Posted 2023-January-05, 17:52
Please give me an answer to my perennial question:
When a player asks a question at their turn, whose clock is it on?
Note that this answer should handle the fact that:
- if it's my (the answerer's) clock, then my incentive is to give as little information as I can get away with, and when re-asked, complain about them wasting my time.
- if it's their clock, then my incentive is to either ignore it (just for 5 seconds - I'm a slow typist/I didn't see it) or give full, overly complete, non-abbreviated answers. Or, you know, do a whole bunch of "useless" asking "because it's important to know if it's 8 actual HCP, or just points, or how much distribution matters,..."
Sure that violates "full disclosure regulations", even more than the current system, but what ya gonna do?
Of course, we'll have to implement enforced pauses after all skip bids and at trick 1, because the people in time pressure will auto-pass (well, unless they actually do have something to think about) or autoplay (costing the opponents thinking time, and also providing lots of opportunities for passing of information (which they will bring the director into).
Oh, about the director - when the director is called, who's clock is on? And if it's "nobody", what does that do for the rest of the room which hasn't had a director call?
And we'll have to have something like "turns" in M:tG at end of round (which makes their 50 minute rounds take 70 or so; in fact a card was banned in Modern not because it was unfair, but because the "go off" turn could take 15 minutes and delay the rest of the event. Okay, the clock on MTGO (nline) solves that problem (and replaces it with another, like BBO's "End of round" timeout), but only because there are hundreds of "clock presses" a match, all of which are automatic.)
It would be interesting. I would like to solve the issue of slow play; in particular I'd be happy if I wasn't catching everyone up more sessions than not (because I should be entitled to some of that time lost every round by the pair in front of us being late). And I'm pretty certain there are answers to this (even if some of them are "prove it to the TD, and we'll penalize these kinds of cheese plays into oblivion"). But given how well-enforced the current laws and regulations are (and how much pushback the directors get when they actually attempt to enforce them better), I'll put my effort into something with a higher return, like nominating the Speaker of the House.
None of this has anything to do with Daylongs, of course. I absolutely think a 30-minute warning flag should be programmed in so the player knows they can't go get coffee or whatever if she wants to finish the 12 boards.
When I go to sea, don't fear for me, Fear For The Storm -- Birdie and the Swansong (tSCoSI)