Board Game Arena

Should there be a green button or time donation option for games where a player is clearly trying to play, but red button spammed out of existence anyways. In longer timed games it is a huge let down for one player to repeatedly push the red button while others are content to let the player who is not gone finish the turn. The feature was clearly meant to remove AFK players. Question is: Does it ruin the experience more to have a player be slow a few times or to have a game invalidated at the end when they wanted to finish based on another player saving their ELO. Another option would be to make the red button a vote like the abandon game option.

I like this idea and don't believe I've seen it suggested before.

I've created a feature suggestion report here https://boardgamearena.com/bug?id=96914 where people can vote for it.

If you are talking about real-time games, you can change to turn-based to relax the situation. Surely this requires that all agree, what perhaps not everyone wants. So your suggestion is really a creative new and unique way to solve this!

Yet your suggestion might raise new issues:
- What if the donator runs out of time afterwards - will there be complaints that have to be moderated?
- Where would the programming have to be adjusted, e. g. statistical time data or other parts?
- How often will this feature be used - is it worth the effort?

If you really think this situation happens often, my suggestion is: the player getting out of time should think about playing slow games, turn-based games or friendly mode in their next games. As there are already other solutions to solve this and the cost/benefit ratio is questionable, I don't think that BGA will make this change.

I have played both and the difference between a real time game and a turn-based game is hours or days. Lost between these two is the situation where none of the players want turn-based, one player is barely over the line but hustling, another player is actively trying to skip the first, and the remainder of players do NOT want want the first players skipped. It happens surprisingly often and seems to be more prevalent in games where the players are not chatting. I have asked other players to not skip someone only for them to do it anyways, even if everyone else in the game agreed. I have also hit a minor power/wifi outage where the internet returned just in time, only to hustle and maintain good relations with most of the players and be skipped a turn or two later while confused in a game I was learning to play.

BGA may have partially solved this already because while players are not allowed to see who skipped them, if the remaining players think the skipping was unjust they may complain and/or red thumb one or both of the offending members. The solution I propose is less drastic.

In the end, I don't necessarily mind building my karma back up. One particular summer my wifi and power took turns ruining my Terra Mystica games and I had to resort to playing Hearts just to get back high enough to be allowed into games. I think I've hit 50% and 100% at least 20 separate times. This just seems like an oversight that ruins otherwise good games where everyone is enjoying themselves but one player sees an opening to save their ELO and takes advantage of a quirk in the system.

Trouncing wrote: ↑27 August 2023, 09:04 BGA may have partially solved this already because while players are not allowed to see who skipped them, if the remaining players think the skipping was unjust they may complain and/or red thumb one or both of the offending members. The solution I propose is less drastic.

Has this changed recently? I haven't seen a skipping in maybe a few weeks, but I know it always appeared in the game log who skips you (or another player) when I last saw it happen. And as a matter of course, I do red thumb anyone who skips players in tournaments who have been actively playing and are minimally over time, as I do think that's an abuse of the spirit of BGA. Whether others agree with me would determine their own use of red thumbs - if not, a single red thumb for me probably isn't going to cause any impact to that player anyway (assuming they're not racking up red thumbs for other reasons - though again, if that is true, any impact would seem deserved).

nik592 wrote: ↑27 August 2023, 11:09 it always appeared in the game log who skips you (or another player)

That's still correct.

Trouncing wrote: ↑27 August 2023, 09:04 One particular summer my wifi and power took turns ruining my Terra Mystica games...

If you do not have a stable internet connection, you shouldn't be playing real-time games. This is one of the major reasons for turn-based.

That's a very specific example to make sure I was clear that it wasn't cut and dry. The problem wasn't the WiFi, but the power grid during a storm that had everyone in the house. In any case, I see a large amount of "just play turn based" and almost no "I hate when people do kick abuse" so I assume nobody has ever seen anyone abuse kicking?

Using a feature in a way it has been intended is not abuse. It sure might be unpleasant for a kicked out party, but if I'll come to our brick-and-mortar game club 20 minutes after working hours and find the door locked, is this abuse? I obviously come to play, so why there is no one here?

Waiting for a person who is over time is a good will, not a must or sportsmanship. Show me any single competition where you can show 10 minutes after the official start and still be allowed to participate.

Suggestion: The option to "Skip Player" should only be allowed after a set time limit after the skipable player's turn starts. There should be a clock countdown in place of or beside a greyed-out skip button that counts down from five minutes or ten minutes or maybe this setable be the game organizer. Once the countdown clock reaches zero the player may then be skipped.

Implementing this suggestion would allow players who are "actively" playing to not be skipped.

Implementing this suggestion would also remove 99% of the grief I have experienced with BGA!!!!!!