Vacation system update

Originally posted by Russ
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

Free subscription is very attractive....more so than charging us to book time off.

S'pose you've gotta make a living.

Originally posted by dundee24
Question:
If I post a vacation say March 20th thru the 23rd that's my say 3 day's per month Then RUSS will on the 24th day will my time start to tick? even though I'm still away?
dundee24

if you post a vacation March thru 23rd for the three days when three days when your time starts to tick the 24th day will be after The tick will begin when you have one days time left so don't be away long before the time out.

Originally posted by dundee24
Question:
If I post a vacation say March 20th thru the 23rd that's my say 3 day's per month Then RUSS will on the 24th day will my time start to tick?
dundee24

You can have more than 3 days a month booked off. 3 days is just used to calculate the annual vacation allowance. (36 days, but you could book them all over one month if you really wanted to.)

The clock is always ticking - it doesn't stop just because you are away. Therefore, you must move in all games which would otherwise be timed before your 'vacation' ends. Your 'timeout' clock will then be reset for each game ready for a return to normal play.

-Russ

I want to book please

Sounds awesome, thanks. Non-subscribers stop whining. All us subscribers and the advertisers ultimately pay for your free games anyways. This is an awesome site and I hope Russ is making a profit on it. He throughly deserves to.

Originally posted by Russ
You can have more than 3 days a month booked off. 3 days is just used to calculate the annual vacation allowance. (36 days, but you could book them all over one month if you really wanted to.)

The clock is always ticking - it doesn't stop just because you are away. Therefore, you must move in all games which would otherwise be timed before your 'vacation' ...[text shortened]... timeout' clock will then be reset for each game ready for a return to normal play.

-Russ

book 36 days over 1 month? that's impressive 😉

Originally posted by DoctorDara
Sounds awesome, thanks. Non-subscribers stop whining. All us subscribers and the advertisers ultimately pay for your free games anyways. This is an awesome site and I hope Russ is making a profit on it. He throughly deserves to.

thanks for that, very charitable of you. of course the ability to play many more games is an irrelevant side point. right?

i do agree that this site is very good however, i do not want to give russ's bum a secondary cleaning so i'll leave it there.

The vacation flag seems less a convenience for the user than a courtesy for his/her opponents. When someone (non-member) disappears from the radar for a period their opponents will be in the dark as to whether they are on vacation or have just quit the game. This may affect the allocation of their playing time. Eliminating the flag for non-subscribers strikes me as a little spiteful and not a real encouragement to subscribe. The addition of the capability to actually pause one's games for a time is a worthwhile feature and is a sufficient subscriber benefit without the demise of the vacation flag for others.

this sucks majorly

If this terrible idea has to be introduced and non subs can't use it , subscribers should not be able to use it against non-subs as that would be giving them an unfair advantage. A non sub is not in a position to wait 36 days for 1 game [or more probably] hence they will resign them giving false results.

To he who said to subscribe: that would only solve the problem for me, not all non subs.
If that is the best answer, why not make it a subscriber only site, that would suit a lot of you non sub haters.

How about a subscriber starting games with 500 non-subs, going on a 36 day walkabout and coming back to 450 of them resigned - oh look another 2000 rated player.

An interesting development. I appreciate the thought that has gone into planning and implementing it, despite my personal dislike for vacation flags.

A coupla questions:

1. Is there some kind of mandatory advance date by which you must book vacation (e.g., a week ahead of the vacation start date, etc.)?

2. Is there to be a minimum allowable number of days taken for each block of vacation?

If the answers to #1 and #2 are both no, you could approximate manual flag use by by booking vacation one day at a time, one day in advance.

Which would be admittedly stupid, and beg the question of why you were wasting vacation on such an effort.

OTOH, if some version of #1 was implemented, how might unexpected personal emergencies (abrupt hospitalization, etc.) be accommodated?

How can I plan future vaction or off days a year ahead?
I'd prefer a smaller amount of days, but with possibility to switch them on and off whenever I want.

Originally posted by knightfall
The vacation flag seems less a convenience for the user than a courtesy for his/her opponents. When someone (non-member) disappears from the radar for a period their opponents will be in the dark as to whether they are on vacation or have just quit the game. This may affect the allocation of their playing time. Eliminating the flag for non-subscribers str ...[text shortened]... ture and is a sufficient subscriber benefit without the demise of the vacation flag for others.

All that the current flag does is notify your opponents that you are away - it provides no protection whatsoever. If non-subs are worried that people will think they have left for good instead of simply gone on vacation, they could just put a note in their profile and/or send pms to their opponents.

Good stuff Russ.

You'll never be able to please everyone mate, and i for one think this is a good move.

I get 22 days holiday a year from my work, but that is working days, that means 28 days plus 2 floating....add that to any weekends away i wish to take on the spurrr, and 36 days covers that just nicely.

Now, i'm just a working stiff in an underpaid drone roll, but i can easily see how a profesional could get more holidays than me.

I'm even tempted to give you one of my recs, but i'm wholely against my nose changing colour.....instead, have a hearty.... huzzah!!! 😀

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

I think it's a good idea but I do think 36 days is a bit much. After all, not even the French take over 5 weeks of vacation a year! 😀