TrialBid Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 The new message is: "Registration failed. Free MB tourney limit exceeded. Try again in a few hours." I appreciate the intent of this. The free MBTs are popular and take up BBO resources that might be producing revenue instead. However, it seems to me that I am now bearing the brunt of others' enthusiasm. I played ONCE today. I've played maybe a few dozen MBTs since they were introduced. Yet I'm locked out for an unspecified number of hours. The difficulty has been the people who chain together play after play for hours on end by registering for the next tournament when the clock counts down to 5 in the current one. Have you considered this: have an entry fee for the "free" MBTs. Don't award money but, like arcade games, keep track of most wins (or points, perhaps 5 for 1st, 3 for 2nd, 2 for 3rd, 1 for 4th) today, this week, this month, all-time, etc. Alternatively, or possibly in combination, GIB subscribers could play free MBTs for free, but others would have to "rent" GIB per MBT event. Whether rent would be free for them on the first of the month in the MBTs would be negotiable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uday Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 I want everyone to have a chance at the free mbts. I don't want to charge for them. Current limit is about one a day (but anyone can register anyway once the MBT is within 2 minutes of start time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrialBid Posted August 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2006 Uday, your assertion that anyone can register in the final two minutes can't be entirely correct. When the clock went under two minutes, there were only 14 registrants, and I was repeatedly refused entry with the same misleading error message. My concern in and around the "free" MBTs is that it is my only MB option currently unless I am traveling. I'm really bothered that suddenly I can play only once a day and can't even get a precise explanantion of what is going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrialBid Posted August 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 Oh, slings and arrows of outrageous fortune! Would you suppose that, given how tightly controlled the entries to MBTs must be, that you'd at least count them correctly? No! If I enter and then withdraw before game time I'm locked out for another day! How stupid can that be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimcloh Posted August 15, 2006 Report Share Posted August 15, 2006 While I am loath to criticize a free feature, (I am big on free!), are you aware that these tourneys seem to allow players not online to hold a place, causing tourneys with sitouts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrialBid Posted August 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2006 I'm not at all sure what Uday is and isn't aware of. Perhaps it's the dog days of summer, but in the forum threads where MBTs come up, I don't see much participation by the BBO crew. Inasmuch as there is a systemic intervention in the last minute or so to allow anyone to register (up to the preset limit), I'd like to think that at the same time, players offline could be purged. That seems to be a function invoked by many directors manually prior to the start, so it wouldn't be a big deal. There is, however, another reason for not filling the quota: players who are in a tournament already see the message about not having their complete team together at game time. Then, also, fewer player than the limit participate in the MBT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uday Posted August 19, 2006 Report Share Posted August 19, 2006 We follow most of the non-bridge, non-watercooler threads. I could purge offline players in the free mbts, but it isnt clear to me that I should do so. It seems unlikely that someone would deliberately toss their daily free entry to the mbts (assuming they care enough to register in the 1st place). mbts - free or otherwise, chew up non-trivial computer resources on our end. It is a big of a juggling act, keeping enough resources available for the free & the pay ones at the same time. No great answers; i don't think it is terrible that the occasional free mbt isnt filled up to the max. When i find some cycles we'll address this issue but it isnt on the top of my list these days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrialBid Posted August 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2006 i don't think it is terrible that the occasional free mbt isnt filled up to the max. You have made a judgment that you have enough cycles available to handle 15 entries each half hour. You have also reacted to the great demand by greatly limiting access. Those of us who relish the competition and who have no other option see each empty slot as an opportunity lost. To ignore that is not very user-focused, imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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