The "replace robots" feature is back at World of Card Games. You can use it to start a game with bots, and allow humans to replace them as they arrive. Details are in this blog post.
This feature was first added on January 13 2014. But after several hours of good behavior, the site crashed. So I pulled it back, and worked to figure out what went wrong.
I tried with a new version on February 12, but it caused the site to crash too!
This time, I'm pretty sure that I know what was going wrong. With the bug fixed, I think this new version will work correctly. Is this third time a charm? I hope so!
15 comments:
Since this robot option been on the games aren't even worth playing. Was liking these games, but there is something not right about having these bots there like that. People stayed before this come along, now they keep leaving and abusing. It's a pity.
Anonymous @ April 13 6:01 AM -
That's interesting to hear. I'm very open to feedback on this option. I hope others will write about their experiences.
I am curious to know how long you have been playing on the site. I have received a number of emails complaining that people leave mid-game. All complaints were prior to the replace robots feature. So I'm surprised that you did not experience this already. I can't understand why the new feature would make this problem worse. I'd love to hear what other people think about this, too.
I played a game with the replace robots with humans option and found it very user friendly. It kept me busy while waiting for humans to join the table. It really isn't much different then playing solitaire. This is sort of spades solitaire. Waits can become tiring and anything you can do to shorten the perception of the wait, is a plus in my book. Thank you very much...
Thanks for this feedback! That was exactly the intention of this feature. Glad to hear that you are enjoying it, at least so far.
I've been playing for a bout 2 months I think it is, yes people have been leaving since the beginning, but significantly more since the robot feature added. It's all good though, am now just not having robots and have played full games with all players staying.. The robot feature was good at first but no now it just gets abused.
That's it it is just like playing solitaire, problem is it isn't solitaire. No one wants to come into a game that bots have been playing and sitting on 88. So people just keep leaving.. The bots aren't serving the purpose they are meant to.
Anonymous @ 4:04 PM, thanks for that extra info. Now I understand better what you mean - some people just don't want to replace a poor player (i.e. the bot).
This is something that I was concerned about. It's certainly avoidable by setting the bot option to "No". Although I can see why not everyone would want to do this. Let's see what others say.
Well the 88 is in hearts game..
yes sorry that is what I meant.. And yes I now just don't have bots and don't have the problem of people leaving.
In reply to posts regarding bots, I play euchre often (as I don't like them but each to their own) and have set it to not allow bots. What is VERY frustrating is players come then leave without even a goodbye! Perhaps if not too hard, place a small note on them all saying something like "Please be patient and if leaving, have the manners to say goodbye".
Don't love the bots but it does help to start the game. Would love to see what other tables are open and with which players then I could choose which table to enter and replace whatever bots are there. Can that be done? I"m making some friends with registered players but get frustrated when I can't "find" them.
Hi Hank,
Thanks for your comment. I have had a couple of suggestions that I place a note telling people not to leave. I feel it is simple common sense not to leave mid-game, or if necessary, make some excuse using Chat and then leave... If someone does not understand this (maybe they have a language/typing issue, or are just rude!) then a note is not going to help. Any note like this will be preaching to the choir - people who understand it won't leave to begin with, while those who don't care will leave regardless.
I've been thinking about adding a feature to allow bots in near the end of the game if someone leaves. How would you feel about this?
Hi Anon@1:29 AM, I'm glad you're making some friends! I have a couple of different plans that should help to solve the frustrating problem of not finding people you like. These are things which will require some time to develop, so unfortunately it will be a while before they get implemented.
I joined a "29" game yesterday which was already in progress. After that someone else joined, and then soon left again. The rest of us continued on, and had a good game with the remaining bot.
As we have discussed before, if people just play for the sake of each hand, then all is well. Also go through to the end of the game so that we don't get penalised in statistics for being an early-leaver.
For those people that come in towards the end of the game (e.g. the 88 in Hearts example) just stay until the end, then remain at the table with the goodies to start a new game with those people.
It would be good if there was an option to call in a robot when someone leaves, getting tired of all these games that have started with robots and then ending up with the dodgy score every time.
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