I feel like lately I've been seeing a lot of games that struggle for weeks to fill, especially on boards that aren't among the top ten or so most popular. I was worried that maybe activity on the site has been slack, but I checked and there there are ~150 games started per day over the last month. So that seems fine.

However, what perhaps explains my feeling of a slow site is that WarGear Warfare accounts for somewhere around 3/5 of them (93% of which are public games, btw). So WarGear Warfare games seem to have no trouble filling at all, but if I don't care to play that board (which I don't), what are my options and likelihood of getting a game on another board that I prefer to play?

This is a harder question to gauge, and I think it would be really interesting and helpful if there was a simple additional statistic for each board: time to fill a game, either by number of players or weighted by number of players.

What do you think?

For example, this 7-player game has been open for almost a month without filling: http://www.wargear.net/games/join/522506

While this other 7-player game filled in just under 2 weeks: http://www.wargear.net/games/player/523218

And this 10-player game filled in 10 days: http://www.wargear.net/games/player/524678

i feel ya, there don't seem to be many games on boards that i find fun. heck i got 5 on my list that aren't filled yet (tho i've yet to take the time to create any myself). 

i'm curious how many of those 150/day are RT games? 

Kjeld wrote:

This is a harder question to gauge, and I think it would be really interesting and helpful if there was a simple additional statistic for each board: time to fill a game, either by number of players or weighted by number of players.

What do you think?

Interesting stat, but making it available and public may be ultimately self-fufilling - potentially making the problem worse. If I know a game takes a long time to fill, or might not fill at all, why would I bother to join it the first place?

I think a significant part of the problem is the max game rule imposed on Standard members.  I seen on numerous occasions where a player declines to join a tournament or can't join a game because their dance card is full.  For those players, joining a game for which they have to wait is insult to injury.

I haven't thought it through but here's a couple of possible solutions:

1. Give certain boards or games immunity from the game cap.  Criteria could be based on the stat (still hidden).
2. Any games that are open for more than x days become exempt from the cap.
3. I'm not sure how it works currently, but all games in a given tournament count as 1 game.

Hmm.. I like 'B.' Easy to understand and communicate.  A simple sentence at the top of the Join Game page could generate interest. E.g, "Games that take more than 2 days to fill are exempt from your 10 game cap - Try a different board."

I think it's not unreasonable to think that such a rule would be a win/win. It's obviously a win for the Standard member, but it's also a win for the site because players who play other boards are the ones who buy Premium memberships, right?

I really like your idea M57.  I'd love in general for there to be some incentive for players to branch out - both selfishly as a map maker, and because I feel like the diversity of boards is wargear's biggest strength.

Another option, is maybe the max game rule is applied per board., and is lowered, and then there is also a larger total max game rule.  So something like, no more than 3 games on the same board, and no more than 15 games total. 

Ozyman wrote:

Another option, is maybe the max game rule is applied per board., and is lowered, and then there is also a larger total max game rule.  So something like, no more than 3 games on the same board, and no more than 15 games total. 

I think I like your option even more than my option B.  Yours would all but force players to try other boards. The only down-side that I can think of is that with their effective cap reduced to 3 or so games, some serial WGWF players might leave the site ..but then they weren't Premium Members in the first place, right?

Nonetheless..  I'd be curious to know how many Premium Members here play WGWF pretty much exclusively.

Kjeld wrote:

For example, this 7-player game has been open for almost a month without filling: http://www.wargear.net/games/join/522506

While this other 7-player game filled in just under 2 weeks: http://www.wargear.net/games/player/523218

And this 10-player game filled in 10 days: http://www.wargear.net/games/player/524678

Note:  (because it matters to me) my life these days doesn't allow for playing anything shorter than 3-day-turn games.  Even a 1-day-turn timer on a pseudo-popular board is sometimes harder to fill than a 3-day turn timer game on a more obscure board.  The first two links you provided were shorter turn timer games.

Also of note:   the 10-player game that you linked to is a game started by the Board Revival Group, so it's definitely going to be an anomaly (http://www.wargear.net/forum/showthread/4082/Board_Revival_Group#post_220)

I will not join 1-day-turn games either, although I do sometimes join 2-day-turn games depending on # of players and how complicated/familiar the board is.

BorisTheFrugal wrote:

Also of note:   the 10-player game that you linked to is a game started by the Board Revival Group, so it's definitely going to be an anomaly (http://www.wargear.net/forum/showthread/4082/Board_Revival_Group#post_220)

Ah, right, I'd forgotten about that! I was wondering how that filled so quickly.

Ozyman wrote:

 So something like, no more than 3 games on the same board, and no more than 15 games total. 

Interesting Idea. I'd set the board max to two though. It might create increased incentive to ether branch out or go premium to play more of the "favorite" board. 

Agree - limiting the max games per board would be a good thing, although some would perceive it as a loss of freedom. But 2 sounds low - I think 3 is a good number.

BorisTheFrugal wrote:

Note:  (because it matters to me) my life these days doesn't allow for playing anything shorter than 3-day-turn games.  Even a 1-day-turn timer on a pseudo-popular board is sometimes harder to fill than a 3-day turn timer game on a more obscure board.  The first two links you provided were shorter turn timer games.

I remember when we were debating timer length tom did not want to do a 2 day and a 3 day for fear of splitting the players.  I wonder if that has come to pass.

I, also, only play 3.