Reputation Calculation Method is too punitive to new players

[Aaron_J]

I am an experienced gamer and have played many of the games on BGA in person, but am new to BGA and playing board games online and as such there is a learning curve to figuring out the mechanics of moving cards, tokens, etc on a computer . I have played 64 games on BGA in the past week, and been expelled from 4, resulting in a 94% game completion rate, which is not all that different from BGA's average game completion rate of 98.5%, but ask BGA about me and they will tell you I have a 57% reputation and am "Not Good". BGA's Draconian player rating system makes new players appear much worse than they actually are, and is also discouraging them from playing new games . I paid money to contribute to the BGA product and would like to play a new game on BGA, but fear I cannot afford to risk loosing -20 reputation points should I not master the mechanics of a new game within the allotted three and a half minutes. BGA gives me two options for improving my rating, a) stop playing and come back in two months, or b) play 43 quick games of "Can't Stop", neither option sounds like fun. BGA, please consider waiving the penalty one time per game title per year. If that seems too generous, waive the penalty one time per game title per year, but limit it to no more than 4 waivers in a month.

I also suggest changing the label "Perfect" to "Excellent" as there is no such thing as a "Perfect Person'", unless of course you are Mary Poppins.

[Jest Phulin]

Each table has the time limit specified on it, and new players to the game already get a bonus to their allowed time. Perhaps instead of joining games with normal or fast speeds, games with slower speeds should be joined until the interface is learned.

And consider the other players. (Yes, even though they are not seen, there are real people sitting on the other side of the virtual board.) They want to play a game quickly. Why should they have to wait?

[asd123321]

If you start the game in training mode, you won't get a penalty

[Jenifaa]

My karma took a massive hit after quitting too many games, but as a new player (I apparently made an account in 2013 but just started using it now) trying to coordinate with my IRL friends over Zoom, I didn’t realize I was not giving everyone enough time to join the game and the game would start without all the players, so we kept having to restart the game to give others a chance to get in, and it took a few times before I understood what was happening. I know the system has to deal with karma across the board but this was really surprising and a bit frustrating - but the game worked great once I finally understood what was wrong. There was no way I was going to look at my email during a call with friends to see the warning message, and the notifications about having enough players to start a game confused the heck out of me, as I couldn’t figure out why if that was the case, only 1 other person made it into the game. At least I mostly intend to play with my friends and not strangers, but I can’t fix my karma anytime soon I suppose!

[adampdx]

I am a pretty new member (& brand new premium member) from PACNW US who got verbal warning the VERY FIRST & only time I did anything wrong. Comcast internet service has daily service interrupts & has had ZERO days in a row they didn't drop service at least once for a a couple of decades. You need a LOT more reasonable about broken connections They happen for all kind of reasons that are completely beyond our control.

This thread is the first place I ever heard about a training mode

[Jest Phulin]

Playing devil's advocate here:

Please remember to consider the other side of the screen as well. There is a real person sitting there, with no way to tell if the other person had a service connection issue, or just decided to leave. All they know is that the person who committed to play a game with them didn't follow through on that commitment.

Comcast internet service has daily service interrupts & has had ZERO days in a row they didn't drop service at least once for a a couple of decades. You need a LOT more reasonable about broken connections They happen for all kind of reasons that are completely beyond our control.

Switch service providers away from Comcast. It may not be an ideal situation, but it is within your control.



I mean, consider if there's a coffee shop you like. But, every time you go there, they tell you "Sorry, can't give you any coffee today, our supplier didn't deliver any beans to us." Pretty soon you will stop going there because even though they have the equipment, personnel, and desire to give you coffee, you never actually get coffee from them. This site is set up for people who want to play complete games.

[adampdx]

WRONG!!
Because Comcast has given millions of $$$ to politicians in both parties Comcast has one one other competitor in State of Oregon & Washington (that just got bought out ) Theres only 3 or 4 internet service provides IN THE USA Were ALL stuck with crappy service
USA is more corrupt than Russia now!

COMCAST has won most hated Corporation in USA 5 or 6 years in A ROW
They had to beat Walmart & Amazon to win it

[Jest Phulin]

WRONG!!
Because Comcast has given millions of $$$ to politicians in both parties Comcast has one one other competitor in State of Oregon & Washington (that just got bought out ) Theres only 3 or 4 internet service provides IN THE USA Were ALL stuck with crappy service
USA is more corrupt than Russia now!

COMCAST has won most hated Corporation in USA 5 or 6 years in A ROW
They had to beat Walmart & Amazon to win it

So it is impossible to get a mobile phone with data? Like I said, it may not be an ideal solution, but your choice of internet service provider is under your control.

And, let's even assume that there is a system-wide restriction on someone's ISP, and that this ISP is known to drop service at random intervals daily for up to 30 minutes at a time. Pretty crappy service, but let's assume that is what a player is stuck with. They are still responsible to play their games in a timely manner. It just means they need to change the restrictions of "timely." Instead of playing real-time, they need to choose games such as fast turn-based or turn-based to follow through on their commitment to the other players at the table.

Also, https://broadbandnow.com/Oregon/Portland disputes your claim of only one competitor in Portland, the city listed in your profile. Your statement of "Theres [sic] only 3 or 4 internet service provides [sic] IN THE USA Were [sic] ALL stuck with crappy service" assumes that all players are from the USA, which can easily be disproved.

[adampdx]

NOT FOR RESIDENTIAL ACCOUNTS!!!! The only folks that have ANY internet options in the United States ARE BUSINESSES!!~

COMCAST IS ALSO #3 mobile broadband supplier behind (same crappy service @ 10 x The $$$) behind original Ma bell (now Verizon) is 20 times the $$$ and ATT which SouthWestern Bell renamed itself at 15 TIMES the price (ditto on crappy service) T-Mobile is a new mobile player the last couple year Just as expensive as ATT

[Jest Phulin]

This thread should be about BGA, its policies, and what players can do to follow them.
So, I shall repeat myself.
The comment was made that some ISPs (Comcast in particular) have poor records of providing service, and that this is beyond the player's control. If a player doesn't like their ISP, they can switch. It may not be ideal, but it is under the player's control. Comments about how expensive other providers are just reinforce my original comment that it may not be ideal. Comments about how the only choices are for businesses ignore the link to residential providers, without providing support to that claim.

Even if the player can't switch ISPs, they can move to game times that will not be affected by service outages. Games can be set so that one move every two days is still considered timely. An Internet Service Provider that cannot grant a connection during that time frame isn't providing internet service.

The question is if BGA should change the calculation for reputation, because it is too punitive to new players who run out of time. My answer to this is that, no, there should be no change. It is up to new players (on any site, not just BGA) to learn the new system and new interface. There are ways to do that without breaking the commitment to other players to play in a timely manner. It is only the breaking of this commitment that affects reputation, and this breakage should be visible.

I tend to have a hard time recognizing when I'm beating my head against an unmovable object. So, unless these specific comments of mine are questioned, I think this will be my last reply.