Hello guys,

First of all: You're doing a great job with this software! Compared to a commercial client I installed on my XP, it's incredibly stable! I just played a couple of rounds on your public Internet Server (BTW: Thanks for providing this!). I liked most of my unknown opponents very much.
But players who enter a game and then seem to do nothing are really a pain in the butt! I understand that this can occur because of a disconnect between their client and the server and that this is already on the TODO list. I also understand that you plan to enable "in-game kicking" But: I really don't like the concept of auto-check / auto-fold very much, because nobody would actually go the looong way to nail them down by stealing their blinds.
What if a player just entered a game, became bored by waiting for enough players for the admin to start the game and simply forgot the client in the background? Technically, this is no disconnect, but it's still annoying for the remaining real players. Players even started leaving my game because of 2 idle other players! On the other hand, I'd like 7 real players better than kicking 2 out of 7.

My suggestion: When the game admin starts the game, one could do a roundtrip through the clients and have the players confirm the start within a period of like 10 seconds. If not all of them confirm, let the admin decide what to do:

1. kick them from the game and wait for new players in the lobby
2. kick them and start the game without them
3. start the game with them anyway

o.k., that's it for now! Keep on doing such a good job for us, thank you again!

Cheers,
Rocco

An admin can already kick players by typing:
/kick player_name

As an admin, I just give everyone two rounds worth of auto-check/fold in the beginning of the game, then kick them.

What I see in need, however, is the ability to vote-kick inside the game lobby when inside the "game info" screen. The reason for this is that sometimes a player (who becomes the admin) will create a game and leave, but no one knows this until the game is full and everyone starts asking the admin to start the game. This then requires someone to create a new game and get everyone to switch over.

QUOTE:
This then requires someone to create a new game and get everyone to switch over.

Really? I thought the role of admin was transferred to another player (his/her name becomes highlighted in green). This player can start the game instead. At least, this is what I think is the case.

QUOTE:
As an admin, I just give everyone two rounds worth of auto-check/fold in the beginning of the game, then kick them.

You don't mean the auto-check/fold feature in the right toolbox that immediately checks and folds for you, do you? Because activating that is perfectly okay in my book when you want a coffee or you need to use the bathroom or something like that, so I hope you mean timing out.

I have sometimes gone to put on a pot of coffee when a game didn't fill up for several minutes, and upon my return to the keyboard, the game had already filled up, it got underway and I was kicked after timing out in two hands or so. Totally understandable, I'm not complaining, but ideally, there would be a checkbox in the lobby that I could activate: "auto-check/fold upon game start" so I don't annoy the other players if the game starts earlier than I expect. Or admins could start selecting shorter time-out periods so afk players aren't as much of an annoyance. Or (difficult to code, maybe) the time-out period could get shorter and shorter for people who keep timing out until they prove they're back at their comp by doing a manual action.

QUOTE:
I really don't like the concept of auto-check / auto-fold very much, because nobody would actually go the looong way to nail them down by stealing their blinds.

I've been heads-up against an afk player once and I wasn't too keen on letting him "win", but I also didn't want to spend too much time raising him everytime so he would fold automatically by timing out (long time-out in that game). Then I wanted an "auto-raise every time" feature in the right toolbox so I'd beat him automatically. Total nonsense, of course.

Regards,
heyn

heyn wrote:

QUOTE:
I thought the role of admin was transferred to another player (his/her name becomes highlighted in green). This player can start the game instead.

This only happens if the admin leaves the game room. If the admin decides to take a bath while people are waiting in a 7/7 room for the game to start, they are stuck with either waiting for the admin to get back or leave and join a different room.

QUOTE:
You don't mean the auto-check/fold feature in the right toolbox that immediately checks and folds for you, do you?

Yes, I meant that I kick anyone that seems to be away from the keyboard upon starting the match (after giving them two rounds leeway). My reasons are....

QUOTE:
Or admins could start selecting shorter time-out periods so afk players aren't as much of an annoyance.

This is actually *very* annoying, having very short time-out periods. What happens when you are in a hand that requires some thinking for more than 5 seconds? Time-out should be long. It is *much* *much* longer in real live poker (tournaments and otherwise). My solution to this would be to have an instant auto-check/fold option for away players. Before going away, a player can just click the "going away" button. This will bypass the timeout period and just auto-check/fold instantly while the player is away. I think such a "away from keyboard" option would be reasonable and best.[/quote]

QUOTE:
This only happens if the admin leaves the game room. If the admin decides to take a bath while people are waiting in a 7/7 room for the game to start, they are stuck with either waiting for the admin to get back or leave and join a different room.

True. But this, I think, is less annoying than another player being afk in the lobby having joined your game, because you will definitely notice the admin is afk, and you can handle that the way you mentioned (starting a new game). 'Normal' afk players will have to be detected and kicked in-game.

QUOTE:
Before going away, a player can just click the "going away" button. This will bypass the timeout period and just auto-check/fold instantly while the player is away. I think such a "away from keyboard" option would be reasonable and best.

The auto check/fold option in the Away window already works like this, doesn't it? And it would be great to eventually be able to pre-activate it in the lobby. That's probably not something that can be done in time for the 0.6 release anyway.

QUOTE:
This is actually *very* annoying, having very short time-out periods. What happens when you are in a hand that requires some thinking for more than 5 seconds? Time-out should be long.

I personally don't mind having to act fast. Oh well, the time-out period is the admin's choice like it should be. I gather you would prefer a solution like "player times out once, he'll time out much faster until he proves that he's back"?

Regards,
heyn

QUOTE:
'Normal' afk players will have to be detected and kicked in-game.

Maybe there was a misunderstanding, but those are the players that I was talking about.

QUOTE:
The auto check/fold option in the Away window already works like this, doesn't it? And it would be great to eventually be able to pre-activate it in the lobby. That's probably not something that can be done in time for the 0.6 release anyway.

I never knew that the auto check/fold option did this. This means that every person that was afk when I was admin did not use that button. And yes, your suggestion for pre-game lobby afk button would fantastic.

QUOTE:
I gather you would prefer a solution like "player times out once, he'll time out much faster until he proves that he's back"?

That may work too. Sounds good to me. This may be implemented like so: "if player times out once, auto-check/fold is activated (checked)".