Important: the new BGA lobby IS NOT AVAILABLE AT NOW. It will be available starting September 12th.
What is this new lobby?
The BGA lobby is the place where you meet other players, create and join game tables, and start games.
You can access it using the "Play" menu entry.
On September 12th, the lobby is going to change a lot. We hope that you'll find here all the answers to your questions about it.
Why did the previous lobby have to change?
The previous lobby has been designed more than 5 years ago, at a time where the number of games and the number of players on BGA was very low compared to what it is today.
There were many issues with the previous design:
_ because there are now so many more players now on BGA, the "other games" section had become a continuous scroll of new game tables. It was unusable and unreadable.
_ the interface to add a new game to your "preferred game" was horrible.
_ you couldn't see your ELO from the lobby screen, while it is visually the main indicator of your level at each game.
_ the "create new table" buttons were very little, and were not immediately recognized as "create new table" buttons by new players.
_ the switch between the "simple lobby" and the "advanced lobby" was misused (there were many messages and posts in the forum from players who did not understand this distinction).
_ the audience of BGA has evolved: we now have both "skilled gamers" and "casual players" on BGA, and we need to adapt to both audiences by providing a very simple lobby as the default on one side, and to propose a very efficient and full-featured lobby for the most active of you on the other side.
_ the overall design of the "advanced lobby" was very poor compared to the current web standards.
What are these new dropdowns at the top of the lobby?
You can now choose how you want to play using the very clear and simple controls from the first panel.
Using the first dropdown, you are able to choose if you want to play non-competitive games or competitive games (Arena mode). Arena mode is the new competitive mode that will become available soon on BGA (see the FAQ about Arena mode here).
Using the second dropdown, you can switch between Realtime and Turn-based.
Using the third dropdown, you can switch between the "Automatic mode" and the "Manual mode".
When in "Automatic mode" (formerly "Simple mode"), BGA will be automatically searching opponents for you. You just have to click "Play" on the games you want to play, and we will do all the rest for you.
When in "Manual mode" (formerly "Advanced mode"), you are able to create / join / start game tables manually.
Finally, the "Invite friends" panel allows you to invite friends to play with you.
What are the other changes?
If you were mainly using the formerly called "Simple mode", you will see that there are only minor changes in the corresponding "Automatic mode".
Most of the changes concern the formerly called "Advanced mode" (now "Manual mode").
The main change is that tables are now grouped by games. When arriving on the lobby, you can see for each game the number of tables available for it. By clicking on the "X tables available" buttons, you are able to see the list of tables for the given game, join them, or create a new table.
You can now join / quit / start a game table directly from the lobby, which is really faster!
You are now also able to join multiple realtime tables at the same time. For example, you can create a Saboteur table, create a Carcassonne table, and at the same time join another Saboteur table. This way, you will play the first table which is going to start.
What is the reason for these changes?
We want to provide the best lobby for each different category of players on BGA.
The "Automatic mode" has been designed for those of you who don't care too much about the details of their opponents. With a simple click on "Play now!" button, after some waiting time, your game starts.
The "Manual mode" has been designed for those of you who want to have more control on the game options, the games and their opponents. If you play only a small number of games on BGA, the new lobby is way more clean and simple than the previous one. If you play many different games on BGA, we recommend you to make the board game images smaller using the "display options" menu on top right of your preferred games.
I have too many games and the game boxes are way too big!
We introduced a new "display options" menu on the top right corner of your "Preferred games". You can choose between "large", "medium" or "small" icons.
The "small icons" mode has been designed for those of you who are playing a lot of different games on BGA. The space taken by each element has been optimized, to provide you the most efficient way to find the perfect table.
Why is there an additional click needed to see the game tables?
With the new lobby, you first have an overview of the available tables in ALL games. This is something that was missing in the previous one, and it's worth one more click
Another point: there is "one more click" to see the game tables, but there is also one click less to join them.
Why should the game tables be grouped by games?
