Time Is Money

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007Bistromath

It hasn't happened to me yet, but judging from the forums and some peoples' names, it seems like slow-play griefing is a pretty serious issue. I've thought of a genius fix for that, if the staff are willing to tinker with the business model a bit.

Instead of (or, if you must, in addition to) charging for expansion sets, have a subscription provide a certain amount of rated-game think time per month. Maybe you get 30 minutes or so for free, and if you play the game alot, you get a sub for another 60. But griefers who make one game take 30 minutes are shut down completely unless they want to pay through the nose. Meanwhile, if you aren't playing Very Seriously, and want to just mess around with friends or teach newbies, you can take as long as you want in practice mode.

This solution requires no reporting, no investigation, no banning, just a tweak to what you get for your money, and the problem is instantly gone.

WhiteRabbit1981

Sounds good, doesnt work.
Stef already showed in another thread that none of the known slow-players are actually suscribing.

At higher levels and in complex kingdoms, 30 minutes or more for a game is not uncommon. Also, if someone just plays slow because he doesnt know all the cards, thats ok. You dont want to punish these two sorts of players.

The stalling slow-play you read about means, someone plays ONE Copper, waits three and a half minute, plays ONE Copper, waits three and a half minute .... the game can drag about hours.

007Bistromath

I know they're not subscribing. That's the point. If they can only pull this trick once a month without paying, they won't bother.

If my numbers seem too low, that's one thing. More complicated games take longer, and so do new players, that's entirely true. I don't know what a good number is, but an average exists and the devs will know what it is.

The other thing is that I'm only suggesting this for rated play. More than anything this would serve to alter the purpose of the two modes. Specifically, you wouldn't generally use matchmaking in practice mode. It's for teaching, playing with friends, off-site league play, and bot stomping. Rated play now serves these purposes: finding trustworthy opponents to add to a friends list, establishing a rating to better curate that list, and participating in on-site tournaments if those are ever a thing.

If paid think time were implemented, what we'd effectively actually be paying for is gated, socially engaging matchmaking. Worth a buck, I think!