Edit: We've been mulling this over and have decided to change the bot out timers back to 600 seconds for the time being. There's still more we want to do to the bot out system to make it fair and unexploitable, and we're going to keep working on it for now. Thanks to everyone who has chimed in here, or on discord. Read the new update here.
In 3.18 releases (including hotfixes) we made some adjustments to the overall timings of players being forced out of games.
Prior to our recent release, we’ve received reports of players exploiting the botting out logic. Players had been found to enter a lobby and ready up before minimizing the app, letting an AI take over and the game play out, before resuming at a later time to determine if the game was worth continuing or not. This created a bad user experience for all other players involved.
With the most recent release, we have ensured that regardless of whether a player leaves the app foregrounded or backgrounded that they will be kicked from the game if they exceed the new time limit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changes
The newly adjusted timings for the game are set up as such that after 50 seconds of inactivity on their turn a player will receive a pop down warning, after 60 seconds of inactivity on their turn an AI takeover will occur. If a player remains inactive and crosses the new threshold of three minutes they will be removed from the game permanently, the way this three minute timer is calculated varies depending on the bot out style.
Foreground
If players bot out and keep the app foregrounded their inactive timer dictates their ability to re-join the game or not. A player's inactivity timer increments on their turn from the last moment of activity and continues to increment on their turn while their AI replacement plays. If the inactivity timer exceeds the time limit then they are automatically kicked out of the game and sent back to the home screen.
Background
If players minimize the app, sending it to the background, then a countdown timer is started on our servers. This timer is counted in real time and begins decrementing after the host has acknowledged the disconnected player and notified the server, in this instance there may be some leeway in the three minute deadline. If they exceed the time limit then they are unable to re-join the game when they re-focus the app, instead they are redirected back to the home screen.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have any more questions about botting out, reach out to us by submitting a support ticket or contacting us on social media:
Over and out,
– SMG: Team RISK