Questions I should not have at this point in my BGA history

[Boardgame Babylon]

But, you know, they aren't obvious, didn't jump out at me on the FAQ, and I still get frustrated about them. So here's the list - hoping some kind soul will be a lamb and help out.

1) How in the world can I invite one of my friends than the number of players in the game so I get to play with whoever excepts the game first? Yucata handles this beautifully and yet BGA seems shocking dumb in that it won't let you put out a call for players and just start playing when enough people join. What am I missing?

2) Is there anyway for the site to stop trying to force me to open a game for other players who are not my friends? I really only like to play with my friends because I find that a more enjoyable experience (I'm not here to just play but to spend time with my friends) but every time I start the table there's this weird interface that wants to force me to open the game to other players. This makes no sense to me. Can someone explain? Is there a setting to turn that thing off? The logic and workflow (like SO MUCH of BGA) just escapes me.

3) Is there some way to create a persistent BGA video chat across games? I am a premium member and I often get together for a night of gaming with my friends. We will end up playing multiple games and it's kind of silly that we have to keep ending the video chat sessions and starting new ones every time we start another game. Honestly - even the process of moving to another game is not well-considered. Anyway, we've gotten to the point now where we don't even bother with video chat or we just set up a zoom on the side. Is there an option that lets us keep a persistent video chat across an evening of playing games with people?

Thanks in advance for insight and help. Yes, I'm fussy but that's because I've made software for 25 years and the usability of BGA makes my brain hurt.

[nmego]

(1) Nothing, that functionality isn't available yet, afaik.

[Tisaac]

(2) just reduce the player counts of the table so that it match the number of you and your friends.

[ViolentSilence]

1) How in the world can I invite one of my friends than the number of players in the game so I get to play with whoever excepts the game first? Yucata handles this beautifully and yet BGA seems shocking dumb in that it won't let you put out a call for players and just start playing when enough people join. What am I missing?

Beyond setting the option to only playing with people you marked as friends on the site on the main "play games screen" (rather than automatic or manual - the option at the top right part of the screen), when you create a table there is a secondary option at the top of the "Players At This Table" box which says "restrict table access", and one of the options you see when that post is revealed is to restrict your table to people in a group. You could create a group called "BB's Friends", add only the people you want to that group, and then restrict the table to those people

Maybe a slightly easier approach is if you know who is online, you can just use the invite a friend option, or type their users names in to the invite box, and limit the number of players to the number of people you're inviting. As long as the players don't decline the invitation, no other players can join the game.

[N_Faker]

Beyond setting the option to only playing with people you marked as friends on the site on the main "play games screen" (rather than automatic or manual - the option at the top right part of the screen), when you create a table there is a secondary option at the top of the "Players At This Table" box which says "restrict table access", and one of the options you see when that post is revealed is to restrict your table to people in a group.

Just to add to this, "My Friends" is a group of its own which includes everyone you have added as a friend.

Maybe a slightly easier approach is if you know who is online, you can just use the invite a friend option, or type their users names in to the invite box, and limit the number of players to the number of people you're inviting. As long as the players don't decline the invitation, no other players can join the game.

Turn-based games will start immediately after the table is full. So using restrictions is advised, using the 'rematch' function does still carry over the settings and restrictions from the previous game, I believe.

[Joyce_W]

using the 'rematch' function does still carry over the settings and restrictions from the previous game, I believe.

That hasn't been my experience-- at a family game-night one of the players I invited to a rematch was slow to confirm, and we had a stranger join the table instead (I booted them out and we eventually got our intended player). Now I never use the rematch option, because it seems that it doesn't remember the "just my friends" restriction from the initial table.

[N_Faker]

using the 'rematch' function does still carry over the settings and restrictions from the previous game, I believe.

That hasn't been my experience-- at a family game-night one of the players I invited to a rematch was slow to confirm, and we had a stranger join the table instead (I booted them out and we eventually got our intended player). Now I never use the rematch option, because it seems that it doesn't remember the "just my friends" restriction from the initial table.

Tried it on a turn-based game. It does appear that restrictions aren't carried over anymore, I seem to recall that they still did for me when I saw someone complain about it on the forum some months back.
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Update: https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=16344&vote

I notice that it happens only when you propose a rematch on a table that you created.
If someone else of the table propose a rematch, your restriction are kept.

This bug is very annoying because I don't like kicking people...

I can confirm Bourjn's statement, restrictions are removed if the table creator proposes a rematch, but remain in effect if another player does it.

[DirkDeBelg]

Once a game finished with audio chat, you can just open a second browser tab to launch a new game. If you don't close the initial tab, you can continue to chat and talk with your friends. For example, handy to decide what game to play and who's starting it.

[N_Faker]

Once a game finished with audio chat, you can just open a second browser tab to launch a new game. If you don't close the initial tab, you can continue to chat and talk with your friends. For example, handy to decide what game to play and who's starting it.

Table chats close after 15 min(as far as I remember) or so after the game concludes. Doesn't it close the audio chat too?

[Cullich]

3) Is there some way to create a persistent BGA video chat across games? I am a premium member and I often get together for a night of gaming with my friends. We will end up playing multiple games and it's kind of silly that we have to keep ending the video chat sessions and starting new ones every time we start another game. Honestly - even the process of moving to another game is not well-considered. Anyway, we've gotten to the point now where we don't even bother with video chat or we just set up a zoom on the side. Is there an option that lets us keep a persistent video chat across an evening of playing games with people?

You're not the first to make this complaint. Maybe this will come at some point - it's hard to tell what things they are or are not considering, and when they might happen. My group uses Discord and we don't bother to use the built-in chat. I have just found over time that I don't like site-specific chats like this, because it means trying to get each of the individual ones working. At least by using a 3rd party platform, everyone can try to get just that one thing working, and then use it for everything.

Yes, I'm fussy but that's because I've made software for 25 years and the usability of BGA makes my brain hurt.

I don't think you're fussy at all. I don't make software, but the usability here makes my brain hurt as well, and there's so much stuff that I can't get my friends to listen to when making invitations and such. It's also difficult to describe some things because they'll turn around and just change them again and I won't know the new way yet. I don't consider the expectation that a site be reasonable to use, at least once you've had a chance to learn the site, to be fussy at all.