EdTrice: I don't care about seeing everything they are doing. I just think it would be nice to know if they are actively playing against me, that's all.

I don't use the cloak mode myself. One of my opponents and I banged out 15 moves in each of two games when we saw each other online yesterday. I guess as long as they are willing to play, they will "decloak" and let you see them.

I scrutinize every game played by my opponents I am facing for the first time before I ever make a move. I look for weaknesses and try to exploit them. So, for me, cloaking might be a good thing...

...then I started thinking "hmmm...maybe they will freak out if they see me pouring over game after game..."

So, I let them observe me

txaggie: Can someone explain to me the great attraction of cloak mode? Are there really that many people who are concerned about other people knowing what page they are viewing?

I use cloak mode. It's not that I'm concerned about others knowing what page I last viewed, but it's people drawing conclusions from that.

txaggie: I find it particularly annoying when I am go to "Online opponents" and cannot tell if my opponents are actively playing me or not. Should I hang around while they make a move, or is it time to log off? I don't know!

Let me tell you something. If I am actively playing you, you're not likely to deduce that from whatever last page I was viewing either. If I'm here playing, I usually am making moves in 20 to 60 games, of which several, sometimes over a dozens, games my opponents are active as well, so there are a lot of games where I make a number of moves in a short time. So, just because I'm viewing game X (which isn't a game I'm playing with you) at a certain point in time, doesn't mean I won't make a move against you within a minute. And while I'm actively playing an opponent, I also may look at a new post on a board.

It's a fallacy you can determine who's actively playing you based on "last page viewed". If I'm actively playing you - you'll notice from your list of games where you have to make a move. You don't need cloak mode for that.

could we get the option to set up a Tournament so that we could exclude weekend days and any holidays (or auto vacations days) in the future

Jason: Yes. Already working on this issue.

cool ;)

Is there any way to delete my account? I don't want it.

The T: No, there is no way.

Fencer: Really? look at the 3 newest austrian accounts - exactly the same person. no way?

Once upon a time, there was a small boy in a city in a country named Iran!

His name was Reza and he liked playing board games very much. He joined a site named BrainKing and started playing games and in so doing he enjoyed himself alot.

Then one day, he asked the owner of the site to do him a favor.

The favor to be done for him was: TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR PLAYERS TO CHOOSE WHETHER OR NOT THEY WANT THEIR GAME INVITATIONS BE SEEN AND CHOSEN BY PLAYERS HAVING NOT AN ESTABLISHED BKR IN THAT GAME CATEGORY.

Now after three hundred years, the bones of that small boy are still wondering if such thing could be offered!

Written by Reza Kassaei. Copy-right 2005 to 2010 all rights reserved.

reza, when you create a new game for the waiting room, there is a tick box that says 'include unrated players'. If you untick that, wouldn't it give you that result? Unless I misunderstood you, blinded by a great story!

There are three levels of ratings:
1. Unrated
2. Provisional Rating
3. Established Rating.

I think he was talking about only allowing players with established ratings.

harley: Summertop is right. Suppose I am weak at chess and want my invitations to be chosen by players of a BKR range of 1300 to 1500.

This allows those with provisional BKRs within that range too to choose them while many of them may be a lot stronger than their BKR shows. It's just that their BKR is still rising while right now it is within the range I have defined.

So I think it is a lot promissing if I can hav eopponents with established BKRs only, don't you think?

reza, I agree. It would be nice to extend an invitation to only those with an established BKR. Especially, if you are looking for a range on their BKR.

Ah I see, you want a box saying 'established ratings only'. Sorry, I didn't read it correctly.

harley: No problem!
Summertop: Thanks for the support!

Even more complex approach could be to include only players who played more than certain amount of games of certain type.

fungame: Fencer, do you see how much we care about you?

We want you not to have even a moment without a puzzle to think on.

Yes fungame, it'll be nice too. That didn't come to my mind.

My brain is trying to fry itself.

Why let it fry itself? Sit back and relax and let us fry it for you!

Now sit down and listen.
I took shower and was thinking a bit from tournament creators point of view. I got some crazy ideas, those would make BrainKing even more unique Such unique system hardly ever any turn based site had!

