[JoAnneM]

Seems like there should be a limit on how many times you can quit an ACBL Robot Tournament. I have been playing these since October and at first there would be one person leaving early but now it is usually two or three. I don't think it is right for them to play a few hands and then leave when they are losing. Besides I have started out badly and ended up winning!!

[TylerE]

Why do you care? It doesn't effect your results, and if anything it increases your chances of winning.

[peachy]

Why should you care?

[Jlall]

Why would you care?

[jdonn]

I care!!!

[JoAnneM]

Gee, there must be some reason ACBL doesn't allow people to just get up and walk out of games because they aren't doing well. It bothers me because I think these are the same people who probably leave other tournaments where you see those constant call for subs in the lobby. It's just not right. If you sign up for something you should stick it out, but I am old fashioned. It is an ACBL rule but evidently ACBL Robot tournies don't matter. Except that they are on the fence with their sanctioning......

Also it only takes about 30 minutes to play those hands and then because people are missing there are no results for the full 55 minutes. By that time I am off doing something else as I don't live at BBO.

I believe I am allowed to have this opinion and express it.

[TylerE]

Totally different situation. In a robot tourney you're not forcing one or more other pairs to miss boards they'd otherwise get to play.

[uday]

Players in these Ts have the ability to withdraw gracefully. The ones we're talking about have either simply logged off , or have lost their connection.

I'm thinking of forcing them to withdraw (next upgrade): something like "if you are offline and have been offline for more than XX minutes while registered in a robot T, have the system remove you."
That, coupled with "if you are online and have not played a card for XX minutes, have the system remove you from the T"


The gain is relatively small: makes others wait a few mins less for final results, but those mins can be annoying. There are other solutions, tho, and maybe I'll take one of those as well (or instead)



Uday

[jillybean]

JoAnneM, on Jan 19 2010, 11:09 PM, said:

Gee, there must be some reason ACBL doesn't allow people to just get up and walk out of games because they aren't doing well. 

It appears the ACBL do allow it, if my information is correct a top US team withdrew from a Swiss teams event after 5-6 rounds in the Hawaii regional last week. They were below average when they quit and continued to play on later days.
I think this is poor sportsmanship and deprives others of a complete game, in robot tournaments it doesn't have the same effect.

[hrothgar]

JoAnneM, on Jan 20 2010, 09:09 AM, said:

Gee, there must be some reason ACBL doesn't allow people to just get up and walk out of games because they aren't doing well.

Might this not have something to do with the movement / bracketing?

Quote

I believe I am allowed to have this opinion and express it.

No one is criticizing your decision to express your opinion.
We're simply using our right to expression our opinion about your opinion...

[jmc]

I understand the frustration in having to wait the full 55 minutes for results, but for me the fact that the timing on these tourneys is flexible is a huge draw. I often play the first 5 boards and then break for 30 minutes and finish the rest. I have two kids under two who I am responsible for watching. Often I'll start a tourney while one or both are napping. When they wake up though, they want a bottle, a diaper change, etc. For me the flexibility of the 55 minutes is a big draw and lets me play bridge and be a dad. I have played many of these tourneys and have not completed one or two.

Uday's proposals would work for some but it would definitely decrease flexibility. I am sure many others find this form of tourney handy because of the lack of time constraints. Perhaps a normal timed speed ball would be a better choice for someone who needs the results immediately upon completion.

It is also handy to note that the bbo web product makes it fairly easy to track tourney results using the mybbo link. The windows bbo makes tracking tourneys much, much more difficult, imo.

jmc

[barmar]

jillybean, on Jan 20 2010, 11:46 AM, said:

JoAnneM, on Jan 19 2010, 11:09 PM, said:

Gee, there must be some reason ACBL doesn't allow people to just get up and walk out of games because they aren't doing well. 

It appears the ACBL do allow it, if my information is correct a top US team withdrew from a Swiss teams event after 5-6 rounds in the Hawaii regional last week. They were below average when they quit and continued to play on later days.
I think this is poor sportsmanship and deprives others of a complete game, in robot tournaments it doesn't have the same effect.

It's not a big deal in Swiss Teams, because it doesn't deprive other teams (although I suppose the other low-ranking teams who were going to play you may be less likely to get your gifts). In fact, if there are an odd number of teams, they may welcome a withdrawal, since it avoids 3-ways.

I entered a national Swiss Teams on a team of novices once. At the half, some other team wanted to withdraw, and the directors asked us if we would also withdraw so they could keep it even. They gave us byes for the remaining rounds, so we actually got masterpoints for it (but this was before Platinums, so I had to wait a few years before I got real Plats by actually winning a few matches in the NA Swiss).

[barmar]

uday, on Jan 20 2010, 10:51 AM, said:

Players in these Ts have the ability to withdraw gracefully. The ones we're talking about have either simply logged off , or have lost their connection.

I'm thinking of forcing them to withdraw (next upgrade): something like "if you are offline and have been offline for more than XX minutes while registered in a robot T, have the system remove you."
That, coupled with "if you are online and have not played a card for XX minutes, have the system remove you from the T"


The gain is relatively small: makes others wait a few mins less for final results, but those mins can be annoying. There are other solutions, tho, and maybe I'll take one of those as well (or instead)



Uday

Sometimes that wait can be substantial. I've played in robot tourneys where all the live players finished 10-15 minutes before the end, but there are one or two reds holding up the results.

There's probably no need to boot players while there are other players still playing. So perhaps the tourney should just end when it has been XX minutes since anyone has played a card. Anyone who has been red or idle for those XX minutes gets removed, and the rest of us get to see our results. The idle ones can get an alert pop-up telling them what's going on. I was going to suggest that it could give them an opportunity to continue, but what if they just play one card and go idle again?

[runewell]

I'm surprised everyone is so huffy about waiting to see the results. Yes I like to see them too, but if you have 15 minutes to wait do get some water, write some emails, surf the web, do something else. You can always check back later too, the world doesn't hinge on whether you won 0.24 points or not. The time limit is an hour and we're entitled to use that hour....

[runewell]

Quote

So perhaps the tourney should just end when it has been XX minutes since anyone has played a card.  Anyone who has been red or idle for those XX minutes gets removed, and the rest of us get to see our results.  The idle ones can get an alert pop-up telling them what's going on.  I was going to suggest that it could give them an opportunity to continue, but what if they just play one card and go idle again?

The conditions of contest give us almost an hour to play these boards.
If the person is online, there could be a connection problem. Or, knowing I have 40 minutes left to finish the last four boards I could take a break and do some stuff and then return. I don't think you are going to find a satisfactory compromise here.

[barmar]

Good point. Last night I started a robot tourney, and then my mother called, and we were on the phone for about 20 minutes. Not a big deal, as I knew I would finish in well under regulation time. When I was done, there were 6 minutes left, and one red holding up the results.

So if you don't like the idea of booting idle players, I still think it would be OK to boot players who have been red for too long when everyone else finishes.

[hanp]

I just played in my first 18-board duplicate IMP robot tournament. Pretty cool. GIB owes me a beer btw, can I claim it from Ari?

[jdonn]

hanp, on Feb 7 2010, 11:41 AM, said:

I just played in my first 18-board duplicate IMP robot tournament. Pretty cool. GIB owes me a beer btw, can I claim it from Ari?

Probably