Increased Escape Behavior Post Timeout Rule Change

Has anyone else experienced an uptick in late game escapes by timeout since the change that effectively doesn’t count wins by timeout?

I understand the purpose behind the changes is to reduce the ratings impact for timeouts on games that haven’t really gotten started, but if I am well into mid game or even late game, it is pretty annoying that 4 of my last 6 opponents in games completed escaped by timeout in the last month.

I don’t play many games, and the 2/3s I was doing decently in or outright winning being effectively ignored is pretty demoralizing, even as I resigned the two games I was losing.

-Leif

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I may not be up to date on this, but I think you are referring to the timeout rule in correspondence games, which so far as I know does not apply to live games. If someone simultaneously times out of 20 (or whatever number) correspondence games, only the first of those timeouts counts for scoring—the others are not counted. This is not a new rule, but has been around for at least two years (as long as I have been here). There was a thread discussing this, but I am too lazy to look it up. You can probably find it by searching for keywords.

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Much more likely I am not up to date. My information was word of mouth from other friends on the site that something changed with how timeouts are handled back in August.

Either way, what is the policy and process for dealing with escapers? My cursory reading of the forums is that I basically just have to deal with it, which at the low rate I play games makes me really hesitant about playing with anyone who has any losses by timeout, and yet I can’t do anything to avoid those players in tournaments, so is the answer there, avoid tournaments if I want to avoid escapers?

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Here is a recent discussion: What is the rule about time out now There used to be a “T” after the name of a person who had timed out in correspondence, which remained until the person completed a correspondence game. However, in a quick scan of the chat list and some player lists, I didn’t see anyone with a “T,” so I don’t know the status of that emblem. All I can suggest is to check the profile of the players in any tournament you join.

By the way, escapes in live games are moderately common, and the lightning bolt was instituted last year to minimize the waste of time that this causes.

I really don’t think your bad experience is related to the T-O rules. It looks like at least two, maybe all three of the opponents in question(without naming names) have simply stopped playing altogether.

Unfortunately, while I find this to be very rude, it is inevitable in an online environment and while I understand the reasons for the existing rules I feel you are at least entitled to an acknowledgement that they are not entirely fair and can be disheartening.

While tournaments may be a quick and easy way to meet new opponents, it may be worth combining them with some rematch requests to reduce the incidence of T-O’s. OGS has some good features for building up a network of more reliable opponents:

  1. Rematch requests
  2. Friend requests(used after good experiences and followed up with later challenges)
  3. Groups that may provide a more focused and personal arena for challenges.

ps. If there is a game that you are particularly disappointed to not finish, feel free to send it to me as a forked challenge.

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As a tip from an ex-correspondence player, I would suggest joining the site ladder. You’ll never have more than 6 ladder games at any one time, so it’s unlikely to be overwhelming on its own (especially compared to tournaments where the start of a new round can see you suddenly have 8 new games on top of what you were already maintaining) and from my experience, ladder participants are less likely to time out of their games than tournament / general correspondence.

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Excellent advice. Anyone who time-outs of a ladder game is removed from the ladder. If it happens at all, it tends to be at the start of the game.

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Regrettably, the handle “Mr.” is already taken. Would’ve been worth it. :thinking:

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Coincidentally, “Mr. T.” was my distance coach in high school.

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It’s the Mr. T-junction. :smirk: :microphone:

As a tip from an ex-correspondence player, I would suggest joining the site ladder. You’ll never have more than 6 ladder games at any one time, so it’s unlikely to be overwhelming on its own (especially compared to tournaments where the start of a new round can see you suddenly have 8 new games on top of what you were already maintaining) and from my experience, ladder participants are less likely to time out of their games than tournament / general correspondence.

Good advice, I think after I get through this round of tourney’s I will look into a site ladder.

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Here is a recent discussion: What is the rule about time out now

Very helpful to now better understand the “rules.”

So it looks like we can contact the mods if someone is “escaping” but the end result for me and others who respectfully resign is that the Mods can’t change the outcome of the game, and we still have a stack of games we were winning that don’t get counted, but we submit ourselves to the ratings hit for resigning.

Looks like OGS chooses to subject the vast majority of correspondence players to this easy to manipulate cheating method under the auspices of protecting a few good players who have a real life impact to ratings caused by serial timeout.

I have a thought on this for tournament play. If a player times out and disqualifies himself from the tourney, those of us still in the tournament should have the option to cancel and annul any tournament games we have going on with that player so that we don’t have to waste our time on someone who may be trying to escape. Those games won’t count for the tourney, so why should we have to continue them? I understand some may wish to continue, but that should be the choice of those still in the tournament.

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The games do count for the tournament, the win by timeout gives you a point in the score. They just do not count for your rating.

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