New mechanism to prevent skipping in tournaments

[NCFCRulz]

Wow for the first time in nearly 4 years they have actually done something to update tournaments and it's a worthwhile change.

Why can't you do more of this and care more for tournaments? Has it taken a kick from Asmodee to get things started?!

[Meeplelowda]

Wow for the first time in nearly 4 years they have actually done something to update tournaments

The update to dynamically adjust the number of rounds in a Swiss tournament was not even 2 months ago, let alone four years.

[koningco]

Apparently the new function is not working yet, at least not in a tournament that started 5 days ago. At this table one of my opponents (playfuljoyce) was kicked out by 1 player 2.5 hour ago while the tournament page mentioned there should be voting. Unfortunately for her she was only 10 over her time limit, so if there was voting I would have voted against kicking her. https://boardgamearena.com/6/sevenwonde ... =681354706 Should I report this? Or is it for a reason that there is no news message about this yet?

I also noticed that I got an achievement and 3 XP for finishing in the top half of a tournament, for example 33rd in a tournament with 80 participants. If anyone noticed more changes please post them in this topic!

[Mathew5000]

I'm curious how the default option works. Is there an actual vote, or is this an odd choice of words to describe the old way where anyone could skip an overtime player.

It's poorly worded, but I think the default option is the previous system.

Yes, it seems you are 100% right about that. I guess the intended meaning was along the lines of "all players can elect to
kick players out of time". But even then it would have been better to say "Any player" rather than "All players".

[Meeplelowda]

Apparently the new function is not working yet, at least not in a tournament that started 5 days ago.

This feature was just implemented yesterday, and it is an option that has to be chosen when the tournament is created.

I also noticed that I got an achievement and 3 XP for finishing in the top half of a tournament, for example 33rd in a tournament with 80 participants. If anyone noticed more changes please post them in this topic!

I copied the Release Summary above that addresses this:

XP for everyone at the end of the tournament (if the player did finish the tournament)

[koningco]

If Meeplelowda is right and the option is poorly worded then the new feature will delay tournaments. Actually voting would be an excellent idea and fair solution to prevent delays. Currently 1 player can make a decision to end a table on his own even if someone is 1 minute over the time limit, which may mean the end of the tournament for other users who stayed within the time limit and could have been leading with 80% of the game already played. But on the other hand without the option who has not made an action for days can be kicked.

The best option for voting would be a choice between:
- Give the player who is out of time another chance to finish the game*
- End the game based on the current standings. --> for this option add: Advice: only use this option if the user has not been active in the game anymore
Only players in the game who are within their time limit (and eventually the tournament creator) can vote. If 50% or more votes to end the game based on the current standings then the game will end immediately.

*If the game has still not ended in time after the maximum time for the entire game (not the time limit for individual players) then the players with the most time left will proceed to the next round.

I would say there should be a minimum time of 48 hours between the end of the first voting and the start of another voting (if needed).

[frogstar_A]

If Meeplelowda is right and the option is poorly worded then the new feature will delay tournaments. Actually voting would be an excellent idea and fair solution to prevent delays. Currently 1 player can make a decision to end a table on his own even if someone is 1 minute over the time limit, which may mean the end of the tournament for other users who stayed within the time limit and could have been leading with 80% of the game already played. But on the other hand without the option who has not made an action for days can be kicked.

The best option for voting would be a choice between:
- Give the player who is out of time another chance to finish the game*
- End the game based on the current standings. --> for this option add: Advice: only use this option if the user has not been active in the game anymore
Only players in the game who are within their time limit (and eventually the tournament creator) can vote. If 50% or more votes to end the game based on the current standings then the game will end immediately.

*If the game has still not ended in time after the maximum time for the entire game (not the time limit for individual players) then the players with the most time left will proceed to the next round.

I would say there should be a minimum time of 48 hours between the end of the first voting and the start of another voting (if needed).

Current standings doesn't really work for a lot of games .... what happens late in the game or on the last turn can be crucial to the outcome. 7 Wonders for example, if you end it part way through an age all the military points for the age haven't been awarded yet. The person who happens to have the most points isn't necessary really winning.

[Mathew5000]

The best option for voting would be a choice between:
- Give the player who is out of time another chance to finish the game*
- End the game based on the current standings. --> for this option add: Advice: only use this option if the user has not been active in the game anymore
Only players in the game who are within their time limit (and eventually the tournament creator) can vote. If 50% or more votes to end the game based on the current standings then the game will end immediately.

This idea has been floated many times, in many threads about this topic in this forum. It is unpopular and unworkable, for reasons mentioned in those other threads. Have a look at the following, for example: https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31083

Here are some suggestions you could consider upvoting:

https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=107708
"In tournament games, expelling a player who is out of time should be a unanimous decision" (currently 71 upvotes)

https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=35239
"Make "Skip Turn" / Expel a Timed-out player a Concensus Decision of All Remaining Players." (currently 214 upvotes)

[Meeplelowda]

Current standings doesn't really work for a lot of games .... what happens late in the game or on the last turn can be crucial to the outcome. 7 Wonders for example, if you end it part way through an age all the military points for the age haven't been awarded yet. The person who happens to have the most points isn't necessary really winning.

Thanks. Using current standings keeps getting suggested and when this wrinkle gets pointed out, then they say something like "well, then, figure out all the end game scoring now" or something. And what about games that have win conditions that aren't based on a score that increments throughout the game? Or increments in a way that is not at all granular and thus doesn't separate players?

And because of these nuances, it's not something that can be globally implemented in the framework. It would require each individual dev to decide on and implement a ranking mechanism to handle it.

[Mathew5000]

I'm curious how the default option works. Is there an actual vote, or is this an odd choice of words to describe the old way where anyone could skip an overtime player.

It's poorly worded, but I think the default option is the previous system.

Just to confirm: there is no true vote. In https://boardgamearena.com/tournament?id=404060 (a tournament I created after the latest changes were implemented), the option "All players can vote to kick players out of time." was checked, but when a player exceeded his time limit I skipped his turn myself, with no voting from any other player.