Vastly Improve Account Sitting

[Baby-Bjorn]

The account sitting process is fraught with difficulties. I think this idea would tremendously improve that process. The process in it's current state allows for many missed turns that should not be missed. If Player X has informed me he will be gone tomorrow then no problems, but if he has a real life issue and is just not able to log in, then most times I will not know he is missing turns. This suggestion solves that problem.

Concise description:

I suggest that we be able to submit players and time thresholds [in hours] that you wish to be notified about. Then when that player reaches the threshold in any game CC would send you an automated PM with the player name, game # and time remaining.

Specifics/Details:

To better visualize, here is an example:

Player: General Brock II, Threshold: 4

When he hit 4 hours remaining in any game I would get a PM like:

General Brock II, Game 123456, Time remaining 3:59:42

Then, if I am an authorized sitter for him, I can take his turn for him. And if I am not, I will not have his password and cannot take his turn. This second case is a "no harm no foul" situation as the info CC sent me is freely available and can be mined using Game Finder. Though Game Finder is clumsy to use for such a purpose.

CC would not need to track authorized sitters and would not care if you are an authorized sitter or not. That would be handled by the current password process.

How this will benefit the site and/or other comments:

The process in it's current state allows for many missed turns that should not be missed. If Player X has informed me he will be gone tomorrow then no problems, but if he has a real life issue and is just not able to log in, then most times I will not know he is missing turns. This suggestion solves that problem.

[General Brock II]

I'm with BB on this one. Very clever idea that would definitely help with the sitting process. It would also eliminate the necessity of logging into an absent player's account to see how much time they have left. Rather, you can see the pm that informs you when they've only got an hour left.

How much programming could this possibly take?

[Butters1919]

Great idea!

[Bones2484]

The process in it's current state allows for many missed turns that should not be missed.

How so? If you can't take your own turns isn't that the definition of a "turn that should be missed"?

While I agree that an Account Sitting feature is needed, this is not the solution. This does not stop people from letting their turns run low for someone else to take a turn for them while they play other games and are otherwise active on the site/forum. This suggestion also encourages general password sharing which is discouraged by mods and admins regardless of how many clans think it is "mandatory".

[blakebowling]

The account sitting feature I've been looking for (for the better part of three years I might add), allows you to define one person that can control your games for a specified period of time (eg. Sitter between Today and Next Tuesday -- or with dates). During this time you can't take any turns on your own account unless you cancel the sitter (When the sitter period starts, you would recieve a link in your email or something along those lines). The sitter won't have any access to forums/PM's/etc, and the sitter also won't be able to create or join games, with the sole exception of accepting invites for Tournament games (Technically in the current system, clan war games are Tournament Games). While sitter mode is active, the active sitter's username will appear beside the user's name in all game log and game chat's. There would also be protection to make sure someone can only sit for you if you don't have any games against each other (eg team games wouldn't count for this). Password sharing would then be against the rules, and sitters would be very easy to track this way. There would also be a limit that you can only activate sitter mode for two weeks or some arbitrary number like that.


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[Baby-Bjorn]

The process in it's current state allows for many missed turns that should not be missed.

How so? If you can't take your own turns isn't that the definition of a "turn that should be missed"?

While I agree that an Account Sitting feature is needed, this is not the solution. This does not stop people from letting their turns run low for someone else to take a turn for them while they play other games and are otherwise active on the site/forum. This suggestion also encourages general password sharing which is discouraged by mods and admins regardless of how many clans think it is "mandatory".

I don't know who you sit for, but if someone I sat for was off doing something else on CC while I took their moves, I would first eviscerate them for being a butthead, then I would refuse to sit for them again, change their status from friend to foe, and finally, I would report them to the admins!

The people I sit for miss turns due to REAL LIFE problems and issues! NOT because they are playing other games.

I think you need to get yourself a better class of friends!

BB

[TheForgivenOne]

The process in it's current state allows for many missed turns that should not be missed.

How so? If you can't take your own turns isn't that the definition of a "turn that should be missed"?

