Reducing Time Limit for Turns

[Mag!cGuy]

I agree with you, but the reasons why oml kept the 4 days limit also seem relevant to me

The best would be to add that speed mode, to make everyone happy, but it seems impossible for this Outwitters.

[jchris98]

Do I wish it were changed? Yes. Do I understand why you didn't? Yes. So I'm fine with your decision.

[Chemoeum]

True. The only problem I had was the bug.

[Plasmaexe]

Having risen to gifted rank already, I think I can say I'm ok with 4 days now. For my first time experience a little over a week ago, it seems to be the new players mostly that are trying the game for the first time and then find they don't like it that keep you from queing up new games and never actually finish the game until they auto-forfeit. There was at least 6-8 people that I came across that did this when starting off and I don't see higher rank people (Clever rank and up) stalling nearly as much unless they actually have business to attend to for a few days before they can make their move, which is understandable.

Until you rank up, there's a chance you'll encounter plenty of fluffy ranked people that never make their move, which sucks for people that aren't doing too hot on ranked and want to play more/rise.

[Jaxxin...]

(01-03-2014 04:35 PM)onealexleft Wrote:  .....there wasn't a vast majority in favor of any particular course of action

.....I'm aware that the voting on this forum may slightly biased towards faster play .

.....There is a good portion of people who play Outwitters differently.....

.....Please vote in the above poll as we're using it to gauge interest in the change.

The above quotes from OML's reasoning to NOT change the day limit totally mystify me. There was ABSOLUTELY a VAST MAJORITY who voted for a "particular course of action!!!" OVER 75% voted to SHORTEN the limit from 4 days!

Because you put two shorten options, you split the vote and then declared the winner the option that got LESS THAN 25%??

OVER 75% voted to shorten the limit!!!

That's not a SLIGHT BIAS.

That's a GOOD PORTION.

That GAUGES INTEREST.

[jchris98]

Is it really necessary to use all caps throughout your post? Besides I think we may all have been overreacting a bit due to the big that allowed to limit to reach 6 days.

[spacechef]

I'm one of the users that voted for 3 days, but at the end of the debate I actually supported 4 days. But you weren't allowed to change your vote.

[QuicheLorraine]

Hello, Outwitters community,

Thanks for making such a fun game! When I am able to play games against engaged, active opponents, it is a blast.

That being said, I am confused about something regarding your game.

Ostensibly, a game is created so that people play it, or rather, they have the choice to play it or not.

With your game, even though I am a paying customer (I have done the upgrade granting the different factions), your game seems designed to dissuade me, or even restrict me entirely, from playing it.

As it is now, I have 20 games outstanding:

-in 6 of those games, I have submitted my move over 2 days ago
-6 more, over 1 day ago
-and the last 8 ranging from 1-2 hours.

The majority of these games have lost all cohesion, and I do not feel like I am playing a continuous game. They are stilted and blocky.

Maybe if these games weren't "League Play," where you can "Climb the Ranks" and "Battle Players," I would just forfeit the game and move on. But that defeats the whole purpose of ranked play. So while it is exciting that the game mode description is peppered with such action-packed verbs, putting an addendum such as follows, might be significantly less misleading:

"Wait for days/hours for another player to make a move so you can spend 1 minute responding with your own turn, and then wait for a few more days/hours to repeat the very time/cost ineffective process again! And oh, in those games where you are doing well, there is a possibility that the other player knows his chances of winning are not great, so he is just waiting out the time hoping you will forfeit the game since you are restricted to a certain number of active games at any 1 time. Trudge upwards!"

There are many different issues here, and just as many solutions.

First, if you are a paying customer (i.e. have opted to buy any content), remove the game limit. I do sympathize with your bandwidth and hosting limitations, but hey, you are charging people for a service/access to a product, why not make it so they are paying for something they can access?

Second, ok, so the margin is just too small, cash-flow just isn't predictable enough for the necessary server upgrades, etc. Again, may potential issues, many potential solutions.

-The game already has different sub-sets within each game, League 1v1, League 2v2, Friendly 1v1, etc. Why not make a more time sensitive mode for those players who enjoy playing a different pace than the currently implemented design paradigm allows?

"Timed League- Climb the Ranks! Battle players of similar skill in a timed contest that gives each player a certain net amount of time to play!"For example, in any given Timed League game, players A and B will each have 3 hours to make their moves for the designate game. Player A goes first. Since s/he just initiated the game, let's assume that he moves within the first 3 minutes. Player A has used 3 minutes up of his allotted time, and has 2 hours, 57 minutes remaining to use for the rest of the match. Player B, even though he just clicked the Timed League game, did so right before heading downstairs to work on his 1/100th-sized Edam cheese model of the Titanic. And good golly, he left his mobile device upstairs because it was charging and his Edam cheese workshop doesn't have any electrical outlets in order to eliminate the possible rise of the ambient temperature near his masterpiece. He works through the night and gets all of the deck chairs completed, while the game he started upstairs stagnated for his 3 allotted hours, and then he automatically resigned when his last grain of sand fell.

This suggestion is not there to penalize those of us who have interests, responsibilities, or demands outside of the game. On the contrary, it is striving to promote a more community-centric, more considerate game mode for those players who do not enjoying having 20 extant games at various stages at any 1 time.

Why the heck would the game design "penalize" Player A for being excited about playing and using those cool new 7 Wit characters he just paid for. I mean a teleporting whale?!? Cool! Oh, 20 games out, all League, looks like I am going to be waiting a few days . . .

Does that best serve the interest of anyone, game designers down to the end user?

Lastly, change the universal time limit to something vastly shorter, like the poll attempted. As was stated, who knows how many users didn't even bother to vote, I don't think their silence can accurately be read as a vote for continuing the current 4 day limit. I myself have been playing this game for only 3 days (2 of which I have been waiting for a good portion of my opponents to finish their own Edam cheese sculptures.), and by the time I decided to sign up on this forum to vote, it had closed.

So this is me casting my vote : )

Thanks for reading. No TLDR for you. I hope a Onemanleft representative reads this. Later-

QuicheLorraine

[[PETA] Doodat]

It does seem like this, but have you heard something like this:

"Oh man my favorite dish, I'm going to eat it every week!"
*a month later*
"Wait no, every day! I'm going to eat it!
*a week later*
"I'm going to eat it every meal! I don't understand how people could not constantly eat this!"
*a day later*
"Ugh, I hate that, don't let me see it ever again"

Like food, games are marked by temperance. It is easy to like a game and continue to play it, especially those with replay value. However, even if the game is amazing, you shouldn't spend every minute of your life on it, or it will begin to seem like it has flaws. For something like this, you need others who are also interested in this game. Those people may have different circumstances, for example, my 2v2 partner plays almost once every 4 days because he is very busy irl with school, and also it is hard to submit a quality turn just after looking at the game for one period of time.

Also, I have had circumstances when I've gone to two days because I have forgotten to check my phone, or because I simply have other things that I have been doing that have my attention.

With this being said, I remember your point in this time of Outwitters: there was a time when I sat staring at my screen waiting for 35 games, most of which were over a day. However, some advice: I think Outwitters will be more fun to play if it is played like a routine pastime, not something to obsess over.

[Chemoeum]

Analogies.