Board Game Arena

As title says, I'm encountering this behaviour really often in the last weeks.
A lot of table where another player quits the game and, in a short time, other players follow. No reason for that.
Is that considered normal?
I think it's quite unfair towards other players, who decide to play and go on till the end.
Is it possible to check further in this kind of behaviour and take some measures towards those players?

Just checking if i've understood correctly : Someone left the game ? You're complaining that the others leave the table after the first one dropped out ?

You know that this is proposed by the site : If anyone was kicked/left, the others CAN leave without penalty OR continue playing.

I've tried several times to continue playing but i've learned that it isn't usually worth it -- when a bot is playing for the players who have left.

Fuchur wrote: ↑20 September 2026, 21:20 Just checking if i've understood correctly : Someone left the game ? You're complaining that the others leave the table after the first one dropped out ?

You know that this is proposed by the site : If anyone was kicked/left, the others CAN leave without penalty OR continue playing.

I've tried several times to continue playing but i've learned that it isn't usually worth it -- when a bot is playing for the players who have left.

Word "bot" would suggest that there is some sort of actual playing there. There is not. That is zombie player which does only passing every action. Not thinking, not making any moves, except what is absolute nesesary to keep game running, and even then, it makes random or first move that can be made. So zombie. I don't see any fun or fairness in that type of game.

Alain984 wrote: ↑20 September 2026, 21:06 in a short time, other players follow. No reason for that.

There are reasons, plural:
1) Once one person quits or is expelled, the result of the game is determined (unless it is a game specifically implemented to continue normally without all player who began, like Heat). NOTHING that happens afterward matters in terms of Elo adjustments (or tournament advancement, if applicable).
2) Let's say you don't care about Elo and it's not a tournament. As others have pointed out, even if the game is implemented to make random moves for or skip the player who left, the other players agreed to an N player game, not an N-1 player game (if the player is skipped) or an N-1 human plus zombie game. For many games, the playing at N vs. N-1 player counts make it a completely different game. Possibly even a different board or initial resource allocation was supposed to be used if it had started with N-1 players.

Ok, thanks for the clarification on what happens AFTER the first player abandons the game.
Now I would like to know: what is it possible to do to prevent (partially, at least) this unfair behaviour? Is there a way to report those players and have them sanctioned?

Yes: do nothing. I mean, they're already sanctioned: full loss + 10 elo penalty + karma penalty.

You can of course, in addition to that, red-thumb the players. But I would not bother reporting them, because they already got the intended penalty.

Well, not enough, since this behaviour is spreading on the site; I see it way too often lately, so this is an issue, and should be solved by the staff, in some way.

So what's your solution then? Please ensure you account for when a person has a genuine problem (ie. internet/power failure, emergency, site technical issue, etc.) that means it wasn't really their fault that they left the table, as is often brought up by other forum posters arguing that the current penalties are too harsh.

nik592 wrote: ↑22 September 2026, 11:40 So what's your solution then? Please ensure you account for when a person has a genuine problem (ie. internet/power failure, emergency, site technical issue, etc.) that means it wasn't really their fault that they left the table, as is often brought up by other forum posters arguing that the current penalties are too harsh.

From what it sounds like they would like to continue playing the game without the timed out player. Still have it ranked. And the remaining players can’t leave without penalty. Which is something I’ve (and many others) would like and have advocated for years. And to op this isn’t new behavior. It’s been going on since I’ve joined the site.

No you can’t report them for this. Yes it’s unfair. The only thing you can do is have an understanding of which scenarios you are most likely to run into this problem and avoid those scenarios. Once again, not fair to you but that is the situation.

In terms of players timing out, that is most likely to occur in turn based games starting at 4 moves a day and faster. Tournaments that also have around this same pace. Playing with friends/people you know will help.

For quitting, avoid new accounts, low karma, once you increase your rank play at tables with higher strength because they are less likely to rage quit. Games that are long are more likely to have a rage quit because players can be doing terribly early and realize they don’t want to play out a long game knowing it won’t get any better for them.