Make autohosts with games going on show it.

[manored]

I noticed that there are some autohosts that keep open during game now, but they dont show the game is going in any way from outside... make em :)

[bibim]

How do you want them to show it from outside ?

[lurker]

Both server and tasclient have an arbitrary restriction that you can't join a game that is marked as in progress (just make the lobby autolock if it's really necessary). That's why they have to show up green to be joinable.

[manored]

How do you want them to show it from outside ?

I dont know, I just think that since there is a fourth type of game now there should be something like a fourth color to show it... :) Really anyoing to join a game just to read the "game im progress" message.

[bibim]

The problem is that the lobby client can't know if the game is running or not (even if all players in battle except host are set as "ingame", it could be that they are watching a replay while waiting for someone to join for example). And the host can't change hosting settings like battle name for instance without closing battle...

[manored]

[AF]

It is odd then that the vast majority of implementations of game lobbies across history have had this arbitrary restriction.

It also suggests to the user that they can actually join and play a game that's already in progress.

For now until an ammendment to the protocol is made, the option that allows this is a bug in the implementation of the protocol in autohosts.

[lurker]

No, I would say it's a bug in the protocol itself. There is a game lock feature that works in two out of three game states. But in the third, it's flat-out ignored.

Actually, I'm not sure if that's protocol or just half-baked implementation.

[AF]

No because the protocol says clearly that when a host goes in game the game has started, why would it be a bug if the host immediately sets them self as not in game after starting even though they ARE in game?

The bug is in springie not the protocol. Just because the protocol does no support a feature does not mean that we can blame the protocol when we get errors trying to implement unsupported features.

When the square does not fit into the circle hole on the child's toy, does the child blame themselves? Or do they file a bug report to the designer and blame the hole?

On another note, why would anyone want this feature anyway? Isn't it going to cause more trouble than its worth?

[lurker]

No because the protocol says clearly that when a host goes in game the game has started, why would it be a bug if the host immediately sets them self as not in game after starting even though they ARE in game?

The bug is in springie not the protocol. Just because the protocol does no support a feature does not mean that we can blame the protocol when we get errors trying to implement unsupported features.

I didn't say springie was following the protocol; it's trying to work around a bug. And no, this is very much not implementing a new feature. This is a hacky workaround to emulate a feature that is already there, but broken via implementation. The protocol says nothing at all about game rooms being locked or otherwise not joinable when in-game status is set.

When the square does not fit into the circle hole on the child's toy, does the child blame themselves? Or do they file a bug report to the designer and blame the hole?

I think a better analogy is if two of the shapes fit, but the hole for the third is covered in clear plastic for some odd reason.

[AF]

This feature causes more trouble and annoyance then its worth and should be disabled until a more appropriate solution to the problem can be found. Trying to fix one bug by creating a bigger bug is not good practice, especially when whether the original feature being fixed actually existed is in question.

I see no benefit in this feature as it currently stands and lots of disadvantages.

[lurker]

I think a bug of being blocked from joining is larger than an incorrect status symbol, but that's just me.

[AF]

An incorrect status symbol means people join games and don't realize they've already started resulting in lots of confused players in order to please a tiny minority.

The protocol is not being followed here. The protocol makes no mention of supporting battles that can be joined once in-game, it even makes checks server side to prevent it.

This is a client side protocol bug in springie that should be fixed immediatly or changes implemented in TASServer.