I tried to play in tournaments in the past few weeks (5 tournaments, 17 games), but I struggle to be in front of my games when they start.
During the tournament, when I am not playing a game, I am of course in front of my computer, but I am not staring at the blank screen of the tournament. The typical wait before a new game starts can be more than 10 minutes. I am doing other stuff, reading email, browsing, etc. However, if I don’t happen to look at the OGS tab very regularly, I miss my game.
How are people dealing with this? Is everybody using kitchen timers to go back to their OGS tab every 60 seconds to check if they have a new game running?
I have the notifications for game starts enabled. Out of 17 tournament games, I got a notification sound that my game started only once, so it doesn’t work most of the time. What are the exact conditions for it to work?
Well, I never have to wait 10 minutes, for a start. But more importantly, on my end a game starting always triggers a sound warning, so I’m not sure what’s happening here since you say it doesn’t work on your end…
But you are right, it’s a valid solution, I could make sure I only join tournaments where there is no such wait. What are these tournaments you play in, where you never have to wait 10 minutes?
Joking asides, I understand that it may be tricky without sound notification. Maybe someone can clarify if that’s a known issue with tournament games, or just an issue with you for some reason.
I feel like for any live tournament there is no guarantee how soon one round will be after another. I think the general understanding is you should stay at or near your computer until the whole tournament has finished.
Could it depend on the exact page the tab is on (on the previously finished game, on the tournament page, on the home page)? For me it works sometimes, as I do occasionally get the loud “GAME STARTED”, so I am confident that my settings are correct (all notifications are enabled).
When I have a bye or my game finishes quickly, I watch one of the ongoing games of the round. Usually the other tournament participants gather there too.
As far as I can tell from playing many tournaments, it doesn’t ever trigger for me in tournaments (only automatch or custom games) but would be very helpful to have as default.
(given the unpredictable time between rounds – many players miss the further rounds, especially when given a bye in the previous round, which can be a bit of a shame and anticlimactic when the 2nd strongest and strongest players’ final round match is a timeout due to 2+ byes whilst waiting for the loser bracket in 9x9 double-elimination)
I’ve actually seen over 20 minutes for the next round, especially in longer tournaments or 19x19s (sometimes 30-40 minutes) so it’d be great to have better notifications and audio.
so it’d be great to have better notifications and audio.