To suit all tournament creators dreams or dreams of a player who wants to address a certain group of opponents, there could be a full set of conditions when defining waiting game or tournament. I bet HIT MAN would be glad to create a special tournament using these where people of certain kind defined by him could join only
These conditions could include almost anything what comes to your mind. Some examples:
- average time per move of that player in that game in all his completed games
- number of completed games in that type of game
- average BKR of opponents in that type of game
- win/loss percentage in that type of game
- rating range
These rules/conditions only need to be stored in waiting tournaments table and can be evaluated when a player wants to join a tournament.

Now someone could create a tournament for example: chess, 4 days per move, players with at least 200 completed games with rating 1500-1900 with average time per move in that game less than 2 days.

Now what do you think?
What does he smoke? Is he crazy?

fungame: Sounds Great Man

fungame: ROFL! poor Fencer.

<passing cold cloth to revive Fencer>

MidnightMcMedic: always knew you were ditzy ;o)

fungame: i dont like it ... except when the default options are like they are right now ... i dont like to click too many buttons ;)

txaggie: You are absolutely right txaggie. Cloak mode is the one feature which makes me wonder whether to renew my subscription. Who on earth needs to hide on such a friendly site? It's a total cop-out.

pgt: Who on earth needs to hide on such a friendly site?

Who on earth needs to peek on such a friendly site?

AbigailII: What an unnecessarily nasty word "peek" is in this context! There are all sorts of reasons why it is nice to know whether somebody is actually playing games, or just browsing bulletin boards. Helps you decide whether to hang around for another move. I've said it before: if you go to a REAL backgammon/chess/bridge club, you don't wear a cloak, Everbody knows whether you are playing games, or reading the notice board in the lobby. Cloak mode is a totally unnecessary cop-out!!

pgt: What an unnecessarily nasty word "peek" is in this context!

And "hide" isn't?

There are all sorts of reasons why it is nice to know whether somebody is actually playing games, or just browsing bulletin boards.

Just because I'm browsing bulleting boards, doesn't mean I'm not actively playing a game. In a REAL backgammon/chess/bridge club, just because I look out the window, go to the bathroom, or order a drink, it doesn't mean I've stopped playing. As I explained yesterday, you cannot draw any conclusions on which games I'm actively playing based on the which page I've visited last. If I'm actively playing, I'm usually actively playing many games - unlike a REAL backgammon/chess/bridge club. I also might visit a page of a game I'm playing, and then the phone rings, my compilation is finished, dinner is served, or what else, and it will be my last active page for a long time, while I'm not playing any game actively anymore.

If you want to know I'm playing games, I make moves. If I don't make moves, I'm not playing. It's simple as that.

I've said it before: if you go to a REAL backgammon/chess/bridge club, you don't wear a cloak, Everbody knows whether you are playing games, or reading the notice board in the lobby.

Go to a REAL backgammon/chess/bridge club, and keep tabs on the whereabouts of your opponents. Follow them to the lobby to see whether they read the notice boards, or visit the restrooms. When asked, say you're afraid they're getting their coats and leave. See how long you last.

Cloak mode is a totally unnecessary cop-out!

Privacy is never unnecessary.

AbigailII: What a pointless discussion! I regularly attend a REAL bridge club, and I have never seen anybody with a cloak and mask on. We all do just as we like, and nobody cares whether somebody is in the game room or in the bar. But nobody hides!

I'm having a real problem with what "privacy" is being breached if I see you browsing a discussion board.

I have an even bigger problem that you don't even identify your country in your profile. One of the really nice things about this site is that it is international, and it is NICE to know what country you opponent is from. How does THAT interfere with your privacy??????

Right. It's a pointless discussion.

pgt: I regularly attend a REAL bridge club, and I have never seen anybody with a cloak and mask on.

I've attended REAL bridge and chess clubs as well. Never have I seen players being equipped with RFID tags to keep track of what they are doing. I don't think such clubs would have many members. Or even be legal in a lot of countries.

I'm having a real problem with what "privacy" is being breached if I see you browsing a discussion board.

Apparently, if you see me browsing a discussion board, you draw the (possibly false) conclusion that I'm not actively playing games. You follow me, and draw conclusions about what I do. I do have a problem with that. I do have a problem with goverments forcing ISPs to keep tabs on customers email and web browsing activities as well, or with plane passenger lists being cross-checked against god knows what kind of databases.

I have an even bigger problem that you don't even identify your country in your profile. One of the really nice things about this site is that it is international, and it is NICE to know what country you opponent is from.

