On first hearing I liked the idea of locking private chat in a paused game, but then I thought of a scenario where it would be a problem.

Someone might be gone for a some period of time but ask that the final pause vote be withheld until the phase changes which will happen while they are gone. They will of course have already put in their own pause vote. In that circumstance, the last pause vote may come in with only an hour left in the next phase. This would then deny at least that one person who was gone the ability to do his or her normal diploming.

And what would make you think you were good for a week when you help a game hostage for that extra week. Sorry, but that was a douche thing to do and Russia should have been bitch slapped for pulling the stunt. Maybe dock him points for the stunt and give them to the wounded party. Russia was a douche. Plain and simple. He hijacked a pause and extended it without asking the others opinions.

But it is their right to refuse to pause on principle as Maniac has decided to do.

And I would suggest it is a mod's obligation to unpause any game they have forcibly paused when their investigation is complete. With great power comes great responsibility.

Agreed on both counts, Draug.

I don't think he knows he was being a douche. It's not my place but when he gets back I'd tell him it wasn't very nice of him and maybe ask more nicely and try to get a sitter, etc.

FUCK pausing a game. Don't joina game if you know you are going campign, you fucing morons.~~~!!!

@thucy - I can see why you made the decision that you did. In your eyes Russia would have been very pissed if the game was unpaused and I would have been miffed if the game continued to be paused and as you concluded that Russia didn't know he was being a douche; then you were probably right to make the call you did.

But did you consider future games in your thought process? I thought we had a happy compromise between the never pause and always pause camps and that was that pauses are often granted but a time period set. Now that the mods have stated that agreed time periods mean nothing then we end up dividing back into two camps which will probably affect the ok to pause camp more than the never pause camp.

I agree with you entirely that this is just a game but why is it so important that it matters to people if NMR or CD happen when they go away on holiday or they have an urgent business meeting or exam, etc.

Krellin. That was such invaluable input

I didn't know there was some kind of compromise.

And about precedents - I usually forget what I do as a mod within a week or two, I approach every case anew and do what I think is best. And I do think there is a point where it goes on too long. A week is right at the edge of it, any longer and I would have unpaused.

The compromise awhile back was that if a clear end of pause time was stated in global chat, that a mod could force unpause the game awhile past that time. Back when I was a mod if it was a week past the stated unpause time I would consider unpausing it. I'm not sure if there was an official policy on it, but that's how things were back then. Maybe it was just me.

Without that protection, those that have been burnt by games not being unpaused and held hostage, are going to be more likely to not grant pauses which is a shame because with a reasonable group a pause isn't a problem. But you don't know whether the group you are worth are all reasonable or not so it is a risk.

So as not to appear unreasonable with pauses, i think I will ask the next person who requests a pause to get a mod to post in the game global that he (the mod) will unpause at so and so time if players are ready or not - does that help people? or just creat work for the mods?

Just creates more work IMHO.

Instead you could create forum games with pause requirements that everyone that joins has to agree to.

Alderian's suggestion would be the best.

Just make games with the rule that the game must be unpaused at the specified time irregardless of if a player is ready. Mods will honor custom game rules. Just make sure you have the rules recorded somewhere.

Could we pause this thread for a few days? I'm going out of town....


/ducks

Seriously, though... the two ways I'd have no qualms jumping in:
1.) The Aldy method: Have a thread in the forum before the game start that defines all the pauses and all players joining agree to those pause dates.
2.) The Earlier Aldy method: Before the pause, mention the rule on global, make sure everyone agrees to the rules on global all before the pause.

Basically we need proof that everyone saw the dates of the pause/unpause and everyone agreed to it.

i'm in agreement with alderain, i think a thread with custom games rules clearly stated, then you only need call a mod when someone has broken those rules and it should be clear...

I'd also suggest that if you have a game with custom rules that are stated in a forum thread, the thread should be linked in the global chat for easy reference for any mod looking at the game.