MArcomage

Hello. I think that the current surrender system is extremely flawed...

As it is now, my Games looks like this:

Opponent Last seen Round Last game action
4iki-puki 07:37, 13. Sep, 2013 35 07:58, 13. Sep, 2013
cromy 16:53, 27. Aug, 2013 41 07:10, 28. Aug, 2013
cromy 16:53, 27. Aug, 2013 27 07:10, 28. Aug, 2013
tanusha888 17:02, 28. Aug, 2013 9 22:56, 28. Aug, 2013
tanusha888 17:02, 28. Aug, 2013 9 22:56, 28. Aug, 2013
tanusha888 17:02, 28. Aug, 2013 7 22:57, 28. Aug, 2013
tanusha888 17:02, 28. Aug, 2013 5 22:57, 28. Aug, 2013
KingRichards 01:18, 10. Sep, 2013 20 02:44, 10. Sep, 2013
Nikifor 05:45, 12. Sep, 2013 17 07:21, 12. Sep, 2013
Vetta 20:38, 12. Sep, 2013 14 22:02, 12. Sep, 2013
VogelGreif 01:56, 13. Sep, 2013 3 06:44, 13. Sep, 2013
Quincunx 18:46, 13. Sep, 2013 3 22:53, 13. Sep, 2013
Lorthar 13:47, 13. Sep, 2013 16 22:54, 13. Sep, 2013
NG_Beholder 20:51, 13. Sep, 2013 13 22:57, 13. Sep, 2013
Lorthar 13:47, 13. Sep, 2013 25 23:01, 13. Sep, 2013
Myschly 22:00, 13. Sep, 2013 3 23:01, 13. Sep, 2013
sillenia 23:11, 13. Sep, 2013 1 23:12, 13. Sep, 2013
Bebop 00:34, 14. Sep, 2013 22 00:35, 14. Sep, 2013

As you can see, the first 7 haven't played in over 2 weeks (one in 2 months), and since I need them to accept the surrender I can't remove them from the Games -- meaning that 7 of my limited slots are unusable -- so as of now, for example, there's only one player online in my games and I can't start any new games...

So, my suggestion is to allow one-sided surrendering if the other player haven't made a move in X days (say, a week or so).

When people are idling, you don't want to offer them a surrender. Doing so grants them a victory and yourself a loss.

The system already has built-in timeouts for idled players. If they don't log into the site for a while (a number of weeks, maybe three?) then the option to abort the match appears. If the opponent has been logging in but refusing to take his turn, perhaps because he's going to lose, the system forces his surrender (his loss and your win) rather than aborting.

More than one week may seem a long time, but several people do find themselves away from the Internet for that long a few times a year. Not everyone is able to play quick matches.

There is, however, a game mode that you can set that allows you to prompt the AI to play for your opponent if a specified amount of time passes. You may want to host matches using this feature. Otherwise, the only advice I can give to you is to diversify your opponents and be more selective so you don't have such a large number of your game slots occupied by a player or two vanishing for a week.

DPsycho wrote:
When people are idling, you don't want to offer them a surrender. Doing so grants them a victory and yourself a loss.

The system already has built-in timeouts for idled players. If they don't log into the site for a while (a number of weeks, maybe three?) then the option to abort the match appears. If the opponent has been logging in but refusing to take his turn, perhaps because he's going to lose, the system forces his surrender (his loss and your win) rather than aborting.

More than one week may seem a long time, but several people do find themselves away from the Internet for that long a few times a year. Not everyone is able to play quick matches.

There is, however, a game mode that you can set that allows you to prompt the AI to play for your opponent if a specified amount of time passes. You may want to host matches using this feature. Otherwise, the only advice I can give to you is to diversify your opponents and be more selective so you don't have such a large number of your game slots occupied by a player or two vanishing for a week.

Oh I see, thank you for the insightful reply! I neither knew of the system nor the game mode. Is the game mode that you speak of the "turn timeout" drop-down menu, by the way?

Yes, that sounds right.

You can also enable the "Disallow simultaneous games" option from the settings, so that your hosted games don't get spammed by the same player.

dimitris wrote:
You can also enable the "Disallow simultaneous games" option from the settings, so that your hosted games don't get spammed by the same player.

I see! Thanks a lot for the advice, I'll enable it ASAP. :)

Don't know if this has been suggested before, but could one sided surrenders be allowed now if the AI takes over for the surrendering player? I think last time surrendering was on the cards the AI did not exist.

EDIT: Just noticed I contradict myself there. Well, y'all know what I meant ^^