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Re-entering Games

Started by Demoyn, August 14, 2009, 12:46:08 AM MT

Demoyn

Today I've seen two instances of disconnecting from the internet causing a surrender.  There needs to be something to prevent this.  First, a player who's disconnected from a game should be allowed to re-enter.  Second, there should be a time limit before a game is surrendered due to disconnect.

Ross Przybylski

Hi Demoyn,

We are planning to implement a feature that will save the game state so that spectators can enter a game in progress- and this could certainly apply to players re-entering a game in progress.

Some thought will have to be into this feature, however, as in some cases, players will disconnect purposively to try and avoid a loss - and it would be unfair for players to have to wait for a reconnect in these cases.  There's also the matter of 4 player games- if a player disconnects- what do you do when it's there turn and they're no longer in the game?

In most games, it is typical that disconnects count as a loss (sometimes it just a case of badluck like a bad roll).  Ofterntimes, these balance out in the future when you get a free win when a player disconnects from your game.

For all those who've suffered a loss or gained a win from a discconect- what do you think about this issue and what are some other possible solutions?
Manager of D20Studios, LLC

Warmage

I had two flash player crashes in my nine games, 2 wins too :(

I just did an update to my flash player wasnt that old but needed newest patch, so lets hope that helps.

As a long time player of such games I am aware of the disconnect issue and how players try to abuse it, having said that I do want some way to reconnect incase I do drop out, but I am patient with that sort of thing. Get it right the first time I say.

Will let you know if it continues to happen.

diesburgm

This has definitely been an issue for me. About 5 of my 7 or so losses have been because of network disconnects. I have tried every browser, updated flash, installed the flash debugger, turned off virus checkers, and clear the browser caches all to no avail on my new computer.

So I switched to playing on the old computer. Played a game last night against 3 others and was quickly down to my sorceress. I was able to play a cast spells and run tactic while the other two fought it out. Ended up down to just my sorceress and one other fighter who kept buffing himself up to 20 defense. We played this way for almost a half hour. I finally rolled a 20 which would have taken him down to 1 hit point left. He admitted that I was going to win, which would have been my first, but that he was going to make me work for it.

And boom, disconnect. Talk about frustration.

I would suggest that since the program seems to be able to tell that a disconnect happened, because it usually displays a disconnect dialog, that adding a rejoin game button on the dialog that would immediately take you back to the game that you were in would be the most straightforward option from the user's standpoint and would help to weed out those that might just close their browser or exit the game.

Despite the frustrations about disconnects and being soundly beaten by my sons every time I still love the game.

Ross Przybylski

I'm really sorry for the frustrating connection drops, diesburgm- that is certainly peculiar that your particular computer is having issues (a part of me wonders if there is a hardware problem with the wireless or lan signal) since you said your sons aren't experiencing the problem.  Still, I feel the re-join game option is valid and would certainly help a great number of players who've experienced this.  We will do our best to develop a solution.
Manager of D20Studios, LLC

Glenn

I think being able to reenter a game would be very helpful, esp for people who make stupid mistakes like myself.

My mouse has a forward and back button on it and 4 times now i have accidentally backed out of a game..i got rid of the mouse, but i would still like to see a reentering ability but i'm with Warmage, get it right the first time.

Joshua

One way to prevent this from happening is to open Hero Mages in a new tab/window with no "Back" history. Thus, the back/forward buttons on  your mouse won't have any effect. Learnt this in the hard way too haha

Glenn

never thought of that thanks for the tip

Josk

I know Darfin and I have been getting the disconnects too.  She usually gets the Disconnected message while my computer locks up.  We're both normally using laptops running wirelessly.

I'm going to try using my desktop for a while to see if maybe it does have something to do with being wireless?

Anyways I know the feeling when you're about to deal the finishing blows to an opponent and...then you get booted.  I agree with diesburgm that despite this happening I still enjoy the game.

- Josk