Short answer: because this the best ergonomy for a website service with more than 160 different games.
Long answer:
In the old lobby and in the new one, we are providing a "Preferred games" section where you can select the games you want to play.
Since this is the most important setting in the lobby, we have to display an explicit list of "preferred games" in the lobby interface: we can not "hide" these games list in a "filter" section somewhere. It HAS to be very visible.
In the previous lobby, we were displaying a list of tables below the list of games, with no explicit relationships between games and tables. Some beginners had difficulties understanding this logic, and some were not using the "Preferred games" section at all (yes, they were using the unusable "other games" list).
In addition, to join an existing table you used to click on an item from the table list, but to create a new table you used to click on the item from the games list, which was inconsistent.
The simplest and best way to solve all these problems is to group the tables by games.
How does the "join several real-time tables" functionnality work?
This is very simple: you can join any number of realtime tables, at the same time. If you are waiting on several tables, the first table to start will be the one you'll play at (and you will automatically leave the other tables).
With the old lobby, you probably had these kind of frustrating situations:
_ you are waiting on a table, but the administrator do not start the table. Now you can just wait on another table
_ there are 2 tables of Saboteur waiting to start. 8 players are needed on each table, there are 3 players waiting on each of them, and you don't know which one to choose. Now you can just join both of them
_ you want to play game A or game B, but there are no tables available for these 2 games. You can create a table for game A, but you'll miss an opponent who wants to play B. Now you can create a table with game A and another with game B
Why did you removed the "suggest table to player" feature?
We didn't remove it.
After you open a table, you can click on "X available players", and then display the list of available players.
Why did you remove the "number of players available" feature?
This has been discussed here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13902
Where is the "games in progress" screen?
If this is your turn to play on a turn based game: there is a banner at the top of the screen, like before.
If it is NOT your turn in any turn based games: you can access to your table list from "Play now => (choose turn based) => You have X games in progress".
In addition to this, you can access any game table as a spectator. To find a game to spectate, you can go to "Games => (choose a game) => Games in progress".
What is this new lobby?
The BGA lobby is the place where you meet other players, create and join game tables, and start games.
You can access it using the "Play" menu entry.
On September 12th, the lobby is going to change a lot. We hope that you'll find here all the answers to your questions about it.
Why did the previous lobby have to change?
The previous lobby has been designed more than 5 years ago, at a time where the number of games and the number of players on BGA was very low compared to what it is today.
There were many issues with the previous design:
_ because there are now so many more players now on BGA, the "other games" section had become a continuous scroll of new game tables. It was unusable and unreadable.
_ the interface to add a new game to your "preferred game" was horrible.
_ you couldn't see your ELO from the lobby screen, while it is visually the main indicator of your level at each game.
_ the "create new table" buttons were very little, and were not immediately recognized as "create new table" buttons by new players.
_ the switch between the "simple lobby" and the "advanced lobby" was misused (there were many messages and posts in the forum from players who did not understand this distinction).
_ the audience of BGA has evolved: we now have both "skilled gamers" and "casual players" on BGA, and we need to adapt to both audiences by providing a very simple lobby as the default on one side, and to propose a very efficient and full-featured lobby for the most active of you on the other side.
_ the overall design of the "advanced lobby" was very poor compared to the current web standards.
What are these new dropdowns at the top of the lobby?
You can now choose how you want to play using the very clear and simple controls from the first panel.
Using the first dropdown, you are able to choose if you want to play non-competitive games or competitive games (Arena mode). Arena mode is the new competitive mode that will become available soon on BGA (see the FAQ about Arena mode here).
Using the second dropdown, you can switch between Realtime and Turn-based.
Using the third dropdown, you can switch between the "Automatic mode" and the "Manual mode".
When in "Automatic mode" (formerly "Simple mode"), BGA will be automatically searching opponents for you. You just have to click "Play" on the games you want to play, and we will do all the rest for you.
