Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Field of Glory: Empires is a grand strategy game in which you will have to move in an intricate and living tapestry of nations and tribes, each one with their distinctive culture.
Set in Europe and in the Mediterranean Area during the Classical Age, experience what truly means to manage an Empire.

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MARVIN_THE_ARVN
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Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by MARVIN_THE_ARVN »

Hey all,

I bring this up as every multiplayer game I am playing has a least a couple of idle players, while some games have more like 50% and a few are higher.

It seems that some people do-not leave games and just go idle, the problem this causes is that the game will never end.

Would auto kicking someone from the game after 20 turns of idle make sense?

Thoughts?
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by 13obo »

I think once someone goes idle, the game stops waiting for their turn submission. As soon as every other non-idle players have submitted their turn, the turn resolves. Probably someone should confirm this though.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by rs2excelsior »

I can confirm, my MP game is one of the ones with a bunch of idle players (about half), and I have submitted a turn when the ready player count was at around 7/15 and had the turn immediately process.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by poesel71 »

How does someone get the 'idle' status?
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by MARVIN_THE_ARVN »

The problem is that the game won't end unless they leave, or so has been mentioned in another thread, so you end up playing a single player game but have to submit turns every turn.

You are flagged as idle after missing a number of multiplayer turns.
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lostangelonline
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by lostangelonline »

Hi. Do you mean when time limit expires, players that did not made their turn are not kicked from the game? I have created and started a diadochi-only game with 7-day turn limit (being weeks-long game, some player might be busy few days, and I did not want him to loose his turn), but only 4/5 players turned in the first hours after starting; the last player I was hopping to be kicked out after 7 days, and the game will progress much faster with the engaged players. Do you mean that after 7 days, the "idle" player will not be kicked out? and after the other players will turn in the first hours, will have to wait 7 days for each turn, if the idle player never turns?
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by desertedfox »

lostangelonline wrote: Fri Oct 25, 2019 1:40 pm Hi. Do you mean when time limit expires, players that did not made their turn are not kicked from the game? I have created and started a diadochi-only game with 7-day turn limit (being weeks-long game, some player might be busy few days, and I did not want him to loose his turn), but only 4/5 players turned in the first hours after starting; the last player I was hopping to be kicked out after 7 days, and the game will progress much faster with the engaged players. Do you mean that after 7 days, the "idle" player will not be kicked out? and after the other players will turn in the first hours, will have to wait 7 days for each turn, if the idle player never turns?
Game will auto host once all active player turns are in. It does not wait for idle players.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by lostangelonline »

desertedfox wrote: Fri Oct 25, 2019 1:59 pm Game will auto host once all active player turns are in. It does not wait for idle players.
Thanks for your reply, but unfortunately I do not understand if it translates to Yes or No to my questions :( . The game is at turn 4 (he did turn before), but for 5 days we are waiting for the 5th player to turn. My questions were:
1. when turn limit expires in 2 days, will the idle player be kicked out?
2. if not, and we the active players will turn, but not the idle 5th player, we will have to wait another 7 days for each turn from now on?
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by MARVIN_THE_ARVN »

No, that player will never be kicked, they will just be tagged as idle. After a few turns of idle I think the game will auto end the turn once all non idle players have done their turn, I.e. it won't wait the entire 7 days.

My orginial issue is that even though they get tagged as idle they never leave the game, so I'm in a game of 14 players but the reality is that only 3-4 of us are playing, the rest have been idle for a long time.

I think it might be better if players were kicked out of the game if idle for more than say, 20 turns.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by lostangelonline »

Hmm, this is worst than i expected (I expected when turn limit expires, players are kicked out and AI takes over, so no nations are "idle"). Now I need to know:
1. How many weeks (the turn limit) exactly will we have to wait until we no longer have to wait for the idle player? I hope it is not 20 weeks like you gave as example :))
2. Will AI take over and decide for idle player, or he will just auto-turn without any decisions?
3. Will the idle player be able to become active again? (if yes, will anyone want to continue a game where he is behind and will loose?)
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by MARVIN_THE_ARVN »

1-In my experience it doesnt take very long, a few turns.

My 20 turn example was to ask of it would be possible to permanently kick the player from the game.

2-The AI will play the nation.

3-Yes, they can become active again, the longer they have been out of the game will result in the chances that the AI made some questionable decisions.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by MARVIN_THE_ARVN »

In multiplayer games I wouldn't recommend a turn limit greater than 3 days, 48 hours seems like a good compromise.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by lostangelonline »

Thanks Marvin. If the AI will play the idle nation, then it is great. I still think the MP game would be better if it will wait for a player only once (even if not kicked from the game), because as it is now, 7days is a nightmare and best will be 24h (but with +4/6h to cover uneven daily routine, totaling 28/30h, so 36h best compromise IMHO).
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by uneducated »

I am in several games and almost all the other players in every game are idle.

Though the games are still interesting, they are not in effect multi-player any more.

I would like a way to be able to quit/abandon a game.

This problem of Marie Celeste games was anticipated and there needs to be some additional mechanic that operates outside of a particular campaign/multi-player so that there is an incentive to increase one's prestige or credibility amongst the community. In this way, those who both want to play Multi-Player and who additionally remain in MP games, can find and play one another.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by lostangelonline »

uneducated wrote: Sun Oct 27, 2019 8:29 am I would like a way to be able to quit/abandon a game.
I was also frustrated i could not quit a MP match from the matches list, but it seems there is a way while you play your turn, if you press the Quit button in the top-left, if I remember correctly (can someone else confirm?).

The downside is of course that you will have to wait for the turn limit to quit, BUT this might be a good thing actually, as those who want to quit are the active players frustrated to wait for idle players. Once they can turn and also can quit, they will more likely make their turn than quit. As for idle players that want to quit, so that the others no longer wait for them, they can quit immediately by pressing Play turn, and then Quit.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by Morbio »

Is there any way to determine how many players are active or idle in a game. I'm still playing all my games, aprart from those where I was eliminated, and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm effectively playing lots of single player games!
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by MARVIN_THE_ARVN »

I think when you look at the game in the various rooms in the multiplayer area it tells you who is idle and who isn't, I'm playing a game with 14 players but the turns are turning around far too fast, I think it's more like 4 active players.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by Wulfburk »

You can also mouse over the player symbol in the diplomacy tab in game for each player faction, and it will tell the name of the player with a (idle) added, if they are idle.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by MARVIN_THE_ARVN »

I was correct, out of the 14 players in that game, 10 are idle, now, I think after 20 or so turns of idle a players should be permanently kicked from the game as it creates an unrealistic view of how many people are playing.
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Re: Idle, should players be auto kicked from the game?

Post by ess1 »

Perhaps short turnaround requirement, e.g "24" hrs may have a lot to do with this problem.
Of course one does not have to accept challenge.
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