Please mark your private games...

[Bryce]

I've been playing Wesnoth on and off since the time when level 1 mages were blue and slow made you loose a strike instead of doing half damage, but I've never been very active in the community, so I'm sorry if this post is inappropriate or redundant.

Anyway, often I will join a game on the public server only to discover when I finish picking the faction that the host has removed me from my slot because it's a private game. I have no objection to private games, of course, but this is very annoying, and it seems to happen a lot more than it used to. I would really appreciate it if people would put "private game", "reserved" or something like that in the title. Even putting the name of the person(s) you wish to play with would be better than nothing.

Thanks.

[Iris]

Most of the people who fail to do so don’t frequent these forums, anyway.

[Bryce]

You're almost certainly right. It had just happened for the third time in a row, though, and I was feeling very frustrated.

[Gambit]

I wish everyone would be like you. A lot of people don't seem to care at all to read the titles.

I have hosted games that say private or friends only and still random people will show up. I'll put "Addon XYZ Required" in the title and people will join. I'll ask if they have addon XYZ and they'll say no. Or they'll flat out lie to me and say they have it, and then shocker, they get an error and disconnect on turn one. An equally frustrating phenomenon as getting kicked shortly after joining.

It really sucks though that they don't have the decency to at least ask you to quit or explain it to you first.

[Bryce]

I've given up on expecting anything more than "gg" before someone quits, but yeah, I suppose people not reading the titles is pretty annoying too. I remember once, starting an RPG four times in a row only to loose a (different) person each time to not having the required data.

[Rya]

It will be impossible to get rid of idiots in a free online game.


I also sometimes remove people from a slot, but that's because in the previous game people wanted a rematch so I re-host the same map and use the same name as before so they can find it easier. But sometimes even though everyone said he wants a rematch, not everyone really rejoins, in that case I also allow other people who joined in the meantime to play. That's why I don't want to label it as private.

Plus having observers who can take over a side in case someone has to leave is never bad. :3

[Kalajel]

People also need to learn to use the password feature…

[Bryce]

Honestly, sometimes I'm tempted to make the title "The password is 'password'" and thereby filter people who don't read the title

(I think I've actually seen someone do something like this once or twice, actually.)

[galeanthrope]

I put my private games on server #2, that solve the problem, no need for password because there is like 10 people at all time on server #2 and they're all here to play private games.

[Kalajel]

Hmm, looks like we have a bunch of nice solutions to our problem here. Now if only there was a way to make people who don't visit the forum aware of those…

[Caphriel]

When you get kicked from an unmarked private game or shifted to an observer slot without warning, you could say something to the host. Maybe suggest that they password their game or change the game name if they're not interested in having people join. Politely, of course.

[Bryce]

I've tried saying things - in fact, I usually do. Sometimes even politely I have seen at least one person relist their game with a "private" label after I politely complained, which was nice.

[Kalajel]

When you get kicked from an unmarked private game or shifted to an observer slot without warning, you could say something to the host. Maybe suggest that they password their game or change the game name if they're not interested in having people join. Politely, of course.

Awesome! This is a great idea that I'll try to implement next time this happens to me. Guess it's all about imforming people so that next time they'll know… …and knowing is half the battle!

[Caphriel]

I hope that's a link to a GI Joe video clip

[Dunno]

I agree so much that I have to make a response here! And, by the way, there's one other thing annoying about game titles-games named "No noobs". I once joined it, and the host rushed with his leader (skeleton archer) during the day and complained on RNG and overpowered mages.