I have a board game channel, I play games with the chat all the time and I every now and then I organize real time tourneys and stream them, and there's a situation I always run into, which is people NOT showing up, which is normal, the problem is the way the site handles it.
Currently, when the tourney starts, all players are automatically assigned to tables, and if someone didn't show up they're expelled, the big problem here is when there are tables where multiple people don't show up, this messes things up, let me give you one example:
I've had tables where only 2 out of X people show up, and since the minimum required wasn't met, the game is skipped, a random player is decided as the winner, and the other person who DID show up is out of the tourney, all because other players didn't show up but the system decided to include them anyways, and this * for everyone, the "winner" didn't get to play that game, which is why they entered the tourney in the first place, the loser doesn't get to play at all, even though they were present, and for everyone else is unfair that some people just get to advance for free.
This obviously makes the tourneys look bad and there has been new people that just think this * and never come back, which is terrible because my goal is the bring more people into the hobby, and well, that's just one example of the worst situation that has come up, but there are many.
My suggestion is very simple, and it would fix basically all the problems I've run into:
Require confirmation from players a little bit BEFORE the tourney starts, make the option available like half an hour before starting, and everyone who doesn't confirm gets kicked out BEFORE assigning tables, that way the bracket will be formed with everyone actually present, simple as that.
By the way, I've already wrote to the support team about this a long time ago, but never saw any changes, so now I'm writing this here, because I doubt I'm the only one who would like to see this implemented, and it would be great to see more people sharing their opinions on the topic, maybe this way it can finally be done.
*Moderator edit: please refrain from swearing on BGA, this is a family-friendly platform.
Currently, when the tourney starts, all players are automatically assigned to tables, and if someone didn't show up they're expelled, the big problem here is when there are tables where multiple people don't show up, this messes things up, let me give you one example:
I've had tables where only 2 out of X people show up, and since the minimum required wasn't met, the game is skipped, a random player is decided as the winner, and the other person who DID show up is out of the tourney, all because other players didn't show up but the system decided to include them anyways, and this * for everyone, the "winner" didn't get to play that game, which is why they entered the tourney in the first place, the loser doesn't get to play at all, even though they were present, and for everyone else is unfair that some people just get to advance for free.
This obviously makes the tourneys look bad and there has been new people that just think this * and never come back, which is terrible because my goal is the bring more people into the hobby, and well, that's just one example of the worst situation that has come up, but there are many.
My suggestion is very simple, and it would fix basically all the problems I've run into:
Require confirmation from players a little bit BEFORE the tourney starts, make the option available like half an hour before starting, and everyone who doesn't confirm gets kicked out BEFORE assigning tables, that way the bracket will be formed with everyone actually present, simple as that.
By the way, I've already wrote to the support team about this a long time ago, but never saw any changes, so now I'm writing this here, because I doubt I'm the only one who would like to see this implemented, and it would be great to see more people sharing their opinions on the topic, maybe this way it can finally be done.
*Moderator edit: please refrain from swearing on BGA, this is a family-friendly platform.
