Could Somebody Explain the Clock?

[magekirbys]

I'm not quite sure which clock you're talking about but I'll try my best to explain all of them based on what I gathered from playing in real time.

For this example I'll be using the game Time masters.

Starting off with the lobby timer:

On the left hand side you'll see something similar to this displaying how long the game is estimated to take


The time displayed will differ depending on several factors, such as how long the physical copy of the game takes, the number of players you are playing with and the game's complexity.

While a game room is being filled in, you're given 7 options to set the pace of the game and while how much time you get differs slightly for each game, They are as follows:

Realtime - Fast Paced : Game usually starts with 1-2 minutes to make your moves
Realtime - Normal Paced : Game usually starts with 3-5 minutes to make your moves
Realtime - Slow Paced : Game usually starts with 5-10 minutes to make your moves
Turnbased - 2 moves per day : You probably start out with around 1440 minutes to make your move.
Turnbased - 1 moves per day : You probably start out with around 1440 minutes to make your move.
Turnbased - 1 moves per 2 days : You probably start out with around 1440 minutes to make your move.
Turnbased - No time limit. : You probably start out with around 9999+ minutes to make your move.

You'll also be told the pace of the game just before starting when confirming your participation to the game


as displayed in the above image , all players will start with 5 minutes and gain an additional 30 seconds at the start of each of your turns.

Lastly while you're in game you'll have the in game timer on the right hand side just besides your name.


This timer will count down whenever you are required to take an action and stop counting down once you're done. If you're taking too much time or it goes in the negatives the timer will end up turning red instead and start counting up. You'll generally be marked as a slow player when that happens.

I hope that explains it for you, or whatever Een said works out.

[Speusippus]

The thing is that no one really cares about exactly how many time you have for each game with each "speed" option...

Apparently I do, and I refuse to believe I'm the only one that does. Even the FAQs for the turn-based says they know newbies can be intimidated by the real-time thing. It's sad that you don't seem to believe these people exist.

I'm sorry if it bothers you so much that I prefer knowing things like this rather than learning the hard way.

You are being a little bit rude to people who are being friendly and trying to be helpful.

The person said "nobody cares" because they were assuming you were worried about inconveniencing others. They were reassuring you that it is very unlikely that you'll do so, and that if someone does feel inconvenienced, they're outside the norm and quite possibly kind of a jerk whose opinion you shouldn't care about.

Based on that assumption, they said something very helpful and friendly and informative. Now the assumption may have been false, but it was a reasonable one, and had no negative connotations toward you.

[Elminster33]

hello All,

A small one who hasn't been answered : does the clock run while "setting up the game" ?
I have 2 seasons games stuck in 'drafting the starting cards' ... and the timer doesn't move for that player ... and yet he has the sandglass icon.

I fear that with no clock ticking, i will never be able to expell them ... and it's been 4 days now

any help appreciated, thanks!

[Nanaki404]

A small one who hasn't been answered : does the clock run while "setting up the game" ?

Yes, the timer is active during every part of the game where one or more players have to take action(s). And in realtime, the timer runs during the drafting in Seasons.

The problem here is rather with the turn-based mode (which is still rather new, so obviously not perfect yet). Having seen a similar problem, I think it may be linked to the fact that each player has to do an action at the same time. But, the system seems to still count the time, even if it does not appear on our screens, because once such a player has finally made a move, its timer decreases drastically.

[Elminster33]

Thanks. It's been 5 days so I guess the game is bugged ... going to bug

[Liallan]

Thanks to een and magekirbys. Sorry for the delay in responding but I've been a bit busy. (And I know myself well enough to know if I get on a forum, I'm probably stuck for the next two hours. )

I actually have figured most of this out, but it's kind of been the hard way. The screen that shows your starting time and time per turn I saw on a turn-based game and assumed that would exist on a live game as well. In fact, it appears it works exactly the same way as the turn-based, except of course the vast difference in time, but the turn-based is an opportunity to really watch how it works.

I appreciate that een has taken it as a valid point that knowing that information before joining would be useful. Someone new is not going to realize they can just not accept it and quit. If I hit a Join button I figure I might be stuck with it. (I now know that not to be true, but it still feels really funny to me.)

I did not see anything about putting up a game with unlimited time so you can get someone to help you through the beginnings, and I pretty much read everything. In fact, there's a lot more stress that it's advisable not to do unlimited time, and that it's better to accept an invite than create a new one. (I also might point out that the unlimited time is only on turn-based, and I think I'm about to learn the hard way why that's a bad, bad idea unless it's friends. Perhaps a "live super duper slow" time? )

The other bit of information that would be useful is that when you don't use all your turn-time, it carries over. I can't find anything that says that. One reason I was so paranoid about it is because I had this image that I had a time for a turn, and if I went over that in a given turn I could get a mark on me for slow time. I didn't get the concept of "carry-over" time so that you can take a little less on some, and then have that available when you need a bit more on others. I was kind of able to put that together from trociu's one example. And getting black marks for going over isn't something I wanted to do. (I want to understand how things work because I do care about it, unlike a lot of folks who just come, do whatever they want, and just don't care. So perhaps that makes me a bigger pain in the butt, but I like to do things the right way.)

Anyway, I think I do have most of it figured out at this point, but thanks for your posts. I'm still uncomfortable with that clock running and have only taken live for Yahtzee, cause I've known the game for like 40 years and know I can play fast. I've only done turn-based for anything else.

[Liallan]

The problem here is rather with the turn-based mode (which is still rather new, so obviously not perfect yet). Having seen a similar problem, I think it may be linked to the fact that each player has to do an action at the same time. But, the system seems to still count the time, even if it does not appear on our screens, because once such a player has finally made a move, its timer decreases drastically.

I don't know that game, but this sounds like the same kind of thing as the passing in Hearts. The clock wasn't ticking down, and I kept thinking we were stuck permanently in this game cause of one guy who never took his turn. But yes, it does count down, because after approximately 3 days (he had 72 hours), the 'expel player' button did finally show up. But that certainly did contribute to my confusion over what I saw as "inconsistencies," when in reality it just wasn't showing.

[Liallan]

You are being a little bit rude to people who are being friendly and trying to be helpful.

The person said "nobody cares" because they were assuming you were worried about inconveniencing others. They were reassuring you that it is very unlikely that you'll do so, and that if someone does feel inconvenienced, they're outside the norm and quite possibly kind of a jerk whose opinion you shouldn't care about.

Based on that assumption, they said something very helpful and friendly and informative. Now the assumption may have been false, but it was a reasonable one, and had no negative connotations toward you.

And my interpretation, that the information isn't available because no one cares about it is also pretty valid. How many times did I say I was frustrated over the lack of information? So no, it doesn't sound like a "reassurance" that no one is going to be concerned if I run over time a bit, not at all - it sounds like no one else cares about this information but me. And ending with telling me to just join a game and stop worrying about the clock just makes it sound like I'm being silly.