Where is the setting for "friendly/normal" mode?

[digitalison]

I got a weird message that I "was unable to finish a game" and of course one of the little FAQs on that message recommends setting the game to "friendly mode" if you don't want to get dinged for things like that. I noticed the game was supposedly started today, and I didn't join or start any games today, so I reported that aspect as a bug.

But the issue I'm asking about here is that, when I went to try to check to see whether my settings for that game were in "friendly mode" I couldn't even find where it tells you that, much less how to set it or change it. And there is absolutely nothing in the FAQ about it. I even did a general search of the web for "where is 'friendly mode' on BGA" and nothing came up, which is weird.

"Friendly mode" is often mentioned in the FAQ or forum posts, but only to say that one can use it... or that someone has a question about a game in friendly mode, but nothing about HOW or WHERE the setting actually is.

I have found that BGA is lacking in a lot of basic "how to use this site" information which is not intuitive. I've had to ask friends who also play to get the answers to questions like this, that seem like they should be basic to gain new users.

So anyhow, lacking any information on the site, I'm asking on the forums. If I wanted to check to see whether my settings for a game are in "friendly mode" or if I wanted to create one in "friendly mode," what are the steps to do that, or where is the button or option located?

Thanks so much!

[FDHenneberg]

This depends on how you set up your games. I prefer the play now lobby https://boardgamearena.com/lobby. When you click on one of the games and create a table, the first option after clicking the create button is “game mode”, and friendly is one of them. The general settings on the main lobby page must be set to “simple game”.

If you instead use the page of the game you want to play (games tab), there’s a slider for the game speed. The leftmost part has the infinity symbol. Choose that and you’ll see that the game has been set to friendly mode.

I guess it will take longer to find players compared to normal
mode. As long as we don’t really know what happened, it might make more sense to just pick a slower speed in a regular game.

[BarnardsStar]

I got a weird message that I "was unable to finish a game" and of course one of the little FAQs on that message recommends setting the game to "friendly mode" if you don't want to get dinged for things like that. I noticed the game was supposedly started today, and I didn't join or start any games today, so I reported that aspect as a bug.

I’ll just note that currently I do not see any abandoned games in your history in the 24 hours prior to your post, so it was either a display glitch or got rectified quickly. (Or both.) So while it’s probably good to know where the “friendly” feature is, it doesn’t look like you actually need it.

[nik592]

I’ll just note that currently I do not see any abandoned games in your history in the 24 hours prior to your post, so it was either a display glitch or got rectified quickly. (Or both.) So while it’s probably good to know where the “friendly” feature is, it doesn’t look like you actually need it.

Well, I agree - I can't see any abandoned games for the last 60 days, yet their profile indicates one and their karma being at 91% suggests they probably have had a penalty relatively recently. It does seem odd, and may well be a bug, though if it is, it's unlikely to be rectified to help this user - just play your games normally, try not to run out of time and complete them, and you should be back to full karma before long.

[Jellby]

Maybe they have been expelled, but the other players are still "playing" the game?

[nik592]

Maybe they have been expelled, but the other players are still "playing" the game?

I wondered that, but I don't believe you get the karma penalty until the game ends. Additiobally, none of their running games showed a time penalty (I think you can still see the game in curremt games, because it often offers you a chance to get back in the game).

[SquireKeladry]

Someone has already explained how to select friendly mode when starting a new game. You can check what mode a game in progress has by scrolling down to under the game board where you'll see the following tabs:
How to play?
Competition
Strategy tips
Options
Credits

Click on options and then scroll down to where it says "Game Mode" and it will say either normal mode or friendly mode. It will also list any other relevent table settings in this section such as game speed and setup options.

Maybe they have been expelled, but the other players are still "playing" the game?

I wondered that, but I don't believe you get the karma penalty until the game ends. Additiobally, none of their running games showed a time penalty (I think you can still see the game in curremt games, because it often offers you a chance to get back in the game).

Maybe the OP is confused about when the game in question started (or maybe the BGA message was mistaken about the date)? This game shows up as abandoned by the OP recently but it was started several days ago - https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=805266566

This table was set to 4 moves/day (6 hrs per move) game speed, which is quite easy to run out of time unless you check BGA very frequently. The OP might find the slower game speeds a better match for them.

[Meeplelowda]

This table was set to 4 moves/day (6 hrs per move) game speed, which is quite easy to run out of time unless you check BGA very frequently. The OP might find the slower game speeds a better match for them.

This is actually a pretty slow speed. I set almost all my turn-based games to this and have never come close to running out of time. People mistake 4 moves / day to mean EACH PLAYER is making four moves per day. It is not "6 hrs per move," meaning you MUST MOVE every six hours. The six hours is how much time gets added back on your clock and you can accumulate up to 24 hours at this setting. So you can literally go for a day without making a move if you build up your time bank.

You'd only have to make 4 moves per day if you were almost out of time and every single other player at the table instantaneously made their moves right after you did and you always use the entire 6 hours added to your clock to make you next move so you aren't accumulating a time bank. In practice, you may only make a couple moves per day at a 4-player game, and 2-3 per day at a 3-player game. [Caveat: if is a game in which it can be everyone's "turn" simultaneously, like the Next Station games, then all bets are off.]

That said, this relatively slow speed is still too fast for some people, and your point that they should find something even slower still holds.

[nik592]

Maybe the OP is confused about when the game in question started (or maybe the BGA message was mistaken about the date)? This game shows up as abandoned by the OP recently but it was started several days ago - https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=805266566

This table was set to 4 moves/day (6 hrs per move) game speed, which is quite easy to run out of time unless you check BGA very frequently. The OP might find the slower game speeds a better match for them.

Hmmm. That table wasn't there when I looked a day ago, but looks like it only "finished" about an hour after I looked. So maybe the penalty does come earlier? Although it also looks like the penalty was cancelled for some reason, so I don't know. But I'd agree that looks like the game that probably prompted the message.

[BalGAmor]

"Friendly mode" is often mentioned in the FAQ or forum posts, but only to say that one can use it... or that someone has a question about a game in friendly mode, but nothing about HOW or WHERE the setting actually is.

The Friendly mode is set when you chose the game speed. Move the Game Speed cursor to the left (the slowest speed) and it will turn your game into a friendly one.