Time limit for an action

[NullPiotrException]

Sometimes players might go afk or just think too long, making other players bored. I think there should be a time limit for an action.

What do you think the time limit should be? A minute? Seems fair. We can also make it 2 minutes at first and see what players think.

And of course there should be an exception if all opponents are AIs. Then I'd set time limit as 1 hour.

[octachrome]

Yeah I have had some thoughts about this:

• It should not be possible to exploit the timer by waiting until the last second to choose your action and leave no time for the other players to block/react. I.e. every time an action or block or challenge occurs, the timer should reset for the next phase of the turn.
• I like the idea of an "I need more time" button. That way you can keep the time limit quite low, like 30 secs, which is good to keep the game moving when people are AFK, but also allow active players to get more time if they have a really tough decision to think about. The button could appear when there are 10 seconds left on the clock. I think maybe the timer itself could appear only when there are 10 seconds left, otherwise it is kind of distracting.
• The timer should be optional: some players actually like to play a long game with periods of time spent away from the game. You could opt out of the move timer if you create a custom game, in the dialog where you choose whether to play a game with ambassadors or with inquisitors.
• The timer should be on the server, obviously, to avoid hacking to turn it off (as unlikely as that is). The server should probably send a message when there are 10 secs left so that the browser can start a graphical count down using setInterval, but it should be enforced in game.js.

[NullPiotrException]

Good points. Agree.

So maybe there should be 2 options: "enable timer" and "allow reseting the timer"? So if timer is enabled, host of the room should also decides if he wants to allow users to reset the timer or not. Not being to reset the timer would be good for tournaments and people with little time.

[octachrome]

I don't think there's much need to disable resetting the timer. Why would you keep clicking "I need more time"? I don't see a realistic opportunity for abuse.

[NullPiotrException]

Fair enough.