A Culture of Commitment for Prelude in Alpha: More Red Thumbs, please!

[SkippyClem]

tl,dr: please red thumb everyone who abandons a Prelude game on purpose

Like many others in this forum, I hope that Prelude will come out of Alpha soon. In my 55 games of Prelude, it felt ready, I didn't encounter any programming related problems - but a big problem with some other players attitudes (even at the most restrictive reputation setting). In contrast to proper ranked games, people just quit like they don't care about other players whatsoever! Out of 55 Prelude games I played so far, 20 got abandoned, in nearly all cases by players who were behind (and in a few cases just after receiving the starting hand), sometimes even in the last gen, when the game would have taken them another ten minutes at maximum. Whenever I'm ahead, I feel like I need to worried whether the game will be finished at all... Because of this, I have started to give every drop-out a red thumb. It would of course be nicer to just be able to use the Karma system, but since this is not available, I think it would be best if all premium players just use the red thumb a lot as a work around in the meantime, and also select the comment "No one should play with this person --> They abandon games on purpose". The more premium players block quitters, the more we can play Prelude as if it already were out of Alpha. How are other players handling this? How can we foster more commitment in Prelude games?

[Yahyra]

Thanks for posting. I am not premium so I can only join games. I have noticed many, many quitters and leavers in Prelude. As you said the players that to this are often losing the game. I have used the red thumbs and report options for these players. Not sure it helps. Thanks again for posting this, I hope we can foster a more positive community. Best wishes.

[charliec247]

What do you do if a player proposes to abandon the game?

Also, for players who hit the concede button in 2P?

It's the same thing, just presented differently.

[GTSchemer]

Is there any way to find the players you gave a red thumb? If Prelude ever releases, you will have blocked various players from playing normal games with you as well, though perhaps that's OK if you do not believe they would respect game rules even with a normal timer.

[SkippyClem]

I don't know about how to find them again, but I also wouldn't unban them if I knew. If someone was polite enough in the way they left the game so that it doesn't feel disrespectful, I wouldn't have given them the red thumb in the first place - there are always exceptions to every rule. I'm not happy about someone proposing to abandon a game, but I do think it is a very different thing, and its all about communication. Proposing to abandon a game is consensual, you can't just get up and leave without saying anything.

I do think "concede" is a rather similar thing to abandoning a game, especially if nothing is said, so I would personally still select that I wouldn't want to play with this player again, just because I like to finish my games, I want to see my strategies to the end and see how many points I get in the end. But since conceding is an option this platform gives you, I wouldn't select the "no one should play with this player" option, but just mark it as "this is my personal opinion".

[cranesflyhigh]

Conceding is not at all similar to abandoning lol. If someone is clearly winning, it is a waste of time to pursue the game longer. I am not gonna be a willing participant in watching someone do a victory lap (or more colloquially helicopter di... genitaling) and if I am winning hard, I'd prefer the opponent to concede, so we can play another. I would also consider it bad manners for someone to prolong the game a gen just to amass more points when they could finish terraforming and win right then and there.

[SkippyClem]

i just think no matter how you do it, leaving a table before the game properly ends without saying anything is bad manners. also, if i'm clearly winning, i also wouldn't prolong another gen, though i would still play all the cards i still can, even if the point difference doesn't matter anymore - and i don't mind it either if other players do that, either. everyone should enjoy their victory laps. at least for me personally, the feeling of increasing possibilities with a well running engine is one of the reasons why i like playing engine builders. there's something satisfying about seeing the combos you put together spring to work, it just feels nice. that moment when you go, and now I can draw another card, which i can also afford, and by playing it, i get some more more money, maybe another card, and it still goes on ... guess that's also why luna is my favorite corp. and if someone concedes at that point, they save maybe 10 minutes, but for me the highlight of the game was lost.

[skellen]

I don't wanna play with someone who doesn't respect what alpha means. You got your red thumb and we both happy

[Yahyra]

Hello all / "necroing" this thread again. Once again today I had a Prelude game where my opponent quit gen 3 (immediately, in response to me playing Deimos Down, taking heat bonus etc.).

I am all for a player politely conceding a game they consider is no longer winnable. I certainly don't enjoy taking 'victory lap' turns. I did not find this player, or others like him, neither communicate politely (most do not even chat or respond to polite chats?).

I appreciate the OP (original poster) of this thread for bringing this topic up. For those of us who would prefer people play out their 'competitive / close' Prelude T Mars games I ask - what can we do to improve our gaming experience on here?

I presume posting a list of 'common quitters' here on the forums is discouraged or disallowed ?

Should we make a group / friend list of folks who appreciate their own time and their opponents and have a social contract / commitment to play out Prelude games?

I often chat and add people to friends list; I do have a few who play T Mars Prelude. Maybe that's the only 'feasible' solution; just "making friends"?


Best wishes.

[Onyx Storm]

We could instead move the Prelude option out of Alpha..... and I 'think' that solves all problems?
No?