I very much agree with Harley on this, why make other players wait for their turn when they should have the equal treatment as other shorter time games. If, people are so worried about timeout then they should set the time limit at a higher days. Just remember this is still a time-base game site not a live back-and-forth rush gamesite like Gamezone and whatever. I myself play what is next down the list instead of playing the least of amount of time....it is more fair to other players. :^)

I'm about to make myself very unpopular now!! I would suggest that people having a problem with which games come up next, because of timeouts etc... play fewer games then it wouldn't be a problem! Or.. play more often.
I dont accept games I think I may timeout in, or have so many games that they timeout before I've got through them.
Its just a case of game management.
I'm not wanting to sound patronising here, it just seems that the problem is with the member, not the system. No matter which way it goes there will always be people wanting it another way. I prefer it how it is because I'm not keeping people waiting for me to move longer than necessary, but I can see the other side of it too. :o)

IYT seems to manage with no problems because they probably run their site on much faster computers :-)

IYT seems to manage with no problems, but I know they dont have vacation days and flexible days off there. Cant it be done just to bring up the next match as listed on the main page? This I think is all we are asking for right now.

Sure it can be done. I'm not sure how Chad at Goldtoken has given the order to the system, but here Fencer uses the timestamps on each piece of data (one thing that i remember Chad saying he should have done but didn't know to when he created it). The way it is done here (which is a much more efficient manner) it will greatly slow down the server to have to calculate the time remaining with days off, vacations, and holidays. With the number of games i have, my main page loads VERY slow compared to the game pages, which still have the list of the games :-)

They have that system on Goldtoken, so it can be done?

I agree that the next game should be the next one in time-out order, but this problem was brought up ages ago & Fencer did explain that he understands the hassle, but it will take alot to sort the games like that.

I agree with wolf, it takes ages to go back to the main page. Surely the games could be listed in the same order when you click go to next game as they are on the main page? I often sit down with only a few minutes wanting to play the games most likely to timeout.

Fencer: Great stuff with the (*) to let us know which are Tourny games :-)

yea... I need to go through all the past messages some day to see what has been brought up before... :-)

Well I don't want to bog down the server with any extra calculations.... at the time it just seemed like a pain for me to play a game, go back to main screen, and then click the next game. (I now just open each game in a new window - so I have found a "workaround" for my own problem) :-)

This button goes to the next game according to when they were sent by your opponent, so it will take you to the game that has been waiting the longest. Fencer has said that going to the next game according to time will greatly slow down the site because of all the calculations that would have to be done with time left, days off, vacation, holidays, etc.

How does the "Submit and go to next game" work? I guess I was thinking that it would just go to the next game with the least amount of time left, but it seems to be random?

I was only going to be online enough to play a few games - so I wanted to get the few with the least time so I do not time out. Instead of going to the game with only 16 hours left, it went to my 20th game with 2 days left.

Suggestion:

How about having these 4 options:

Submit and go to next game (acourding to time)
Submit and go to next tourny game
Submit and go to main page (already there)
Submit and stay here (already there)

I use the "Note (visible for you only)" option in a few of my games - mostly spider stack4 when I have a win planed for the next 4-5 moves.

But the only problem is that the note is near the bottom of the page. Is there a way to possible put the note near the top of the page? Since most people probable do not use the note feature, it would not affect too many people.

Along those same lines... It would be very helpful on the profile page where it lists all the tournaments that you have joined.. to have something there to denote which ones you are still an active player... thanks Fencer for all you do... you have a great site here ...

TinMan: Yes, that's a good idea! I'll do something like that :-)
Hannelore: Okay, I will think it over.

I find myself going in to the Tournament page a lot. What I find time consuming is going into each tournament to see if I signed up. There are so many new ones starting all the time and I am doing a lot of searching all the time. Any Ideas to shorten my stay on the tourney page? I still find I miss certain ones.

Instead of trying to highlight a list with bold or a different color, you could use another indicator, such as an asterisk before the names of the tournament games.

Shows what I know about drop down lists! I just tried to bold an entry on a drop down list on one of my sites.. DUH.. I thought you could bold a line. 2 lists isa bout your only option as you say Fencer!

Well I did not mean "problem" - I meant to say "request"... sorry! :-) (I think it is a good idea also.. it would speed things up)

Not a problem BBW - just trying to speed things up a bit for everyone :-)

How about having the option of "going to next tourny game" in the drop down list? Would that solve MadMonkey's problem?

