Undo should be a requirement for all games

[solo59]

Hello,
I guess this topic has been already raised but I cannot find.
I play mainly turn by turn, and games take often a few weeks as I played mainly with friends in a different timezone.
There is something that frustrates me a lot: when a game does not have "undo" button or no "confirm". This is the case for some like Ark Nova or Earth, but many are missing. You spoil a game of a few weeks because of a misclick or a obvious mistake you realise as soon as you play it.
I now stop to play BGA games without this function.
I am very surprised that BGA does not put this as a requirement for game developers.
Cheers,

[Meeplelowda]

Hello,
I guess this topic has been already raised but I cannot find.

The searching the word "undo" has over 280 hits in the Suggestions sub-forum alone. I have no idea what you were doing to try to find it.

This is a great summary that I can't improve upon written by a BGA developer about adding an undo function on BGA. I have it saved to just copy and paste because this has been asked so many times.

Why are the inclusion of undo buttons so random and sporadic over the games on here?

Undo needs to be implemented individually for every game. It's not a box you check to just make it happen. Furthermore, undo is tricky to implement correctly and very bug prone. As such, it's often avoided by game developers.

Either commit to allowing rectons to be made, or ban them over the entire site unless a game specifically allows for it in the rules.

Wish granted?
Official BGA policy states that undo should be avoided in games.
"As a rule of thumb, on BGA we advise you to not undo moves. Undo are painful for opponents, in real world and online. Some players may also use Undo to 'test' situations while they should just think instead. In many cases, proposing an 'Undo' means also adding an extra step, which is not good for the game interface."
See https://boardgamearena.com/doc/BGA_Undo_policy

Since BGA seems to be going to allowing them, why doesn't this game have one?

In summary:
1) Undo isn't encouraged
2) And it's not trivial to implement

I developed Gaia Project and got a similar request. I don't want to volunteer a dozen hours to implement a feature that I don't feel is needed and may introduce tons of bugs.

[ufm]

Note: 'Confirmation' and 'Undo' are different.

[solo59]

Thanks @Meeplelowda.
Maybe "Restart turn" is easier to implement than "Undo" (keep the game state and go back to this state), and still as useful for players.
And I am not talking for Live game, but only for Turn by Turn. It is such a pain when you spoil a great game that was lasting a few weeks because of a misclick.

BTW Thanks for Gaia Project, a great game and great implementation on BGA!

[Meeplelowda]

BTW Thanks for Gaia Project, a great game and great implementation on BGA!

Thank Kayvon. I have not dipped my toe into the dev side of things yet.

[Kayvon]

Restart turn and undo are, as you have noted, the same thing. Both cases require rewinding to a previous state that needs to be recorded, updated to all players, only offered under selective conditions, disabled once new information is revealed, implemented across all variables of the game including statistics that are stored separately, implemented over several hours of development, and tested extensively to find bugs, then fixed accordingly. Only at that point can it be released to the public.

In my experience, public feedback ranges from "you finally implemented a feature I expected all along" through "this is buggy, broken, and/or doesn't include the extra features I wanted -- why are developers so lazy?" It's probably very useful, but it's not terribly rewarding from a development perspective.