Arena and New Accounts!

[MANNY-OLIVIA]

******

[tcarlaw]

The idea of a minimum number of games before Arena has some merit. I really don't think BGA goes to enough effort to randomize deals to cater to new players. I think a rule where the maximum difference in ELO is 100 might be a better approach although ultimately I think ELO is as much a reflection of luck and good cards as skill and an approach like duplicate bridge where you are compared to people who have played the same cards instead of ignoring the effect of different partnerships and deals.

There are a lot of long waits for games, and changing it so people confirm when a game starts without seeing the partnerships, but making sure you don't wait thirty minutes for a game, only for it not to start and have to queue again. I have had a couple partners who have expelled our opponents when their clock goes below 0, when their clock only had 20s more time or players who have refused to abandon before a single card has been played just to bump their Arena score.

Personally, I have had several games where BGA has glitched and shown me a screen saying searching for partners and then switching directly to a loss. I have also had my screen showing another player''s turn and their clock going down when I am suddenly expelled from a game. Today, I was penalized 20 Karma points because I quit a game when my terminally ill Uncle called at 7am because he lives 12 time zones away and on Friday will terminate his life with the help of his doctors. I have no objection being penalized with my ELO, and Arena score as it isn't my partner's or opponents fault, but one of the reasons I originally played on BGA was to try to spend time with him online during the pandemic when he couldn't spend time with his friends but he wasn't really interested in playing with people who lectured their partners and opponents or trolled people with multiple accounts. He grew up playing cards socially in person and didn't see the point of anti-social behaviour. I don't envy the moderators, but when I have won a game and it even says in the game logs the game is finished and I have won but the moderators respond saying there is no way to correct a glitch that shows me quitting after the game is finished and I receive a Karma, Arena and ELO penalty it makes me wonder how much BGA values its paying customers. The people I was playing with today I am confident would have abandoned if I had explained the situation but frankly I left a job as a university professor after the pandemic because I don't believe anyone should be forced to explain the private details of their life for someone else to judge them when a simple apology that something important has come up that you need to deal with should be sufficient. I have literally played over 1000 games of Spades but BGA would prefer I rehabilitate my Karma by playing 20 social games ignoring the 1300 or so Arena games I have played with a 100 Karma score...

I could easily create a new non-paid account and skip the condescending messages lecturing me about abandoning a game instead of taking the time to write this but I was pretty unhappy when one of the more pleasant personalities was muted for weeks while being trolled by multiple non-paying accounts. I would prefer if I was given the option of muting players before giving up and red-thumbing them. A little like when your cubicle partner puts on earphones to show the conversation is over. BGA could even put a little earplug icon next to the avatar.