Disable the winner needing to "acknowledge" the result

[Fletcheese]

I have played quite a few 4-player turn-based and real-time arena games and there is definitely a final match confirmation for both players to acknowledge the winner before the game can end. As a caveat, I don't think I've finished a game since this last update so it could have been changed, but I'm assuming from the release notes that it hasn't

I want to make sure I understand. Are you talking about this use case:

* The final happens between 2 finalists in a turn-based game.
* One finalist has to make a choice. After that, the match autoplays and ends. The player who just triggered this clicks to end the match (this might be the point of confusion).
* The other player has to come back within their turn limit and click once to end the game.


If so, that is a single click that I would expect the other player to do, so at least it's minimal.


Now, let's consider the downside. If the other player cannot come back in time for a single click to end the game, they must have been gone for 24+ hours in a turn-based game, correct? And if they are gone for 24+ hours, the "View final situation" tab will almost certainly be gone from the game, meaning they cannot view the events of the final match without the unpleasant process of loading the replay, loading advanced controls, and fast-forwarding to the end.

Yes your summary is accurate, but it also applies to real-time games. If I just watched the final round happen, is there a reason I still need to confirm the result? It opens up the game to bad behavior. A malicious player could see that they lost the final round and refuse to confirm the result until someone times them out neutralizing the game.

[GTSchemer]

A malicious player can choose not to play their final action of ANY game on BGA, causing themselves to suffer increasing karma penalties and risk a ban. If they do it, it is scored as a victory for other players.

This is not unique to Challengers, and any player who repeatedly times out the final move of a real-time game should simply be reported to moderation.



You could take the logic further. If you assume a malicious player would do this behavior, observe the escalation:
* Imagine the final match result button is removed in real-time games.
* A malicious player has a card choice just before the end, but realizes they are going to lose. They can still time out to penalize themselves.

No matter how many checks you remove, someone would always have the choice to stop playing, which is why moderation is the answer for malice, not pure restrictions.

[Fletcheese]

A malicious player can choose not to play their final action of ANY game on BGA, causing themselves to suffer increasing karma penalties and risk a ban. If they do it, it is scored as a victory for other players.

This is not unique to Challengers, and any player who repeatedly times out the final move of a real-time game should simply be reported to moderation.



You could take the logic further. If you assume a malicious player would do this behavior, observe the escalation:
* Imagine the final match result button is removed in real-time games.
* A malicious player has a card choice just before the end, but realizes they are going to lose. They can still time out to penalize themselves.

No matter how many checks you remove, someone would always have the choice to stop playing, which is why moderation is the answer for malice, not pure restrictions.

You're absolutely right, bad argument on my side.

I think it boils down to me liking player options that skip clicks. I understand it's some additional dev time and maybe the publisher explicitly does not want it for some reason, but it feels like an everybody wins scenario. The people that like extra options/review steps get to keep it while the others that don't can skip it.

[katmk]

I realise this is perhaps self-selecting as I have played a LOT of Challengers games lately but I have seen this behaviour far more in Challengers games than any other that I play. It is so disheartening to play 7 rounds, to then watch the clock time out on one of the knocked-out players in real-time, who had been perfectly active right up until that point. I have just come out of a game in which this happened: 399474009

I'm not even certain it's maliciousness at this stage. If I am feeling more generous, then it is easy to imagine a disappointed or frustrated player just logging off without remembering that they have to confirm the result.

[katmk]

Sorry, I've realised this refers not actually to the winner/second place but I guess the players who are no longer required to actively make any more moves. It's an inconsistent user experience as well, as I can't think of any other game I play on BGA that requires a final acknowledgement of results for the game to end.

[GTSchemer]

A new update has been deployed. The very final match result no longer needs confirmed.

This corresponds to round 7 in 1-2 player games, and the final round in 3+ player games.

Thanks for your patience!

[katmk]

Thank you for addressing this!