[PC] National Flag

[Spuzzell]

I was thinking of an option in the gamefinder to find games in your timezone, not an option to stop people joining who aren't

[eeked]

I was actually going in to this forum just to post the same explanation as you just did. It would be wonderful to have some kind of option to get games in a similar time zone as you yourself is in.

A search option in gamefinder seems about right, having the option to just allow specific time zones when creating a game is to harsh since it would make it really difficult for some players to find games at all.

[SirSebstar]

Well I can testify that finding on timezones is NOT a good idea, at least not as good as i thought it might be. I am currently in a tourny game with 6 others from my region. But since i play during work hours, and others only when at home, well, some can be online for like 10 hours, thats more then my 9, but together we manage to miss eachothers completely.
I have more speed in US afrika EU games then this single local game...arg

So searching on location is not holy. I´d be more interrested in an option that allows me to tell others when I usually play and select on those hours, not just location.

e.g. I can play during the day, as it says in my profile(location) Thats just plain and clear as far as I am concerned. I wish others used it the same way.

[albertq]

Concise description:

• An option in the game finder to search for games including only members of a certain country.

Specifics:

• I think it explains itself really.

This will improve the following aspects of the site:

• If you're from the UK you don't end up joining games with Americans who will take their goes at 3am your time, resulting in you have to wait all day to take your next turn.
• This will help speed up games that aren't rt, as in a game involving people all from the same country everyone would be taking their goes at roughly the same sort of time as each other. As a result, games would progress faster.

[lancehoch]

albert, search is your friend, Link

[albertq]

albert, search is your friend, Link

indeed! but those all relate to the scoreboard, not the game finder

+1 for albert's originality

[PLAYER57832]

The suggestion was made to list folks' countries or time zones on the game listings. It was rejected.

Among other reasons, people in all countries play at all hours.

I have found a surprising number of parents, for example who use CC to entertain/distract while staying up with infants, for example. Some people stay up late, others get up early ... etc.

That said, I am not saying I personally am against it (I am neutral), I am just saying this has been suggested before.

[sam_levi_11]

i think its genius, i h8 having to wait for yanks and they must feel the same

[TheScarecrow]

so you mght have to wait a little longer for your turns if you play an american?

patience is a virtue my friend.

[Sun Tzup]

Concise description: My Idea is that we add a game finder parameter that takes into account the time zones of the people in the game or that games can be set to accept a specific time zone only.


This will improve the following aspects of the site: I am finding that some larger games take much longer because people are in really different time zones and sometimes I want to play people near by so I can not wait 24 hours every time I make a move.

• Happier players (you can obviously delete this for bug reports)
• The choice of quicker game response times. Less likely turn misses.

[lancehoch]

What if you are playing a game, with all people in the Eastern Time Zone of the US, player A goes first, and takes his turns at 8 am, player B is second but only checks his games at 7 am. Player C checks his at 9 pm. Player D plays at 6 pm. This 4 player game will take 3 days per round. I have played 6 games with people from all over where we took a day per round.

[Thezzaruz]

• The choice of quicker game response times. Less likely turn misses.

That's BS though. Response time is all about the player and his style of play and/or personal habits and very little about time zones.

[PLAYER57832]

What if you are playing a game, with all people in the Eastern Time Zone of the US, player A goes first, and takes his turns at 8 am, player B is second but only checks his games at 7 am. Player C checks his at 9 pm. Player D plays at 6 pm. This 4 player game will take 3 days per round. I have played 6 games with people from all over where we took a day per round.

And what about the more than a few of us who have been up at all hours with kids, work etc.

P.S. there are several threads on this already.

[t-o-m]

just get prem and shut up.
then u dont care as much as you can play more games

[dustn64]

nobody should need to give away anymore information than needed about where they live.

[Sun Tzup]

Ok I am going to try to answer the questions and scenarios presented here.

1) what about a group of people that all check in once a day at specific times and the times just dont match up.

This isnt to address that problem. If you want to do something about that I would suggest PMing the people before you join their game as I cannot see an easy fix to your gripe.

This mod would be to give people the _opportunity_ to sort by timezone so that if they choose to they can join a game with people from within 3 hours either way from them or something like that. No one would be forced to use it. If you dont like the idea then you could just not use it and have the same thing you have now. No need to complain...

The chances are that people will respond within the same time zone more quickly (at least this has been my experience so far). Also if you respond right after someone else you can even finish out a game pretty quick at the end. I am in a couple of games with people from purtugal, australia and scandanavia or norway and I am finding that I need to wait for 12 hours for some of them to respond as its like 3am for them when its 5pm for me or whatever.

2) Giving people too much information about you.

um... I think that response is paranoid honestly. I think if someone wants to know who you are they can trace your ip address and get much more info than just your timezone.

To address this concern though I think an opt out of timezone could be implemented pretty easily and your timezone would be the range of timezones for your regional affiliation or country.

