Vacation system update

As from March 14th, the vacation system will be changing.

The new vacation system introduces protection from timeouts during a pre-arranged vacation period. This will apply to all games, including tournament games.

36 days per year (awarded pro-rata for new members) are available to subscribing members only. The vacation flag will not be available to non-subscribers after March 14th.

Subscribers can book vacation right now via the new vacation booking pages for both 2007 and 2008. A link exists from the current ‘My Vacation’ page. If you will be away anytime in the days following March 14th, then it is important that you book your vacation time now rather than have your vacation flag removed unexpectedly when you are away.

edit : All existing vacation flags will be removed on the switch over to the new system. Where vacation has been booked, flags will then be re-instated.

It should be noted that ‘timebank’ will continue to deplete during a vacation. This has consequences for those few tournaments where the only time control is 'timebank'. (This is restricted to a small number of tournaments.)

Further information is available on the vacation booking pages (My Settings >> My Vacation).

-Russ

great idea, nice one!

Originally posted by Russ
As from March 14th, the vacation system will be changing.

The new vacation system introduces protection from timeouts during a pre-arranged vacation period. This will apply to all games, including tournament games.

36 days per year (awarded pro-rata for new members) are available to subscribing members only. The vacation flag will not be available to n ...[text shortened]... information is available on the vacation booking pages (My Settings >> My Vacation).

-Russ

Nice feature!

I have a question though -
How does this affect the use of the vacation flag?

For example, if I put my flag up without booking holiday, will it still show or will it be turned off automatically.

And if I book holiday, do I need to set the flag as well?

Thanks in advance.

Every change is for the better.
Time out protection is great.
Why only for subscribers?

Originally posted by Russ
As from March 14th, the vacation system will be changing.

The new vacation system introduces protection from timeouts during a pre-arranged vacation period. This will apply to all games, including tournament games.

36 days per year (awarded pro-rata for new members) are available to subscribing members only. The vacation flag will not be available to n ...[text shortened]... information is available on the vacation booking pages (My Settings >> My Vacation).

-Russ

When you need to book holiday off from an online game it's time to stop taking it so seriously. 😕

Brilliant. Chalk one more up for RHP.

I have a couple of questions though:

1) Can players still move during their vacation days? How about players who move against them, are those moves sealed?

2) What exactly happens? Does the timeout period stop, or continue to deplete down (meaning the player has to move before the vacation period actually ends)?

3) Is there going to be some kind of mechanism to insure that people don't casually dip in and dip out of their vacation days? (A minimum amount of time maybe?)

Originally posted by Russ
If you will be away anytime in the days following March 14th, then it is important that you book your vacation time now rather than have your vacation flag removed unexpectedly when you are away.
tournaments.)

What happens when I know just a few days before that I go on vacation? Or with other words why is it important to book now? And why should the vacation flag be removed unexpectedly?

THIRTY SIX DAYS A YEAR?

That's WAY too much.

This extraneous feature is going to completely bog the clan leagues down and I would really like to see that it is not applied to league games.

Russ, how did you come up with 36 days? It's ridiculous enough as it is, why go to such an extreme with the number of days?

Originally posted by FabianFnas
Why only for subscribers?

We would rather keep games flowing for the majority of non-subs because of the limited number of concurrent games. (Unless they choose to play 6 subscribers who all choose to go on vacation.) It is obviously also another subscriber only benefit to make subscriptions more attractive.

-Russ

Originally posted by orangutan
Nice feature!

I have a question though -
How does this affect the use of the vacation flag?

For example, if I put my flag up without booking holiday, will it still show or will it be turned off automatically.

And if I book holiday, do I need to set the flag as well?

Thanks in advance.

The vacation flag will turn on and off automatically.

Setting the vacation flag manually will no longer be an option after March 14th.

-Russ

Originally posted by hopscotch
[b]THIRTY SIX DAYS A YEAR?

That's WAY too much.

This extraneous feature is going to completely bog the clan leagues down and I would really like to see that it is not applied to league games.

Russ, how did you come up with 36 days? It's ridiculous enough as it is, why go to such an extreme with the number of days?[/b]

3 days a month.

If someone chooses to book 36 days straight, then yes, I appreciate your concern, but that is unlikely to happen in most cases.

-Russ

I have sometimes troubles getting in contact to the Creator of Universe.
But I looove this one-to-one contact with the Creator of RedHotPawn. It gives you a feeling that you are really listened at and that questions gives answers and one is a bit of the wholeness!

Thank you Russ, the Creator!

Originally posted by Russ
3 days a month.

If someone chooses to book 36 days straight, then yes, I appreciate your concern, but that is unlikely to happen in most cases.

-Russ

Could we have another urgent vote as to whether this vacation feature will be applied to clan league games?

Originally posted by hopscotch
Could we have another urgent vote as to whether this vacation feature will be applied to clan league games?

I agree 36 days seems a bit excessive. But give it time. That number could always change in the future if it seems people are abusing it.

Can players still move during their vacation days? How about players who move against them, are those moves sealed?