While I agree that an Account Sitting feature is needed, this is not the solution. This does not stop people from letting their turns run low for someone else to take a turn for them while they play other games and are otherwise active on the site/forum. This suggestion also encourages general password sharing which is discouraged by mods and admins regardless of how many clans think it is "mandatory".

I don't know who you sit for, but if someone I sat for was off doing something else on CC while I took their moves, I would first eviscerate them for being a butthead, then I would refuse to sit for them again, change their status from friend to foe, and finally, I would report them to the admins!

The people I sit for miss turns due to REAL LIFE problems and issues! NOT because they are playing other games.

I think you need to get yourself a better class of friends!

BB

Do you really expect clan mates to do that to each other? And people could argue it anyways "Oh, but I was waiting on my other teammates to give some notes on teh game, and didn't realize it got so low!"

[Baby-Bjorn]

The process in it's current state allows for many missed turns that should not be missed.

How so? If you can't take your own turns isn't that the definition of a "turn that should be missed"?

While I agree that an Account Sitting feature is needed, this is not the solution. This does not stop people from letting their turns run low for someone else to take a turn for them while they play other games and are otherwise active on the site/forum. This suggestion also encourages general password sharing which is discouraged by mods and admins regardless of how many clans think it is "mandatory".

I don't know who you sit for, but if someone I sat for was off doing something else on CC while I took their moves, I would first eviscerate them for being a butthead, then I would refuse to sit for them again, change their status from friend to foe, and finally, I would report them to the admins!

The people I sit for miss turns due to REAL LIFE problems and issues! NOT because they are playing other games.

I think you need to get yourself a better class of friends!

BB

Do you really expect clan mates to do that to each other? And people could argue it anyways "Oh, but I was waiting on my other teammates to give some notes on teh game, and didn't realize it got so low!"

Not sure who you are asking your question of. If it is me, I expect they will NOT do that.

[Ickyketseddie]

The process in it's current state allows for many missed turns that should not be missed.

How so? If you can't take your own turns isn't that the definition of a "turn that should be missed"?

While I agree that an Account Sitting feature is needed, this is not the solution. This does not stop people from letting their turns run low for someone else to take a turn for them while they play other games and are otherwise active on the site/forum. This suggestion also encourages general password sharing which is discouraged by mods and admins regardless of how many clans think it is "mandatory".

I think to answer this question; this suggestion stems from a recent game we were playing where a player went awol and missed 2 turns before we realised he was absent from the site.The team we we're playing felt a little agrieved that now we had 2 turns deffered troops to deploy, because he had a sitter that hadn't signed in untill the third turn, of course through no fault of our own since he had not notified us of and coming absence from the site. Whereas if there was a notification that x is running low on many games you would soon realise the absence. I believe this is what BB's adressing.

In my case i can see it from both sides as i often let some games run low while i ponder the next move...

Realistically not ideal, but certainly a stepping stone. What blake is talking about is the only REAL solution to this since it allows password sharing to be outlawed, and abuse would be easy to track and prove.

Are you any closer to this sort of solution blake, or is a interim measure maybe worth the time?

[PLAYER57832]

I suggest that we be able to submit players and time thresholds [in hours] that you wish to be notified about. Then when that player reaches the threshold in any game CC would send you an automated PM with the player name, game # and time remaining.

I think you could do the same thing pretty informally through the clans, at least the competetive ones (might not work as well for social clans). Or, you could even start a clan just for this purpose. You could have a standing rule that basically just lets people take other people's turns if they have less than x time left. Each person could designate who they wanted to have that authority, etc.

A bigger problem is that not everyone has CC friends to play for them. This is particularly true for newer people, but if you are talking about a more or less permanent permission, could apply to older players also. Among other reasons, people come and go here a lot, we may select one person for some types of games and someone else for other types, etc. This won't really solve that.

[MegsEggs]

The process in it's current state allows for many missed turns that should not be missed.

How so? If you can't take your own turns isn't that the definition of a "turn that should be missed"?

