Did anyone call me? :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LheS8xvLXS4

Butter, can you please post a link to the other time youtube's video? :D :D :D

ahahahahahahaha !!!

:P welcome

I just hope that the time will come when people will convince themselves that NOT TO VOTE a pause IS CHEATING and then these anonymity-breaking threads won't be needed anymore.

Well, if DENMARK VOTES DRAW, then we won't even need this thread...

I don't know how the mods view it here, but over on that *other* site, pausing is not an obligation unless it is for an agreed upon time frame as part of the game setup or as a rule in a tournament-type game.

I don't know how the mods view the pauses here either, but I know that I'm not proud when I win a game only because my neighbour didn't put his orders in. Nobody should be.

And if he didn't put his orders in because you denied a pause to him, isn't it a shame?
He voted the pause. You saw his vote. Then you realize he can't show up for some time and you can take advantage from it, not voting pause. So you don't vote the pause. And you take advantage from that. Is this sportsmanship?

This is as if you're playing a boxe match, you slide and fall on the floor, and before you stand up the other boxer... kicks your face!

Isn't it cheating?

Shame on the players who don't vote pauses and extends. These features are not part of the game, rule 5:
http://www.vdiplomacy.net/rules.php

Can anyone tell me a valid reason to not vote a pause?

players quit during the pause. they leave and never come back. even if they weren't requesting said pause.

Pause sucks... I´m locked in this game (http://www.vdiplomacy.com/board.php?gameID=6973) because some idiot left the game and will not unpause... Now I have only 12pts and cant join a lot of games because i´m trapped in this damn game... I´ll NEVER vote pause again....

Sorry ezpickins, but this makes no sense.
If you don't vote the pause, the person who needs it will SURELY quit.
If you vote it, MAYBE someone will quit.

And in the latter case, it's much better to lose someone who quits without a reason than to lose someone who's only asking for a pause he needs and he's actually trying to not quit!
If you don't like quitters, you should help who's trying to not be it!

You can't know beforehand if someone is willing to "leave and never come back".
IF, later, it actually happens, then it is an abuse (Rule 5). So you can call a mod to unpause the game.

After that, if you don't like players who abuse pauses, you can also block-mute that user: this way you're sure you won't meet him anymore.

Would "because perhaps the pause could be abused" be a valid reason to refuse a pause? Is anyone scared by mods? Is anyone so shy that he can't call mods if someone's abusing a pause?

Gumers you're locked in that game because this userID=2063 left the site 10 days ago.
If you're tired to wait for him and to discuss with other play what to do, call a mod.
Since:
- Russia, who requested the pause, is back. (mmm...look who is he!)
- France left the site
- England asked for a pause until next sunday
I guess mods will be happy to unpause your game next monday.

>>"Now I have only 12pts and cant join a lot of games because i´m trapped in this damn game"

No Gumers, you can't join more games because you use a wrong strategy.
Look at me: I always keep 300 - 400 so I can join any game I want.
Sorry to say it, but that's what the points system is for: to prevent Political Puppets from joining too many games. Or from joining games only Diplomats, Pros and Experienced can afford to join, due to their high stakes.

You must earn your fun. "Be a better player" is what the points system is telling you.

So the point is not a user who quitted the site or a pause or whatever excuse you may find. It is that YOU don't have enough points. Noone else is involved.

The only time I wont pause is if the person joins a game... and then 2 days into the game, says, "oh btw, I am going out of town, and will be gone for X number of days." Now if it is an unexpected trip, I will certainly pause. if it's not unexpected, I may refuse the pause. I will certainly grant you an extend that way you have time to find internet somehow while you are gone and enter orders once, but no pause.

Actually, there are plenty of people, myself included who join plenty of games despite having few points. Gumers, that game is not keeping your points low. You only bet 2 in that game. You have 7 other games going, taking up 65 other points. This game is not a drain.

