No penalties for intentionally stalling in turn-based games in order to avoid losing the game before the end of the seas

[Ceaseless]

Meeple also makes a post with the rules saying Arena games do end after the season is over

No, Ceaseless. I posted that and bolded the language that says the game does not end, unless you are using a peculiar definition of "end." It specifically says "[t]he game will then continue." It is converted to a friendly game that the players can complete or not at their option.

I have no issue with isolating the relevant parts of a post, but you definitely overcut here. I gave my definition. (Edit: Realized I forgot to add the prior sentence to clarify my definition of end should have been provided in my previous post, even though I underlined that for emphasize in the quote below.)

Meeple also makes a post with the rules saying Arena games do end after the season is over with their quote "the player who consumed the most thinking time during the game will lose League Points as if the game ended with that player being considered the absolute loser. All other players will neither lose or win any points". From there it's transferred to friendly mode, meaning the game has ended. No decisions made during the friendly mode portion have any impact on the game, the result has been decided.

Their use of the word "continues" in "the game continues in friendly mode" is just choice of words. They can say the game continues, and that's fine, but they're not backing that defintion of continues up with anything, they just used it as a casual turn of phrase. My definition of whether the game is over or not was chosen based on what BGA enforces. While the game is ongoing ratings and karma can still be affected. After the game is over they cannot. This definition obviously is meant for when the game began in rated in the first place, which fits in a thread specifically about Arena Mode and penalties. Had we been in a thread discussing games that were friendly mode from the start my definition of a game ending would be different.

[Vad55]

But at the same time, there should be some measures in place to reduce the number of unfinished games.

There are already measures in place: 1) not letting turn-based games start near the end of the season in the first place and 2) not letting someone profit from not finishing them. That seems like a reasonable way to deal with this. No system is perfect. Just because it didn't work for your particular situation doesn't mean it's just completely ineffective.

What change would you make? Not letting games start 10 days before the end of the season? A month? A 100% karma penalty for the slowest player if the game doesn't finish?

..I also find it absurd that having an unmade move in a turn-based game, you can calmly start and play other quick games, including in the Arena

[Meeplelowda]

First, reduce the turn time to 1 day.

No. If you are going to have penalties for exceeding a time control, then you cannot ever change that time control without a player's consent. When someone agrees to a time control, they are responsible for playing that fast, but no faster.

Keep 5 days for simple games.

So BGA needs to go through 1,000+ games (or however many are actually out of alpha/beta) and make a subjective decision about which ones are "simple" enough?

[Vad55]

First, reduce the turn time to 1 day.

No. If you are going to have penalties for exceeding a time control, then you cannot ever change that time control without a player's consent. When someone agrees to a time control, they are responsible for playing that fast, but no faster.

Keep 5 days for simple games.

So BGA needs to go through 1,000+ games (or however many are actually out of alpha/beta) and make a subjective decision about which ones are "simple" enough?

In Arena mode, I'm not asked to agree to a 5-day timeout—the game starts automatically. You misunderstood: I'm not advocating for changing the rules mid-game. I'm in favor of a system that minimizes the percentage of unfinished games from the start. In this regard, one of my ideas is to introduce a one-day per turn rule in the turn-based Arena. As for reducing karma for wasting time, you don't need 1,000 games to achieve that—the developers have statistics on which players don't waste time, and which do so consistently, throughout each season. This begs the question: why would someone choose turn-based Arena in the first place, rather than a regular game? Furthermore, we overestimate the incidence of force majeure situations in which a player isn't able to log in and play—I think the incidence of such situations is around 1% of all delayed games.

[Meeplelowda]

In Arena mode, I'm not asked to agree to a 5-day timeout—the game starts automatically. You misunderstood: I'm not advocating for changing the rules mid-game. I'm in favor of a system that minimizes the percentage of unfinished games from the start. In this regard, one of my ideas is to introduce a one-day per turn rule in the turn-based Arena.

OK. That's fair, but honestly, one day per turn seems kinda slow if your concern is games not finishing in time. And I'm not someone who plays 24 moves/day games or anything like that.

the developers have statistics on which players don't waste time, and which do so consistently, throughout each season.

We are back to my previous point. The time control is the time control. You are not "wasting time" if you use every single second on your clock that they give you. Period. This is even explained in the pop-up in a game that says "my opponent isn't playing. What can I do?"

why would someone choose turn-based Arena in the first place, rather than a regular game?

Obviously for devious underworld reasons. Or maybe because for some games you have to wait forever for a real-time game to start. There are some games for which I'd literally have to wait half an hour for a real-time game. I know, because I tried it once.

Or for more popular games the answer is pretty easy: volume. You can't play 50 real-time games simultaneously. But many players have that many or more turn-based games going at once. Obviously, during a turn-based game you can go on about your life when you're not actively making a move. So over the course of a 90-day season, you can play many multiples more turn-based games than real-time games. It's for this reason that some people have advocated for having separate real-time and turn-based Arena rankings.

Or maybe they don't want to play a zillion games, but they rarely have time to commit to a full real-time game.

[FrankJones]

The quoted rule says the player who stalled will lose league points as though it were a loss. Thus, I assume those league points (which are the purple tokens, right?) would decrease immediately, and lower the player in the arena standings.

They may be deducted immediately on the backend, but not necessarily shown as deducted to all the other players in the game. As I said above, it seems like handling these end-of-season AES deductions is done outside the usual game flow. I went into the history of what I suspect is the game the OP was complaining about, and there's nothing indicating that it was ever an Arena game, so there's nothing showing AES adjustments for the loser. It only shows up as an abandoned friendly game.

I see. Yeah, that's a bit odd. Usually, an arena game would be indicated in a player' history by showing bot the Elo change and the Arena points change. When you refer to "AES" adjustments, you're referring to the number of purple arena tokens/points a player has, right? Which are use to calculate the Arena standings?

[Meeplelowda]

When you refer to "AES" adjustments, you're referring to the number of purple arena tokens/points a player has, right? Which are use to calculate the Arena standings?

Yes. I use AES to avoid confusion with the shields you get in the preliminary tiers before you reach elite.

[FrankJones]

When you refer to "AES" adjustments, you're referring to the number of purple arena tokens/points a player has, right? Which are use to calculate the Arena standings?

Yes. I use AES to avoid confusion with the shields you get in the preliminary tiers before you reach elite.

Oh, true, good call. I think most of the arena games I have played only have 3 tiers, but regardless of the number of tiers, all except purple (elite) go through 0-9 shields for promotion and then upon reaching elite, switch to the 1500-ish system of purple points, right?

[Meeplelowda]

When you refer to "AES" adjustments, you're referring to the number of purple arena tokens/points a player has, right? Which are use to calculate the Arena standings?

Yes. I use AES to avoid confusion with the shields you get in the preliminary tiers before you reach elite.

Oh, true, good call. I think most of the arena games I have played only have 3 tiers, but regardless of the number of tiers, all except purple (elite) go through 0-9 shields for promotion and then upon reaching elite, switch to the 1500-ish system of purple points, right?

Yes. Some games even only have bronze and elite. The AES points are always there. They are just hidden below elite.

[Jellby]

Firstly, I think 5 days per turn in Arena is too long.

Where do you get 5 days per turn? The slowest speed I know is 2 days per turn. You may have 5 days for some turn if you use your whole time bank, or a holiday joker, but you only get +2 days back each turn.

In any case, you can choose choose the speeds you do or do not want to play at in your per-game Arena settings (in the "old" lobby).