Board Game Arena

I was just actively playing a game of Catan and asked in the chat why my timer was at a negative, even though I was actively playing the whole time. One player, named Bongo Bill, points out that when other players propose a trade, my time is affected.

Well sure enough, as I am about to win, Bongo Bill expelled me from the game and he took the win. I really don't care that this guy was pathetic enough to pull a move like that, but BGA really needs to change how that timer works. I absolutely shouldn't have had my timer go negative in that game.

This issue is less about one sad player who needed to win so bad that he'd pull a move like that, but more about a system fail on BGA's end.

Was this a turn-based game, or real-time?

Either way, it sounds from your description as if your opponents were proposing trades, and you either did not respond at all, or you did not respond quickly. Did you not see the big buttons on the screen, "Accept", "Refuse", and "Counteroffer"? If you're not interested in another player's proposal, then obviously the courteous thing to do is click "Refuse" rather than just ignoring the player.

You also can click on "Configure trade alerts" so that you won't be notified about all trades (but only those meeting criteria you specify) and your clock will not tick down for the trades you chose not to be notified about.

"Actively playing" includes responding to trades when other players offer them. You either click accept or refuse. If you just do nothing, then yes of course your timer will run down, because they're waiting for you to answer.

I'm reading between the lines but it sure sounds like you let trades sit unanswered quite a bit? Then this player tried to explain to you that you are causing the game to severely drag for all the other players when you let the timer run for awhile before replying to a trade.

After explaining to you (which he did not have to do) that your timer is running when you leave a trade proposal unanswered - He then got frustrated by you continuing to do so and penalized you per the site rules.

I'm assuming a lot here - but it fits the facts as you expressed them I think?