Well Kevin, an earliest post was linking slow play of some players as a function of their game volume, and the site stability was listed as a possible limit to the upper bound of the number of games that could be played concurrently.

I just suggested that the new hardware would not only cure the perfomance problems in general and those that are game laden specificially, but it would also support real-time play seemlessly.

Maybe it could be set up as a poll - Real-time play, or not. If enough people want it, go for it. If not enough vote for it to make it worth the time and effort, it might not be such a good idea. (Although this whole topic about real-time games really isn't relevant to the topic of the board ;-) )

I think real time games are a good idea, but I'd rather see them on a separate site, maybe a BK Real Time with cross membership, or something like that. I know the atmosphere on a real-time site is very different from that of a turn-based site.

I used to set aside a weekend afternoon every now and then and play in tourneys on the Gaming Zone, but I do prefer the leisurely pace of turn-based tournaments. Guess it's my bbs roots... :-)

realtime chess-variants@brainking seem desirable ...

e.g. yahoo is just too chAotic for quickchess-tourneys anyway,
and gothic/janus surely would be attractive in kinda otb-atmosphere ...

although for pente there already are quick-tourneys weekly - why not ... ~*~

LOL!

450 Eriisa, so you are hanging in there, making King Michael feel good. Maybe you should play the "giveway" variants, but just play normal. You would be champion! :)

and see, I'm usually the opposite. I know the moves for chess and checkers but manage to lose everytime! LOL, my BKR at Gothic is in the 400s!!!

hmmm. I see. If it is not chess or checkers, I really don't know how to play it. I am a savant, some will even say an idiot (without the savant part.)

Ed, backoff has been trying to teach me tablut. But I seem to be especially dense over the game!

oooooookay....I have no clue what you guys are talking about :)

LMAO@Erissa. I give you head start, I'll be white this time

PPppppPP only when I have a cold chance to win!

*looks nervously over at PP*
Oops, I better not say that! *starts hitting the delete key* giggle

lol, want a tablut game Eriisa?

Hey, backoff! I think ESPN should cover our games! well, not tablut. I still haven't figured that one out yet!

I have never really liked "real-time" play games - which is why I stick around all the turn-based games sites.

But I know many people do like "real-time" games (and for some reason, many of those people want turn-based games sites to be more like real-time game sites)

I would actually like to see the programming time spent on new turn-based games/variations then have the time spent on configuring real-time games. There are already many real-time game sites out there, but only a few good turn-based games sites - and would love to see this site keep improving itself!

sounds good then ;))

sure, of course!

no i meant would be still be able to play our normal , turn based games too ?

I am not really sure. Maybe it would be specified as a fixed amount of time per move, like 1 minute or 20 seconds, or a total amount for the game, like 1 hour. As soon as your game is being viewed, your timer starts.

would the real time play be an extra option or for all games ??

...when the new hardware comes online, the site will be fast enough to support real-time play. When you move, no waiting for the refresh to hit. Of course there is a great deal of coding to be done for this, and Fencer and I have not even discussed this as of yet.

I am just wondering if people would be interested in this real-time play option.

Ok here's why I play:
1)For fun
2)If in doubt, refer to #1

BKR means jack to me. I play because I have a good time and there are alot of very nice and entertaining people on this site. I'm only 24 and I could spend the couple of hours a night that I spend on here doing other things, but I enjoy this. I'm not a serious, hardcore player of any of the games. I play by the rules and if I win, I win, if I lose, I lose. It's an internet gaming site. ESPN isn't going to cover any of our games. Nike isn't going to name a shoe after the winner of (insert tournament here). To me, it's about having a good time.

I believe anyone can be in any tournament according what their respective level allows and the tournament rules. Slow players can move slowly and fast players speedily. Whatever.

RsBaby is an excellent player and a very nice person. I have nothing against him. He likes to move slowly, and that's his right.

Antje, you and I have played against each other in tournament play before, and I enjoyed our games. You're also a very nice person.

backoffKM....whatever floats your boat, guy. Have fun.

jason, hope you can comprehend this, but I'm perfectly happy as a pawn at BK for now. I get all the tourney time and social play I want, thank you very much. If and when I join BK, it will be because I want to financially support the site, not because I need any other benefits or perks. Now, that's my choice.

Hope everyone is having a good time...I know I am.

peace

all this talk about not moving fast enough hmmm i have nothing against pawns at all i play a few of them my self , but quit complaining and upgrade your membership then you have all the games you want plus all the extra benifits (which as a pawn you wont have even seen) or you could play other sites (but you will more likely get even more rectrictions imposed on you )
ps i have around 300 games going and when the sites reasonable i do them at least one move each daily , i also have at least 13 games in the top 20 rankings , each to his own
**peace** ;))

He observes the rules of play. Nuff said.

