Increasing turn speed

[geoschmo]

I thought about having a cutthroat game where I would tell the players upfront that occasionally I would be looking at the site and if there was only one player left to upload I would force the turn even if the time limit had not been reached.

Geoschmo

[Narrew]

HEY! I like the "poo on a stick" idea

Isn't that what Teddy said, "Walk quietly and carry a BIG STICK of POO"?

[ June 02, 2003, 23:23: Message edited by: Narrew ]

[jimbob]

Yah, maybe Teddy Ruxpin...

[Ruatha]

In any future game I might host I'll add a penalty to the "turn submission league" I think.
The rules are as follows:
The first three players to send in the turns get +1 points, the Last but one gets -1 and the Last player gets -2 points (Not submitted turn = -2 pts).

Then if some player/s gets to much negative score they will be kicked, this can be done in three ways:


1. I initially say that I might kick any player that gets to much negative points. (I don't like this alternative as I think the rules should be celar and avilible prior to anyone joining the game).

2. Anyone reaching a fixed limit, say -100 pts get's kicked. (If there are three players who constantly makes the first three submissions each turn then everyone else will be kicked eventually, not good).

3. A relative limit. Anyone who has 50 pts less than the one who is one step above on the pts list is kicked, positive score counts as zero.
(This is my favorite)
ex:
1..17 Others...
18. Olle +8 pts
19. Kalle -47 pts
20. Johan -97 pts.
Means Johan will be kicked as he has -50 pts less than kalle, but Kalle won't be kicked as he has -47 points less than zero (Olle has a positive score, that counts as zero).

Any reflections, ideas, suggestions??

[ June 05, 2003, 10:57: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

[General Woundwort]

Originally posted by Ruatha:
In any future game I might host I'll add a penalty to the "turn submission league" I think.
The rules are as follows:
The first three players to send in the turns get +1 points, the Last but one gets -1 and the Last player gets -2 points (Not submitted turn = -2 pts).

I must say I'm not too keen on this idea. I don't like the possibility of someone getting kicked even if he Posts within the game's set time limit. I would much prefer a public-access record of how consistent a person is in posting within the timelimits.

[dogscoff]

Perhaps offer in-game rewards and penalties. You could mod a benign uber-race into the game with untouchably powerful tech and resource production. Get a friendly human to take on this non-competing empire and instruct them to award small gifts and/or punishments according to upload histories=-)

[teal]

Is this really that big a problem? Ruatha, you were saying it was only this game (NCG:3) which seemed a little bit slow. I would guess that >90% of games with 20 people in them go at an average speed of one turn every 48 hours or longer. With 20 people in a game the odds of someone having some real life thing to deal with in any given 48 hour period approach a near certainty.

That said it is a good idea to see if it is only certain persons who consistently submit turns late.

I suggest the following (implemented in other Online games I have played in):

When setting up the game say that the *deadline* will be every 48 hours. Then allow a *grace* period of an additional 12 hours (all numbers are just examples) before processing the turn. Record each time a player misses the *deadline* without prior notice (players who go on vacation and give notice before hand should be exempt as they have made a good faith effort to notify everyone of their absence). Then players are notified ahead of time about what the expected deadlines are and there is a way of measuring who is actually late, as opposed to merely taking the allowed time to play their turn.

Not every player lives on their computer and can reasonably play a turn every 24 hours. People who take what was specifically stated before hand as the time to play their turn should not be punished.

By shifting to a deadline then grace system you also have the advantage of avoiding the (1st three players are consistently the same problem with a system which relies on the order in which players submit their turn). You can simply record everyone who submits their turn within the deadline as getting +1 "consistent" points and missing a deadline will get you -2 points. You can then set up a system where anyone who has submitted more than 10 turns and has a negative score will not be allowed into games you create. Also any player who drops without stating a valid reason to the host should get -100 points (or more).

My two cents. Mostly borrowed from the system implemented in the Online system for playing the board game Diplomacy, which I used to play quite a bit.