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Diefledermas

Diefledermas

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Dec 17, 2002
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I hadn't played any pick-up games for awhile since last weekend but after several frustrating games (and wasted hours) I came upon a couple situations where I had to question the right course of action.

The Issues

1. The first was that (as the host) I knew I could only support 8 players if they were all cable (or at least DSL) or the game would become horribly lagged. I ask - all say, "oh yeah, cable" BUT it becomes quickly clear that they were slinging BS.

2. You're trying to play a historical/semi-historical/reasonable what-if game and suddenly the US player pumps dissent to 65 and gets the Communist Revolution, the Chinese player allies with UK and then declares wars all over, the US player decides to ignore the Allies, and the infamous "minor" player who takes Brazil and procedes to build an empire in South America (and a myriad of other "idiots").

3. Players who use blatant game exploits, whine, make personal attacks (in chat not in game) on other players, etc...

The Question

My solution was to tolerate this stuff so as to not be "that guy", the host who plays petty dictator. But, my instinct was to stop the game, head to IP, and press ban and then start a thread of unsavory players for other "good" gamers to avoid. So what's the right move?
 
I recognize exactly what you are describing. I now play in a permanent game with serious players and its a totally different game.

I guess after a while you get to know what people can be trusted and can not.

Regarding types of players I think you forgot one other:

4. "Sure I can play all evening!" 15 minutes of battles lost later... *drop* without saying goodbye.

5. I also won't accept players with offensive nicks. It can be discussed fx why the Russian dictators name isn't as offensive as the German one's? Still it's a fact that it is and even though I'm not overly concerned using nicks with neo-nazi influence gets the "ban" without warning or explanation.
 
The right move

Stop right after press ban. If you want to communicate with other gamers about guys to avoid, do it privately. Up until then, you were right on.

As a host, if players ignore my requests, I dump the game and head back to the lobby. I then add the offensive players to my personal "No-Play List." It is getting quite long.

And if a guy says he has cable but his download is slow..... Ka-boot!
 
Dief,

I think that you might be referring in part to yesterday's game

You raise several issues :

1. Connection : I think here you have to go an a trust basis ... and if a player creates too much delays/lag... I think you can politely explain to him that sorry ... we just cant go on with you, it spoils the experience for the other 5/6 whatever

2. I think you need to agree the kind of game you want to play beforehand... In my first MP games I saw the jap ally with the US and use the Guam event to pump up US war entry, french ally with axis etc.... Some players love it... Others cant stand it.. so just set the general direction such as "historical alliances only", " china can join the allies only after they are at war" etc...
Also do frequent saves (autosave once per month) so that if someone seriously steps out of line , you can backtrack

3. A. Exploits : once again agree before hand otherwise the natural tendency will be to use them (since the other guys might be using them too)
B. Whining : I ve been playing wargames a long time both board and computer: whining seems to be part of the "experience" ... so just let people whine, its not much of a problem
C. Unethical behavior: some people out there use the "anonimity" afforded by the Internet to "let go" and behave in improper manners. this includes insults, lack of courtesy (in which I include leaving a game abruptly because one is unhappy about something).. The only solution is not to play with them.. Give em a couple of warnings and if they persist then well too bad...

As for putting out lists I would be against that.. First the "misbehavers" can simply change their nicknames. Second, it means that it will start of war of people blacklisting others for no clearly understood reasons and people will start slinging mud around ... pretty soon you will find yourself slurred

I think the only solution is to gradually build a relationship with various players and you will quickly understand who you want to play with and who you dont.... So , some of your games will be spoiled, sure ... It happens.... There is no insurance againts that.
 
Hi Juv95hrn,

As i can see you changed from EU2 MP to HOI MP. Can you tell me if HOI is more sucessful in stable MP-Games? You will remember for sure about our "neverendingstorytread" :D in EU2 isnt´t it?

I finished my 4 campagne and meanwhile i switched to stoney-road-mod, as it´s really to easy against the AI.
My next challenge will be MP and i´m intersted to play regular dedicated historical or at least semi-historical games.

Would be nice if anybody could give me a shout when starting a new game...let´s say in 2 weeks or so.

Sorry to use your tread but it seems to me i found some serious players here.

BTW i have really :D cable and i have time almost every day from 20.00 - 02.00 GMT.

Cheers Dragonheart
 
As far as "serious groups" are concerned, I'm in a good clan and we all have fun.

This question was more for the pick-up games where screening is a little tougher. I've noticed that a lot of good players get screwed by a couple bad ones. I guess its like this, I played rugby in college (call this a clan) and everyone took the game seriously (which is good because if you don't know what you're doing you can be seriously injured) whereas I also played a lot of pickup games of football where you always got that "one guy" who thought he was LT and tackled the QB like Ghengis Khan (forgetting none of us had helmets, etc..). The solution in those games was for me and my rugby buddy Igor to do a "book-bind" (don't ask) but I was trying to think of a good way to weed out the bad seeds here.

Alright, I think all the ranting is out of my system now.

Die, you forgot #6, hosts who wheedle their players into staying up well past their bedtime
Click to expand...

I am pretty good at that, eh?
 
I think Varak summed it up for me as well. Some of us in Australia should well and truly be sleeping by the time that you guys get going... but do we complain... (well, perhaps we do at work the next day)

:D

As others have posted, I think it makes more sense to keep track of players you like playing with yourself. For me, everyone makes mistakes a few times, crashes out, has a power blackout, etc and can't rejoin. I'm happy to try playing with someone a few times, but if things keep going badly, then I make my own decision. Heck, when I first started playing MP (not that long ago for me) I was unaware of half the stuff I now take for granted, and probably stepped on toes. I just try to bare that in mind when playing with newer newbies :)

Main pre-requisites in opponents for me now, are patience and clarity.
 
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