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        Arimaa >> Site Discussion >> Automatic interactive game scheduler
        
(Message started by: camelback on Mar 24th, 2011, 3:29am)
Title: Automatic interactive game scheduler
Post by camelback on Mar 24th, 2011, 3:29am
I have an idea for a game scheduler that runs every few minutes, checks for on-line players and based on their preferences try to create games between 2 players and notifies them.

Game preferences can be opt-in/out, various time controls, rating difference between players (100,200, any) , rated/unrated, color etc., It can set along with auto postal settings.

Once the pairing is done, players can accept or reject it. They may get next pairing the next time scheduler runs.

Scheduler can be configured not to create games before or during an event game. It is also possible that tournament organizers can configure groups of players in scheduler so that pairing between players in 2 different groups is feasible (for AWL) or a specific time control games are created for players joining a blitz tournament.

I think this has several advantages and will be successful just like auto postal. Since many infrastructure is already in place, I guess its easier for me to implement it.

Please provide your comments and suggestions.
Title: Re: Automatic interactive game scheduler
Post by megajester on Mar 24th, 2011, 3:39am
This has been on my mind for a while for the AWL. We're thinking of piloting a format whereby all players from both teams are present at the same time for a single collaborative game. Would your idea help with this?
Title: Re: Automatic interactive game scheduler
Post by camelback on Mar 24th, 2011, 5:10pm
As I understand your idea is to modify the game client to have many people collaborate and play the game at the same time. That is a different topic than the one discussed here. As of now I can't help much with that idea   :(
Title: Re: Automatic interactive game scheduler
Post by megajester on Mar 25th, 2011, 1:26am
I'm sorry perhaps I should have been clearer...

We already have all the necessary infrastructure to implement a collaborative game. We used it in the Online Festival. The problem is finding a time that will work for the the majority of players in the two teams paired. The way it stands now the captains of the teams would have to manually check the scheduler times for each of their players, and liaise with the opposing team's captain. This would be too much work.

So my question is, would your idea help captains with this task?
Title: Re: Automatic interactive game scheduler
Post by camelback on Mar 25th, 2011, 11:53am
oh yes! definitely that is in my plan ;)

Team captains can provide two lists of players and games can be scheduled between each player in the list based on their preferences. Let me start writing down a detailed specs and publish in the wiki.
Title: Re: Automatic interactive game scheduler
Post by megajester on Mar 27th, 2011, 11:52am

on 03/25/11 at 11:53:45, camelback wrote:
oh yes! definitely that is in my plan ;)

Team captains can provide two lists of players and games can be scheduled between each player in the list based on their preferences. Let me start writing down a detailed specs and publish in the wiki.

Would it be possible for team captains to provide two lists of players and for the system to find one time that would be convenient for everybody? Don't forget, we're trying for collaborative matches...

Omar, any thoughts?
Title: Re: Automatic interactive game scheduler
Post by omar on Mar 28th, 2011, 2:32pm

on 03/24/11 at 03:29:42, camelback wrote:
I have an idea for a game scheduler that runs every few minutes, checks for on-line players and based on their preferences try to create games between 2 players and notifies them.

Game preferences can be opt-in/out, various time controls, rating difference between players (100,200, any) , rated/unrated, color etc., It can set along with auto postal settings.

Once the pairing is done, players can accept or reject it. They may get next pairing the next time scheduler runs.

Scheduler can be configured not to create games before or during an event game. It is also possible that tournament organizers can configure groups of players in scheduler so that pairing between players in 2 different groups is feasible (for AWL) or a specific time control games are created for players joining a blitz tournament.

I think this has several advantages and will be successful just like auto postal. Since many infrastructure is already in place, I guess its easier for me to implement it.

Please provide your comments and suggestions.


Yes, this is definitely needed. I had been thinking about something like this also. What I had in mind was a matching program that would look at which players have their invite flag turned on and try to match players for a live game. The invite setting page would be extended to specify opponent rating range and the speed of the game (Blitz, Fast, Quick, etc). It's great that we now have predefined game speeds; previously it was a mess trying to figure out how to specify the speed of the game; now check boxes can be used to select the preferred game speeds from the predefined speeds. If a match is found the program would create the game between the two players (so it shows up under their 'My Games' section) and send a pop-up to the players; similar to when someone challenges them to a game. The program should keep track of the pairing it has made recently and  try to avoid repeat pairings. This would allow players to just turn on their invite flag and get automatically paired with others that have also turned on their invite flag and match the preferences for rating range and game speed.
Title: Re: Automatic interactive game scheduler
Post by omar on Mar 28th, 2011, 2:47pm

on 03/27/11 at 11:52:09, megajester wrote:
Would it be possible for team captains to provide two lists of players and for the system to find one time that would be convenient for everybody? Don't forget, we're trying for collaborative matches...

Omar, any thoughts?


Joel, I've been think about the program that we will need for the next World League though I haven't started on the implementation. I think what we need is a program that given a list of players, looks at their preferred times and generates a list of time slots ordered by best to worst; with the score of the slot being the number of players who have selected that slot and ties broken by the sum of the preference given to the slot. I am planning to setup a web page where the team captains can paste the names of their players into a text area box and submit the form to get the list of ordered slots.
Title: Re: Automatic interactive game scheduler
Post by megajester on Mar 28th, 2011, 3:02pm

on 03/28/11 at 14:47:11, omar wrote:
Joel, I've been think about the program that we will need for the next World League though I haven't started on the implementation. I think what we need is a program that given a list of players, looks at their preferred times and generates a list of time slots ordered by best to worst; with the score of the slot being the number of players who have selected that slot and ties broken by the sum of the preference given to the slot. I am planning to setup a web page where the team captains can paste the names of their players into a text area box and submit the form to get the list of ordered slots.

OK sounds good. I hope it's not too much work.


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