Board Game Arena

I'm a newb here, but I have an etiquette question: is it cool to play a fast game of Catan on another board while it's your turn on a slow board?

The board in question started real time. One of the players ran down his clock, and it was agreed to switch to turn based mode.

I like having this option to switch to a slow game like that because it gives the other players an opportunity to be generous to a player who has to deal with the real world. But it seems rude when the stalling player goes off to play another game of Catan while his opponents who made the kind gesture are still waiting. I guess you do what you want on your clock as long as your not an abandoned game.

It kind of feels like being in a chess tournament, and your opponent, instead of resigning, walks away from the board and plays blitz in the other room, and now you have to wait for his clock to run out.

But the main reason I'm asking is how I should respond if he times out tomorrow on this game. Is it appropriate for me to downvote him and otherwise ding his reputation? It seems like this kind of behavior is worse that a simple game abandonment. Am I being too paranoid?

It's also possible he just forgot about the game or thought it already ended due to timeout. I was thinking of sending him a direct message just in case, but I noticed the warning about unsolicited messages. Is it a breach of etiquette to send such a message (politely)?

Of course it's just a game and doesn't really matter, but I'm posting this so I can learn the etiquette here.

Just expel them when they run out of time (next time, do it while in real-time), and red-thumb them if you wish (though that won't affect their reputation).

Personally, I would never start a real-time game if I had turn-based tables waiting for my turn, even if there is plenty of time on my clock, and I agree with you that to do so would be rude, even if "legal".

Now, if a turn-based table becomes my turn only after I am in the middle of a real-time game, then it is fine to wait IMO. If there is a lull waiting for my turn in the real-time, then I may check for and play any turn-based games that came back to me after starting the real-time.

In the example you cite, since the other players were being generous in converting to turn-based, I'd make absolutely sure that I wasn't holding up the game, even if I had plenty of time on the clock. Life emergencies excepted of course.