Fizzer,

Here is the worst example of a stuck tournament that I'm aware of. It is the original subject of this thread.

The tournament is at:

http://warlight.net/App.aspx?TournamentID=511


This tournament was started by user Hollow with a never boot feature. The tournament was started on August 12, well before, I believe, you launched the warning feature that prompts users to think twice before joining a game or tournament with a "never boot" setting.

The stuck game, holding up the entire tournament, is here:

http://warlight.net/App.aspx?TournamentID=511


In this particular game, one user, a Mary Elizabeth McGlynn ("MEM"), has clearly left Warlight. She/he (I'll assume "she") has been inactive for over six weeks, which is also about the amount of time that the game (and therefore the tourney) have been stuck. Now, the members of the other team (FBG-Smokedpears and FBG-This Guy) waited a reasonable time, then (I assume) voted to boot MEM, and asked her teammate, Alexander the Great, to vote to boot also, which would resolve the entire problem and allow the game and the tournament to advance.

As you'll see if you check the game chat, Alexander not only refused to cooperate, but taunted the team making the request, in what looks to me like a violation of the Terms of Service that you have adopted for the site. Alexander is a currently active Warlight user.

So there you have it. One user is deliberately obstructing the advancement of an entire tournament. Why? We don't know, but from the game chat in question, it sure doesn't look like there's any good reason for his actions. Meanwhile, MEM is rather obviously gone.

I submit this tournament as an example of a situation that

(a) you ought to consider intervening in and fixing, because it involves a user (Alexander the Great) who is rather clearly acting against the interests of the Warlight community; and

(b) supports the adoption of a mechanism whereby people in OLDER stuck games could e-mail you or post here or whatever you prefer and ask you to unstick their games. It doesn't have to be a Uservoice feature, it doesn't have to be a huge production, it doesn't have to violate anyone's intent, and it doesn't have to apply to newer games where everyone received the new warning that you created in November about the "never boot" feature - - it's just a way to make the game more user-friendly.

So, just to be clear, this particular tournament should be fixed because its delay results from a violation of the TOS of the site. It is also a good example that supports what I'm discussing in this thread, namely, the need for a general scheme to resolve older stuck games.

Thanks for your time.

you linked the tourney twice instead of linking the individual game


http://warlight.net/App.aspx?GameID=1107491

and alex the great is fail... since even if they surrendered they would have to be accepted and the game would still be stuck without his partners input, lol

Thanks for the correction, Perrin.

Yes, what I'm asking for is for the game to be unstuck in whatever way Fizzer deems appropriate, given that MEM is clearly not coming back and Alexander the Great isn't helping with his behavior. I would think that the greater interest of the Warlight community would support unsticking this game rather than leaving it as is, particularly given Alexander the Great's behavior.

And if anyone cares, here is the suggested fix that I posted to Uservoice:

http://warlight.uservoice.com/forums/77051-warlight-features/suggestions/1309157-abililty-to-request-that-games-be-unstuck


And yes, I did misspell "ability." :)

Well said, AA.

Weird, I couldn't post earlier but it appears to have cleared up.

Aerial Assault that is an excellent post. I wish I could make my points so clearly and eloquently.

Fizzer, please, this really needs to be fixed. You said it is a hard pill to swallow but I honestly don't see why. Even if you only fix old games I am good with that but even for the newer games I really don't see a problem with unsticking them. Yes people agree to the intent of a never boot game but until this happens to them I don't think they truly understand what it means. In all honestly there is no reason a game should sit idle for more than a month or two. There is no benefit to anybody when that happens. In the game/tournament we are talking about here one person is clearly never coming back. And if they do, will they really be interested in restarting a game they remember nothing about? On the other hand, Alexander is active and knows exactly what he is doing. He's apparently getting a kick out of it. The never boot option is empowering him to do this and it's hurting the Warlight experience. It's sad. Please help.

Wow, just noticed this tourney and man is it a mess. I personally would hate to be in that situation and I agree that this setting is probably no the best idea for anybody other than those who want to get their wins by "cheating" without breaking the rules...

as ottarin, i also got suspended.... and i didnt receive anything justifying it.... i do use some bad language, but i honestly believe that it shouldnt be considered as offensive, but well-..

as ottarin, i dont know why i got suspended

Randy -- I like having the widest range of options when creating a game and think a pop-up warning is sufficient for "never boot". Although I could see removing the option in tournaments and I could see why it would be reasonable for you to "unstick" or just closeout games that appear as though they will never be finished.

The problem here is not one of booting per se. It's a problem of inactive accounts. I am not a fan of players who take weeks to make their turns, but I know when I join a game or tournament with those settings (and players) I'm likely to have to deal with it. But if they've truly left WL and haven't made a turn in any game for an extended period (or logged in for that matter), then that's not really a booting issue.

You might want to have a rule that an account that remains totally inactive for an extended period of time (say 60-90 days), becomes "inactive" and that player automatically forfeits any open games, until they return their account to active status.

This approach would have no effect on the stallers, sloths and deliberate delayers (because they take turns in other games), but it would fix the problems from people who've left WL. Which fits your philosophy.

very nice Duke. +1

Duke's suggestion sounds like a solid one.

Ok -- I added it:

http://warlight.uservoice.com/forums/77051-warlight-features/suggestions/1339405-player-active-inactive-status-where-inactive-pl

I tried to add something a while back, and couldn't figure out how to do it, sadly, lol

Duke's suggestion is yet another good one, so that makes about six or seven viable proposals that have been advanced now to deal with this situation. And of course, that means that six or seven people were hardcore enough to care about this issue and make concrete, sensible proposals to solve it.

The silence in response is deafening. I guess until this issue gets 400 votes on UserVoice (despite the fact that UserVoice is not always a useful metric for determining what is desired by the gamers here), it's not getting fixed. Quite disappointing, to say the least.

Why not just have a statute of limitations on the "never" boot clause? I have a game (http://warlight.net/App.aspx?GameID=1094615) that's been open for 70+ days, everyone has voted to boot the last guy except 1 person, and everyone has voted to end the game except the one guy who can;'t get booted. Can't you just say the "never" boot only lasts for 30 days or something? Also, I think if someone is intentionally stalling a game you might want to suspend them.

if the never boot option only lasted 30 days, then it'd be a 30day boot option.. the same thing as putting a cap on the boot time, just it would make it an unseen cap except to those that know the rules well

Just noticed this has been fixed and I like the 100 day limit.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Troll -- Don't view a hundred day time limit as a challenge!