it’s happened a few times that I didn’t notice when my opponent requested an undo.
What I’d like is both of these when an opponent wishes to undo:
A beep sound (optional, so we can turn it on/off … perhaps just a bell symbol with a checkmark or so on every game page? done, see here
and, because I’m hard of hearing, a < blink > flashing < /blink > background for the text, just to be sure.
For my fluctuating attention it would be even better if the whole page’s background would alternate between Black and White (Albeit not too quickly so as not to trigger epilepsy attacks. This could also be a tiny switch on the game page.)
What might be even better is if the opponents move that they want to undo showed up with a question mark on it or something. When I open the board, I immediately look for the stone with the circle mark, indicating the last move played. If the last-played stone had any other kind of mark, I think I would notice it right away.
That said, I’m not too sad if I miss the occasional undo request.
I agree. This needs to be more noticeable. It’s also especially tough for correspondence games, since when you come back to the page, it’s very easy to just focus on the board and completely miss that there is an undo request.
I completely overlooked a request in one game, and didn’t even realize that my opponent had requested one until I had noticed his in-game message a day later expressing surprise as to why I didn’t grant one. In another game, I almost overlooked it and just noticed at the last minute.
I like the idea of putting some sort of very obvious notice directly over the playing board to make it impossible to miss.
This is still very much needed. I would like a sound that works the same way as the ‘someone just moved’ sound: should work regardless of whether the tab has focus,
In case useful, on the Android app you get a dialog when opponent requests undo so you can’t miss it! I pay all my correspondence games via the app. I know it’s not for everyone but I find it really good.
I agree about the problem, and the flashing/sound/etc proposals are really good.
But a modal panel? That will have unintended consequences.
In the days after the change there would be a surge of DDK players requesting undo just as their opponent has 1-2 seconds on the clock, I guarantee it
Speaking of the clock, I had this idea just now. When I make an undo request, I want my opponent to consider it without stress. We should introduce a clock pause just for that. (and I’m not even talking modal anymore)
Personally, while I appreciate the sentiment of granting undos, not everyone agrees - there are players who even name their games “no undos” - and I think it is a fair stance too. Thus I would not really like the undo button to be able to do anything annoying. (There are also players, who can be quite abusive about not getting an undo).
Absolutely my favourite, I too think this should be noticable enough, and yet not too bothersome.
Just in case you are not aware, undos are chainable. Meaning if you both really want to undo that move, you can ask for and undo, then your opponent asks for one, and you can chain this way however far your patience is willing.
On all games, color the last played stone a different color, or highlight it in some way, when an undo is made requested. (thx for the correction, @Kosh!)
On correspondence games, pop up a box that asks for an undo. This can happen at most once per move.
Add support for requesting an undo for more than one move back, ie at any point in the tree.
This needs to be ULTRA obvious. maybe even queue them up but respond one at a time or something… nobody should be able to “accidentally” permanently remove half a game
on that note, can we add a way for undos to be marked on the official game record so that we can see not only that it happened but which move was undone?
I support the idea that if we are increasing visibility of undos, we should also support better the option of not-receiving them.
I think this means a player being able to either globally, or in a game, say “in advance, I accept no undoes” (which obviously means you are not allowed to ask for them either).
If this is not done, these changes will create that impression that asking for an undo is a right and giving one is an obligation.