| Info Regarding the 2nd Game Period: Game Statistic |
| Thursday, 01 April 2010 14:32 |
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We already mentioned the effects of the game statistics, to become operative at the beginning of the 2nd game period in mid-April. However, we still would like to give another detailed account of the changes, given that they will affect all users of the Catan Online World. Please read it carefully. The games statistics are a player's calling card. They reveal how often a player played a game from beginning to end. Playing each game from beginning to end is important for the playing culture, and it is also a matter of respect for the other players. If a player abandons a game, the remaining players are forced to look for a substitute, or, in the worst case, have to abandon the game altogether. The time they invested in playing is lost. Therefore, players with poor game statistics can expect to have difficulties finding opponents. Poor statistics send out the message that this player will probably not participate in a game until it ends. Also, players who habitually and intentionally do not finish games (quitters) violate the Terms and Conditions for PlayCatan and the Catan Online World. The survey conducted among Premium Account users at the beginning of this year showed that a majority of about 80% wants more provisions to prevent players from intentionally abandoning games. On this basis, the following rule was developed: Players who played more than 20 games, 20% of which are considered as unfinished, can only set up or join games with the game option "freeforall." These players are barred from all games without this option until their game statistics have returned to the normal range. This restriction makes finding games and opponents more difficult, which is why players should always make sure their game statistics are within the normal range. Nobody will take offense if a player can't finish a game because of technical reasons (e. g., power failure, disrupted Internet connection, etc.). The tolerance limit of 20% guarantees that such unintentional cases are not detrimental for the player. Games "finished as a substitute" are neither counted towards this percentage nor towards the 20-games limit. In addition, there is a new rule regarding the game statistics: Players who join games as a substitute help other players who just lost one of the participants in the game they were playing. Therefore, substituting is essentially a very laudable act, the reward being that the substitute player has no disadvantage if he/she loses the game. On the other hand, this rule also offers the great advantage that the games played as a substitute can take a player right to the top of the ranking list. However, players who want to reach a position in the list should primarily play their games from beginning to end. For this reason, the following rule applies: To appear in the Monthly List, the number of games finished as a substitute player cannot be larger than the number of games finished in a regular fashion. A player's personal game statistics are displayed next to his/her avatar. They show how many games the player started (green arrow), finished (red arrow), and finished as a substitute (blue arrow). Only the last 99 games are counted. Card games and games with "noscoring" option are not included in the statistics. The new rules become operative at the beginning of the new game period on April 14, 2010.
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 01 April 2010 14:33 |