Board Game Arena

Is there a way to advise users about the table permissions settings? I've had a few times recently where I've joined a table and been expelled without any explanation, but looking at the tables, they've been people from the same country. I'm fine with that, I've used the site long enough to know it happens (and to completely get why some users will want to only play with people who speak their language), but I have concerns how it would look to new users. Has there been any thought about having the 'expel from table' function trigger a dialogue about how to restrict the table if that is what the users want? I feel it's going to be better if the user isn't able to join the table in the first place

Become a premium member and create your table?

6element wrote: ↑04 May 2021, 01:01 Become a premium member and create your table?

I already AM a premium member. As a bonus, I actually know how to restrict the table users. You seem to have missed the point - what I'm saying is that for a new user, if they join a table and get expelled with no reason, it leaves a bad impression. The onus should be on other users setting up the tables with appropriate restrictions (friends only, speakers of a certain language only etc), so people can't join tables that the administrator doesn't want them to. Expelling feels punitive, even if it's not intended as such.

It's just an idea about dealing with something that may needlessly cause bad feelings. As I said, the recent examples were all people from specific countries, but until you join a table, you don't know if that is a restriction or a coincidence. I've played in games with all French users for example despite not speaking the language, but I get concerned any time I try to join a table where all the users are from one country

In addition to the fact that users may overlook the restriction options. Declining an invite to a table will in many cases unintentionally open up the table to unwelcome users if restrictions haven't been set, which is made all the more worse if it is a popular auto-lobby game or turn-based and autostarts.

N_Faker wrote: ↑04 May 2021, 02:13 Declining an invite to a table will in many cases unintentionally open up the table to unwelcome users if restrictions haven't been set, which is made all the more worse if it is a popular auto-lobby game or turn-based and autostarts.

That may be what happened on one occasion - I joined a game, and it started up, but someone declined it, then I was expelled and a fourth player from the same country joined. I suspect it was a group of friends, and the game was started either automatically, or manually by someone who assumed the joining player was a friend of theirs and clicked start automatically.I kind of wonder if the restrictions are maybe something that could be added to the global selection screen (maybe adding 'restricted' as an option after manual)

ViolentSilence wrote: ↑04 May 2021, 02:00 You seem to have missed the point

My point was - if user created the table, they cannot be expelled, thus they never feel bad for being expelled.

While expelling somebody is usually not Ok, there might be many legit reasons for doing it, for example "I just played with that opponent multiple games and want some variety", or "from past experience, this opponent is slow and I don't have much time for this game", or "quit rate of the opponent is too high". Not all of the reasons are worth communicating.

If a person is easily offended by it - they should create their own table.

6element wrote: ↑04 May 2021, 13:58 My point was - if user created the table, they cannot be expelled, thus they never feel bad for being expelled.

But they may still be inclined to expel people.

6element wrote: ↑04 May 2021, 13:58

ViolentSilence wrote: ↑04 May 2021, 02:00 You seem to have missed the point

My point was - if user created the table, they cannot be expelled, thus they never feel bad for being expelled.

While expelling somebody is usually not Ok, there might be many legit reasons for doing it, for example "I just played with that opponent multiple games and want some variety", or "from past experience, this opponent is slow and I don't have much time for this game", or "quit rate of the opponent is too high". Not all of the reasons are worth communicating.

If a person is easily offended by it - they should create their own table.

Thanks for clarifying how badly you've missed the point. If everyone sets up their own table, they don't get any opponents so telling people to set up tables is not just ineffective, it's nonsense. Setting up my own tables doesn't affect the users of the site who do currently expel users when they fail to get their restrictions set up correctly, which may still cause problems for new users

Even worse is you seem to think that expelling isn't a good thing - as I stated, I don't think the expelling happened for bad reasons, it happened because the table was open to users in a way it shouldn't have been. I've never played with any of the players on those tables before, I have zero quits, zero time overruns, 100% karma, so that makes it somewhat unlikely to have been kicked for any of the 'legit' reasons you've said. Logically, the best explanation is that they either wanted to play with a specific group of players, or like to talk while playing and expect anyone who joins them to share their language. Those are both perfectly valid reasons to want to restrict the table. Now to make my point slowly and with zero ambiguity (hopefully):

Expelling players with no explanation can create a bad feeling, particularly for new users to the site who may not be clued in to certain forms of cliques. Restricting table access means those players can control who they want at the table, and that has no effect on other users as they don't get offered the chance to play. Therefore, should there be something that might make the restriction tools better known or used, maybe triggered by the expel button?

Ok, think about it from this point of view - expelling people with explanation might be more offensive, then doing it without one. Especially in an international environment. "I see you're quitting games frequently" can totally can be seen as offensive, for example.

As for creating their own table - this was suggestion for people who are easily offended by being expelled. I think we're in minority, for example I very rarely expel people (because they might be offended), and I don't like to be expelled myself (regardless of the explanation), so usually I create my own tables.

6element wrote: ↑04 May 2021, 13:58 My point was - if user created the table, they cannot be expelled, thus they never feel bad for being expelled.

Except if they are disconnected and someone else get into the table.