Fencer: What a quick reply :-)
Good Stuff AGAIN ;-)

Kevin: I will probably add a new menuitem in the left column.
MadMonkey: The problem is in the drop-down list component itself, you cannot highlight some lines in HTML. Maybe I cound split it to two drop-down lists instead ;-)

Oh I like that idea alot.. even if they were bolded to stand out better!

Fencer: would there be anyway to hi-lite in our drop down list in our do to next move which games are tourny games, so that we can try and play them off first to speed things up a little :-)
Monkey :-)

Yep, sounds like broadband, I'd love to have that but firstly my PC can't handle it (not enough memory or thingies or wotsits!!) and secondly I just cant afford it yet, its loads more expensive than AOL. So you'll all just have to put up with slow old me!! LOL!
Thanks for the info though, always handy to know.

Great idea Kevin, I've noticed its easy to lose track of tournaments started. How about a little icon at the side too if they haven't started yet? Then we wont forget about them!!

What about a list on the left (at least it's the left in column layout!) like the existing ones (friends, fav boards, etc) for tournaments we created. It would save having to go through the tournaments page (which often loads quite slowly!!)

Thanks!
Kevin

Harley,

If your connection is slow it's not your PC. AOL is slow because it's using a phone line. Cable can be as much as 50x faster depending on where you are.

yes better known as High speed access. Its the bestest way to have internet! and you dont have to worry about the phone ringing cuz it has nothing to do with your internet provider so talk an surf at the same time.. or talk and play BK!

yes something like broadband..get my internet access from the cable company and not the phone company..

Eddie, what do you mean by 'cable access'? (Keeping in mind I'm a Brit!!)
Is it like broadband? Cos I'm on AOL, and its slow, but thats as much my PC's fault as the provider!

yes i have cable access that helps alot...i would never be able to play this many being on webtv or aol

Well done eddie , i was just going to reply to that LOLOL - ur the expert !!!, also comes down to whatever connection the person is using as well :-))

guess i can partly answer that seems where im one of the guilty ones haha.,.partly it has to do with how many games ya have i always have over 200 games goin...so if i get up before work and catch up on the 100 or so goames waitin on my moves theres some of it then when i get in from work theres another 100 or so waiting...thenn if i sit here for a few hours and they keep comin back when i get to 1000 moves in a day is when i have a day off like today i go online off and on while doin other things ...so its not too hard to make those moves...on my work days im here about 4 hrs total sometimes a few more..when im off i could be here like 8 to 10 hrs total depends on what im doin...thats at different times i take breaks it does get old or ya can say my butt gets tired in the chair haha

Just a question, on each players main page, it has a statement saying which player of this site, has made the most moves.

My question is, how long are you at the site to make 600 moves in 1 day?

Vince

Choice of points would be great, especially great if it was implemented like dailygammon, which is by far the superior site for move by day backgammon to any I have seen. IYT not having the choice to resign for single, gammon or backgammon each round is a pain. Again if we get multipoint we really need the FIBS rating system for the gammons, I dont think the current one would work well at all.

Spencer: Yes, why not. Later :-)

How about backgammon with a doubling cube, for 5 points or higher?....great site by the way...

So that's it! But I would have to add some method to split too long "words" to more smaller pages ;-)

That would be true. Another concern is making it webtv compatible. However I have access to a PC as well as my webtv so I could make it work. It would still be fun.

That would be fun, but would take a long time. I would worry about someone timing out with so many players. Maybe make it available to members of a fellowship to make sure players are dedicated to it. As if Fencer isn't busy enough already.

I am a fan of the game of risk. A version with modern day global countries would be awesome.

Yes, it does display you quite nicely.

I could, of course, edit that out, but I think it displays the problem quite nicely....lol.

Lara, now look you messed it all up!

Niki: That is the problem, there is no wrap on the length of a word - so what Lara put shows the problem LOL

I've got my whole discussion board area doing it today ! Never has done before !?

Fencer: just tried finding the game as it was the one i was blaying Backgammon with MidnightMedic, but it doesnt seem to be anywhere ???
It is exactly how Lara words it though LOL - Thanks Lara :-)

Fencer: MidnightMedic is correct in what he says. I use IE 5.5 and have a screen definition of 1024 x 768 and had the same problem. Check out game 26751 where Clay and I played chess. His message which contained "youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! :PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP )(&&%%#&^#*(_&$#!!#+_)(&%#^!#$%&*(*()+)(!#!# " caused me to have to scroll to the right to get the the actual chess board thereafter...lmao. Whilst it was quite funny, would be great if you could take MidnightMedic's suggestion on board :)

MidnightMedic: Which web browser do you use? I've never had such a problem. And can you give me a game ID where I can see something like this?