What are "Normal mode" and "Friendly mode"?

[nik592]

I was assuming the question was about being moderated specifically FOR playing from the same IP address. I don't believe that is something you can be moderated for anyway - it's prevented for non-premium accounts, and is a feature that premium membership gets you (providing you are using it to play with other members of your household and not to make multiple accounts to play yourself). In any case, my husband and I have been doing this for almost the entire time I've been on BGA, without any issues - we also frequently play at least one other couple who are in a similar position and have never had any problems.

[zoomboom]

Is it safe to assume that people playing each other from the same IP address using Friendly mode are not in any danger of being moderated or banned?

I would not assume that. If there are multiple people with multiple accounts playing from behind the same IP address (which could be a VPN, not the same local network), one could reasonably file a report about another regarding the content of a chat or the like.

Ah, gotcha. But I assume there's no way they could be banned for trying to boost their ELO.

[mikkashar]

Ah, gotcha. But I assume there's no way they could be banned for trying to boost their ELO.

That would be very odd, yes, since friendly games don't affect ELO. That said, people come up with all sorts of wacky shenanigans, and "impossible" is a strong word.

[PassNGrin]

Could someone remind me on the policy of reviving threads?

anyways, when I set a table to "friendly mode", the setting says it's for real-time games. How often do players expect friendly games to be realtime?

[nik592]

anyways, when I set a table to "friendly mode", the setting says it's for real-time games. How often do players expect friendly games to be realtime?

Friendly games have no time limit, so you can play them as quickly or slowly as you like. There used to be a differentiation between real-time Friendly games and turn-based Friendly games, for reasons that didn't make a lot of sense to me. Now I think all Friendly games are considered turn-based technically, but RT/TB are just two aspects of timing, and as Friendly has none, it really fits into neither.

[Shivaware]

anyways, when I set a table to "friendly mode", the setting says it's for real-time games. How often do players expect friendly games to be realtime?

Friendly games have no time limit, so you can play them as quickly or slowly as you like. There used to be a differentiation between real-time Friendly games and turn-based Friendly games, for reasons that didn't make a lot of sense to me. Now I think all Friendly games are considered turn-based technically, but RT/TB are just two aspects of timing, and as Friendly has none, it really fits into neither.

Unless it has changed without BGA mentioning it, there are two key differences between real-time and turn-based friendly games. A real-time friendly game will be deleted if there is no move within 4 hours, while a turn-based game will last for 40 days without a move. The other difference is that you can't be in more than 1 real-time game at a time.

The important thing is to create your friendly games with turn-based selected. That way, they won't disappear without warning, and you can't be "trapped" in one, unable to start another one. Frustratingly, there is a bug in the description when you create the game, it will specify "Friendly mode: no rankings, no time limit per turn, no penalties. Real-time game." even in the case where it is a turn-based game.

[Ceaseless]

Could someone remind me on the policy of reviving threads?

anyways, when I set a table to "friendly mode", the setting says it's for real-time games. How often do players expect friendly games to be realtime?

Don't think there's much policy there, though this thread already seems to be ongoing, not much in terms of revival.

I doubt there's a universal expectation, communicate with your opponent when in doubt. I personally assume my games are real-time. Friendly games aren't timed, so I don't see anyone thinking for so long there would be an issue. Someone would have to walk away from the game before we hit time limits long enough for BGA to end the game, not that the outcome will affect anyone's rating or reputation.

[nik592]

Unless it has changed without BGA mentioning it, there are two key differences between real-time and turn-based friendly games. A real-time friendly game will be deleted if there is no move within 4 hours, while a turn-based game will last for 40 days without a move. The other difference is that you can't be in more than 1 real-time game at a time.

The important thing is to create your friendly games with turn-based selected. That way, they won't disappear without warning, and you can't be "trapped" in one, unable to start another one. Frustratingly, there is a bug in the description when you create the game, it will specify "Friendly mode: no rankings, no time limit per turn, no penalties. Real-time game." even in the case where it is a turn-based game.

So funnily enough, if you're trying to set a Friendly mode from the old lobby (which is where you see the bugged description mentioning "Real-time game."), there doesn't seem to be a distinction between turn-based and real-time. I think the problem used to come in when you tried to set a Normal Game with no time limit - there were apparently two options, one under the RT speeds and one under the TB speeds. The no limit (friends only) option is still there for TB, but it directs you to set mode to Friendly now instead.

But in the new lobby (game page), you can choose a Friendly no time-limit game in either RT or TB mode. Presumably, this works as mentioned above - the RT ones have a sooner timeout for inactivity. This confuses me terribly, because they removed it from the old lobby, but specifically added it to the new?? And this issue (why did my no time-limit game time out after a few hours) comes up regularly in the forums, so removing the RT option would have made sense.

[Jellby]

Last time I checked, even if if you start a friendly-mode real-time game, once in the game you can still switch to turn-based. Easy-peasy in a solo game, it may need other players to agree in multiplayer. And no, there's no way to switch from turn-based to real-time, but I don't see any need for it in a friendly-mode game.