Why do people join fast turn-based games in the wrong time zone?

[Cos-]

I create fast turn-based tables pretty often, and many times the game ends up not actually working at the speed intended because someone joined who's in a very different time zone and can't play during that game's hours.

I assume people who do this are doing it by mistake, but I don't really know how the interface works form them. I remember when I was new on BGA, and had a free account, I would just click to say I wanted to play a particular game, and eventually I'd find that I was at a table with the game started, I think. But in the past couple of years, as a paid user, I've nearly always created my own tables; sometimes I join other tables but I select them from a list of open tables where it tells me the playing hours for fast turn based games, so I can avoid the ones that don't match my timezone.

Can people accidentally join a fast turn based game without realizing it? Or do a lot of people just not know what it means and click to join any table without looking at the speed? Or something else?

I wouldn't say it happens to a majority of fast turn based tables I create, but it happens to a lot of them, more then 1/4, maybe more than 1/3. So it's a very common problem. Anyone know what some of the causes are?

[Meeplelowda]

Can people accidentally join a fast turn based game without realizing it?

Easily. If you are using Automatic table search there's no confirmation screen when a turn-based game starts. Also, the Playing hours preference is set to "No preferences" by default. I'm guessing a lot of people don't even know you can adjust that preference because a lot of people simply use the default settings of any device they purchase or site they join because it's the path of least resistance. So the game can start without you specifically opting in to the time control.

[Jellby]

Even in manual mode, I bet many people just join any table they see open and don't pay attention to the settings (or only to the settings they care about).

But note that you expectations about a table's speed may also be off. An 8-moves-per-day table doesn't mean that each player will make a minimum of 8 moves per day, but that (in the worst case) there will be a total of 8 moves per day. So, for a 4-player table, one can expect to make 2 moves per day, and even if the playing hours are 10pm to 10am (i.e., mostly during the night when I'm sleep), I could join intending to make a move before going to bed and another move in the morning. (I don't say that would be right, but it might be what some people think.)

[Romain672]

I've got this problem frequently with coop game and hard settings.
People from automatic lobby will not see a potential message you add on the table like 'hard settings'.

[Cos-]

My expectations about a fast turn-based game are based on the rules of the timing. If it's 10am - 10am, for example, then I expect each player will make at least one during that time period nearly every day, and more than one move most days. The timing rules allow for someone to miss one day, pretty much, and not run out of time, but that's it - you don't gain time credit back fast enough to miss two whole days in the same game. Usually, people will make 2 or more moves per day.

But if someone joins from the opposite time zone, their moves are out of sync with everyone else's. That means they will make a _maximum_ of one move per day, because once they make their one move in the middle of the night, it'll be the next day before the other players see it's their turn and make their moves, and by the time it's back to that opposite time zone player, it's their night. That stops the game for everyone else, which means it often causes everyone else to make a maximum of one move per day as well.

On average, I've found having one person in a near-opposite time zone at a fast turn based game makes the overall duration of the game - if we let it go to completion - be more than 3x as long as that game with that many players would typically take.

[synnical77]

Fast turn-based? That sounds like an oxymoron.

[WiAiC]

I read settings. It happened to me before, and after trying for multiple times, I still don't get how it works, so end up avoid fast turn-based, even I'm playing fast and able to online many times in a day.

What I don't get is, which timezone is it referring to?
Assuming the server or the base in France... Paris? 'cause all the summer/winter gifts are following Paris time.... but nope.
My timezone? Nope, not at all, that's why I was kicked out many times, including tournaments, and has lost many ELO that I've took so many effort to earn.

.... so which or who's timezone? I really don't know. So, I don't really do fast turn-based now, and lack of interest in normal turn-based too, too slow.

[Dr Wilson]

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but when talking about fast turn based game in limited time zones -- why it is not possible to search games by filter "not faster/slower than x moves per day" or something like that, but only by live <-> turn based?

[Meeplelowda]

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but when talking about fast turn based game in limited time zones -- why it is not possible to search games by filter "not faster/slower than x moves per day" or something like that, but only by live <-> turn based?

This can be accomplished in Automatic matching by setting a filter to "I never want to play with" next to whichever time control you don't want. I don't know if you can similarly filter Manual matching.

[dgjxqz]

Sometimes you may end up with a player expecting to perform his 8 moves per day 10am-4pm while another expects 4pm-10pm, effectively slow your table down to 1 move per day. The world is not perfect.
Of course, a more probable scenario is that the players joining your table don't pay attention to playing hour setting. The way I deal with this is to disband all pending tables at the end of my day so that those who get online at my nighttime never have a chance to join them.

What I don't get is, which timezone is it referring to?

Your browser will automatically adjust the displayed time to the timezone setting on your device, which is usually set when you install your operating system. You can visit time telling websites to check if they're correct.