Q's about Arena mode tables

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mickalot
Posts: 42
Joined: 01 May 2020, 19:13

Q's about Arena mode tables

Post by mickalot »

I've been playing Spades lately (thanks for adding it...I love it!), and it's raised two new questions for me about Arena mode tables:

(1) Is there a setting I can use to have Arena mode tables ask for confirmation before the game actually starts? Since a game of Spades can easily take 15 minutes or longer of wait time to get a foursome in Arena mode, I've had several occasions where I've tried to start a game, and since the wait time is so long, I've done something else in another browser tab that causes me to miss the browser notification from BGA that a game is starting -- meaning that the game starts in the BGA tab without me being aware of it, so that on my first turn, I time out and forfeit. This is an unpleasant experience for me (my karma goes up and down constantly because of it, limiting my ability to talk to other players when it goes below 50%); and it's also terrible for the other players (after all that waiting for a foursome, they have to wait for me to exceed the time limit and be expelled before starting a new game).

Given that notifications of game starts in background tabs seem to be unreliable in my browser, and given that Spades has such long wait times, is there something I can do that doesn't involve me remembering to re-check the BGA tab every minute or two to see if I've missed a game start?

(2) Is there a way to see the list of arena mode tables, like "Simple Game : Manual Mode"? When I go to https://boardgamearena.com/lobby and set it to arena mode, I see "Searching for N opponents", but I don't see an way to see the actual tables being formed, and see who is sitting at them. (It might help me reduce the wait times, because the community of Spades players is small enough that I could see who is or isn't at the table and send them a direct message to invite them.)

Thanks!
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Jest Phulin
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Joined: 08 July 2013, 21:50

Re: Q's about Arena mode tables

Post by Jest Phulin »

mickalot wrote: 24 December 2020, 22:05 (2) Is there a way to see the list of arena mode tables, like "Simple Game : Manual Mode"? When I go to https://boardgamearena.com/lobby and set it to arena mode, I see "Searching for N opponents", but I don't see an way to see the actual tables being formed, and see who is sitting at them.
I'm fairly certain that not being able to see who is playing arena games was a design consideration. Arena mode should be a skill vs skill event between random players, not an "oh, I know I can beat them, so I'll play now" event.
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mickalot
Posts: 42
Joined: 01 May 2020, 19:13

Re: Q's about Arena mode tables

Post by mickalot »

I'm fairly certain that not being able to see who is playing arena games was a design consideration. Arena mode should be a skill vs skill event between random players, not an "oh, I know I can beat them, so I'll play now" event.
Oh, good point -- that makes sense.

How about the first point? If a player has been waiting longer N minutes for a table, would it be reasonable for BGA to prompt the player to confirm that they're still there (not AFK or in another browser tab) before starting the game?
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Cheery Dog
Posts: 228
Joined: 28 January 2017, 04:08

Re: Q's about Arena mode tables

Post by Cheery Dog »

If you open your list of tables in a new tab, you can actually see who is waiting on your tables you have open.

Assuming you're on a computer, there's a little table icon at the top right of the screen.

I personally hope it stays, as I haven't found the number of players I'm waiting for to start a game to be reliable.
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asd123321
Posts: 249
Joined: 24 November 2013, 00:02

Re: Q's about Arena mode tables

Post by asd123321 »

I raise the bottom of the non BGA Browser up a quarter inch so I can see what is happening in BGA.
Another is adjust Push Notifications in your Preferences.
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