Board Game Arena

Not for the first time, I've been timed out of a turn-based game because the "sleep" clock was tuned to the user who started the table, who was some distance away in time zones from me, which meant I timed out of my turn and was skipped because I am not active between 10 pm and 9 am on EST, which I don't think is reasonable at all.

Is there some way of coding the site so that each player can have the "sleep" time calculated individually? I check the site often enough for 1-4 turns a day to not time out, but if the time ticks down while I'm asleep, I can't play with anyone who starts a table outside of the Western Hemisphere.

I was wondering how time based games work. I’ve been nervous to begin games because of that.

I think most of your timing issues come from using the auto-join feature, instead of manual. With manual setup, you will see the timing parameters and will not join a table that doesn't fit your schedule. You should also avoid "fast turn by turn" and choose tables with 1 to 4 moves a day.