If it's international, what does it matter from which country someone is? If it makes you feel more happy if you think I'm from Kenya, by all means, assume I'm from Kenya. If you prefer Norway, assume Norway. I don't see what displaying a flag besides ones name adds (and what flag should that be? Country of residence? Country one is born in? Country/countries one holds passport(s) off? Country where one would like to live?) Perhaps the absence of a flag next to my name is a statement on its own. Perhaps my country uses a flag Brainking doesn't have an image off. Perhaps my preferred country hasn't be widely recognized. Perhaps I consider countries to be old fashioned. Perhaps I'm a Roma. Maybe I'm on the move. Or on the run. But whatever it is, it's not of your business. I'm here to play games - as an individual, and not as a representative of a piece of soil with arbitrary borders.

when i go to the first page ... i like to use the tab key to move to the boxes which i have to fill in (i dont want to remember my settings at work) as i dont like the mousepad on my laptop

but this costs more and more tabs as more and more languages are being added :)

could it be made that the first focus on that first page is in the name box ?

yes i am lazy ;)

Hrqls: It was already done a year ago and many didn't like it, so I removed the autofocus :-)

Fencer: ok ... i subdue to the people ;)
(or something like that .... but then in correct english ;))

i will try to be gentle with my tab key :)

Hrqls: go to the main page instead of to the login page. In guest mode the entry fields for nickname/password are right at the top of the page

Luke Skywalker: hmm thats an idea .. just tried it .. its much better .. i will have to type the word GameList extra .. but thats only for once each day :)

thanks for the tip :)

Hrqls: I let my browser remember, so all i need to do is click the login button. :)

A new feature request:
When replying to a message that has "Re:" in the subject don't add another one

Luke Skywalker: hear hear.

grenv: *nod* thats what i do at home ... but i dont want to do that at work .. its not exactly legal to play at work ;) ... plus more people can use my laptop once in a while

Luke Skywalker: i thought it doesnt add the extra Re: when someone really uses the 'reply' link underneath the post (like grenvs subject has 5x Re: and so does mine while i used the reply link underneath his post

but when someone manually types in the Re: in front of the previous subject (instead of using the link which adds the Re: automagically) .. then the Re: is seen as part of the text instead of the real function of a Re:

hmm .. i hope that was clear .. it sounds quite confusing to myself as well ;)

Hrqls: perfectly clear. I'm a software developer myself so I'm used to hear confusing things :)

I always used the reply link in the last few messages and did not edit the subject

I see my idea about tournament creation was lost in space again, very common with these discussion boards without threads, only last few messages can cause usually a start of a discussion.

I think my idea wasnt that bad, of course a creator could have a simple version with few options like is it now available.

My idea would be very useful IMHO especially for PRIZE tournaments. Just think: Someone would like to help promotion of certain active pawns and offer a prize tournament with membership. But how to avoid multi nics and similar?
With this new idea pretty easy.
With a subtle set of criteria a nice group of qualified pawns would be selected.

For example: pawns who have more than 400 games, play moves in average faster than 3 days, are members more than 2 years.
And you could be pretty sure you catch worthy candidates.

Some votes?

Luke Skywalker: hey! weird ... i never noticed .. but it does add one indeed ... hmm .. fencer ? help us confused souls, enlighten our days please ;)

fungame: Not a bad idea.

I'd like to throw my two cents in here.

What I do like about this site is that many people are not hiding behind the usual cybermask and that people are creating communities within a community that appears to embrace every nationality.

However, as a woman who has decided to expose her true identity ... it does make me feel very vulnerable.

The cloak idea is just a tiny way of saying 'actually, I don't want everyone to know what I am doing here and I am entitled to some 'privacy'... it's ok for me to go to the bathroom without checking with everyone! It's of little use, of course, because I have already totally exposed myself. However, I have had one unwanted 'come on' here already and that makes me feel uncomfortable and a little nervous about it. I guess that may be difficult for many men to come to terms with?

So I am with AbigailIII on this one.

Just my two cents worth!

this will probably sound rude, and my apologies in advance for it! But I cannot keep quiet anymore.

I figure that since I am not playing any games with another and don't plan to since I do not play chess or checkers, it should not matter one whit to him whether I am cloaked or not.

now, lets get back to FEATURE REQUESTS!

Eriisa:

Cloak mode is a feature and it is important that it is recognised for what it is instead of people (who have never experienced a threat ibn cyber) attacking others for using it. I would like to request that we have an INVISIBLE mode added to the site.