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Two Suggestions for All Games

Posted: 14 October 2014, 19:42
by shparks79
1. Have the computer automatically do a person's move, and go on to the next player's turn, if they only have one possible course of action.

2. Make it possible to concede games that have more than two players. Sometimes you are so far behind that it seems pointless to keep playing.

Re: Two Suggestions for All Games

Posted: 14 October 2014, 22:39
by Jest Phulin
I agree with the auto-move if only one option improvement. There are several games where this would help (especially in turn-based) immensely. A down side I could see to this, though, is when one would like to see what was rolled that gave them only one choice. Can't Stop when only one option is available; Stone Age when one is the last to choose in the lottery, or has no tools to add to one's roll. Times like that. A more detailed log would solve this issue.

However, there are some concerns with conceding games of more than 2 players. Primarily, who wins? Let's take a game where the high score wins. Player A has 100 points, and next turn will earn 1 point. Player B has 99 points, and next turn will earn 20 points. Player C has 1 point. Player C would most likely like to concede. However, who gets the victory? Player A because they are currently in the lead? Player B because next turn they will have 119 to A's 101? Neither A nor B, because someone left? Both A and B because neither were the one who conceded?

I'm not saying it is a bad idea, just that there are issues. Currently, there is an abandon game possibility, which then becomes neither A or B get the win. One just has to have A and B agree on it...

Re: Two Suggestions for All Games

Posted: 15 October 2014, 08:54
by Quinarbre
There are two other issues with the auto-move.
One is about gameplay : in a great deal of games, simply revealing that an opponent has only one possible move is already revealing secret information (to take a simple example, in hearts it may reveal you are playing your last card in a color).
The other one is technical : the way games are coded here, there is no way the server could automatically determine if there is only one legal move for every game available.

So in the end, it's up to the programmer of each game to decide whether this feature is desirable (wrt the rules and information flow of the game), and to code it specifically for the game when applicable. But this feature is never going to appear on all games :|

Re: Two Suggestions for All Games

Posted: 24 October 2014, 07:22
by Liallan
I have played games in which a no-choice move is done automatically. It can be really confusing for the person whose turn was done automatically, to come back and find a different state of affairs, and not be certain exactly what happened.

Sounds like coding wise it might be difficult to do anyway, but despite that it might save some time playing, I'd much rather deal with time and be able to see all my moves.