Anarchy Ninja wrote:tahitiwahini wrote:
Here's my position: remove any conceivable benefit to deadbeating and missing turns and we will see less deadbeating and fewer missed turns.
...what happens to the deadbeaters armies?
Let me explain my position.
First of all, get rid of the missed turn army bonus. It unfairly affects the game. If you miss a turn then -- suck it up cupcake -- there are going to be some bad consequences and they're going to come down on the head of the player who missed the turn, not the other players in the game (who I like to call innocent bystanders since they have absolutely no control over whether a player misses a turn or not).
In a non-partner game the deadbeat's armies go neutral. I think that's reasonable, only because I can't figure out anything else to do with them. I don't really like a random reallocation scheme to the remaining players because I don't think it's workable.
Now for partner games. I should explain that I don't play a lot of doubles games (4 to be exact) so I may be missing some of the finer points of doubles play.
First of all, it is my understanding that in a high percentage of doubles games players play with a doubles partner that they know and have played with in the past.
Second, the missed turn bonus is eliminated (as stated before), so there are negative consequences to missing your turn here as well.
I think deadbeat armies should go neutral if a player deadbeats. I can hear the wails of disbelief even as I type this. These are my reasons:
1) The partners are known to each other (see previous assumption).
2) A player deadbeated, someone is going to suffer the consequences. Better the partner (who exercised some degree of judgment in his selection) than the innocent members of the other team(s).
3) Transfer of all the deadbeat's armies over to the partner is unfair as the following examples show:
3.1) Player A and Player B share Asia between them consequently neither player is receiving the continent bonus. Player A deadbeats leaving Player B all his countries. Without lifting a finger Player B will start collecting the continent bonus for Asia
as a direct result of his partner's deadbeating.
3.2) Once Player A and B become one, they never have to be concerned with the fortification restrictions that are normally placed on partners. It's much more easy to fortify as a single person than it is as partners. It's easier to coordinate attacks if you are one person than if you are partners (for one thing you essentially have access to twice the armies to attack with than you would have had if you were a partner). And finally, unless you suffer from multiple personality disorder, the communication between you and yourself is perfect. No disagreements, no misunderstandings, etc.
4) This is a deterrent to deadbeating. Why would I deadbeat voluntarily knowing it's going to have such draconian affects on my partner, who barring a miracle is going to lose the game?
I can anticipate some of the objections:
1) It's not fair to the partner. No, it isn't. But it's marginally more fair to punish the partner than it is to punish the other team(s), who are, it has to be remembered, innocent bystanders. What's more if I know that by deadbeating on my partner I'm basically dooming him to lose the game, I'm going to do everything in my power not to deadbeat -- the deterrent effect.
2) It's especially not fair if you don't know your partner before the game. Yes, it is. Sorry, it's dangerous to go into a doubles game with a partner you don't know. Don't do it unless you like living on the edge. But my understanding is it's dangerous to go into a doubles game with a partner you don't know anyway. Isn't that the allegation made by some against some of the highly rated players -- that they enter into a game with a partner they have played with a zillion times against two people who just happened to sign up in the game as partners. My recommendation would be don't play a partner's game unless you know your partner and his reputation. Note: this might mean that you should only join private partner games. That's true. But it's like the four game restriction for standard members. If you don't like it, pony up for a premium membership.
3) Deadbeating never happens, at least not enough to be a problem deserving of a solution. Great! Then we won't have to apply this draconian measure very often. Even if the worst happens and a partner deadbeats, then the worst thing that will happen to the partner is that he will lose his share of the points for the game. And I would say the deadbeat then owes his partner at least a couple of beers. The point is if it doesn't happen except in rare occasions, that's great. I'm glad to hear that people aren't deadbeating. But when they do, they should suffer the consequences. Yes, and unfortunately their partners too (even though they are obviously not at fault). The people who should suffer no ill effect from the deadbeating is the other team (again they're innocent bystanders). In fact, not only is the other team not punished, they are actually compensated for having their game ruined by being able to fairly easily and quickly win the game.
Maybe the deadbeat should lose double points for the game and the partner should lose 0 points for the game.
Like I said I don't play doubles so I haven't thought about the deadbeating problem as applied to doubles much. Maybe there's some way to give the deadbeat's partner the his armies minus a deadbeating attrition penalty. Maybe the deadbeat's partner gains control of all his partner's armies but loses a single army from every country the deadbeat owned (except for those held by just one army to begin with). Perhaps there are other suggestions that people who play doubles would have. I'd like to hear them. They're probably worth more than my ideas because as I've said I don't really play doubles much.
If the deterrent effect reduces the number of players missing turns or deadbeating then I think everyone's experience at CC will improve.