3) T-O-M and the program reference.

Ok. I still think this is a good idea and shouldnt be too difficult to code. doesnt need to be specific to zip code or anything but would be nice to have the closest timezoned games load first in the sort like ebay sorting options for games. It only makes it more fun for players which attracts more players which brings in more money which supports more cool options...etc

[Sun Tzup]

• The choice of quicker game response times. Less likely turn misses.

That's BS though. Response time is all about the player and his style of play and/or personal habits and very little about time zones.

I disagree with this assumption. Response time is one aspect and so is time Zone. I am playing in a few games right now where response time is directly related to what time it is in their part of the world. Its unreasonable to expect someone to take their turn at 4am or 3am although some might, probably less than more and not because they are slackers.

This compounded with several people from disparately different time zones can mean three day turn arounds in a 5 player game. If everyone is within a few hours of each other then this problem is much less likely to result from capability and I can mark the slackers as being slowpokes and not play with them.

[brandoncfi]

just get prem and shut up.
then u dont care as much as you can play more games

I was going to say this but t-o-m bea me to it

[PLAYER57832]

Ok I am going to try to answer the questions and scenarios presented here.

1) what about a group of people that all check in once a day at specific times and the times just dont match up.

This isnt to address that problem. If you want to do something about that I would suggest PMing the people before you join their game as I cannot see an easy fix to your gripe.

it is not a problem now. You would, however, make it a problem because you would expect folks in a particular time zone to play in a specific time period ... and it is just not always true.

The chances are that people will respond within the same time zone more quickly (at least this has been my experience so far).

Well, I have a few more games than you and this is not my experience at all. In the morning, I tend to get a lot of Europeans who are staying up to play ...etc.

2) Giving people too much information about you.

um... I think that response is paranoid honestly. I think if someone wants to know who you are they can trace your ip address and get much more info than just your timezone.

To address this concern though I think an opt out of timezone could be implemented pretty easily and your timezone would be the range of timezones for your regional affiliation or country.

I agree that this concern is rather silly, just because the info is already there ... more or less. BUT, you miss the point that folks ISP often change, that it means little.

3) T-O-M and the program reference.

Ok. I still think this is a good idea and shouldnt be too difficult to code. doesnt need to be specific to zip code or anything but would be nice to have the closest timezoned games load first in the sort like ebay sorting options for games. It only makes it more fun for players which attracts more players which brings in more money which supports more cool options...etc

No, it would make the waters even more muddy. Remember the old lessons on Scientific notation and significant digits? Just because you can get an answer does not mean it adds any real information. We already have the country ... if you cannot figure out the time zone from that, well ... sorry, this won' t help.

[Sun Tzup]

Ok I am going to try to answer the questions and scenarios presented here.

1) what about a group of people that all check in once a day at specific times and the times just dont match up.

This isnt to address that problem. If you want to do something about that I would suggest PMing the people before you join their game as I cannot see an easy fix to your gripe.

it is not a problem now. You would, however, make it a problem because you would expect folks in a particular time zone to play in a specific time period ... and it is just not always true.

This is not true. You are assuming my expectations would change. They would not change. I am in two freeform games with people from britain and portugal and australia and consistantly 3 or 4 people will take their turn and then everyone will wait for the last one or two people to take their turn. Based on this occurrance in two out of two games with the same data set I would like the option of joining a game with people all in america if its a freeform game. I like being able to finish up a one on one in half an hour sometimes. I dontexpect it all the time but it simply is not possible unless the person is on at the same time as you and its not gonna happen with the guy from portugal or britain.

I am not saying this will. It is a problem now, just not apparently for you, that doesnt mean it isnt for other people. I would expect only to be able to challenge people in my own time zone or join games with people in my own time zone if I felt like it. That would always be true if I had the option.

The chances are that people will respond within the same time zone more quickly (at least this has been my experience so far).

Well, I have a few more games than you and this is not my experience at all. In the morning, I tend to get a lot of Europeans who are staying up to play ...etc.

I agree it has a lot to do with the specific players as well but this does not make it any more likely the guy from britain is going to be on at 4am as opposed to an american in the evening or morning CST. No matter how many games you have had its just not true that people in places with really disparate time zones are going to be on at the same time as one another. In large multi player games this can make quite a difference for people with 24 hour turn arounds. (Ill get to the prem argument later on)

2) Giving people too much information about you.

um... I think that response is paranoid honestly. I think if someone wants to know who you are they can trace your ip address and get much more info than just your timezone.

To address this concern though I think an opt out of timezone could be implemented pretty easily and your timezone would be the range of timezones for your regional affiliation or country.

I agree that this concern is rather silly, just because the info is already there ... more or less. BUT, you miss the point that folks ISP often change, that it means little.

You miss the point. No one cares what your time zone is for any other reason than to avoid playing you if its a 16 hour or so difference. Not for all games but for some this is just a pain in the butt. For me at the least and for 5 other people apparantly as well.

