okay gotcha. that's cool, i was just thinking of "enemies" in the wrong way then. :)

M57 wrote:

Ok, but enemies who are paying members can join any public game, including those you have joined or started, right?

Correct.  Premium members can join even if marked as an enemy to someone already in the game.

Alpha wrote:

(very nice by the way Yertle).

Lol that was pretty much a complete Copy/Paste from tom's definition on the Settings pages :P

Yertle - I meant good job on the layout of help pages and FAQ; it was pretty easy to find what I was looking for.  I wish other help pages were as helpful.

They could always become paying members and then they can join all they want.

Could we have tourney invites show up like a game invite does? I rarely go to the tourney page and it might help tourneys fill up faster. 

AdamN wrote:

Could we have tourney invites show up like a game invite does? I rarely go to the tourney page and it might help tourneys fill up faster. 

How about a pop out game board for real time which refreshes more frequently?

Edward Nygma wrote:

How about a pop out game board for real time which refreshes more frequently?

I have some related questions.  Tom,  you mentioned in another thread that as the Flash Player is currently set up, RT is not feasible.  My understanding is that this is due to its reliance on a need for each user to refresh their individual boards, but can't boards be set to auto refresh?  ..for instance every 60 seconds?  If so, couldn't this be an option that the the user initiates?   I guess I'm trying to understand the limitations of the FP, as I'm thinking about how LiveGear might work. Why can't, for instance, a command be sent to all boards to refresh immediately after all players have submitted their turns?

At the very least, for Lightning games to work, players should have some kind of turn notification system.   Minimally, players could have a preference for an email to be sent when it's their turn in all lightning games.   Some players have what amounts to RT e-mail alerts. 

Also, what's up with Growl?

AdamN wrote:

Could we have tourney invites show up like a game invite does? I rarely go to the tourney page and it might help tourneys fill up faster. 

Yes I'll add this.

M57 wrote:

Edward Nygma wrote:

How about a pop out game board for real time which refreshes more frequently?

I have some related questions.  Tom,  you mentioned in another thread that as the Flash Player is currently set up, RT is not feasible.  My understanding is that this is due to its reliance on a need for each user to refresh their individual boards, but can't boards be set to auto refresh?  ..for instance every 60 seconds?  If so, couldn't this be an option that the the user initiates?   I guess I'm trying to understand the limitations of the FP, as I'm thinking about how LiveGear might work. Why can't, for instance, a command be sent to all boards to refresh immediately after all players have submitted their turns?

At the very least, for Lightning games to work, players should have some kind of turn notification system.   Minimally, players could have a preference for an email to be sent when it's their turn in all lightning games.   Some players have what amounts to RT e-mail alerts. 

Also, what's up with Growl?

The refresh rate is limited by the load it puts on the server - it's a balancing act between server load and responsiveness. It does make sense to have a higher refresh rate for real time games and a pop out board is also a good idea.

So currently the board auto refreshes at steadily decreasing intervals: 1 minute, 3 minutes, then 8 minutes. After that it stops refreshing automatically. With the current architecture it's a one way polling process, the Player can send a refresh request to the server but the server has no way to contact all the clients.

This is a fundamental limitation which will be very hard to get around and indeed a system which allowed the server to contact the clients directly would likely fail in lots of different environments (e.g. behind corporate / home firewalls) which block this sort of thing automatically.

tom wrote:

AdamN wrote:

Could we have tourney invites show up like a game invite does? I rarely go to the tourney page and it might help tourneys fill up faster. 

Yes I'll add this.

Thanks Tom!

M57 wrote:

Enemies actually people who you wish to avoid playing ..for any number of reasons like..

You suspect they cheat.  Their language or name offends you. They have a grudge against you and always attack you.  You know them in real life and wish to avoid them in your virtual life, etc..

There are limits to what setting someone as an enemy accomplishes.  For instance, if you start a public game there is no way to ensure that an enemy will not join.

I believe it would be very wishable to be able to set as an arch-foe a few persons (may be 3). These players would not be able to join a public game with you, even if they are premium members. The small numbers is to prevent players to abuse of this powerful tool. The need is quite clear for the reasons M57 explained above.

tom wrote:

M57 wrote:

Edward Nygma wrote:

How about a pop out game board for real time which refreshes more frequently?

I have some related questions.  Tom,  you mentioned in another thread that as the Flash Player is currently set up, RT is not feasible.  My understanding is that this is due to its reliance on a need for each user to refresh their individual boards, but can't boards be set to auto refresh?  ..for instance every 60 seconds?  If so, couldn't this be an option that the the user initiates?   I guess I'm trying to understand the limitations of the FP, as I'm thinking about how LiveGear might work. Why can't, for instance, a command be sent to all boards to refresh immediately after all players have submitted their turns?

At the very least, for Lightning games to work, players should have some kind of turn notification system.   Minimally, players could have a preference for an email to be sent when it's their turn in all lightning games.   Some players have what amounts to RT e-mail alerts. 

Also, what's up with Growl?

The refresh rate is limited by the load it puts on the server - it's a balancing act between server load and responsiveness. It does make sense to have a higher refresh rate for real time games and a pop out board is also a good idea.

So currently the board auto refreshes at steadily decreasing intervals: 1 minute, 3 minutes, then 8 minutes. After that it stops refreshing automatically. With the current architecture it's a one way polling process, the Player can send a refresh request to the server but the server has no way to contact all the clients.

This is a fundamental limitation which will be very hard to get around and indeed a system which allowed the server to contact the clients directly would likely fail in lots of different environments (e.g. behind corporate / home firewalls) which block this sort of thing automatically.

You could have a popout board that once popped out has a more frequent refresh rate, like steady intervals of 1-5 minutes, so if you're playing a lightning round, you can pop-out the board, and it will stay more regularly updated, assuming, of course, that the server could handle it.

What is a "Pop-out" (a separate window?), and why is that a good idea?  Does it somehow put less stress on the server?

M57 wrote:

What is a "Pop-out" (a separate window?), and why is that a good idea?  Does it somehow put less stress on the server?

Yes I assume EN means a separate window. It doesn't make any difference for server load but it might be handy for arranging your desktop.

It would be nice if it didn't have an address bar. or maybe some of the headers, just the launcher in a separate window, which would refresh just slightly more regularly.

Also, could we add an online indicator light onto the stats window?  If a player hasn't posted a message, it doesn't do very much good.

Edward Nygma wrote:

Also, could we add an online indicator light onto the stats window?  If a player hasn't posted a message, it doesn't do very much good.

+1.  

It would also be nice in the "My Games" window if the on-line players had an orange line under (over?) their boxes or something like that.

Amidon37 wrote:

Edward Nygma wrote:

Also, could we add an online indicator light onto the stats window?  If a player hasn't posted a message, it doesn't do very much good.

+1.  

It would also be nice in the "My Games" window if the on-line players had an orange line under (over?) their boxes or something like that.

But what determines if a player is "on-line"?  Activity in the last minute? ..30 seconds?  ..5 seconds?

There's already one by your name in the forum, follow the same formula.

Edward Nygma wrote:

Also, could we add an online indicator light onto the stats window?  If a player hasn't posted a message, it doesn't do very much good.

Sorry not sure which page you mean? The player stats info at the bottom of the game board?