Board Game Arena

Apologies if this has been posted before. Is it possible to create a table, and then only watch the game, i.e. have other competitors take all the slots but you still retain admin privileges?

I don't think so.

Before we start figuring out ways to do it, though, I have a question...

Why? Why would you need to have control over who is at a table and the game settings without being at the table yourself?

You can start a table, then after people join, leave the table, but remain as a spectator.

However, I would let people know what you're doing and make sure they're okay with it first, cause it might be seen as a bit rude?

Jest Phulin wrote:Why? Why would you need to have control over who is at a table and the game settings without being at the table yourself?

Yeah, this. Sorry, I usually figure if someone wants to do something, they must have a reason for it, but this just sounds a little weird. If you're just wanting to observe a game for some reason, you know you can watch any game? Open the invite and wait for all players to join and confirm their play, and when the table starts a Go to Game thing pops up and you can sit and watch. Quite personally, I'm not fond of this cause I don't really want people staring over my shoulder when I play, but it does exist.

CB Droege wrote: However, I would let people know what you're doing and make sure they're okay with it first, cause it might be seen as a bit rude?

And yeah, this too. Especially this. In fact, it makes me nervous having anyone even suggest just leaving a game like that. You have to be darn sure they know up front that's what you intend to do and are OK with it, and also that they know they'll all just tie - they'll score in the game like normal, but the permanent record will be a tie. Not to mention your penalty for doing this unless it's a no-ELO game. (Um, do non-ELO games still punish your reputation?)

If these are friends of yours or something, I'd say do the first suggestion and just get on the game as an observer. You don't need to be table admin to watch, and you won't have to worry about having an abandoned game on your record.

the only reasonable rationale that i can think of for this scenario is to see how a game gets played with certain settings when learning the game. you can watch any game .. but it may not have been set up in a way that you think you might want to play.

but there is a Game Tutors group of folks who are willing to play games with new people, so i don't see any need to implement the functionality suggested by the OP.

Actually, I can see a reason for doing this -- setting up multi-player tournament games.

However, instead of the functionality requested by the original poster, I would rather have the functionality of creating multi-player tournament games through the current tournament system.