Anyway, with the extend option, pauses are uselless and should be banished.

@Guaroz - The only reason I won't vote for a pause is if the player comes in and says "can I get a pause for a week. I'm going on vacation" two years into the game that they should have never started to begin with. then, well, they are responsible for ruining that game.

@butterhead. Yeah I hate those kind of people. But I have my own blacklist on a notepad file. So in that case:
- I vote the pause;
- If there is press, I ask him "Why the fuck did you join, then?" and the answer is always "I didn't know it 2 days ago" (So when there's no press I can figure out what the answer would be);
- I think about the fact that it could be true or not and that further questions wouldn't help me to find the truth, they would only waste my time;
- I write his nick on my blacklist, today's date, what he did and..."first chance gone" (time needed: 50 seconds).

Now if, in the next game with him, he does again a thing that makes me think he's a pause-abuser or simply a person who is not able to schedule his games in a way that can suite his real life, this is what I do:
- I vote the pause;
- If there is press, I ask him "Why the fuck ...
- I think about the fact that I hate playing with him;
- I MUTE his account, so I won't ever play with him.

Anyone has the right of a chance. Even a second chance. Not a third, from me.

--- --- ---
@gman: Yess! I didn't notice it, lol, 2 ! :-)
However, you got some more total points than him. This helps you to join the games you like and it probably means you are more good at handling points than him. Basically: you have a better joining strategy, since you don't have a better record stats % (win, drawn, etc...)

--- --- ---
@Gumers: Really!? If you think pauses should be banished it's because you can't imagine when a 10 days pause is needed. Probably because you're very young.
Boy, real life is strange... that's its beauty!

--- --- ---
@YCHTT, please read what I just addressed to butterhead, first.

I know: it's annoying. But YOU would be responsible for ruining that game. Because if you don't like a player, sending him in CD is not the proper reaction.

It is the reaction of a lazy person who doesn't want to know the people he's playing with everyday. Recording the main events of your fellow diplomats on a file, requires 1 minute every 2 months.

So please, YCHTT, don't be lazy! Grant the pause even when you're doubtful. And take note. Grant the pause even the second time, when you're sure he's an asshole: because it will be the last time you do it.

NO games ruined, this way.
Isn't it better than looking for who got responsibilities?

I agree with Guaroz on this one, in fact I actually get frustrated with the new extend feature because everytime someone asks for a pause, someone always pitches a fit and wants to extend instead, even though the extend might not cover the period that the player asking for the pause is gone, granted we could always vote extend again, but at that point you might as well pause

and as for the issue of people not coming back, we have mods who will remove the non-active player if we ask.

So: can anyone tell me a valid reason to not vote a pause? (bump)

@Shep. Yes, strange, it happened in one of my games too. If 4 days were enough, he would have asked for Extend. If he's asking for Pause it's because he needs more than 4 days. So proposing an Extend instead is totally pointless. Bah...strange people.

Also strange people, those who ask simultaneously for Extend and Pause. In gunboats, I can't even ask them "Hey guy! WTF do you need?!? If you need a Pause you don't need an Extend and viceversa. So WTF are you doing? Can you please tell us what you really need?"

Guaroz is called in. Proceeds to win this thread ;)

Hey, let's revamp the reliability rating to include pauses, extends and how long it takes you to return (if you return at all!) hahaha

@Guaroz - No, the person who joined a game he had no business joining without asking everyone if a pause was OK before he joined ruined the game, your *opinion* not withstanding.

This argument is useless because *you* believe there is no reason not to pause and I believe there are perfectly *valid* reasons not to.

So let's agree to disagree and move on.

Oh, and @Guaroz - please don't be an asshole and call me lazy again. I will continue in my refusal to grant pauses to assholes who join games when they *know* they are headed on vacation in the first ferw game years. In fact, I may make it a rule here to never pause.

Yeah, I am making that my new rule...

I will *not* pause. Period. How about that?

