Leaving a game

Fun and fair play are central to Whisthub. Unfortunately, it can happen that other players leave a game prematurely. In that case, the player in question is replaced by a computer player and the other players can continue the game, but this is usually undesirable and frustrating for the other players.

To combat illegally leavin a game, a system has been developed on Whisthub that discourages this behavior so that everyone has a pleasant experience. However, it is important to realize that it is technically impossible to prevent someone from prematurely leaving a game. The only option is to discourage this behavior as much as possible.

When is it illegal to leave a game?

First and foremost, it is important to know when leaving a game is illegal and when it will be penalized. This is the case if you close your browser during a game or exceed the time limit and are therefore removed from the game.

Unfortunately, if your internet connection goes down and you are removed from the game, this is also considered illegally leaving the game. It is understandable that this feels unfair as this is often against your will, but it is technically impossible to tell the difference between leaving the game intentionally, or leaving the game due to the connection being lost. Moreover, leaving a game remains annoying for the other players, regardless of whether it was intentional or not.

You will never be penalized for leaving the game via the "Leave game" button in the points table or by using the button in the top left corner of the game. These buttons appear automatically when someone has already left the game, or when you are playing a free length game.

Unfortunately, if you cannot continue playing due to unforeseen circumstances, the only option is to illegally leave the game. So always try to estimate whether you have enough time to finish a game and, if necessary, create a room of free length. In this case it is always kind enough to inform your fellow players when you leave the game.

Drop score

The basis of the system to discourage leaving a game is the so-called drop score. Every time a player leaves the game illegally, their drop score is increased. The drop score decreases when a fixed length game is finished correctly.

In this case, the drop score increases faster than it decreases. One must therefore play a larger number of games to compensate for an illegally left game. The exact algorithm used for this is not public and players cannot see their own drop score.

With a premium subscription, players can choose to keep out game leavers with Access control when hosting a room. This way, players with a high drop score will not be able to reach the room, so it is more likely that all players will finish the game. Obviously this doesn't yield any guaruantees, but it is a good tool in combination with the reputation score of the players.

Premium players can also see which players often leave a game. This is indicated by the symbol next to the player's image. That way you can decide, for example, not to play in a room created by someone who may be leaving the game.

However, your own drop score also plays a role here. After all, players with a lower drop score than you can still join the room and you will only see that another player often leaves a game if the player in question has a higher drop score than you. So even with a premium subscription you still benefit from not leaving the game illegally!

Starting a new game

If you have recently illegally left a game, it will be temporarily impossible to host a new room or join an open one. The length of this period depends on your drop score.

I.e. if you leave a game once due to the loss of your internet connection, chances are that this period has already passed when your connection is restored.

On the other hand, if you frequently and deliberately leave the game, this period can become long and tedious. So the only option is to always finish the game you started!

Finally

As already mentioned, it is technically simply impossible to avoid someone leaving a game prematurely. Whisthub also realizes that leaving a game is not always done maliciously, for example due to your internet connection being lost.

Nevertheless, the belief is that the system worked out provides a good balance so that it is not a disaster if you have exceptionally involuntarily left a game. On the other hand, frequent and deliberate leaving of a game is discouraged as much as possible so that sportsmanship and fair play can prevail!