While I agree that an Account Sitting feature is needed, this is not the solution. This does not stop people from letting their turns run low for someone else to take a turn for them while they play other games and are otherwise active on the site/forum. This suggestion also encourages general password sharing which is discouraged by mods and admins regardless of how many clans think it is "mandatory".

I think this is a great idea, I do like the idea of pm's and think its a good short term solution. I do think Blake's program is a great ultimate solution. On top of what Bones says, I do not think that you should be able to sign in on more than one computer at any given time. Maybe when you sign in it kicks out the previous login which will get rid of the idea that a sitter and account holder can be on at the same time...

The account sitting feature I've been looking for (for the better part of three years I might add), allows you to define one person that can control your games for a specified period of time (eg. Sitter between Today and Next Tuesday -- or with dates). During this time you can't take any turns on your own account unless you cancel the sitter (When the sitter period starts, you would recieve a link in your email or something along those lines). The sitter won't have any access to forums/PM's/etc, and the sitter also won't be able to create or join games, with the sole exception of accepting invites for Tournament games (Technically in the current system, clan war games are Tournament Games). While sitter mode is active, the active sitter's username will appear beside the user's name in all game log and game chat's. There would also be protection to make sure someone can only sit for you if you don't have any games against each other (eg team games wouldn't count for this). Password sharing would then be against the rules, and sitters would be very easy to track this way. There would also be a limit that you can only activate sitter mode for two weeks or some arbitrary number like that.


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[PLAYER57832]

I think this is a great idea, I do like the idea of pm's and think its a good short term solution. I do think Blake's program is a great ultimate solution. On top of what Bones says, I do not think that you should be able to sign in on more than one computer at any given time. Maybe when you sign in it kicks out the previous login which will get rid of the idea that a sitter and account holder can be on at the same time...

Its not a matter of signing in on more than one computer, just more than one window.

I have actually done this because I took advantage of pauses in my games (even waiting for a speed game to start, for example) to sit a friend's account. Even so, it I would agree except that I think its a pretty easy restriction for tech-saavy people to get around, if they really wish. I don't see that as a huge problem, really.

[General Brock II]

I think this is a great idea, I do like the idea of pm's and think its a good short term solution. I do think Blake's program is a great ultimate solution. On top of what Bones says, I do not think that you should be able to sign in on more than one computer at any given time. Maybe when you sign in it kicks out the previous login which will get rid of the idea that a sitter and account holder can be on at the same time...

Its not a matter of signing in on more than one computer, just more than one window.

I have actually done this because I took advantage of pauses in my games (even waiting for a speed game to start, for example) to sit a friend's account. Even so, it I would agree except that I think its a pretty easy restriction for tech-saavy people to get around, if they really wish. I don't see that as a huge problem, really.

A new window, I suppose. I have tried sitting and waiting on my own turns in different tabs, but it always logs me out of my own (or vice versa). It should certainly be considered poor courtesy to do both at once. If one is to sit, it should only be one account at a time.

[Bones2484]

The people I sit for miss turns due to REAL LIFE problems and issues! NOT because they are playing other games.

I think you need to get yourself a better class of friends!

BB

Nice of you to try to turn that around on me when I don't have that problem. No on in G1 has ever taken a turn for someone that wasn't requested.

What I am referring to is other clans who have done this and have been found guilty of doing this. Try reading the C&A reports sometime and you'll see exactly why this suggestion does not answer to the account sitting abuse problems and would, in fact, make it worse.

[ianphull]

I think this wouldbe a good idea, iknow some people think if you can not manage your games then tough luck, but real lide does sometime get in the way!
Like what eddie said I think BB has raised this because of the recent war that we had and the other Clan was not happy with the missed turns, it got a bit messy as it was very close and this was the game that would more or less decide the outcome!
There are many ways how this could work:
CC could come up with a program where if you have 1 min left then CC would take a turn for you. there would be no attack just a deply on a random area, this would stop people from deadbeating like they do on Nuke games!
Like what BB said a PM would go out 2 or 4 hours before the missed turn, im sure they could have some limitations built into this like it can only be done in Clan games or team games!

There are lots of things that can be done to inprove this and what ever does get decided it is not going to please everyone.

Thanks