Timezones...

[HorusKol]

Problem
I'm currently playing some games where we're spread across about 14 timezones (South Australia to United States via Europe)... and if the order of play is a bit whacked, then we can be waiting a couple of days between turns (even without deadbeats)

example:
Player 1 in South Australia (GMT+09:30)
Player 2 in California (GMT-08:00)
Player 3 in UK (GMT+00:00)
Player 4 in New York (GMT+05:00)


Player 1 takes his turn at 18:00 local (GMT 08:30 D+0)

Player 2 is asleep at this time as it is 00:30 local...
Player 2 has to go work, and doesn't get to play until he gets home at 17:00 local (GMT 01:00 - D+1)

Player 3 is asleep, but manages to sneak a turn in before heading to the office (GMT 07:00 D+1)

Player 4 is asleep as it is 02:00 local time - he doesn't get to play until he gets home at 19:00 local time (GMT +00:00 D+2)

Player 1 is already at work at this time (local time is 09:30) and takes his turn when he gets home at 18:00 local (GMT 08:30 D+2) - 48 hours later!




Solution?
Add an option to allow game creators to choose a range of timezones - say, between +/- 3 and 12 hours - to either side of their own timezone.
This means that there will be a greater chance that the players will be in step (ie, not asleep when others are home and awake in the evening) when choosing a smaller range, but allows long distance games with the larger range.

[misterman10]

i dont understand?

[HorusKol]

what's not to understand?

with those players in those timezones it can take 2 days to complete a round

if everyone in the game was in a smaller range of timezone (like, 3 hours difference max) then games will progress faster - granted there will be a long stretch of inactivity in the game itself each day, simply because all the players are all sleeping and away from the game for most of the day at the same time...
but in the evening, if all players are able to get to the site, then you can go through a good number of rounds in just a few hours (obviously, a deadbeat will throw the thing to a 24 hour cycle between turns).

[misterman10]

how is this a suggestion, just find people who live near you, duh

[HorusKol]

yes - i could spend hours searching through everyone's profile to find people near me, or there could be a system which allows games to be restricted to timezones/regions when they're created and then you can search for games in those timezones/regions (along with the other search options).

how is not a suggestion? duh?

if you're not gonna contribute constructively to a thread, why bother contributing?

[misterman10]

You dont understand, why limit the people that can join your games, you are obviously VERY NEW HERE

[treefiddy]

There's still a potential issue with this suggestion in that even if people are in the same timezone, it doesn't necessarily mean they will be playing at the same times. Some may play during their morning coffee, some may play from work, some may play on their lunch break, some when they get home from work, some after dinner, some just before bed, etc.

Even in the same timezone, if you draw a play order of:

Player 1 - Plays just before bed
Player 2 - Plays when they get home from work
Player 3 - Plays on lunch break
Player 4 - Plays during morning coffee

Could still result in a 48 hour wait between turns. Granted, this figures that all players only check the site once every 24 hours.

You almost have to look at playtimes like the dice. They are always going to be random. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it doesn't quite go your way.

If you're looking for faster games, you may want to try live chat and search out some real time games.

[HorusKol]

yeah, that's a good point, treefiddy...

[HorusKol]

You dont understand, why limit the people that can join your games, you are obviously VERY NEW HERE

yes, i'm new here - but since when does that have any relevance on a person's ability to make a suggestion about anything? You have absolutely no idea what experiences I have had outside of this site and game, and yet you seek to brand me as a n00b (as if that was something a) to be ashamed of, and b) you forget you were once yourself).

but if your reaction is the standard response to any suggestion or feedback about the game or the site, then I can see this place stagnating and dying off - which would be a shame, because it is a pretty good site... but no site is good enough to not need revision every now and then.