Is there any possibility of making a "Warning... Player is a Flake" list?
So I'm in my first MP game, and right out of the gate, there is a problem... one of our players took two turns, then vanished, and it was four turns later before we noticed he was generating stale turns. As one of only two water nations, this is obviously problematic.
I understand people have lives, and I also understand some people probably jump right into MP before they finish a SP game, and therefore have no idea what type of commitment they are getting into and get overwhelmed, but as far as I'm concerned, there is no excuse at all for not sending a message saying, "Hey, all, too busy, need to drop out," so that the nation can be set to AI. Generating stale turns (other than an occasional "I had to go to the emergency room" situation where someone only misses one turn) is just such a mess for the other players.
My worry is that some of these players will be back ("Alright, this time I picked a nation that is more to my style!") to try to spoil another game. I propose that there be a sticky with a list of players who have completely flaked on a game. This wouldn't be something used to punish people for missing a turn, or needing a sub, etc... it would purely be for people who just dropped off the radar without the courtesy of letting anyone know about it. There could be criteria to make sure it isn't abused; for example, it's only if a person flakes for three turns (that helps for the rare "There really was a funeral" clause), perhaps 80% of the game's players have to testify that the person did indeed flake, or the admin has to have admin records showing the stale turns. Also, there could be a requirement that the person who starts the game has to have posted a general disclaimer on the recruiting page stating, "We use stale turns reporting; by volunteering for this game, you are agreeing to abide by its rules."
Anyhoo, I don't know if something like this has been proposed before, but I think it would be awesome.
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