Jellby wrote: ↑15 February 2025, 09:46
Even when it "technically" can be done (e.g. when players are allowed to pass, the obvious way would be having the absent player pass every turn), there are often rules changes depending on the number of players (which components to use, how many points you get, which spaces are available, how many rounds to play...). Also, the other players wanted to play an N-player game, not necessarily an (N-1)-player game, and their moves during the game were done based on having that extra player doing some actions, not passing every turn.
You could argue that it would be the same if the player was still at the table and simply passed every turn. Indeed, that could happen, would be legal, and the game would finish "normally". But from the point of view of how BGA handles the game's results, that's an entirely different situation. (And that player could get a few red thumbs too.)
Reasonable points. I tend to look for ways to give everyone the best overall experience while reducing unfair situations. AT times, this may present in the form of tweaks to a specific game, which I am getting the impression BGA is not a big fan of doing. Terraforming Mars is probably a rare 3-player game that can essentially continue with a player sitting out. And, as you noted, that would still not be without its flaws.
But, I do think that having the remaining players play an N-1 player game for the remainder is the least unfair solution compared to just giving everyone an equal win, since that will often not be the case. No solution is going to be fair to everyone all the time. Either way, it should even out in the long run, thus making the discussion relatively unimportant, I suppose.
I deal with it by mostly playing 2-player games; one winner and one loser.
For the most part, now that I've been playing consistently for two weeks, these problems seem very rare. I've yet to play a game of Terraforming Mars in which someone rage-quit in round 1 because I played some good cards. (Though, I play 2-player corporate era without preludes, so I rarely do much of anything in the first couple of generations anyway.)
