Why do people do this?

[Michael Keating]

Call it first world problems if you wish, but I rather take my time seriously and I despise timewasters.

You said it was a turn-based game. So how are they wasting your time? If they don’t go then it just doesn’t become your turn, right?

Er! When their time runs out! The whole point of my post! Just because it's a turn based game does not mean running out of time does not matter.
When I join a 12 move a day game, I do not expect it to be a move once a week game! I do not put up with that nonsense.

[BarnardsStar]

Er! When their time runs out! The whole point of my post! Just because it's a turn based game does not mean running out of time does not matter.
When I join a 12 move a day game, I do not expect it to be a move once a week game! I do not put up with that nonsense.

I didn't say it didn't matter. But you said you value your time and despise timewasters, and I'm just pointing out that they're not actually wasting your time, since it's not like you're sitting there just waiting for them to move (like you might be in a real-time game).

There are plenty of other reasons to dislike the behaviour. For example, you want to keep up a good flow and if too much time goes by between turns, you're not really in the zone. That sort of thing.

But saying they are wasting your time doesn't seem to be true to me.

[tbhp]

Er! When their time runs out! The whole point of my post! Just because it's a turn based game does not mean running out of time does not matter.
When I join a 12 move a day game, I do not expect it to be a move once a week game! I do not put up with that nonsense.

But you aren't explaining how it's wasting your time. Whether your turn comes up today or in six months, the amount of time you will have spent thinking about the game will have been the same, so where is the time wasting?

[Jellby]

But you aren't explaining how it's wasting your time. Whether your turn comes up today or in six months, the amount of time you will have spent thinking about the game will have been the same, so where is the time wasting?

Do you only think about the game when you actually play your turn?

I think about my next move all the time (well... intermittently during all the time) between one move and the next. What will my opponent do? What will I do? Have I found the next move? Should I maybe take a different strategy? There's a very big difference between thinking about my next move during half an hour or six months.

About wasting time: If I join/create a 24-move-per-day game, it's because I have time to play a game that will finish in one or two days. I won't have time to play the game or maybe even log in after. Maybe I can only play during the weekend, maybe I'm traveling abroad. I want to play this game during these two days. An opponent failing to play effectively wastes my time because I cannot play. Sure, it's not like I'm watching and waiting, but still, I can't do what I was rightfully expecting to do.

You seem to think every turn-based game should be without time limits, and every real-time game should be converted to turn-based...

[tbhp]

Do you only think about the game when you actually play your turn?

It depends. I'll usually think outside of my turn if the game is important and/or I don't feel fully in control of things. But in that case it's not my opponent who is causing me to "waste" time, it's my own choice to use the spare time to improve my chances of winning. That would be time I consider "well used", not like I was just sitting there doing nothing, as could be the case waiting in a real time game.

I want to play this game during these two days. An opponent failing to play effectively wastes my time because I cannot play. Sure, it's not like I'm watching and waiting, but still, I can't do what I was rightfully expecting to do.

That's inconvenient, but that's more a case of not being able to do things at the times you had planned to do them. Of course, sometimes planning issues can cause us to literally lose time, but that's very specific. Usually when I can't do what I wanted to do at a certain time, then I'll just do something else I was planning to do at some other point instead, so it doesn't change the total time used, just the order of things.

You seem to think every turn-based game should be without time limits, and every real-time game should be converted to turn-based...

I don't, I think there should be an incentive for people to play within a certain time frame. I just don't agree with kicking out, and I don't really agree that people in turn based games are "wasting" time, for the reasons that have been given.

[Archisian]

Look, it's your right to kick them if you want.

But this post just seethes with pointless whining. This is an online board game website. How in the world does someone going over time offend you so much that you just have to make a post about it to complain? Just kick them, get the dub and move on if that's what you want, bro. It's not that hard.

Life is way too short for you to get all in a tizzy over something like this.

Call it first world problems if you wish, but I rather take my time seriously and I despise timewasters.

You're playing a turn-based game, man. I don't know what settings you have, but I'm assuming that players in your turn-based games are given many hours to complete just 1 turn. I don't see how something that allows such leeway is wasting your time, when you guys are theoretically playing 1 turn a day. I mean, do you immediately play your turn when it's available or something? Do you get notifications? If not, do you check throughout the day regularly? That's not how most people play turn-based games on here.

