Blitz players: how fast is too fast?

Hey Blitz players,

The server has some logic to warn you if a game setting appears beyond blitz - just ridiculous, or shall we say “out there, experimental, just for fun, not for everyone”.

I’m curious what people think is “fair game” and where “ridiculous” cuts in.

It seems clear to me that 0s + 5 x 1s is way out there. 1s per turn is within the internet lag range: that would be a click-fest-lottery.

However, 0s + 5 x 10s appears totally legitimate, because the “Play” page itself tells you that Blitz games will be about 10s per move.

So where is the line at which generally blitz players would like the little warning sign to appear?

(For the record, I am fielding a complaint that 5s per turn is ridiculous. The current setting is that 3s and below gets warned).

Thanks,

EuG

4 Likes

I play a ton of 10s games and find that time comfortable, in terms of Blitz. I have a much harder time keeping up with 7s. I sadly time out of many of these matches, though the opportunity doesn’t come along that often (I only join games below 10s when they are created by others).

I am extremely likely to time out of a 5s match. But that is usually the result of a personal inability to make my move quick enough. However, occasionally on OGS you will submit a move and it shows a little message telling you that it is having trouble submitting the move. There is a delay and the move will be played within a few seconds. On a 5s time, this occasionally costs me the game, of no fault of my own.

So I would say that 5s is where the warning message should appear, but only for this reason. 3s is my vote for what I would consider silly level difficulty. Unless you train on it regularly, I think most folks wouldn’t have a chance of keeping up with 3s moves.

I would like to add on though, that when there is only a single time period (5s x1), perhaps a warning is justified beginning at the 7s mark. I play a lot of 10s Blitz matches, and find that a lot of people who haven’t played Blitz before tend to time out on their first or second play through.

I honestly believe I would finish half of the 7s games I time out of, if there had been at least a second time period to tap into. I believe this because most of my timing out happens in the end of the 7s matches. Very frustrating :dizzy_face:. That is my two cents :wink:.

3 Likes

5s is fine if the client’s connection is good. 3s is pushing it, because you need at least a second to process a move occurring on a 19x board, a second accounting for lag. 1s is probably still playable with a good connection, but qualitywise it’s going to be garbage and I wouldn’t allow <5s for ranked games.

5 Likes