Player Missing from Game User List

This may or may not be a bug. It is a mystery, at least to me. In the past I used to see an occasional game in which one of the players did not appear on the game’s user list. I assumed these were unregistered bots, since only bots do not appear in the list, as far as I know. In one case I still think that was true, because the player’s name had “bot” in it. I have previously made a couple Forum comments about this. However, in the past few months I have seen this happen with greater frequency, and in at least a couple of these recent cases it was very clear that they were not bots, because they were losing games and making elementary mistakes. Has anyone else seen this? Is there some elementary explanation that I am ignorant of?

Admittedly, it’s a trivial bug even if it is a bug.

User list only shows players currently on that page. So if they’re not looking at the page at the same time as you, you won’t see their name.

What’s the “game user list”? Where is it?

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I’m guessing he means this? Bottom right corner of chat

Well if he’s talking about the user list in chat,… there are about 1’980 users missing from that one at any given time. :slight_smile:

And compared to the entire userbase the figure is somewhat closer to 160’000.

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Well, actually it makes sense:

immagine

Bots aren’t visible in the game’s chat users list.
Could it happen also to players that aren’t bot?

In the games chat list are only the players that are in the game chat :wink:
Someone using the website joins the chat automatically while viewing a game.
For other clients it can be different, since the chat uses a different API than the game itself. If someone uses an app without chat functionality (or which only joins the chat if you open a separate window) they are not in this users list.
Bots are usually not that communicative and therefor not joining the chat in the first place.

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The list shows both players and all spectators.
I think the OP meant that sometimes one player isn’t present in the list.
Fuego is not present and it’s a bot.
The app could be a good answer when a human player isn’t there.

Sometimes it can also be because they disconnect or close tab.

This phenomenon isn’t explained by disconnecting/closing the tab, because I have the game under continuous observation and the player is never listed.

This sounds like it may be the explanation (a technical point I was unaware of, but suspected might exist). However, I am confused by your final comment:

Appearance on the list isn’t something someone initiates by “joining” the chat. It’s automatic by being in the window. In many games the players post no comments in the chat, but they still appear in the user list. Also, some bots do give a greeting in the chat at the beginning of the game (I think Mantis did this). That would seem to indicate chat functionality, yet they do not appear in the list. My guess is that bots do not appear in the list because it is coded that way (i.e., to block bots, as another way of indicating a nonhuman player).

Just because you have not to press a button to join the chat doesn’t mean you aren’t connected. If you use the website you automatically join the chat by opening the game in a tab. You leave the chat if you close the tab or move to another (sub)page.

BTW:with join I don’t mean you send a message, but connect with the server to receive messages from other users.

Bots don’t use a browser window. They connect to OGS over a public api. Therefore they have to connect to the chat on their own if they wish. (and disconnect whenever they want)

They can connect to the chat send the greeting and disconnect after. If they cannot respond to your questions there is no need for keeping connected to the chat.

I would bet against it.

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This just restates my point. Thank you for agreeing. I was puzzled by the odd way you originally expressed it.

I never imagined that they did, since most don’t have eyes and would have no need for a window. I was speaking of the OGS game window.

This is an excellent clarifying point, and makes the whole scenario much more understandable.

Would that be a sure bet, or just a good bet? In other words, do you know all this for certain, or is it informed speculation? The coyness of your “bet” provokes the question.

No.

You can call it informed speculation if you want.

Bots are visible in the global chat list, why hide them only on the game chat list?
image

You can host a bot to test it :wink:

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The global chat list relates to a chat, and the game chat list relates to a game. The presence of a bot in the former is unimportant, but it is important to know that you are playing a bot, so I surmised that hiding it was just another means of highlighting the bot’s identity. However, this is all moot, because I accept your explanation regarding the connect-disconnect process. Thank you.

If I could do that, I would not have bothered to ask the question in the first place.