Ability to kick people from online lobbies (Github #352)

[Flopsy]

When me and Silken were playing this evening we had someone constantly joining and then sitting in the lobby and not doing anything at all. No ready, no communication, no spectate so we were stuck unable to play until this user decided to leave.

This person was consistently coming in and out of the room as well so I don't think changing to a different room would have helped either.

A minor annoyance but if this becomes more common with stray people wandering into online lobbies then this can be problematic. It's nice to have people playing the game but at the same time, they need to be willing to co-operate with the players already in the room.
The ability to kick players or at least the ability to make people spectate would be useful here in the event of non-cooperation.

[Silken Healer]

I don't think he was doing it on purpose. I think it was just a new Lix player and he only joined twice for several seconds I think so it wasn't that disruptive.

There's nothing stopping someone with genuinely malicious motives from doing this on a more disruptive scale though, so it would be a good idea to have a vote kick system maybe though. Maybe also Simon could add the ability to add passwords to rooms.

[Simon]

In current Lix 0.10.26, there is nothing you can do here.

Looks like the room owner finally needs more power.

There is one band-aid solution idea that doesn't touch the networking protocol: If player X enters a room where 1 or more players have already pressed ready, X will enter in observer mode and not disturb the readiness. I can investigate whether this is possible as a pure server-side change, then it will be compatible with all of 0.10.x.

Even under this band-aid, X can still re-select a color immediately and thereby disturb everybod's readiness. The hope is that absolute newbs will not re-select a color.

-- Simon

[Silken Healer]

I don't personally think this is that serious of an issue to warrant said/a band-aid solution before you're ready (to touch the networking protocol).

[mobius]

I remember long ago pointing out that most multiplayer video games have time outs for people who sit AFK in lobbies (sometimes even in game but I personally think that's unnecessary). There's a number of solutions to this problem but basically the game should not break for everybody because one person either walks away or has connection issues or something.

one possibility that seems ok to me; after at least two players ready a countdown starts. At the end of the countdown whoever hasn't readied yet will enter spectate mode and the game will begin.

A separate but related issue:
People continuously changing colors and disrupting the readiness. I remember a few occasions where it took what felt like ages to start because people kept changing colors/teams. Again, I feel like some sort of countdown would be a simple solution to this.

[Flopsy]

I remember long ago pointing out that most multiplayer video games have time outs for people who sit AFK in lobbies (sometimes even in game but I personally think that's unnecessary). There's a number of solutions to this problem but basically the game should not break for everybody because one person either walks away or has connection issues or something.

AFK kicking wouldn't work because it would probably kick spectators too and they aren't able to make inputs while a game is in progress.
I have tried to drum it into people in the Lix multiplayer guide early on (under the Etiquette section) that you should set yourself to spectate if you are going to be away. Even if it means exiting the game and returning to the lobby to "put on the shades".

A separate but related issue:
People continuously changing colors and disrupting the readiness. I remember a few occasions where it took what felt like ages to start because people kept changing colors/teams. Again, I feel like some sort of countdown would be a simple solution to this.

I've also mentioned this in the multiplayer guide. It is annoying but unreadying people when a change in colour occurs is necessary. Ironically I know who you are on about when you say this also!

In current Lix 0.10.26, there is nothing you can do here.

Looks like the room owner finally needs more power.

There is one band-aid solution idea that doesn't touch the networking protocol: If player X enters a room where 1 or more players have already pressed ready, X will enter in observer mode and not disturb the readiness. I can investigate whether this is possible as a pure server-side change, then it will be compatible with all of 0.10.x.

Even under this band-aid, X can still re-select a color immediately and thereby disturb everybod's readiness. The hope is that absolute newbs will not re-select a color.

-- Simon

How about when everyone joins a room, they are in spectator mode by default? They then have to select a colour to play before being able to play. It would prevent people inadvertently disturbing players getting ready to play.

Room owner having privileges over the lobby would also be a good thing to implement. Like being able to remove people who are being obstructive or forcing someone into spectator mode instead.

[Dullstar]

AFK kicking wouldn't work because it would probably kick spectators too and they aren't able to make inputs while a game is in progress.

A possible solution that would address this problem would be, instead of kicking, automatically set afk players to spectator mode.

It is annoying but unreadying people when a change in colour occurs is necessary. Ironically I know who you are on about when you say this also!

I think a simple improvement to this would be to change it so that this only unreadies players in the event that teams have changed. I don't think it's necessary to unready everyone when the sole player of a certain color switches to a different unoccupied color.

[Silken Healer]

It is annoying but unreadying people when a change in colour occurs is necessary. Ironically I know who you are on about when you say this also!

I think a simple improvement to this would be to change it so that this only unreadies players in the event that teams have changed. I don't think it's necessary to unready everyone when the sole player of a certain color switches to a different unoccupied color.

+1