If i were a pawn i should only sign up for a tourney with 1 day/move. If i couldnt find any of those tourneys i should create one. But then of course i had to pay money to become a knight or rook :)
But to complain about how slow/fast other people play isnt so nice :)

here here Whisperz, well said :o)

im playing over 500, and my BKR's (except in backgammon which im only learning now, and have to let those creep up) is over 1700, and some in the 1900.
i agree with backoffKM, if the site works , i can mow through the games in little time, but the frequency of the site going down makes it difficult to get the moves completed, i go in the same order as backoffKM, those with the shortest time limits i complete first, those with 2 weeks or more per move, will wait.
i give the game the thought i feel it requires to make moves. since i dont play chess or tablut, it isnt a problem. if a move require more than 30 sec. of thought, its ok with me if i lose it.
its a site for fun, and if my ratings drop, its not because i have too many games, its because i didnt think carefully enough, and thats my own impatience, whether i have 5 or 500 moves :o)

I think we should all remember that we are not all here for the same reasons. There are some who come to win and have high BKRs (but we are not all geniuses, irrespective of how long we think about our next move); there are some who come for the friendship where BKRs mean nothing; and some may come to just play and pass the time. None of these reasons are better than any other, they are just different. If they do not match your reasons there is still no justification for being critical.

If people play by the rules and within the time limits, so be it, leave them be! Please :)

You're playing 414 games and have very low BKRs in everything, almost everything is way below 1500. What's your point of entering any tourneys??? Looks like you have your hands WAY too full.

RsBaby may be a slow tourney player, but at least he'll give you one heck of a game.

Sorry, typing error - but the percentages are still generally what I find! Another game where you can think for hours and come up with the wrong move; tablut.

Correction tonyh we speak about 414 not about 141 games!

tell me about it :-(

I reckon that 80% of the time, you can play moves without thinking and another 17% neds a bit of thought (about 10 seconds worth). Gothic Chess is the killer; you can think for half-an-hour and still make the wrong move.

It is for me mysterious how you can play 414 games at the same time?
It must be your full-time job or you are moving without thinking!

and BTW, I just used a week of vacation and I'm still using some more in the upcomming weeks, I have 9 1/2 days till my next move is do in that tournament.

Now that I finally got on...

No Means No, why did you call me out by name? How about ohhh, everyone else in the section I'm in? I currently have 414 games going and with the site being the way it is right now, I play my games in "time till timeout" order. That tournament has 7 days per move. Sometimes I need that much. I don't sign up for games with a short number of days per move because of the site problems. When the site is running ok, I play all my games in one sitting. If you would like to play more games at one time, it would really help out the site to upgrade to a knight or rook. I'm not talking down to you or any other pawn, but it's just the truth.

Artful - like $2 a month!! 50c a week! A pint of bitter costs £1.90 (or around $3.00 in USA currency). How pawns can live with the tournament restrictions is beyond me.

My apologies too, Eriisa. I know my tone could've been nicer as well. No hard feelings here.

peace :-)

peacepickle, my apologies if you felt I was condescending. I did not mean for it to come across that way. I did not think it was a cheap shot when I projected the feelings that I had as a Pown with what I thought someone else was expressing. You see, I was frustrated as a Pawn with the limitations and I suppose I thought others would share the same feelings. It's <sic> not an excuse, but it WAS 5:30 in the morning my time, and next time I will not post messages while only half awake. And lets make a deal, I won't assume about you if you won't assume about me. OK?

NoMeansNo, my apologies if I offended you in any way

A while back I invited a player to one of my tournaments. He said he couldn't play unless it had at least a 7 day per move minimum. The reason? He only had access to computers on the weekend.

I've noticed many players I've played are slow to move in our games too. But then they have nearly a hundred games they are playing. It's no wonder they can't make a move every day in games with me. And that is fine with me. Like WhiteKnight has said, it's really their business.

When we join a tourney that has a 14 day move limit, we have to assume that at least someone may only make a move every 14 days and ask ourselves can we live with that. Personally I can't so I try to avoid those tourneys.

My comments might not be any consolation to a brain pawn since I don't have the restrictions they have. However, for a very very small fee, 2 bucks a month, one can eliminate the limits. When's your next birthday? Chistmas is coming too. Where there's a will, there's a way. Join up. :)

personal info no longer needed.

what about the personal info?

peacepickle , i suggest only playing shorter limit tourneys in the future 1 or two days limit, or upgrade your account and play more games to keep you occupied , also for the small amount of going to a knight you can play one of every game there is in a tournament , not just one like you seem to think .
peace

There are no limits on the brain pawn ids, so let them go fight it out like the old west :) Any number of family members can play in either section.

One big difference: The top two paying members per section advance to the semifinals. Only the top section winner in the brain pawns will advance to the semifinals.

