Please make accept button on arena games

[Holdenbj]

I just got a karma hit because apparently i launched Arena mode for Hearts when I was setting my phone down. I pick up my phone an hour or so later and see that I had apparently joined and been expelled from a Hearts game.

I would like a profile option to not even get the "Play a game in Arena mode" button by every game. It's too easy to accidentally hit, and if you accidentally hit it and don't notice, it's almost a guaranteed Karma hit.

My final request is for other players. If a game has just started and one player has never taken a single action and times out, show some decency and just abandon the game. Except in very rare circumstances, that player is having some sort of gui issue or some other extenuating circumstance (like an inadvertant click of the arena button) that has prevented them from being in the game. I respect the intent of the penalty- leaving a game because you are losing is extremely poor form, but for a game that hasn't even started... c'mon people!

[Silene]

Except in very rare circumstances, that player is having some sort of gui issue or some other extenuating circumstance (like an inadvertant click of the arena button) that has prevented them from being in the game.

Actually I think this is not true but in most cases players have deliberately joined arena queue and while they were waiting did other stuff or forget about it alltogether. With this thoughtlessness, they make other people who were hopeful to play a game wait. A couple of minutes even in some games. And they are still without a game and need to wait in queue again.

While there is no accept button, people need to pay more attention, but of course accept button would be better.

[sourisdudesert]

This is a long time question that we answered several time.

Short answer: there is none because there is no use for that.

Long answer:

The only purpose of the "Accept screen" is to check your opponents details & game options one last time before starting to play.

In Arena, you cannot choose your opponents, and thus you should not be able to refuse to play at this step.

Obviously, we could display a 100% empty screen with just an "Accept / Refuse" button, but for which purpose ?

For people that suddenly did not want to play in Arena, while they were ok to play 1 millisecond before? From my perspective, they must be forced to play or get a penalty.

For people that close their browser and forgetting they asked for a realtime Arena game? At first, we automatically cancel their Arena search after some time, and if it happens that it was too late, from my perspective, they deserve a penalty for this mistake.

For people that managed to determine, in a manner or another, who was their opponents, and want to avoid them? Well, this exactly what we want to prevent, so we do not want to allow them to refuse.

In addition, it would be super painful for other opponents (especially for games with a large number of players) to be forced to restart all their Arena searches 3 or 4 times because at each time some player refuses for whatever reason.

So, to conclude: no, there is no need for Accept button for Arena. If you finally do not want to play an Arena game, please cancel your search in progress BEFORE the game actually starts, but once the game is started you have to play it. These are the rules for the Arena, you may like or dislike it, but a lot of players like it this way we do not want to change it

[Gulchen]

"At first, we automatically cancel their Arena search after some time"

Does the ​ "At first" ​ mean you no longer do this?
If no, what is that amount of time? ​ (From my experience, it's certainly longer than I'd prefer.)

[Een]

"At first, we automatically cancel their Arena search after some time"

Does the ​ "At first" ​ mean you no longer do this?
If no, what is that amount of time? ​ (From my experience, it's certainly longer than I'd prefer.)

No, it only means that some of us are French, not native English speakers You can just disregard this "At first".
IIRC, realtime arena/automatic lobby searches are cancelled as soon as you are marked as "disconnected" on BGA (which is normally a few seconds after you close your browser tabs, but that means all your browser tabs or the browser itself; if you are still there one way or another, search goes on).

[Jellby]

If a game has just started and one player has never taken a single action and times out, show some decency and just abandon the game.

That would allow a player to check who their opponents are and, if they don't like them, just do nothing and let the other players abandon, with no negative effect on their own karma and rating. As sourisdudesert says, this is one of the things Arena mode tries to prevent. So yes, that kind of accident is unfortunate, but many of us have been in that side, and the penalties teach us to be more careful.

[RicardoRix]

Obviously, we could display a 100% empty screen with just an "Accept / Refuse" button, but for which purpose ?

What about players that do want to play, but don't want to stare at their screen waiting forever for it to start?

Could there be a notification sound that the game has started, like a continual buzzer a bit like an alarm clock / phone ringing.

[Silene]

Obviously, we could display a 100% empty screen with just an "Accept / Refuse" button, but for which purpose ?

I think this empty screen for accept/refuse would be a good thing. The purpose is: People get to decide themselves how long to wait for an absent player. When the game immediately starts, they are forced to wait for a couple of minutes on many games. That's painful (more or less depending on the game). When people are actually there, there would be no issue on quickly clicking accept, so this wouldn't lose any time.

For people that suddenly did not want to play in Arena, while they were ok to play 1 millisecond before? From my perspective, they must be forced to play or get a penalty.

1 millisecond? I think the issue doesn't occur when an opponnent is found within milliseconds .

In addition, it would be super painful for other opponents (especially for games with a large number of players) to be forced to restart all their Arena searches 3 or 4 times because at each time some player refuses for whatever reason.

But it's exactly what they have to do - they just need to wait a couple of minutes before they can do so. So you're not avoiding that problem by starting automatically. It's just making the super painful thing even more painful.

[Jellby]

I'm not a frequent Arena player, but I do think an accept screen, with no information about other players at the table and with with a limited (maybe 1-2 min) timeout, would be good.

On the other hand, people who routinely set Arena searches and then forget about them would still be wasting everyone else's time, so maybe a karma penalty (not ELO) would be in order for everyone who does not accept in time.

Just to be clear, the options at this screen would only be: (1) Accept and play if every other player accepts, or (2) Do nothing, timeout and get your penalty. There would be no chance to refuse or decline a game, if you changed your mind, you should have done it before the accept screen.

[Silene]

Just to be clear, the options at this screen would only be: (1) Accept and play if every other player accepts, or (2) Do nothing, timeout and get your penalty. There would be no chance to refuse or decline a game, if you changed your mind, you should have done it before the accept screen.

I think this is exactly how it is now only that the "accept screen" is actually the game and clicking accept equals making your first move in time... at least if you're willing to give the players 2 min until they time out. Ok some games are worse as they start with more than 2 min but still, 2min is a lot of waiting... I think most players would want to decline sooner.

I think there should be an option to decline too, so you can stop waiting for an absent player even after less than a minute. And if a game didn't start successfully, both players need to manually join the queue again should they want to (so the absent player is un-queued and won't be paired again immediately)