Dynamics of AWOL players in multiplayer games

[PointSpecial]

I'm wondering what people think about AWOL players in multi-player games... I'm starting to think that there's little use in eliminating the AWOL player... you're not going to get attacked by them. In fact, you could even use it as a buffer instead of wasting your own armies to attack theirs.

For example, in game 867, I have North America... and I don't really have to worry too much about an attack from Europe because my opponents would have to go through Iceland... strategically held by an AWOL player. Similarly in the regions surrounding Europe.

I'm not sure if this is a flaw... or if it's just an asset. Sure, the player could come back and exploit the weaknesses I've inherently put in my army structure... but in all of the games I've played, when a player has gone AWOL, they haven't come back

What do you think?

 

[Shepherd]

Assuming an AWOL player doesn't come back, you can and should use AWOL regions like neutrals regions - as a wall between you and your enemies. Of course, a wall doesn't just keep enemies out, it also holds you in.

And, there are plenty of times when you do want to hit an AWOL region: nab the player's cards, open up a route, complete a bonus command, collect points in a mercenary or assassin game, etc.

 

[elfword]

There are definitely smart ways to use AWOL players. Buffer zones can be very useful. Shepherd's outlined some of the reasons assaulting AWOLs can still be beneficial.

 

[Badorties]

In assassin games, if the AWOL player is not your target, then he's someone elses target, and if you can guard a single region of the AWOL player, you can prevent another from winning.

 

[Chilly]

In assassin games, if the AWOL player is not your target, then he's someone elses target, and if you can guard a single region of the AWOL player, you can prevent another from winning.

And sadly, someone is safe from attack (to a limited degree).

 

[diogenes]

Assuming an AWOL player doesn't come back

How can an AWOL player come back?

 

[dscw]

How can an AWOL player come back?

There's a "Return from AWOL" message at the top of the map when you return to the game screen.

 

[PointSpecial]

Has anyone actually seen an AWOL player come back...?

 

[RjBeals]

i went awol in a game, and came back

 

[Spazm]

If a player goes AWOL in a 1v1, can the game just be ended with no points? I've had 3 games today where I end up just wiping the map because my sole opponent was a new AWOL player.

 

[Badorties]

If a player goes AWOL in a 1v1, can the game just be ended with no points? I've had 3 games today where I end up just wiping the map because my sole opponent was a new AWOL player.

That's an interesting thought. It would suck though if a player were losing.... then decided to go AWOL to void the game.

Always got to think of the abuse!

 

[diogenes]

Or maybe just decreasing the points awarded, but still taking away the full points from the AWOL player so they wouldn't have an incentive to leave? Looks like in these situations the abuse can go both ways (i.e. people playing themselves w/ other accounts to rack up points).

 

[diogenes]

i went awol in a game, and came back

Someone hit the button to re-enter after going AWOL, then they got this
"Skipping AWOL (pending re-entry) player..."

How is full re-entry accomplished? Do they just hit the button again?

 

[ashr]

Yeah, I'd like a Surrender Button, in games where there is no chance, and no need to force the other player to fight through 20 countries of 1 troop.

 

[Badorties]

Someone hit the button to re-enter after going AWOL, then they got this
"Skipping AWOL (pending re-entry) player..."

How is full re-entry accomplished? Do they just hit the button again?

returning AWOL players must sit out a full turn before being fully active.

This is to avoid a player going awol with a set, then 10 rounds later, coming back , calling up reserves and winning.

 

[Chilly]

returning AWOL players must sit out a full turn before being fully active.

This is to avoid a player going awol with a set, then 10 rounds later, coming back , calling up reserves and winning.

I'm not sure that I agree with this reasoning. If you are in a game where reserves are worth that much, I think the other players have enough of an incentive to eliminate you and try to chain one set of reserves after another with your cards. I think this might penalize someone coming back from AWOL too much.

Could you make it so that players coming back from AWOL can only turn in a set at the end of their turn (same time as deploying deferred troops) but before they receive the card for that turn? I'd like to see players only miss one turn if possible.

 

[Chilly]

If this is still actually under development and the current AWOL system is not the final one, then I apologize for the following. Just trying to introduce some friends to the site, and one of them is sore that his first experience left him feeling cheated.

The game that I was referencing is 1030. Newbie player didn't notice the turn notification email show up in his spam folder, so he missed his turn by a few hours. He went AWOL and was given three deferred units. He came back off of AWOL shortly after that. His next turn was skipped (pending re-entry). So on the -next- turn, he got his regular three units, attacked, and then got three deferred units to place.

So to summarize: Over three turns he got six units (instead of nine) but was also exposed for an extra turn without being able to do anything.

If he had had a region bonus, would those have been included in his deferred units?
Or is it just territories/3?
If he got deferred units for the turn he went AWOL, why didn't he get them for the turn he was forced to skip?

I understand what Bado is saying above about preventing someone from just sitting AWOL with a set for 10 turns and then becoming active again with a set. But how is that different than someone just doing nothing for 10 turns and waiting for reserves to build up? If the point is to prevent AWOL players from slowing the game down, yet to penalize them as little as possible for life happening, while still not giving them an advantage, I think there are some better ways to do this.

Could you make it so that players coming back from AWOL can only turn in a set at the end of their turn (same time as deploying deferred troops) but before they receive the card for that turn? I'd like to see players only miss one turn if possible.

I think my previous idea could work -OR-
Just not allow a player coming back from AWOL to attack. They can place, turn in cards, reinforce, but not attack -OR-
Give them deferred units for each round they miss (or are forced to skip) -OR-
Just let them come back when they will and make it incumbent on the other players to not let a player with cards sit "on the sidelines" indefinitely with cards.

Anyone else have any thoughts for players who really didn't mean to miss a turn and want to legitimately rejoin a game?

 

[Spazm]

You don't go AWOL for only missing one turn; if you can't check back in for 48 hours I think you don't have much of a complaint that you were set as AWOL.

 

[Badorties]

Interesting ideas there chilly. To address them,

But how is that different than someone just doing nothing for 10 turns and waiting for reserves to build up?

Well if you just do nothing, you are still present in the game, meaning you can on your turn attack if you wanted to. When you go awol, it is assumed you are not around and will not be playing, players can then not worry about an awol planning suddenly coming back, like they would have to constantly worry about an idle, but present player.

The game that I was referencing is 1030. Newbie player didn't notice the turn notification email show up in his spam folder, so he missed his turn by a few hours.

We certainly don't want to piss off new players, and one option might be to increase the awol limit to 2 for noobs as well.

It's definitely not a perfect system and we are looking to improve it.

 

[jickfoo]

I had this just happen to someone and they were kind of bummed that they had to miss 2 turns. I understand why you do it this way but maybe it could be a configurable option. Most of my games are fixed sets for reinforcements so someone coming in later and turning in for huge numbers isnt likely.

[ ] Allow Awol users to return immediately.

Love the site.