Wholeheartedly agree with this post. I would also like to point out some UX things. Both Fox and Chess.com use a dropdown system where the time control is set to a default and there is just one big PLAY button. I think the current layout has some merit, but overall I think people generally stick to their preferred time control.
A word about the board size selection: while I think flexibility is good in allowing people to select multiple sizes while they search, we should follow a simpler and more typical UX of choosing one specific size while searching. I think that most people searching for a game know what size board they want to play and do not want to play other sizes. I have actually made the mistake of having multiple sizes selected and having to cancel out my game because I did not mean to play 9x9.
“Computer” play is also usually separated as a category. Right now it’s wedged in there alongside the different time settings and it reduces legibility of the section as a whole. I don’t think “Play a Friend” is all that necessary but here is my quick mockup for consideration:
My main beef with the whole Automatch button is that it is very unclear what it does. (And frankly this proposal fails to describe its exact present functioning as well - what exactly are the present time settings that we want them to be changed?)
The doc & info only say “typically 30s / move”, which kind of suggests that you can customize the details, or perhaps that custom games within a certain window are also subject to automatch.
So you click to find out, expecting a time details dialog, and boom, you’re in a game. Scares the socks off me! (If that’s finally fixed I’d like to know. I only dare check once a year or so.)
So I really only dare press “custom” - and if more people feel that way, it’s no wonder that the default time settings here (10 mins + 5x30s for Live) are the most popular overall.
What i really find weird though is that apparently these departure values for customization are different from the defaults for Automatch. Any customization dialog should start from stock, and said stock values should be a sensible start.
Was this posted on Reddit or something? So many first time posters!
Thanks for running the data. If you happen to have found any nice visualizations, I know I’d appreciate it.
Anyway, I agree the existing automatch settings suck, and I’d even be in favor of getting rid of one or both of the existing settings in favor of this “Rapid” setting. I’ll be happy with the 3-pronged option too, I just worry a bit about fragmentation.
Could we add the number of available players to the buttons? This is from another thread, it could help people understand if there are enough players around their rank willing to play.
Maybe we should call it “online go” which is probably more accurate than trying to bend names that have IRL origins to the purpose. And it has the benefit of being on brand…
I encourage you to provide a brief summary of your post in the first paragraphs and some transparency about why this post has reached so many people (not that that’s bad).
A better (and already discussed) solution, I feel, would be that automatch also appear in custom list, and is able to accept other custom games matching its settings.
This post was shared in the BeginnerGo discord by the admins to promote the issue. OGS automatch time controls have been a point of dismay with people there for a long time, so it’s no surprise to me so many people engaged with the post.
