Marshmud: you move here, and i will take up writing code

Last action: 13. February 2014, 00:23:19 :

MadMonkey: Wish Liquid was still involved. Maybe that would of taken a load off fencer.

If BK was usa based I'd make a offer.

diogenysos & Gabriel Almeida: I have to agree.

There used to be quite a few Code writers here (sadly most have left now) who could have helped. Maybe if Fencer was interested he could look about for someone, make then 2nd in charge (under him of course) or something. It would be such a shame if this site ever has to close just beause there are too many bug problems etc..... to keep it running.

There must be someone interested (if Fencer is of course).....its a shame Tibs started his own site, he may have been.

Anyway, just have to wait and see

I do not see any flame war here and there is no need for something like this anyway. But it must be allowed to write honestly about the disappointment of a paying customer. Personally, I would sugggest employing people - for free or not - in order to guarantee that BK is working well.

I totally happy cuz I only really like Ludo, Hyper, and Backgammon. I guess I'm not much of a gamer. LOL I guess I'm a lamer gamer!

Gabriel Almeida: Respect is furthest from my mind.

maybe we should put Fencer forward for another interview, so people can ask new question about his current life, and in which he can post long reponses without it causing to be a flamewar :)

or maybe a fellowship could be started in which the big boss can moderate the board more strictly than a public board and on which the big boss can put his own rules which the members should post by

(this suggestions are partly kidding, and partly serious)

Fencer: Seriously, I do not think anyone is really interested in starting any "flame wars". What we(the people that like this site) want is just for the site to become more functional and even more interesting. Considering that even the most minimal of efforts(a better stair system, bug fixes) would lead to that, I do not think it is much to ask. Noone is interested in "bashing " you or your choices and it is *absolutely understandable* that you have lost your enthusiasm for the site after the time you spent with it. I am certain that you do understand the point of view of the people here, though. All we ask is to consider a solution so that we can have what we want and you can have what you need. There are ways that everyone can be satisfied here(including you). Accepting offers for help would be one step to the right direction, in my opinion. I also offer my help for free.

Gabriel Almeida: Thanks for your response and offer.
In fact, I've been thinking of posting a long response about "everything what happened here happened for a good reason", but I think it's not necessary because it would only start another endless flame war.

diogenysos:in my opinion, This is a clear situation, and i agree with Fencer in his point of view...  In a "formal" sense. Although, agree with thunderGR, problably is not the most inteligent thing in a "comercial sense". But This is an admissable option of the owner, that we must respect.

Fencer: Well. It is great to be here. Some of us are here for quite a while, some of us even helped translating. We helped to make the site what it is right now!

Leaving us "alone" with bugs and disappointment just because a lack of enthusiasm is not acceptable as we put money in it and are deserving a professional treatment.
As the site is working well more or less there is no big complain, but some things like the bug tracker are essential and should work.
If this is not possible (but seems quite easy to realize), one should think about some moneyback-offers for those who already paid for the upcoming years. And, as a minimum, about lower rates for all those who are thinking of becoming members right now.

Fencer: I would expect that, if you are unwilling to sell to an actually reasonable price and if you feel this site is a burden to you that you would, at least, ask for someone to maintain the site in a sort of "additional revenue" agreement. Something like "without maintaining the site I had this revenue, with you maintaining the site I have this+x revenue, so you can be paid x/y for your efforts"...

Aganju: Actually 35000 USD is close to reasonable. But I agree that the methods used to calculate that are doubtful.

Aganju: I would.

Fencer: The question would be what is 'reasonable'. According to
http://www.worthofweb.com/website-value/brainking.com

it would 35 000 $. But the methods used to calculate that are doubtful. Compared to dailygammon, which I personally see at a about 1/10 of brainking, and which is valued 630 $, 6 300 $ would be more like it.
From my gut feeling, the truth is somewhere between 6 300 $ and 35 000 $.

Anyone willing to chip in?

Fencer: He suggested you employ/engage someone to run the site for you. Selling was never mentioned. Perhaps you could give us an idea of what the site is really worth.

diogenysos: Of course. Whoever offers a reasonable price, can own this site. I have no problem with it (and, honestly, it would be a great relief for me).

diogenysos: Re: You may engage someone with some more enthusiasm, for example.
In order to keep the site respectable!

That has been suggested before.

ThunderGr: I agree with you. And in my opinion it is the best site to play in. But I get disheartened when he admits that he has no enthusiasm. At times I think is it worth staying in this site if the owner cares so little for people who put money into his site.

Fencer: Thanks for the honest answer!

So what do the players do who experience a bug that destroys their effort after competing? This is frustrating for the players and of course unreliable work.

You may engage someone with some more enthusiasm, for example.
In order to keep the site respectable!

Fencer: It is a pity, because you could make this site the top site for playing board games. I have only discovered it recently and I love it but the lack of improvement is obvious.

diogenysos: Lack of time and enthusiasm.

Fencer: why that if I may ask?

diogenysos: Yes.

Is the Bug Tracker inactive?

