Inactivity

Eijolend · 07-07-2012, 04:14 AM

Kamikaze, Szei's suggestion is 1 day per move not per game.

Szei · 07-07-2012, 04:26 AM

Yea, I actually got the idea from speed Chess but then reconsidered a flat out clock in favor of a more lenient 1 day per move system with the 'clock' aspect only affecting the 'bonus' time.

**Harti** · 07-07-2012, 04:29 AM

From a programmer's perspective it's like horror to implement a chess clock now. I think we should just go with a lower inactivity limit instead of thinking of highly complex concepts. Smile

Kamikaze28 · 07-07-2012, 04:31 AM

(07-07-2012 04:14 AM)Eijolend Wrote: Kamikaze, Szei's suggestion is 1 day per move not per game.

Yeah, reading it again made it clear.

The Bank of time only starts draining after 24h of inactivity - basically giving room for sleeping/working. But again, systems this complex need to be communicated very well to not surprise and frustrate people.

FearIV · 07-07-2012, 04:37 AM

Btw.. I do have unranked games.. but you can't forfeit when it isn't your turn unfortunately.

**Harti** · 07-07-2012, 04:38 AM

Another thing to note:
If people are going to stall a game, they will always find their way around it. One could always wait 23:59 h and then perform their turn.

In Advance Wars, we had an AET (auto end turn) limit until which you must have submitted your turn or else you end your turn empty. Many people did their whole turn, then waited for AET to kick in just to piss people off. The neat addition that, after 2 weeks of "being active", you could set a vacation flag which gave you 14 days security from AET.
In a game which lasted 20 turns each, with an AET of 7 days, it usually took 2-3 months to finish it. It was horrible. We also discussed to get the chess clock but it didn't happen in the last 3 years.

I think we could use the AET idea. The opponent doesn't directly get booted after three days but their turn gets ended automatically. This way, even if someone wasn't able to play due to work or something, it would not be impossible for them to get back into the game with a Special unit.
So I think this could be somewhat fair. AET at 3 / 4 days. If someone gets AET'd twice, they should be booted from the game.

aaronINdayton · 07-07-2012, 05:13 AM

(07-07-2012 04:37 AM)FearIV Wrote: Btw.. I do have unranked games.. but you can't forfeit when it isn't your turn unfortunately.

This should be changed!

Also, game limit should probably increase if possible, everyone loves playing 50 games simultaneous, right? Right?

Malphes · 07-07-2012, 05:18 AM

I have to agree with changing the time. In unranked 7 days is fine, but in ranked it kind of sucks when you have to wait a week to do your final move to win the game.

ArtNJ · 07-07-2012, 05:34 AM

(07-07-2012 04:38 AM)Harti Wrote: Another thing to note:
If people are going to stall a game, they will always find their way around it. One could always wait 23:59 h and then perform their turn.

In Advance Wars, we had an AET (auto end turn) limit until which you must have submitted your turn or else you end your turn empty. Many people did their whole turn, then waited for AET to kick in just to piss people off. The neat addition that, after 2 weeks of "being active", you could set a vacation flag which gave you 14 days security from AET.
In a game which lasted 20 turns each, with an AET of 7 days, it usually took 2-3 months to finish it. It was horrible. We also discussed to get the chess clock but it didn't happen in the last 3 years.

I think we could use the AET idea. The opponent doesn't directly get booted after three days but their turn gets ended automatically. This way, even if someone wasn't able to play due to work or something, it would not be impossible for them to get back into the game with a Special unit.
So I think this could be somewhat fair. AET at 3 / 4 days. If someone gets AET'd twice, they should be booted from the game.

That means a 7 day vacation on a cruise ship without internet forfeits all your games.

I think it can be a lot simpler than that: if any game is older than 3 days, you MUST move in your oldest game before moving in any other game. That would allow you to keep the 7 day deadline, but really minimize strategic slowdowns.

This feels bad right now because Outwitters is a free game, many are trying it and stopping mid-game. Same exact thing happened in Hero Academy, and lasted a few weeks. It eventually stops and the people that are left are the ones that want to play.

MrUseless · (This post was last modified: 07-07-2012 05:40 AM by MrUseless.)

3-4 days is far too short. Normally that's not a problem, but most people vacation for 5-7 days, and there is very little internet access where I normally go to get away (that's the point of a vacation, right?)

Speaking of vacations, it would be a great feature if there were some way to implement a Hold. I envision this as some kind of hold on all your games, they don't expire for an extended period (say 14 or 21 days), but you cannot make any moves or start any new games. To keep people from abusing it, you only activate a vacation hold once every 30 or 60 days.