IBL Troubleshooting Guide

updated 5/9/02 by Jolo

This guide supplements the basic FAQ which you should already know well:
http://www.lgm.com/bolo/ibl/iblfaq.html

The purpose of this guide is just to deal with problems that may come up
later during the games themselves.

1. Who runs each division?

It is the responsibility of the top seed (or a lower seed if that player
is the game server) to act as a division chief. This means picking the
map, making sure everybody can join, verifying that the lag is
acceptable to ALL four people (remember that with a client/server
system, just because it doesn't lag for you doesn't mean it's OK for
everybody else, this is especially true when you are the server), and
try to handle problems. Take charge and try to fix problems. For
example, if a game lags badly, try using a different game server. If you
can't handle the problem, contact the organizer for that night.

2. When does a game count or not count?

A game counts if and only if it is played out to a natural end (all
bases taken by one side) or all 4 players unanimously agree on the
outcome, i.e., that one side won or there is a tie. Before anybody
leaves the game, make sure there is a clear outcome, e.g. both losing
teammates concede defeat. Unless all that is true, do NOT report the
game outcome, that only adds to the confusion and makes people upset.
Instead, contact the organizer immediately.

Conversely, once a game has been played out and reported, the result
will count. If you have a problem, talk about it during the game, not
after. Otherwise if we start voiding game outcomes later, every loser is
going to start whining and nothing will ever count.

3. What happens when lag or bugs messes things up?

WinBolo isn't perfect, neither is the internet. Put simply, shit
happens, deal with it. Lag and bugs are all part of the game, just try
to play on and don't let it frustrate you. If there is a really serious
problem which is really biasing the outcome of the game, and all 4
players agree, then feel free to start over, or to call a hold while
things are fixed (such as correcting pill locations after a pill bug).
Let me emphasize that this requires unanimous agreement.

4. What if you call for a hold or restart but the other side won't
agree?

Then by definition we have a voided game, because you will not agree to
the outcome of the game and it won't count. This should be strong
incentive for everybody to work together to keep things fair. From the
opposite perspective, even if you're winning and don't want to stop, if
your opponents just got screwed by lag or bugs, you need to be fair and
give them a chance to recover, or else you risk pissing them off such
that they contest the game outcome.

5. But how do I know if somebody really got screwed by lag or bugs or if
they're just whining losers?

This is the tough one, but I'm hoping the 4 players can exercise
commonsense and figure it out. Serious lag or bugs that irreparably
affect the game outcome seldom happen, it certainly shouldn't be an
issue more than once or twice a season. If a player repeatedly complains
and demands restarts, either he's telling the truth because he has an
unacceptable network connection, or he's a whining weasel who doesn't
play fair. Either way, he is out of the IBL.

6. Who makes the final decision for any controversies?

This is simple, the organizer of that night always makes the final call.
We really just can't have it any other way, or else there will be fights
that never end. For example, we can't just say "let the 4 players
decide" - they are split or else there wouldn't be a controversy in the
first place. Only the organizer can be impartial. If the organizer is
one of the players, there's a possible conflict of interest, but that
can't be avoided. The organizers typically sacrifice their chances at
playing anyway. Bottomline: once the organizer makes a decision, we ask
that all players respect it.