SpielByWeb

[JokeToy]

Compared to most of the very fine, experienced players I play against here @ SBW, I'm relatively new to this site. I'm not a great player by any means, but this a well run site & I have fun figuring out how to play better. I hope I'm stating the obvious in the comments that follow.

I play Tikal but I expect what I'm saying applies to the other games as well. It often happens that you find yourself in a hopeless position near the end of a game, one where you have no chance of winning (well, it happens to me perhaps more often than to other players). The courteous thing to do is play it out to score the best you can without making oddball moves that favor one player over another, congratulate the winner & move on to a new game. On those rare but happy occasions when I find myself in a winning position, one that I cannot lose, I expect the same courtesy. Yet I run into players who take forever to make their last play & end the game.

Yes, I realize that we're playing these games using the postal method, which is inherently slow, & that not everyone can play @ the same pace, but I really wish players would not join open games that they can't or won't finish in a reasonably timely fashion. Are private games with folks you know the only way to avoid this problem ? Do the penalties for abandoning games need to be stiffened ?

Finally, a sincere tip of the hat to the vast majority of players on SBW who play all the games they join with courtesy & respect, win or lose !
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thanks for reading this far, JokeToy

[JokeToy]

Lots of views but no comments. Interesting. I accept the fact that new players join SBW, try out a game or 2, then lose interest ~ that can lead to very slow or abandoned games. That's the risk you take when you create or join open games. But if you've been on the site for more than a couple of months & know your way around, please demonstrate the bare minimum courtesy of putting up a suitcase when you're not going to play for 2 days or more...thanks.
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thanks for reading this far, JokeToy

[Gaditus]

I have not been on this site for some time now - since the demise of Amun Re. With the prospect of La Citta being available I may be around some more.

The issue raised by JokeToy is one that has been around forever, and the best way to deal with the misuse by a few players is to not to get over stressed by any particular game. For each dodgy one you are involved in you probably have a dozen or more perfectly reasonable games.

Yucata.de (another gaming site) deals with this issue by making players play their oldest game first, so it is not possible to leave one hanging - however this causes its own issues - one ends up having to play games in an order that does not necessarily suit the time available or mood you are in - it may be possible to make a couple of Hoity Toity moves, but not a full Wallenstein season set up for instance.

I am sure there are a number of historic threads about this very issue.

[Kanga]

I'd agree with what Gaditus said.. in my extensive experience, problems like JokeToy alludes to are very rare, and best just ignored. In 5 years here i can only remember one player who continued to play other games, after abandoning a game in dispute about tactics.

All the other abandons are simply players who have left the site and not come back.

Slow play is most likely just real life getting in the road.

And as Gaditus said, if someone is being an idiot, then just go join another game or three and forget about it.

[JokeToy]

Thank you, gentlemen. Your comments are well judged & certainly make sense. A single game with a single idiot doesn't "amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world". I know who the idiots that play Tikal are (sure there are only a few but their pain-in-the-ass actions are not that infrequent) & I'll simply avoid games that they join.

As I mentioned earlier the vast majority of folks on SBW treat their fellow players with courtesy & respect ~ I do appreciate that.

Now back to the tables...
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thanks for reading this far, JokeToy