I've played in a bunch of games and several times now I've had a player say something along the lines of "what's taking you so long"... then when it's their turn they don't ever go and eventually get booted.  Some people when they sign up are under the assumption that the games are played in realtime (looking at the accounts, how many users have signed up, joined a few games, and then never returned to the site?).  There should be a welcome screen and quick tutorial before players are allowed to roam free in the pasture.  Something that welcomes them to the site, explains the 'play-by-mail' nature of the games, and clearly informs them how to identify lightning games in case they want near realtime gameplay (no need to explain fog or the other intricacies since they can get this info from the help page once they become more familiar with the site but just enough so that they do not ruin the games they join by never returning to the site).

Yes I agree. This could either be a welcome email as previously suggested or a welcome screen... I think probably both would be good.

tom wrote: Yes I agree. This could either be a welcome email as previously suggested or a welcome screen... I think probably both would be good.

Something on the first landing page would probably be a good place for it. Rather than having someone sign up before they can see what the site is.

It also probably wouldn't hurt to open the gate a little bit to let people come in and see the place and read the forums and the help sections but not post on the forums or start/join games until they have signed up.

They can do all that stuff already!

So you can.

EnixNeo wrote:

   Something that welcomes them to the site, explains the 'play-by-mail' nature of the games, and clearly informs them how to identify lightning games in case they want near realtime gameplay 

definatly a good idea.