3) T-O-M and the program reference.

Ok. I still think this is a good idea and shouldnt be too difficult to code. doesnt need to be specific to zip code or anything but would be nice to have the closest timezoned games load first in the sort like ebay sorting options for games. It only makes it more fun for players which attracts more players which brings in more money which supports more cool options...etc

No, it would make the waters even more muddy. Remember the old lessons on Scientific notation and significant digits? Just because you can get an answer does not mean it adds any real information. We already have the country ... if you cannot figure out the time zone from that, well ... sorry, this won' t help.

This is just false propaganda. Ebay isnt muddy because you can sort according to distance or preferences. Without that option ebay is a hellish experience. The modification is awesome and makes the intyerface much much much more friendly.

And um no, I dont remember the old lessons on scientific notation nor do I see the relevance in this discussion. I think that your example is a red herring that doesnt relate and basically you disagree because you already have developed your way and friends and what not so any new mods just sound like a hassle to you for some odd reason. It adds information then you can add friends or foes based on real experience. I might like to play someone in my area and I think thats a great option to have even if you dont want to use it for your own personal reasons doesnt mean my reasons or wants are invalid or stupid.

Nothing you said really was a good reason not to add the modification. mainly you just stated why you wouldnt use it or that it might or may or could... if you are going to give a reason why not try to make it logic based instead of emotional.

[PLAYER57832]

This is just false propaganda. Ebay isnt muddy because you can sort according to distance or preferences. Without that option ebay is a hellish experience. The modification is awesome and makes the intyerface much much much more friendly.

There is a big difference between not wanting to drive 100 miles and thinking that just because someone is in the Eastern Time zone, they will automatically play when others in the Eastern Time zone play.

Just as an example, I was playing a lot of folks in Australia in the morning and some Europeans in the afternoon, for quite a while. Now I seem to be playing largely folks in the US. Some people play at work, some at home. This has more to do with the specific game types and those who happen to be interested, rather than their time zones.

And, I know this pretty well because I play mostly 1v1. And talk to folks.

And um no, I dont remember the old lessons on scientific notation nor do I see the relevance in this discussion.

The relevance is that just because you can find more information does not mean that information is good. The fact that someone is in the same time zone really and truly DOES NOT mean they will play when you want. I say this because I see it over and over and over, not because I don't like the idea.

I think that your example is a red herring that doesnt relate and basically you disagree because you already have developed your way and friends and what not so any new mods just sound like a hassle to you for some odd reason. It adds information then you can add friends or foes based on real experience. I might like to play someone in my area and I think thats a great option to have even if you dont want to use it for your own personal reasons doesnt mean my reasons or wants are invalid or stupid.

And maybe, just maybe the fact that I have played a few more games than you means that I have a bit more experience ... and maybe that is what I am sharing.

As a matter of fact, I actually suggested something similar quite a while back. BUT, now I realize I was wrong, for the reasons I gave above. It just does not tell you what you think it will. People have different schedules. However, you can't put down your schedule very well.

Nothing you said really was a good reason not to add the modification. mainly you just stated why you wouldnt use it or that it might or may or could... if you are going to give a reason why not try to make it logic based instead of emotional.

One more reason is that adding too much information makes what's there harder to read ... and dilutes its relevance.

But, visit the threads already begun on this (most are fairly old) and you will see the full and complete discussion.

And the final decision won't be mine ...

[gloryordeath]

I don't mind at all when players take their turns slow it lets me play more games for the time I have to spend on CC. That = more chances to win for my time spent.

[cicero]

• The choice of quicker game response times. Less likely turn misses.

Response time is all about the player and his style of play and/or personal habits and very little about time zones.

Thezzaruz (and other posters since) has it right as far as I can see ...

And the reason it shouldn't be "implemented as an option - you don't have to use it" is it wouldn't improve response times as the OP suggests and there's no point to options that don't do anything ...

(A) Two people in same time zone.
X logs in at 6pm every day. Y logs in at 8pm every day.
If X plays just before Y in the game round then Y will typically not have to wait for X to take his turn.
If X plays just after Y in the game round then Y will typically only be able to play 22 hours after X takes his turn.

(B) Two people in different time zone.
X logs in at 5pm (USA West Coast time) every day. Y logs in at midnight (UK time) every day.
If X plays just before Y in the game round then Y will typically not have to wait for X to take his turn.
If X plays just after Y in the game round then Y will typically only be able to play 22 hours after X takes his turn.

Habits and game round order dictate response times, not time zones.

[JethroC]

When I am playing I keep wondering if a player is going to be available. (online is flagged but will the person be in a position to respond to game on email)
Could a clock for each player next to the player name for their time Zone
Or general clocks for time zones on the game page:?:

[sailorseal]

I understand how it would help but at the same time I think it wouldn't. Players take their turns from midnight to 5AM regardless of timezone.