Players Abandoning Games When Defender of Catan Triggers a Potential Win

[MamaMyrtl]

I've seen this happen several times, and I'm wondering whether others have encountered it and/or whether moderators can do anything about it.

In Cities and Knights, a player is at 12 points and gains Defender of Catan during another player's turn, which puts them at 13 points.

Under the game mechanics, the game does not end at that moment. The player must wait until play returns to their own turn before they can win the game.

The problem is that I've now seen multiple instances where another player refuses to continue once this happens. The game stalls, is eventually neutralized, and everyone else's time is wasted.

Has anyone else encountered this? Is there any moderator action available when a player deliberately refuses to continue playing in this situation? Or is this simply a known issue with no current remedy?

[wonderful76]

*** is one to avoid. Leaves if another person is on verge of winning at 9. Last second before win. Unbelieveble. Havn't got highest karma myself but leaving on purpose like this is exyremly low. Happnd twice to me with one. I feel very annoyed this one will not be removed. Has already got a red exlamation sign.

Edited. It is OK to be unhappy with another player but IT IS NOT OK to publicly name said player.

[euklid314]

I've seen this happen several times, and I'm wondering whether others have encountered it and/or whether moderators can do anything about it.

In Cities and Knights, a player is at 12 points and gains Defender of Catan during another player's turn, which puts them at 13 points.

Under the game mechanics, the game does not end at that moment. The player must wait until play returns to their own turn before they can win the game.

The problem is that I've now seen multiple instances where another player refuses to continue once this happens. The game stalls, is eventually neutralized, and everyone else's time is wasted.

Has anyone else encountered this? Is there any moderator action available when a player deliberately refuses to continue playing in this situation? Or is this simply a known issue with no current remedy?

It is a known issue and there is no solution, unfortunately. Your only option is to red-thumb the player and move on. The problem is then solved for you but not for everybody else.

To be fair it would be very difficult to decide for BGA if this kind of quitting is on purpose or if it was caused by other external factors (private life issues,...). Sometimes it is quite obvious but there are so many edge cases that BGA simply decided that the Karma penalty and the loss of ELO (+10 extra loss) for the unfair player is enough.

If you have a better solution that ideally can be automated and does not need manual checking of each case by moderators (huge committment of ressources BGA cannot invest for each single of its games...) you can make a suggestion in the bug/suggestion section.

[MamaMyrtl]

It is a known issue and there is no solution, unfortunately. Your only option is to red-thumb the player and move on. The problem is then solved for you but not for everybody else.

To be fair it would be very difficult to decide for BGA if this kind of quitting is on purpose or if it was caused by other external factors (private life issues,...). Sometimes it is quite obvious but there are so many edge cases that BGA simply decided that the Karma penalty and the loss of ELO (+10 extra loss) for the unfair player is enough.

If you have a better solution that ideally can be automated and does not need manual checking of each case by moderators (huge committment of ressources BGA cannot invest for each single of its games...) you can make a suggestion in the bug/suggestion section.

Because I know the longest road, or other contributing factors could result in the winner changing, I can't think of another solution other than to end the game at 13 points, no matter what. I'm also not sure how that works when the winning player is not the "active" player. I do use the red thumb in those cases. I guess I was mostly frustrated to see it happen twice in one day and it feels like a giant waste of time.

[euklid314]

According to rules you need 13+ points on your own turn to win the game.

There are several ways to still lose when having reached 13+ points on another players turn

*) points might be taken away from you (longest road, merchant,...) so that you are below 13 when it is your turn.

*) Another player goes to 13 on his turn before it is your next turn.

You even can end the game with 14 points in the final standing and lose to a player with 13 points.