Originally posted by RussPosted by Ragnorak: 10 Aug '04 17:25 :: 0 recommendations
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
"Why not just have a count on the number of days a person is on vacation? If everybody starts the year with, say, 21 days vacation, then nobody can truly abuse the system. Obviously timeouts would have to be disabled during these 21 days.
If a person is on vacation more than 21 days, then they're too lucky and deserve to be timed out, so after the 21 days vacation has been used up, then time outs are reenabled during periods when the vacation flag is up (for informational purposes only now).
The 21 days would have to be counted from set dates for everybody, say 1st January to 31st December. New subscribers in the middle of that term would get the percentage of 21 days that corresponds with the amount of days left in the year.
The first year that this system was set up might be a bit messy, due to the fact that people have already had vacations, but that would just have to be put up with. If this system came in on, say, 1st September, then everybody would have 7.02 days of non-timeoutable vacation remaining(assuming non-timeoutable vacation period of 21 days calculated from 1st January to 31st December).
This has to be sorted out as it has a knock on effect apart from just annoying the person who has been timed out. For example, I'm currently playing 6 games against guys who 2 weeks ago were 1700+, and now suddenly after vacations they are 1300 players. So if (when) I lose to them, my rating also takes a kicking.
I think this system would bring some real meaning to the vacation status and would eliminate any bad feeling rising from the misuse of vacation status or timeouts while vacation flag is set.
The implementation shouldn't be too hard either as it is basically the same as Move Timeout.
comments, suggestions, criticisms, enhancements?
D"
Only 2 and a half years to get implemented. Not bad. 😉
D
Originally posted by adramforallIf worked on and tweaked it can be better: Give 7-14 days. The rest the user needs to take care of him_her_self
lol, now I know how to get that 2000+ rating 😉
You could be even sneakier and get 5 friends (all subscribers of course) together and start loads of 1/0 games against the same non subs and then all stick up your flags saying on holiday for 18 days. You then notice that all the people you are playing stop visiting site as they cannot move, you then m ...[text shortened]... r game load better by using longer time control options.
Vacation time is just a joke 🙄😲🙄
I say experiment. If we prove honest, then maintain it.
Originally posted by adramforallExactly why I advised non-subs to only play non-subs. Like I will be doing until this crazy idea is done away with.
lol, now I know how to get that 2000+ rating 😉
You could be even sneakier and get 5 friends (all subscribers of course) together and start loads of 1/0 games against the same non subs and then all stick up your flags saying on holiday for 18 days. You then notice that all the people you are playing stop visiting site as they cannot move, you then m ...[text shortened]... r game load better by using longer time control options.
Vacation time is just a joke 🙄😲🙄
Originally posted by VovochkaMy understanding is you don't have to plan that far ahead. You can plan UP TO a year ahead, or you can set it up a day before you go on holiday.
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.
If what you mean is that you're worried about whether you'll have enough vacation later on in the year, well, that's the kind of balancing decision most of us have to make in real life as well. There's not really a way around that.
Originally posted by RussI disagree with the non subs not having the vacation feature. I am glad I subbed though.
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
All of the non-subs concerned about not having a flag available seem to be forgetting that the 'flag' you have at the moment doesn't really achieve anything, beyond maybe getting an opponent to look at your profile for 30 seconds before deciding to claim a win if they're the kind of person inclined to claim wins.
In my view, subs are gaining something rather than you losing something.
Originally posted by orfeoIt's not the flag - it's the unfair advantage.
All of the non-subs concerned about not having a flag available seem to be forgetting that the 'flag' you have at the moment doesn't really achieve anything, beyond maybe getting an opponent to look at your profile for 30 seconds before deciding to claim a win if they're the kind of person inclined to claim wins.
In my view, subs are gaining something rather than you losing something.
Nobody objects to subscribers getting better features than non-subs but this gives them an unfair advantage in the games.
ps, I personally have never used the flag.
pps, And I would probably never use this new thing either, even if it was available to me.
The 36 gift days comes at the cost of prolonging a game or a tournament, not so significantly/significantly depending on the time control...also at the cost of making non-sub vs. sub matches unfair.
