"Hey, are you still there?"

[Choralone]

I've played lots and lots of games of KoT, seen my score go up and down. But one thing that remains constant - when people notice someone is not making a move, they always ask the exact same question using the exact same words.

"Hey, are you still there?"

Maybe 1% of the time, it's "Hello?" "You there?" "Your turn", "Hurry!" "Zzzzzzz" etc but the other 99%, it's "Hey, are you still there?"

I guess if they are afk, it doesn't really matter what words you use; they won't be seen. But how did this become the standard thing that EVERYONE says nearly ALL the time? How and why did this catch on so much? Maybe it's not such a big deal, but it's peculiar if you ask me. Anyone? Anyone?!

Hey, are you still there?

[thoun]

Because it's one pre-written BGA message

[Meeplelowda]

I guess if they are afk, it doesn't really matter what words you use; they won't be seen. But how did this become the standard thing that EVERYONE says nearly ALL the time? How and why did this catch on so much? Maybe it's not such a big deal, but it's peculiar if you ask me. Anyone? Anyone?!

Hey, are you still there?

I thought you were new, but you've been around since Jan. 2022, so I guess you never discovered the set of prewritten messages in the chat box. These are there so that some things can be written that will be viewed in the language preference of each individual user so that we don't have to go to Google translate to figure out how to say something in the language that corresponds to the preference on someone's profile.

If you click on "chat at this table," then click the meeple icon, it will open up a list of the available prewritten text (as well as meeplemojis). These options are:

Sorry I will continue to play later.
Sorry, I have an emergency. I will be back in a few seconds...
Good move!
I would like to think a little, thank you
Yeah, still here, just thinking.
Hey, are you still there?
Good game!
Good luck and have fun!
Have fun!
Thanks for the game!

I just tested that this text will appear in a different language if you change your language preference on your profile:

Lo siento, seguiré jugando más tarde.
Lo siento, tengo una emergencia. Vuelvo en seguida...
¡Buena jugada!
Me gustaría pensar un poco, gracias
Sí, aún estoy aquí, solo estoy pensando.
¿Eh, aún estás ahí?
¡Buena partida!
¡Buena suerte y diviértete!
¡Que te diviertas!
¡Gracias por la partida!

"Hey, are you still there?" (or "¿Eh, aún estás ahí?" if you set language to ES) is the only prewritten text that addresses this question, and is more polite than "what's taking so long you snail?"

Obviously, this particular text is not specific to KoT.

[Choralone]

That explains it!

Thank you very much!

[Choralone]

Also, you are a scholar and gentleman deserving of a green thumb.

[Octothorpe]

I hate this message, especially in games where I need to think.

I wish you could turn off in-game chat sometimes.

[Meeplelowda]

Also, you are a scholar and gentleman deserving of a green thumb.

Thanks. Occasionally I'm abrasively sarcastic if rubbed the wrong way (and self-aware of this fact ), but generally I'm trying to help people have a better user experience on BGA if I can.

[Meeplelowda]

I wish you could turn off in-game chat sometimes.

I think someone in the Discussions forum has posted a link to a browser plug-in that does this, but I have not tried it.