What does "playing hours" mean?

[Ciffy]

I just got booted from a game due to taking too long to take my turns, because everyone else was on a different continent from me, so my clock would tick while I was sleeping. While awake I would take my turns as soon as I was made aware it was my turn, but it wasn't enough to run the clock back up.

This leads me to my question. The selection appears to be the 24 hour clock with appropriations made for am and pm. None of the options are actually ranges. Or if they are ranges, they're all exactly 12 hours long each, which seems odd that I'm in the one time zone that looks like conversions vs a range. Also, none of the options appear to be enforced. I've had a perfect rep for years and finally got my first ding due to not being in the right time zone / range. Would like to avoid that if I can help it.

[Jellby]

They are ranges in your local timezone (or the timezone your browser believes it's in). The clock ticks when it's your turn during those hours, whether you're asleep or not. It does not tick outside of those hours or when it's not your turn. You can make a move at any time (in your turn), inside the playing hours range or not.

[Shivaware]

I just got booted from a game due to taking too long to take my turns, because everyone else was on a different continent from me, so my clock would tick while I was sleeping. While awake I would take my turns as soon as I was made aware it was my turn, but it wasn't enough to run the clock back up.

This leads me to my question. The selection appears to be the 24 hour clock with appropriations made for am and pm. None of the options are actually ranges. Or if they are ranges, they're all exactly 12 hours long each, which seems odd that I'm in the one time zone that looks like conversions vs a range. Also, none of the options appear to be enforced. I've had a perfect rep for years and finally got my first ding due to not being in the right time zone / range. Would like to avoid that if I can help it.

The game you got kicked out of had playing hours that go from midnight to noon PDT, so that would be 3am to 3pm EDT. It looks like you would make your first move of the day around 7:30am EDT. The game is 24 moves a day which means you only get 30 minutes added to your clock every turn. If you are taking longer than that during the day to make your moves, then you will quickly run out of time.

I'm not sure what you mean in your question when you say "none of the options appear to be enforced". How exactly did you join the game? It looks like you've been at this site long enough that you should be using the superior "play now" lobby, rather than joining from the game page. If you started the game, it should use the hours you specify. If you manually joined, the playing hours should be visible. If you use the automatic mode, you should click the gear button and configure the times so you never play with inappropriate hours.

If you are getting into games the "new" way from the game page, it is critical to make sure you do not set your game speed preferences to be flexible. In that case, BGA will INSANELY add you to games with any possible playing hours.

You might consider voting for this suggestion:
https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=57379

[Ciffy]

Thanks. Yes, I should know better, but I've never investigated the playing hours before and very rarely play with people I don't already know in some form or fashion.

Still, your answer was very thorough and helpful, and I appreciate it.

[Meeplelowda]

You might consider voting for this suggestion:
https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=57379

I'm ok with the warning part of the suggestion.

I'm not ok with simply assuming for all players that a 10 pm to 3 am start to the playing hours window is "incompatible." Players should be able to decide for themselves what is incompatible.