You keep playing on once you win your section, since if you win your tournament, BrainPawn or BrainPayers, you get seeded into the finals, and do not need to play in the semifinals.

The semifinals will be the mix of BrainPawn section winners and BrainPayer 1st and 2nd place section finishers. Whoever wins that goes to the finals.

There are 4 people in the finals, for those counting :)

Make it to the finals, collect your cash. $500 per person. Second place finisher gets $1500. Winner gets $3000.

I consider myself as being a candidate to get seeded directly to the finals. I hope nobody has a problem with that. So, the BrainPawn winner, the BrainPayer winner, myself, and the seminfals winner will duke it out for the World Championship.

No further concessions, take it or leave it.

I'll stand by my words. What I quoted from Eriisa is very condescending. I'm a pawn, and am in no way frustrated here at BK as she assumes we pawns all are.

I'm here for one main reason: I enjoy backgammon and look forward to playing good players who can challenge me. From Eriisa's record, it seems she's here for other reasons and does not understand the true competitive spirit of tourney play.

It can be frustrating for ANY competitive player (not just pawns) to wait and wait and wait for players in his or her section to make a move. Sometimes anxious tourney players just need to be reminded that time allowances are part of online tourney play.

I take little pleasure in pounding weaker backgammon opponents in tournaments. One tourney at a time is all I want for now even though Eriisa thinks all us pawns are frustrated and feel otherwise.

Some people like to play 150+ games at once; others like to play only a few tourney games. Whatever floats your boat. The main thing is that we're all here to have fun. Right?

peace

ok, im going to put in my 1.5 cents worth..hehe
i read Eriisa's message twice, peacepickle, and didnt read anything condescending? maybe it could have been gentler, she was just pointing out that sections arent complete in that tourney, she wasnt taking pot-shots at pawns.

second---(hope i dont get in trouble for this ;o)--) as far as the Gothic tournament for $3000-- i agree, no way can we stop cheaters, i dont think the revised idea about a sperate pawn tournament with a seperate paying member tournament and then the winner of each going to the finals, will make much of a difference from the original set of rules.... what if the pawn is another paying member using an alias pawn? that could be you, Gothic, it could be anyone.

i honestly considered joining, though i've never played the game, played only chess as a youngster, so have only rudimentary skills, but for the fun of it, not hoping to win... especially if Andersp (my husband) could join too, just to track how good or bad we both are doing, for fun, certainly knowing we wont win money. we do that now in all other tourneys, we love this site, its so much fun!!!
the options are wonderful (for all the tourney games til this Gothic one)... and im one of those ive read complained about, who have like 200 games... (personally i have over 500...hehe) and its my right... and i can go as slow as i want, if i time out, then its my own fault..(i havent timed out yet) so i dont like when people comment that there should be limits to how many games you can have.

I think, though, in commenting about the Chess tournament for $3000, that Gothic has the right to write his own rules... so therefore, only one in this household can join. its fair in the eyes of the rules, but its not nice to 2 paying players.


Antje

Eriisa, is it fair for you to flame NoMeansNo back? For a person who is supposed to be in charge of Customer Service here at BK, it seems like you should know better and should take a gentler tone.

You miss NoMeansNo's point completely when you state, "I know its [sic] frustrating to be a pawn and allowed only one tourney at a time, which is why many of us upgraded our membership."

Remember, Eriisa, this is the TOURNAMENTS Board. NoMeansNo is NOT frustrated with being a pawn; he's frustrated with a slow tourney player. And btw, the last time I looked, paying knights who have upgraded their memberships can also only play in one tourney at a time.

I agree with those who say the slow tourney player is within his right. He is. In online tournaments, slow play is a tactic some players try to use to their advantage. Then again, some players honestly don't have the time or desire to move with any greater speed. Rod and WK pointed that out to NoMeansNo.

Your cheap shot at BK pawns, however, is very condescending. Think you're going to win any paying converts or new friends by talking down to them like that? Don't count on it.

Hope you'll treat the membership (paying and non-paying) better next time. Have a nice day.

peace

I really do not think its fair for you to flame at someone when you are not even in that section of the tourney! I also see that he is not the only person to have uncompleted games in his section. And thirdly, your own section is not complete, there is still one game playing out.

I know its frustrating to be a pawn and allowed only one tourney at a time, which is why many of us upgraded our membership. I personally have around 150 games, and yes, I move slowly on some. But that is because I can only be online here at length at weekends. For that reason, I make sure I enter only tourneys that are at least a week time limit and usually are even longer.

If somebody makes 1 move a week which is within the time limits of the tournament, it is NONE of your business to critisize him/her for that.

That is what turn-based playsites are all about: to be able to make when you want to.

If you want only fast games, play only fast tournaments. Your fault, not his.