Add filter for number of ongoing games in turn-based tables

[SaltySpi]

Hello,

I would like to suggest an improvement for turn-based table creation, I opened it with bug id 217889 to allow vote.

In turn-based mode, some players join too many games at the same time and frequently exceed their time limit. This can lead to skipped turns or players being removed from the game, which may disrupt the gameplay and negatively impact rankings for everyone at the table.

To help prevent this, it would be very useful to add a filter based on the number of ongoing games a player has.

For example:

* fewer than 3 ongoing games
* fewer than 5 ongoing games
* fewer than 10 ongoing games

This would help ensure more reliable and enjoyable games.

Thank you for your time and for the continuous improvements to the platform.

Best regards,

[Shivaware]

I don't think this is the proper approach. Sure, there are some players that have too many games to keep up with, but many other players handle a bunch without a single timeout.

I think you really want to restrict your games to people without timeouts. The problem is, people with lots of timeouts can quickly restore their Karma to 100% by playing a bunch of quick games, so there is no way to restrict them.

What might be more helpful is a way to restrict your games to people with no timeouts in the last 60 days, as is suggested in https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=127414

[SaltySpi]

Yes but that's partially incorrect.
Many people that play turn based games would like to play "fast" and actually there is no other possibility than playing real time.

When the whole table play their turn in 1 or 2 hours and it's always the same player that sink it's timer to 8 or 12h, even if he/she play within the time limit it's frustrating. A game that could last one or two days with a good rythm take one week becasue of that.

On a similar note I wonder if restricting people by timezone would be a great trick too, because sometime I don't want to play with people from the other side of the globe because when it's night for them it's day for us and vice-versa. In that configuration everygame it's taking forever. Sure you could restrict to people that speak your language, but for Europe it's too restrictive. I'm ok to play with people that speak whatever language if we sit in the same timezone.

Edit: typo

[BarnardsStar]

Many people that play turn based games would like to play "fast" and actually there is no other possibility than playing real time.

When the whole table play their turn in 1 or 2 hours and it's always the same player that sink it's timer to 8 or 12h, even if he/she play within the time limit it's frustrating. A game that could last one or two days with a good rythm take one week becasue of that.

On a similar note I wonder if restricting people by timezone would be a great trick too, because sometime I don't want to play with people from the other side of the globe because when it's night for them it's day for us and vice-versa.

So you want to get people to play faster AND you want to make sure you’re all awake and playing at roughly the same time? Great news – this option already exists! If you choose turn based games with faster than eight times per day, then it will enable “playing hours” – the clock will only count down during a 12 hour window, and will be paused the other 12. So if, for instance, you choose 12 times per day, then you will only get one hour added to your clock each turn you take. So you can see why you would want to have the clock paused for 12 hours each day.

There is a catch, though: the “choose any play speed” option on the game’s main page will allow players to join fast turn-based games and not give them any choice or reminder about playing hours, so I would suggest, when joining such a table, that you use the chat to make sure that everybody is clear about the playing hours. Vote for https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=57379 if you would like to see this addressed!

[tbhp]

I agree that this seems to be the wrong approach. If we are going to add a metric to be able to filter by, then might as well do that with the number of timeouts a user had, rather than look at the number of tables they are playing at. This targets more precisely the information you want to know.

It also makes more sense to "discriminate" players based on something bad they did, rather than based on something that is totally allowed such as having many tables currently playing.

[nervous-chicken387]

Yes but that's partially incorrect.
Many people that play turn based games would like to play "fast" and actually there is no other possibility than playing real time.

When the whole table play their turn in 1 or 2 hours and it's always the same player that sink it's timer to 8 or 12h, even if he/she play within the time limit it's frustrating. A game that could last one or two days with a good rythm take one week becasue of that.

On a similar note I wonder if restricting people by timezone would be a great trick too, because sometime I don't want to play with people from the other side of the globe because when it's night for them it's day for us and vice-versa. In that configuration everygame it's taking forever. Sure you could restrict to people that speak your language, but for Europe it's too restrictive. I'm ok to play with people that speak whatever language if we sit in the same timezone.

Edit: typo

The simple solution is for you to only join turn-based games with fast timers. If you see a tournament or a table with a time that you do not want to wait for, do not join it. Longer hours are needed for people such as myself that have commitments where we cannot be on BGA all the time. If that does not work for you that is fine, just only join games with fast times. If you join a game with a certain timer, and any player(s) take their full time to complete it, there is nothing wrong with that.

[SaltySpi]

I see a lot of people here are incredibly stubborn and completely miss the point.

I want to play turn-based games at a good pace.

People who play dozens of tables are more likely to timeout, that's a fact. But you know what? That's not even the point.
We should be allowed to choose players within our own time zone. That's it.

And yes, I'm the one creating the table. I set the fastest speed available and configure playing hours.
It doesn't prevent anything. People still burn through their timer and turn a 2-day game into a 7- or 10-day one.

And most people who play dozens of turn-based tables also play a lot of real-time games just to keep their karma above 90%. The current system is completely broken. Instead of criticizing every suggestion people make, maybe try finding a way to fix it.

[BarnardsStar]

I see a lot of people here are incredibly stubborn and completely miss the point.

I think it’s amazing how people ask for help and when they get unexpected answers start lobbing insults at the people trying to help them.

Since these people are trying to help you and pointing out a) flaws with your suggestions and b) ways you can get what you seemingly want, but you keep saying it’s not good enough but not elaborating on why… I’m just curious if you are including yourself in the “incredibly stubborn” category?

I want to play turn-based games at a good pace.

People who play dozens of tables are more likely to timeout, that's a fact. But you know what? That's not even the point.

Well, now I know I’m missing the point since that was literally the premise of your initial post and now it’s “not even the point”.

We should be allowed to choose players within our own time zone. That's it.

You’ll still get people who rise at 6 and take their turns then, others who are in college and take their turns at midnight, still others on the night shift, etc. Trust me when I say this isn’t actually what you want.

As evidenced by the fact that you (Belgium) are in an Ark Nova game with a Dutch person and two French people (all in the same time zone) and one of the French people is wildly over their clock.

Playing hours are the answer, but there are aspects of their implementation that are broken, and I’m with you on that. The biggest such issue is if you use the main game page to join and you say you are open to any speed, you can end up in a playing hours game with hours completely wrong for you. They really need to fix that.

Plus which, very few people are actually open to any speed. I suspect this is what happened to your French player; they didn’t realize any speed might mean 24x/day. It should be a range of acceptable speeds.

And most people who play dozens of turn-based tables also play a lot of real-time games just to keep their karma above 90%. The current system is completely broken. Instead of criticizing every suggestion people make, maybe try finding a way to fix it.

Again I’ll note that your French friend is only in 2 turn-based tables and the same time zone as you, so I think the solution is a different from your suggestions.