When in "Manual mode" (formerly "Advanced mode"), you are able to create / join / start game tables manually.
Finally, the "Invite friends" panel allows you to invite friends to play with you.
What are the other changes?
If you were mainly using the formerly called "Simple mode", you will see that there are only minor changes in the corresponding "Automatic mode".
Most of the changes concern the formerly called "Advanced mode" (now "Manual mode").
The main change is that tables are now grouped by games. When arriving on the lobby, you can see for each game the number of tables available for it. By clicking on the "X tables available" buttons, you are able to see the list of tables for the given game, join them, or create a new table.
You can now join / quit / start a game table directly from the lobby, which is really faster!
You are now also able to join multiple realtime tables at the same time. For example, you can create a Saboteur table, create a Carcassonne table, and at the same time join another Saboteur table. This way, you will play the first table which is going to start.
What is the reason for these changes?
We want to provide the best lobby for each different category of players on BGA.
The "Automatic mode" has been designed for those of you who don't care too much about the details of their opponents. With a simple click on "Play now!" button, after some waiting time, your game starts.
The "Manual mode" has been designed for those of you who want to have more control on the game options, the games and their opponents. If you play only a small number of games on BGA, the new lobby is way more clean and simple than the previous one. If you play many different games on BGA, we recommend you to make the board game images smaller using the "display options" menu on top right of your preferred games.
I have too many games and the game boxes are way too big!
We introduced a new "display options" menu on the top right corner of your "Preferred games". You can choose between "large", "medium" or "small" icons.
The "small icons" mode has been designed for those of you who are playing a lot of different games on BGA. The space taken by each element has been optimized, to provide you the most efficient way to find the perfect table.
Why is there an additional click needed to see the game tables?
With the new lobby, you first have an overview of the available tables in ALL games. This is something that was missing in the previous one, and it's worth one more click
Another point: there is "one more click" to see the game tables, but there is also one click less to join them.
Why should the game tables be grouped by games?
Short answer: because this the best ergonomy for a website service with more than 160 different games.
Long answer:
In the old lobby and in the new one, we are providing a "Preferred games" section where you can select the games you want to play.
Since this is the most important setting in the lobby, we have to display an explicit list of "preferred games" in the lobby interface: we can not "hide" these games list in a "filter" section somewhere. It HAS to be very visible.
In the previous lobby, we were displaying a list of tables below the list of games, with no explicit relationships between games and tables. Some beginners had difficulties understanding this logic, and some were not using the "Preferred games" section at all (yes, they were using the unusable "other games" list).
In addition, to join an existing table you used to click on an item from the table list, but to create a new table you used to click on the item from the games list, which was inconsistent.
The simplest and best way to solve all these problems is to group the tables by games.
How does the "join several real-time tables" functionnality work?
This is very simple: you can join any number of realtime tables, at the same time. If you are waiting on several tables, the first table to start will be the one you'll play at (and you will automatically leave the other tables).
With the old lobby, you probably had these kind of frustrating situations:
_ you are waiting on a table, but the administrator do not start the table. Now you can just wait on another table
_ there are 2 tables of Saboteur waiting to start. 8 players are needed on each table, there are 3 players waiting on each of them, and you don't know which one to choose. Now you can just join both of them
_ you want to play game A or game B, but there are no tables available for these 2 games. You can create a table for game A, but you'll miss an opponent who wants to play B. Now you can create a table with game A and another with game B
Why did you removed the "suggest table to player" feature?
We didn't remove it.
After you open a table, you can click on "X available players", and then display the list of available players.
Why did you remove the "number of players available" feature?
This has been discussed here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13902
Where is the "games in progress" screen?
If this is your turn to play on a turn based game: there is a banner at the top of the screen, like before.
If it is NOT your turn in any turn based games: you can access to your table list from "Play now => (choose turn based) => You have X games in progress".
In addition to this, you can access any game table as a spectator. To find a game to spectate, you can go to "Games => (choose a game) => Games in progress".