To pause or not to pause... lighten up guys. Just pause if there's a good reason.If someone's clearly abusing the pause mechanism, don't play with them in the future. It's not that hard.

@YCHTT: avoid absolute statements like "to never pause". It will get you into trouble when that nice player in that awesome game says: "sorry guys, but I've got this great opportunity to do a two-week blahlahblah, can you pause?"

@YCHTT:
>>>>No, the person who joined a game he had no business joining without asking everyone if a pause was OK before he joined ruined the game.
****-If he knew he would have needed a pause soon, he should have not joined. Yes he's an asshole, but do you want to ruin the game only for this? Vote the pause, mute him and you'll never play with him anymore. Oli did a lot of work programming a RR, programming Extend and other features that help avoiding CDs. Do you want to waste all this work?
ASSHOLES MUST BE MUTED, they must not be sent in CD.

-If he didn't, do you want to ruin the game for this? Vote the pause.

-If you dont know if he knew it or not, do you want to ruin the game for this? Vote the pause and blacklist him. If he'll do something strange again, you'll mute him.

>>>>So let's agree to disagree and move on.
**** Agreed! :)

>>>>please don't be an asshole and call me lazy again.
**** "lazy" in my language is not good, but also not that bad. However: sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I apologize.

>>>>I may make it a rule here to never pause.Yeah, I am making that my new rule...I will *not* pause. Period. How about that?
**** Thank you, about that. Now I know why I need to mute you: because I don't want to play with people that make CDs happen in their games. CDs screws games. And I guess many people here believe the same.
I'm going to do it right now.

I have my points where i agree with Guaroz, then I have some I agree with YCHTT-
If you know you are going to be leaving, you shouldn't be joining or creating any new games and then ask for a pause/extend. because some people may not give it. people don't join games for it to get paused the first or second year.
I know for me personally I take it on a case-by-case basis... If you don't have a real reason(I just need a pause because I don't feel like playing this weekend) etc, you will NOT get the pause... If you have a shit reliability rating anyways, chances are you will go CD, and you will not get the pause and I will likely mute you as well. If you join a game and immediately ask for a pause, I may or may not pause, it's a toss up, anything else I will grant it.
@YCHTT- you shouldn't adopt that policy. if you do, A) it won't help the number of CD's on the site any, and B) if there is ever a time that you need one, someone might say, hey, he wouldn't do the same for me, why should I do it for him? then you will get screwed over.

I'm with Guaroz - it should be about the game and the quality of the win. There is no honour or satisfaction in defeating somebody who is not there. Grant a pause, make sure that the return date is specified, and stick to it.

What is clear is the level of frustration that a non-returning pauser manages to generate - but they are all bastards.

I still stand by my original statement, better to pause and risk someone leaving than not pause and have someone CD

Yep - that too.

refusing to pause/extend is being a bad sport and is frowned upon.

Whenever a player emails/pms a mod asking for a pause, we first ask him to go find a sitter, and if he is unable to do so, we normally pause the game.

The same goes for unpausing, if a player is refusing to unpause, the mods will pm and email said player asking him to do so and give him a few days to respond. Should he not we force unpause games.

About the extend button: The extend button is indeed useful button and decreases the need for a pause, however its only a short term solution.

When someone is gone for 5+ days, he will need more then an extension. The pause button is no obsolete and is still needed in certain cases.

@Gummer: I'm sorry, put you have 2 in play stuck in a paused game, you have 104 in play total. I'm confused as to how those 2 are preventing you from joining a new game.

On top of that England is still gone "I will stop my unpause vote as i Need a Pause from friday to sunday"

So no unpause is needed yet.

Ivwas being facetious and making a point about not pausing ever, but if some one says they are going on a vacation in the first 3 years of a game, I reserve the right to refuse the pause unless they announced it and got approval.before the game started. But the I only really play invite games with just a couple pickup games when i started here to get past the game limits.