Abandon Table with Ridiculous Time Restrictions without Penalty?

[Supersox]

In the Arena, I am frequently paired with a player who sets the table restrictions such that the playtime for the game is from 9a-9p his time, which is 2a-2p my time (so I am asleep for about half of the playtime.). In addition, his settings for the turn-based game only give us 12 hours on the timer.

Since the Arena assigns you to a table (so you don’t know the table settings before joining) and since it is very difficult to get a table unless you are flexible on your table settings, is there a way to leave a table before I make a single move without hurting my ELO, Arena Ranking, or Reputation?

Let me know if any other info is needed or if this should be posted elsewhere.

Thanks!

~Supersox

[Jellby]

You can change your preferences to not join fast turn-based games, which are the ones with playing hours.

[Supersox]

You can change your preferences to not join fast turn-based games, which are the ones with playing hours.

Unfortunately, doing that means I basically have to have an exact match to get a table and that makes finding a table extremely hard/rare. My flexible settings are set at 3 moves a day. I got forced to a 12 move a day table. There’s flexible, but then there’s ridiculous.

[Shivaware]

First of all, let me agree that it is INSANE for BGA to be adding you to fast turn-based games with inappropriate playing hours. They absolutely need to stop doing that as soon as possible. It's incredibly frustrating as well for the people trying to correctly use these playing hours because there's so many people joining them that shouldn't. If you like, please vote for this suggestion: https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=57379

It sounds like you are joining games from the newer lobby on the game's page. There is another older way to join games that allows you to specify exactly how flexible you want to be in the games you join. Look for the "Play Now" link at the top of the page. Once you are there, you want to make sure the right-most dropdown menu is set to Automatic. Search for the game you are interesting in, and click the grey gear button next to it. You can then adjust the game speed preferences so that you never get matched to fast turn-based games. If you click the advanced preferences link, you can actually adjust the playing hours in case you do want to play a fast turn-based game with reasonable hours.

[Supersox]

First of all, let me agree that it is INSANE for BGA to be adding you to fast turn-based games with inappropriate playing hours. They absolutely need to stop doing that as soon as possible. It's incredibly frustrating as well for the people trying to correctly use these playing hours because there's so many people joining them that shouldn't. If you like, please vote for this suggestion: https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=57379

It sounds like you are joining games from the newer lobby on the game's page. There is another older way to join games that allows you to specify exactly how flexible you want to be in the games you join. Look for the "Play Now" link at the top of the page. Once you are there, you want to make sure the right-most dropdown menu is set to Automatic. Search for the game you are interesting in, and click the grey gear button next to it. You can then adjust the game speed preferences so that you never get matched to fast turn-based games. If you click the advanced preferences link, you can actually adjust the playing hours in case you do want to play a fast turn-based game with reasonable hours.

Thanks for this—the link got my upvote!

I’m not seeing the right-most drop-down after clicking the “Play Now” link using my phone nor when I set my phone’s browser to Desktop on Mobile. Are you directions for a true desktop browser or am I just completely blind? If the former, I’ll have to check it out next time I jump on my computer. If the latter, I will need to get my eyes checked!

[Shivaware]

Thanks for this—the link got my upvote!

I’m not seeing the right-most drop-down after clicking the “Play Now” link using my phone nor when I set my phone’s browser to Desktop on Mobile. Are you directions for a true desktop browser or am I just completely blind? If the former, I’ll have to check it out next time I jump on my computer. If the latter, I will need to get my eyes checked!

Sorry, my instructions were based on using a desktop browser. I don't have a mobile browser that works with BGA, but it looks like I can emulate mobile browsers on desktop Chrome. It looks like the three dropdown menus are on separate lines on mobile browsers. Just make sure the last one is set to Automatic. Hopefully, that helps!

[JohnnyCyclops]

The OP asked about Arena. It’s only when using Simple Game that the option for Automatic/Manual pairing appears. This may explain why they don’t see it. In Arena the pairing is always automatic. I do agree that using the settings cog per game allows preferences on both speed and playing hours (for turn based running 6 moves a day or faster).

It’s disappointing these settings don’t work from individual game pages.

It’s further disappointing I can’t set a global default for all games but instead have to use settings for every game on the Play Now page.

The settings cog also allows some control on both level and reputation of opponents. Level is the Arena Bronze/Silver/Gold etc not their regular ELO.