Here is what I posted on my reply to the post announcing the rule change:
As I type this, I am at a disadvantage in one of my games because of this change. As it has been described hypothetically above, one of my opponents skipped a turn, incrementing the round. I was informed I could take a turn, but when I checked, I was blocked. Why? Because of the three of us who took our turns yesterday afternoon, I just happened to be the one do to so last. I cannot believe that I would be cheating the system by taking a turn right now, and I see no reason why I or anyone in my situation should be blocked simply because someone skipped a turn. If anything, this might open the door for things just as nasty as the hack that this fix removed from the game.
Let's say there are three players, A, B and C, that it's round 10, that A and B have played already in that order, and that C would gain from B not being allowed to play first in the next round. C now has the ability to dictate playing order by not playing his/her round. C waits, allows the clock to run out, then plays first with a larger deployment and the jump on B. This is not the case in my game, but I see it as a very possible problem.
In the time I took to write this, one of my opponents might have already taken advantage of the fact that I am blocked. My inability to play has drastically changed the way this game will end; depending on who plays first, my opponents will receive more troops than they would have had I been able to play. Please consider adjusting the conditions for blocking a player in Freestyle!
In the end, the player that skipped his turn was ejected and I was blocked again. My opponent (who played a very good game and deserved the win) was able to play at his/her leisure. In fact, he/she played as I was driving home from work. Had I had the choice to play, I could have eliminated the deadbeat and positioned myself to win the game a whole three hours before my opponent started his/her turn, and he/she was able to take my only region away from me.
Understand that I do not blame my opponent; he/she played very well, and I do not suspect either him/her or the deadbeat of exploiting this issue. I do think that this rule change puts players at an unfair disadvantage because of a deadbeat, and I do think that the scenario I outlined above could become a real exploit. Please consider adjusting the rule.
Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:10 pm