The amount of time it takes per turn varies a lot and it's a lot longer near the end of the game (eg if you're trying to invite 8 people to an event, it can be pretty hard to figure out). It would be great if the timing option were variable per turn, i.e. more time for the later turns.
I just had a pretty unpleasant experience with a player aggressively and repeatedly hitting the timeout button near the end of the game when I was trying to play a card with many guests. I was timed out while I had just won the final courtship i.e. when the game was basically over. The behavior seemed not in keeping with the gentility of the game, but they were within their rights. The whole game took less than the recommended time (i.e. 23 minutes for a game that was listed as 29 minutes) so it's not like it had gone super long.
One could argue that the solution is "don't play in fast mode"? But I am usually a pretty fast player so maybe that just reduces to "make all the options slower". Alternately, players could have some forbearance, but that seems suboptimal also given rules are rules. I've often played with people who had more severe problems with the final turns (i.e. ending up 3-5 minutes in the red, as opposed to 30 seconds) even in a non-fast context, so it seems to come up a lot.
I get this is probably a systemwide issue (i.e. the timer is not Obsession-specific). My guess is there might be other games it applies to, when you amass powers over the course of the game, have more options to check, etc.? And might be a good feature in general? One could imagine jerry-rigging the system to have the later turns considered multiple turns, though ideally that sort of thing would not be needed.
In general I and my family are huge fans of the game (me online, the family in person). Thanks to all involved in bringing it to life (and keeping it alive)!!
I just had a pretty unpleasant experience with a player aggressively and repeatedly hitting the timeout button near the end of the game when I was trying to play a card with many guests. I was timed out while I had just won the final courtship i.e. when the game was basically over. The behavior seemed not in keeping with the gentility of the game, but they were within their rights. The whole game took less than the recommended time (i.e. 23 minutes for a game that was listed as 29 minutes) so it's not like it had gone super long.
One could argue that the solution is "don't play in fast mode"? But I am usually a pretty fast player so maybe that just reduces to "make all the options slower". Alternately, players could have some forbearance, but that seems suboptimal also given rules are rules. I've often played with people who had more severe problems with the final turns (i.e. ending up 3-5 minutes in the red, as opposed to 30 seconds) even in a non-fast context, so it seems to come up a lot.
I get this is probably a systemwide issue (i.e. the timer is not Obsession-specific). My guess is there might be other games it applies to, when you amass powers over the course of the game, have more options to check, etc.? And might be a good feature in general? One could imagine jerry-rigging the system to have the later turns considered multiple turns, though ideally that sort of thing would not be needed.
In general I and my family are huge fans of the game (me online, the family in person). Thanks to all involved in bringing it to life (and keeping it alive)!!