Is there a way to gracefully exit a game or games? I'm not really interested in continuing my games if I can't put in orders when I want/need to.

To initial question: I could only guess. Ask a mod, which will probably post here eventually, maybe.

To your latter question: Yes, fight to the end. (If you do leave games and just refuse to log on, people will be angered.)

I know. If it hadn't been a bug with the system, and I'd just been betrayed or something, I'd still be interested in playing. At least then I have something to funnel my anger towards. But when the game itself just refuses to accept an orders change, I feel cheated.

I think the clock is sycronized with your computer's time. Maybe that's it?

Seriously? You quit because you can't tell time? Put your moves in earlier you dolt! Its not a bug - does the clock on your computer match the clock on your microwave and the clock on your stereo and your stove and in your car and on your phone? Don't be an idiot.

I was doing two different things:
1.) Polling via python script every minute for the last ten for changes in a specific players status, and sending me a text message if it changed.
2.) Pressing F5 every minute to keep the clock current in my browser (I figured the time function php uses may be a few seconds off.) With all the 5 minute games around here, I figured 30 seconds was sufficient to outside that margin of error. When I pressed ready, it immediately popped up some message about the state of the game progressing, and my orders had been lost.

Like I said, I wasn't using my clock, or even a single clock on a single machine, but several clocks from several computers, polling automatically. The big red timer on the web page read '30 seconds'. If the web page tells me I have time to put in orders, I should be allowed to put them in.

Well, learn a lesson from that and play on.

But it's intensely frustrating to have the game arbitrarily cut off a percentage of my turn time.

If it were 10 seconds or less, I'd chalk it up to random error in the javascript timer. 30 seconds is a significant error.

Here is how this works. The website provides the time to the browser. The time is specified in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Then in your browser the javascript looks at your computer's timezone settings and adjusts the time for your timezone and daylight savings time. It then compares that with your computer's clock to see how much time is left.

If you computer's clock is not in synch with webdip's clock, then you'll see what you are seeing. The javascript thinks there is more time left than there is because your computer's clock is behind.

Solution, make sure your computer's clock is correct. I'm on Window's XP and in my clock settings have a thing that allows me to have my clock synched with an internet time server.

Hope that helps

Yeah, I just noticed you were doing that in the page's javascript. I'm a pretty technical user (see: http://devblog.phillipspiess.com/2010/03/30/hacking-board-games-with-python/ ) but I hadn't actually read through the source code. I just hadn't realized that you were relying on the user's clock. Seems like a bit of weird usability issue.

Both my machine and the machine I host the python script from both are synced with NIST servers daily, so I'm not sure what caused them both to be 30 seconds out of tune.

I figured your servers would be sending down a remaining time value, which the javascript would count down from. Which is why some difference due to loading times, connection latency, and bandwidth would be expected. I didn't expect you to just be using the time from my clock. If I set my clock a week ahead, the software should be able to give me a reasonable estimation (plus or minus a few seconds) of the time left in the game. I may have to crack open the source and see about working on a usability improvement there.

Before, you had to refresh the page every time you wanted to see how much time was left. You also had to manually set your user's timezone under the Settings tab using only "UTC +/- #" format. When the changed the clock so that it was animated and synced with your computer's time, usability was much improved. I personally think that misleading people to get it a few hours (when daylight savings time changes or you change time zone) or minutes off (when you haven't refreshed recently) is worse than getting it a few seconds off. From now on you know that when the timer turns red you should get some orders put in before the phase cuts out on you.)

I have been burned quite a few times changing my orders in the last 30 seconds (some people never learn). I change my choices with the drop down box, and then click save. Sometimes it goes through but sometimes I get the message telling me I am too late. I accept this through. Interesting to hear about the way the clocks work. I did not know that.

bump