How about creating a variant in which a player wins when, and only when he/she connects 4 pieces in a row? Creating a line of five or more would not end the game.
Or the other way around: connecting 5 or more pieces would make you LOSE the game.

Raistlin: I'm a terrible line4 player, but I always agree with the best players's opinions. Those who knows the game are particularly able to make it better, and it should be a rule for all games in BK!

SunnY DaY:I totally agree, despite BK stats Line4 is a win for black and 7x7 board (or maybe 9x9, to avoid people using programs) would be a nice change.

SunnY DaY: So I wish to know fellow players' opinions about changing the boardsize either to 7x5 (rows x columns) or 7x7, where only skill (and a bit of luck) determine the winner, not the size of the board.

Baah, I meant (columns x rows)

Hello, I'd like to make some suggestions about Line4 and its variants. Although I can't find any article on the internet about it, decent players (not only from BrainKing) agreed that 8x8 board is won by black (second player). Despite that game statistics prove otherwise, (more games won by white in line4) it still favors 2nd players. I was interested in this game's theory and came across John Tromp's web site, and got an idea.
BK players have already suggested enforcing 2 games to make it even. I have a different sollution. On mentioned website there's a table with solved variants:

height
11 =
10 = =
9 = = +
8 = = - +
7 = = + = +
6 = = - + - -
5 = = = = + + +
4 = = - = - - - -
..4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 width

Visit http://homepages.cwi.nl/~tromp/c4/c4.html for a better view.

I would like to suggest that in order to make this game more 'fair' to both players (especially at high gameplay levels) BrainKing should move to board size which (according to John Tromp) leads to a draw, provided both players play perfect.
I suppose players will agree with me, that having 5 or less columns would oversimplify the game, as might be with the number of rows.
So I wish to know fellow players' opinions about changing the boardsize either to 7x5 (rows x columns) or 7x7, where only skill (and a bit of luck) determine the winner, not the size of the board.

In 7x5 games would end faster (which is a plus, I think) whereas 7x7 would be a less change to 8x8.

furbster: Yeah. I really would ike to see spomething new on the site, for like three years now there is no game variant added to BK.

Rather some simple alteration than nothing, please ;)

furbster: I agree, very interesting variant !

Think this would be a pretty cool game to play! :-D

Think rod suggested it a few years back, be nice to have a new game!

Undertaker.:with both possibilities added together, I think the game would be fair...

Undertaker.: I totally agree! The game is interesting and funny and I often decline because of being sure I will lose with black!

Raistlin: But 2 matches is an option of each player to create the game, not change anything. :(

Raistlin: I like the black can swop sides idea which I have seen suggested on a couple of sites. The 1 point advantage is just easier to implement I would have thought.

Justaminute:Agree, draw should be a win for black, but some black holes layouts just dont allow white player a winning strategy...

The best solution is 2 games matches, but there is still some luck involved about these black squares.

I agree it is very bias to white but 7x7 is I believe the traditional board size going back centuries. I think giving black a 1 point advantage so draws count as a win for black evens it up a lot 55% to 45%. Alternatively allowing black to swop sides is suggested on Wikipedia on move 1 if white's move it too advantagous.

Hi people,

MadMonkey: I would like to be able to set up the maximum number of vacation days allowed in a game before it starts. I don't want a random opponent to be able to hijack my game. But I;d be happy to let a friend have extra time in another game.

Just a thought should Fencer want to pass sometime.....

How about having time-outs the same as they do on Dragonheels Lair

Give your opponent the option to claim the game once the you have timed out. I have timed-out by minutes or hours before, for silly reasons (work or dodgy internet) and i am sure some of my friends here would not choose to win a game this way.

I am sure i am not the only one who has now run out of vacation days, so no doubt i will time-out on lots more before the end of the year, or like was suggested many years ago, give people the option to buy more vacation days with their Brains.

I guess you could always restrict it if people want to be so serious, and say not to have it on red dot games

CleverHunk: Well your own achievement tab on your own profile goes into exact detail about each one....

true about the drop down menu,but it does not explain unless your go to that menu selection.it would be nice to see a page with all the details for every type.

CleverHunk: Well, in the menu to the left, under "Statistics" there is an Achievement link. You can see the various achievements in a drop down menu, and who's achieved them, etc.

http://brainking.com/en/Achievements?p=1

At the top of your own Main Page, the Achievement points link takes you to your list of achievements, and how far you are from getting the ones you haven't gotten yet.

..if you are trying to increase your ratings,is it better to challenge a player who's rating is a lot better than yours?sure it will be more of a challenge,but if you succeed in winning,does it affect your rating better than playing someone who's rating is close to yours?

..all the achievements that are possible.If they are listed,people might easily be aware of what they are,and try for them.assuming you want people to pursue them.

diogenysos: in our squash ladder competition we used another system: you earn points, they remain, but every round you lose 10% of your total points which you have to make up during the round

on our ladder 1 round lasted for 2 months, but any time interval could be used to remove 10% of the rating points