An option to create clan challenges/games which wouldn't allow either player to use the 36 days may be the best of both worlds. Maybe this feature shouldn't be applicable to some tournaments.
Please at least make the non-sub vs. sub matches so that both players are on equal footing regarding time. Worst case scenario a 1/0 game for a non-sub could be ~1/36 for a sub. Games with non-subs may be desirable for subs – non-subs have presented me with good games and correspondence. Non-subs won’t want to play subs so much; the subs sometimes are the ones convincing non-subs to subscribe.
The argument presented by the RHP community supporting the feature of 36 vacation days is extremely weak from my perspective, but if the RHP community perceives the feature to be in their best interest, fine; I hope the RHP community makes its views known and that Russ acts accordingly. Thanks.
Calling it now. The 2007 championship will not finish this year.
A player can use their vacation to turn the 0/80 time period into a 0/116 time period. Just book your vacation (in 1 day blocks of course) starting from when you are running on less than 24 hours of timebank and then continue playing as normal.
EDIT: Why did I receive two PMs about this?
Originally posted by XanthosNZIt was noted earlier in this thread that timebank-only games were an exception to vacation, so the championship games can't be affected.
Calling it now. The 2007 championship will not finish this year.
A player can use their vacation to turn the 0/80 time period into a 0/116 time period. Just book your vacation (in 1 day blocks of course) starting from when you are running on less than 24 hours of timebank and then continue playing as normal.
EDIT: Why did I receive two PMs about this?
Originally posted by XanthosNZWell, you could only do that for one round. I'd be interested to see if your prediction pans out, though.
Calling it now. The 2007 championship will not finish this year.
A player can use their vacation to turn the 0/80 time period into a 0/116 time period. Just book your vacation (in 1 day blocks of course) starting from when you are running on less than 24 hours of timebank and then continue playing as normal.
EDIT: Why did I receive two PMs about this?
I have no idea why there were two PMs. Maybe the first one didn't go to everyone so it was resent? Lord knows my orienteering club pulls that trick often enough.
I think this is probably a good idea overall, but I am still fuzzy on the details. Let me lay out a few situations which would clarify exactly how this system would work.
1) If I am playing a typical 3/7 game, and I book a 14 day vacation, and it is my move when that vacation starts, my opponent will be able to time me out and claim the win if I do not move during my vacation (since I only have 3 days timeout and 7 days timebank and I'm gone for 14 days). This is because it must be my opponent's move at the onset of my vacation (or I must move during my vacation) in order for my vacation settings to mean anything. Is this correct?
2) If I am playing a 3/7 game, and I book a 14 day vacation, and it is my opponent's move when the my vacation begins, then at the end of my vacation, my timebank will not have depleted at all and I will have my full 3 days timeout in which to move. Or, another possibility is that my timebank is gone (because I think I saw a comment earlier which said that the clock on timebanks never stops), but I still have my usual 3 days timeout in which to move at the end of my vacation. Which, if either, of these is correct?
3) If I book a a few directly consecutive vacations (as suggested in some earlier posts, to avoid the consequences of vacations being uncancelable once they've begun), and my opponent moves within the first vacation period and I do not, then my second vacation begins with it being my move. If #1 above is correct, then my second and following vacations are useless and I will just end up being timed out even though I'm on vacation. If this is correct, then is the "shorter consecutive vacation" strategy a pointless one?
I've read through all the posts on this thread, and I don't think the above questions have been answered anywhere.
Originally posted by mikebindNo it wasn't.
It was noted earlier in this thread that timebank-only games were an exception to vacation, so the championship games can't be affected.
"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'."
So your timebank will still run but that doesn't matter if you can't be timed out after it's run out (and you start it when it's about to end).
Originally posted by XanthosNZOf course in the timebank only tournaments (e.g. 2007 Tournament), if your timebank is depleted, during your vacation days, immediately after the end of your vacation you can be timed out.
No it wasn't.
"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'."
So your timebank will still run but that doesn't matter if you can't be timed out after it's run out (and you start it when it's about to end).
Only problem I see is that it could extend the 2007 Tournament into 2008 if that's the reason a round is prolonged past the 120 days for which each round is currently limited.