It was the first anniversary of RHP yesterday. When we started this
site, we never intended to ask for anything, ever. It was just a hobby
and created to be a site we use to play chess against our friends.
The only nod we made in the direction of money-making was by
placing a checkbox on the registration form asking if people would
mind us sending emails adverts to them once per month. We have
never done this and probably never will even though we now have a
huge list of members who said they wouldn't mind. It is just a huge
ego trip for both of us to see the site become so successful!
It was with regret that we introduced the 10 game rule. Believe me,
this was purely out of necessity. As I write this there are over 300,000
moves in currently active games!! It won't be long before we would
need to upgrade the server again if we didn't introduce some sort of
restriction on the number of games being played. The site would just
start to get slower and slower with the increased activity and would
become frustrating for everyone. And upgrading the server again
would simply be beyond our means.
We discussed all possibilities and considered that this was the fairest
way we could do it. When I turned it on for the first time I was bracing
myself for a torrent of abuse. We got a little negative feedback - but
nothing too offensive!
We are immensely grateful to all the site's Pawn Stars. Really - each
time a registration comes in it is brilliant and I personally take it as a
massive compliment! When we introduced this ability to make a
voluntary contribution we didn't expect as much support as we
received.
But there is absolutely no pressure on anyone to become a Pawn
Star. The 10 game rule is purely a way to stop the site grinding
to a halt.
We are always open to suggestions, so let us know if you have any...
-Chris
I think the 10 game rule is a great alternative to not playing at all. I
just discovered this site accidentally and am thrilled to be able to play
against people of different calibre. Thanks guys for creating this web
site, and who know, I may become a porn, uh, pawn star yet.
Chancremechanic
yes indeed it is! understanding that a MACHINE is at maxium capaciity
is quite okay and it wasnt by HUMAN choice is perfectly okay.!but here
are some BENEFITS to rhp that the rule applies irrespective of machine
capacity! 1: the games will be completed faster! 2: helps control
cheating 3: helps the DEDICATED! part time player keep up rating
wise. 4: there will be less TIMEOUTS 5: the QUALITY of the games will
improve. BUT I HAVE A SUGGESTION THAT MIGHT HELP! what about
introducing 1 day TIMEOUTS! that way FULL TIME players could be
garrenteed at least 10 moves a day! that makes it worthwhile dialling
up or visiting a cafe! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RHP!
yes please! but maybe a strict note warning that games are set to
british standard time! im still getting used to it as im 10 hrs ahead of
britain. canada i think is behind britain.so i can understand that 1 day
world wide can actually in my time be == to roughly 36 hours. with
players thinking 1 day (24hrs) in their time might according to british
standard time actually timeout without them realising it! veteran
players understand this but not newcomers!