If this was real-time, you'd have more of a point because it's... well, in real-time. But because it's turn-based, it makes your entire post fall apart.

[Faiz Ali]

Whether time is being wasted or not depends on the implicit or explicit agreement about how long something should take, and a person's plan for their time. Whether there is something else to do or not while waiting is completely irrelevant. There are always things to do when something is taking longer than expected, this means that no time could ever be wasted, which is obviously not true. The waste of time occurs the moment something takes longer than it's supposed to, and even when a person starts doing something else with their time, it's still wasted because that was not their plan for that time

[Archisian]

Whether time is being wasted or not depends on the implicit or explicit agreement about how long something should take, and a person's plan for their time. Whether there is something else to do or not while waiting is completely irrelevant. There are always things to do when something is taking longer than expected, this means that no time could ever be wasted, which is obviously not true. The waste of time occurs the moment something takes longer than it's supposed to, and even when a person starts doing something else with their time, it's still wasted because that was not their plan for that time

What are the implicit and explicit agreements that you are talking about? People jump onto this website to either:

1. Play a quick game (real-time)

2. Play a slow, casual game (turn-based)

This idea that everybody is making some kind of agreement that is either universally applied or is somehow understood by the two parties playing in those particular games without saying it directly is just not the way it happens. The majority of people don't think this way when they jump on to play a game online. If it's real-time, as I said, I get it. You usually play real-time games because you have a limited time to play. For turn-based games, people play them because they don't have to worry about such time constraints. It's bizarre that someone who starts a turn-based game with that mindset then gets upset when someone goes over time. Makes no sense, especially when you can play dozens of multiple turn-based games at the same time! If you are someone like that, then you are someone who likes convert contracts, which is a personal problem than a problem with the other person.

Jesus Christ, seems like before we start every single game, everyone must read and sign a lengthy legal contract just to make people who think this way feel even remotely happy. Even then, I'm sure they'll find something to whine and complain about. You just can't win!

[tbhp]

Whether time is being wasted or not depends on the implicit or explicit agreement about how long something should take, and a person's plan for their time. Whether there is something else to do or not while waiting is completely irrelevant. There are always things to do when something is taking longer than expected, this means that no time could ever be wasted, which is obviously not true. The waste of time occurs the moment something takes longer than it's supposed to, and even when a person starts doing something else with their time, it's still wasted because that was not their plan for that time

If instead of idly waiting for someone I decide to do something I had planned for the next day (meaning I won’t have to do it tomorrow), how is time being wasted?

I think time wasting is a real thing in some situations (like you are waiting for someone and you don’t have anything to do) but in the described situation I don’t see how it applies.

[Faiz Ali]

What are the implicit and explicit agreements that you are talking about? People jump onto this website to either:

1. Play a quick game (real-time)

2. Play a slow, casual game (turn-based)

This idea that everybody is making some kind of agreement that is either universally applied or is somehow understood by the two parties playing in those particular games without saying it directly is just not the way it happens. The majority of people don't think this way when they jump on to play a game online. If it's real-time, as I said, I get it. You usually play real-time games because you have a limited time to play. For turn-based games, people play them because they don't have to worry about such time constraints. It's bizarre that someone who starts a turn-based game with that mindset then gets upset when someone goes over time. Makes no sense, especially when you can play dozens of multiple turn-based games at the same time! If you are someone like that, then you are someone who likes convert contracts, which is a personal problem than a problem with the other person.

Jesus Christ, seems like before we start every single game, everyone must read and sign a lengthy legal contract just to make people who think this way feel even remotely happy. Even then, I'm sure they'll find something to whine and complain about. You just can't win!

The agreement is obviously the time allotted for a turn...which is literally the first thing you see when clicking on a game to join, there's nothing covert about it. "Going over time" as you state is by definition a violation of an agreement, so why is it bizarre that someone would get annoyed by this. The only reason a person would get annoyed is because they're trying to show grace and not kick the player going over time.

The way the very system is designed contradicts your arguments, if there's nothing wrong with going over time, why would there be a penalty for doing so and being kicked from a game. You claim to know the reasons why people play turn-based, maybe sometimes it has to do with play time available, other times it has to do with pacing preference. If the agreement for pacing for a game is violated, makes sense that some people would get annoyed...it's not a lengthy legal contract, it's a single sentence, and it's the first thing you see when you're looking at a game to join.