Board Game Arena

I have a gaming group that has maybe 20 members and I want to be able to create a game, restrict access to members of that group and then have the members know that the game is available to join.

I can create the game with the restriction without problem, however the only way I can see to make people aware of the game is to post a link to it.

Is there another, more elegant way of doing this?

You can post the link in the group chat found by clicking "discuss" in group, but you are reliant on players actually seeing it, I find a lot of players don't actually see that group chat.

I would be interested to know better ways for this too, because I set up a tournament for players in a group, and have to send out invites by 47 DM's to each player, which has to be done over two batches as the system flags you for spamming if you try and send the same DM more than 30 times at once.

Granted, this takes a 3rd party program, and my situation is specific, but...

My game group has a discord server that we post links in all the time for members to join.

Granted, my bga group is the same as my IRL group, so might not work for everyone.

Gary_Tate wrote: ↑21 June 2024, 17:17 Is there another, more elegant way of doing this?

Unfortunately nope. There are bug reports dating back to the 2010s asking bga to enhance group features. People only see the chat if they are currently online and no one is alerted when the admin post a message. I’ve had several groups. You basically have to dm everyone if you want things to get done.

Like the poster above mentioned people go to outside services to get around what bga lacks.

Gary_Tate wrote: ↑21 June 2024, 17:17 I have a gaming group that has maybe 20 members and I want to be able to create a game, restrict access to members of that group and then have the members know that the game is available to join.

I can create the game with the restriction without problem, however the only way I can see to make people aware of the game is to post a link to it.

Is there another, more elegant way of doing this?

Yes! There is. Create the game and start with - open only to those invited or with a link. Then click restrict to group and in the drop down list, choose your group. Then, in the bottom left of the game after you open it to others. there is a place to invite players. You type their names in or choose them from friend list, and then only they can join

JoysJoy wrote: ↑25 June 2024, 02:21

Gary_Tate wrote: ↑21 June 2024, 17:17 I have a gaming group that has maybe 20 members and I want to be able to create a game, restrict access to members of that group and then have the members know that the game is available to join.

I can create the game with the restriction without problem, however the only way I can see to make people aware of the game is to post a link to it.

Is there another, more elegant way of doing this?

Yes! There is. Create the game and start with - open only to those invited or with a link. Then click restrict to group and in the drop down list, choose your group. Then, in the bottom left of the game after you open it to others. there is a place to invite players. You type their names in or choose them from friend list, and then only they can join

That's only useful when you want to invite specific people to come play. It doesn't allow you to open a table and basically say to a group of 20 (or more) people, hey, this game is open for anyone who's interested, and let interested people from your group join, which is what the OP wants.

[/quote]That's only useful when you want to invite specific people to come play. It doesn't allow you to open a table and basically say to a group of 20 (or more) people, hey, this game is open for anyone who's interested, and let interested people from your group join, which is what the OP wants.
[/quote]

Huh. I find it very useful for 20 friends or even more friends. As long as they are on the list, they can register with or without the link. If they are on my friends list, it takes 2 seconds each person to click to invite. Not sure why you think it is not. You can put a blub on the friends group page about it and no one else reading it but those specific friends can register

JoysJoy wrote: ↑25 June 2024, 16:43

That's only useful when you want to invite specific people to come play. It doesn't allow you to open a table and basically say to a group of 20 (or more) people, hey, this game is open for anyone who's interested, and let interested people from your group join, which is what the OP wants.

Huh. I find it very useful for 20 friends or even more friends. As long as they are on the list, they can register with or without the link. If they are on my friends list, it takes 2 seconds each person to click to invite. Not sure why you think it is not. You can put a blub on the friends group page about it and no one else reading it but those specific friends can register

What you propose works well for people who are your friends, even if there are a large number. I believe what nik is saying is that if not everyone in the group is in your friends list there's no "one-click" solution to invite them all *and* notify them. If there is a group with 100+ people in it, those 2 seconds per person add up.

JoysJoy wrote: ↑25 June 2024, 16:43 Huh. I find it very useful for 20 friends or even more friends. As long as they are on the list, they can register with or without the link. If they are on my friends list, it takes 2 seconds each person to click to invite. Not sure why you think it is not. You can put a blub on the friends group page about it and no one else reading it but those specific friends can register

There aren't many games which support 20 players. If you have 20 friends online and you want to play a 4-player game, the direct invitation method requires you to choose which individuals to invite.

pjt33 wrote: ↑27 June 2024, 10:27

JoysJoy wrote: ↑25 June 2024, 16:43 Huh. I find it very useful for 20 friends or even more friends. As long as they are on the list, they can register with or without the link. If they are on my friends list, it takes 2 seconds each person to click to invite. Not sure why you think it is not. You can put a blub on the friends group page about it and no one else reading it but those specific friends can register

There aren't many games which support 20 players. If you have 20 friends online and you want to play a 4-player game, the direct invitation method requires you to choose which individuals to invite.

Yes, that was what I was thinking, but wondered if I missed something. If I have 20 friends (or 20 people in a group), and I want to play a 4p game with whoever is interested, I can't say, hey guys, I opened this game for you, feel free to join if you want to play with me. Things ALMOST support that - you can limit a game to a community, and open a game without choosing players, but you just can't notify them that the game is there (without some external tool like Discord).