Hello - got another thing I would like to tinker with so I would like to
pass it through the players again before going ahead and discuss the pros
and cons.
We're updating the accounts program so that when we pre-charge the games the
day before we process (ie on the due date) we intend to send out an email to
the team-mates/team contact if the turn is not in at that moment. (Ie we
have yet to receive a turn). I recall that this was mostly met with
satisfactory noises. (Opt out option available).
What about in addition sending out turns out with that to the team contact
(or failing that team-mates) so that any drop outs or players unable to get
turns in at that time would get that turn.
Note I think this would be particularly helpful in games with new players at
the start of the game - where often I find players don't send in turns in
such a manner.
A couple of provisos:
1) We would only be able to do that with players that receive turns by
email. We would not be able to include takeover positions - that would be
harder to arrange and presently outside our present scope in some
situations.
2) Your team (or you personally) would have to designate a Team Contact
(TC) - preferably before the 1st turn. Multiple players could be in that
position. So you would have 2 points of contact - one for the Team Contact
(could be multiple players) and one for the (Team Player) player(s) that you
would like contacted should you not be able to get a turn in (be presently
missing a turn on the Due date).
3) You would be able to opt out. My choice here would be that all players
are defaulted to TC and TP. You could then opt out at game start (ie when
you send in your "I want to play Noldo, Small format, 1650, 2wk, TC=Fred
Bloggs, Team Player= John Doe). Benefits of this are best for new players,
who are the worst "offenders" here I am afraid, that is most damaging to the
game. I think this would help the rest of the players who sometimes miss
turns despite being committed to playing the game. TC would be designated
at the start of the game if possible - or as the game develops. TP at
whatever point but fixed for the duration of the game. (I don't want to keep
swopping them around as the game goes on).
So I would like to clarify my thinking above with your help, and sort
something out if we can and get the programming side of this done over the
next few months.
I understand that players who like to play more individually will not like
this as much as others, but the opt out option is okay. I notice that
players now-adays are more prone to send on their Resultsheets than before.
Thoughts?
Clint