Another newbie decides to close his window rather than finish the game

[Call me Ishmael]

Myself and two colleagues just became victims again of some newcomer who started a game, and rather than complete it, ask for help, or in any way chat at all, simply disconnected or closed his window rather than bother to finish the game.

What makes it particularly annoying is that the rest of us have to sit there an extra long time waiting for his double time bonus clock to wind down.

I am all for helping new people, but frankly, giving them double time is not the way. Because the above has happened to me so frequently, I have reached the point where I will no longer accept beginners at my game tables until BGA revises it's policy.

You need to change it back so that beginners get the same clock as everyone else, but perhaps an extra 20 seconds per turn. Or perhaps the first disconnect or time out is not counted against them.

I know that the double time was intended to help newcomers, but because of the rampant abuse of it and the high cost to us remaining players (typically 5 wasted minutes of watching quitter's clock run out), more and more regular players will do as I do, not trust to play with newbies and the net result is that newbies themselves lose out because of the double time 'bonus'.

On top of that, I rarely see a newcomer with that double time in effect, if indeed is making his plays, actually needing or using so much extra time. The sole practical function of the double time, it seems, is to make the other players wait twice as long before they can expel him.

Please remove the double time and put some thing else there for first-time players.

[diamant]

Please remove the double time and put some thing else there for first-time players.

I support this request. Double time for beginners is irrelevant. You can give them even more time, they 'll never make the best move.
Everybody try to make the best move in the allocated time ; if you don't succeed, you lose : this is not a drama, even when you are a beginner.

[sourisdudesert]

Actually, beginners are asking for more time. Some players here do not want to learn new game in realtime because they will be stressed by the time limit.

I agree that maybe the double starting time (and consequently maximum time) is too much. But at least we need to keep the "x2 extra time" on each move.

By the way, if you prefer to avoid beginners, you can explicitly filter beginners with the new ELO system (everyone that play at least one game is at least an "apprentice", so you can explicitly filter beginners).

[sourisdudesert]

... after reviewing a little bit further this subject, I remembered that we do not double initial time for beginners, only maximum time.

So if a beginner do not play any move in a game, you don't have to wait double time.

However I agree that maximum time should not be doubled. This way, you won't wait more for a beginner than for an "usual leaver".

[diamant]

... after reviewing a little bit further this subject, I remembered that we do not double initial time for beginners, only maximum time.

So if a beginner do not play any move in a game, you don't have to wait double time.

However I agree that maximum time should not be doubled. This way, you won't wait more for a beginner than for an "usual leaver".

Maximum time should not be doubled in fast games and in turn by turn games either. If you are a beginner and asking for more time, you must not choose a fast real time game.

[Romain672]

For me, the first solution is to use something special : give them normal time and when a begginner is out of time, check if he is disconnected or not, if yes, don't give him extra time, if not, give him extra time.
It resolve easily one of the problem.

After, in general, i'm agree Ishmael, give him more extra time each turn is nice for game where the timer just decrease with the time (like can't stop).
Percentage or fixed value ? I don't really know, percentage seem better for can't stop, but fixed value better when the turn are long (like Lord of Xidit). Perhaps a percentage with a maximum...

The double time stay nice for discover a game (with a friend) when we want understand another part of the game (something new like a second age, or something we didn't understand for the moment). On this specific situation, we need more time (even if 7minute is generally enough) than usual.
Same for the first turn when one friend discover the game : we want that he saw the interface, but for complexe game we need more than 7 minutes (so we just play one turn/tell him what to do at first turn if we don't want to be out of time).

[diamant]

The double time stay nice for discover a game (with a friend) when we want understand another part of the game (something new like a second age, or something we didn't understand for the moment). On this specific situation, we need more time (even if 7minute is generally enough) than usual.

If you want to discover a game with friends, choose a turn by turn game, and play it in real time. So, you can use so much time you need.

[sourisdudesert]

The simplest solution is to disable doubling maximum time, and keep doubling extra time. It will be available on the next website release.

In the case of this thread author, this would have solved the issue (they would have wait a "normal" 5 minutes instead of 10).

[Jest Phulin]

Hijacking this thread to mention something else about newbies quitting: Beginner's protection prevents a player from giving them a red thumb. While I understand that newbs are prone to interface and misplay errors that several people might find offensive, intentional quitting is a disregard for the site rules and the time investment of other players (and specifically warned about when a table starts).
Could code be written that beginner's protection to red thumbs does not apply if the player quits the game in progress?

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Edit -- fixed grammatical error

[Shaq Jenkins]

I agree that the beginner protection rule seriously needs revised. It's not fair that beginners are allowed to red thumb us but we can't give them one. I really do not want to play with beginners who would rather quit the game than learn it. It makes me extremely hesitant to let beginners join my tables.

If a beginner quits, log offs, or purposely runs out time, I think players should be allowed to give them a red thumb. Beginners who do this are being rude and inconsiderate.