context

I saw many times people using 落ちる in a chat followed by 後で. I assumed that the
user expressed his intent of temporarily leaving a chat and planned to come
back later.

## Question

  * As the title mentions, is 落ちます an equivalent of "AFK1" with the underlying meaning of coming back later on?
  * Is there a way to differentiate **"I got to go"** ( _I don't plan to come back_ ) and **"I'll be back"** ( _I temporarily leave the chat/game/whatever_ ) 

* * *

1 **AFK** : **A** way **F** rom **K** eyboard




落ちます is closer to "gotta go now." It usually means _not_ returning for the
day, unless otherwise modified by しばらく, ちょっと, 30分くらい, 飯食ってくるので, etc. A typical
response for 落ちます would be おやすみなさい, また明日, お疲れ様, etc.

後で usually indicates the person who said this somehow knows the other person
is coming back relatively soon. It's not a typical response for 落ちます modified
by nothing.

If you want to explicitly say "I'll be back", you can use すぐ戻ります, ちょっと外します,
しばらく落ちます, etc. Many online gamers will understand "AFK", too.




落ちます is closer to "gotta go now." It usually means _not_ returning for the
day, unless otherwise modified by しばらく, ちょっと, 30分くらい, 飯食ってくるので, etc. A typical
response for 落ちます would be おやすみなさい, また明日, お疲れ様, etc.

後で usually indicates the person who said this somehow knows the other person
is coming back relatively soon. It's not a typical response for 落ちます modified
by nothing.

If you want to explicitly say "I'll be back", you can use すぐ戻ります, ちょっと外します,
しばらく落ちます, etc. Many online gamers will understand "AFK", too.

