From: paulsen@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Brian Paulsen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Halftime
Date: 26 Jan 93 02:42:32 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <1k1gh3$9eq@agate.berkeley.edu> tom@soda.berkeley.edu (Tom Holub) writes:
>In article <1993Jan25.190243.23729@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> von@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Steve Von Worley) writes:

this is stupid :)

>)>Why do so many posts out of CMU start with 'this is stupid'?  Can't you
>)>guys accept that you are not necessarily the repository of all netrek
>)>wisdom?

Hey - I resent that.  There's a lot of people from other schools that feel
your ideas are stupid, too.  UPenn is full of them.

>)Maybe so many responses to your posts start out with 'this is stupid'
>)because they think your ideas are stupid?

Heh - the truth comes out.

>Halftime was not my idea.  There are a lot of people who like it.

Amazingly, few have spoken through the net.  The only people I know who do
actually like it are on the INL council.  (I forget how Mergatroid decided -
maybe he does like it)

>)>The Council in the past has unanimously agreed that all games should be
>)>played on identical servers; it is very unlikely that this will change.
>)>Your argument is spurious; if both captains want to play a 15 minute
>)>game, can they do that?

I have no trouble accepting the idea that all games should be played on
identical servers.  Giving the captains the option to ignore halftime can
be implemented on every server.  So, what's the problem?

Currently, the INL server is not the same for every game, and we shouldn't
pretend that it is.  There are different planet setups.  The captains can
reset the galaxy if planet setups seem unfair.  One game may proceed with
no pauses from start to finish, and another game may have several pauses.
One game may have no troubles with lag, another may be plagued with ghostbusts.

Given that so many aspects of an INL match can differ from one game to the
next, it doesn't make much sense to say that a new change should be mandatory
for every game.  Why not make the planet setup mandatory for every game?
Maybe we should force people to always take ROM-FED games?

I've found that in every INL game I've played, the opposing captain has been
extremely reasonable in granting pauses and dealing with delays.  I've found
that people are reasonable in choosing a fair galaxy setup.  Why can't we
assume that if a team needs a halftime, they just say PAUSE and use that as
a halftime?

>)Please remove the pause feature, then.  A pause inserts a random, 
>)disturbing inhomogeneity (is that a word?) into the flow of the game.
>)Especially when people use it for conveniences like going to the
>)bathroom.

>Oh, God forbid that anyone actually have to go to the bathroom some
>time in a 2.5 hour period.  If you think netrek is more important
>than going to the bathroom you need some perspective.

Please - get a grip.  I've gone to the bathroom in INL games before halftime
was around.  If the team can't last about 2 minutes without my presence,
then we probably aren't going to win anyways.  I'm sure the implication wasn't
that someone should refrain from going to the bathroom, rather that using
a PAUSE for a bathroom break is pretty unnecessary.

>)>The Council will be discussing halftime again.  I intend to push
>)>strongly for a halftime, a shorter game, or both.  

>)Shorter game?  Why?

>Because--get ready for a bulletin here--some people think the games
>last too long.  They are grueling and they don't really give an underdog
>a chance for an upset.

I would suggest that people play in shorter games before they make a real
decision on this.  I played in a 90 minute game against CMU, and hated it.
It was just too short.

About an underdog upsetting a team in a shorter game.  I would be shocked
to see it happen.  Either an underdog is going to win, or it isn't.  Time
length really doesn't make a difference.

>So should the NBA go to one 48-minute period?

I don't want to be silly here, but perhaps the reason the NBA has breaks
(along with most professional sports) is that they do something physical.
Do you get physically fatigued from running up and down the screen for 2
hours?  

I know - chess is screwed up, too!  They should have a mandatory halftime
in the middle of the match regardless of how fast the game is going.  Bridge
players, too, should have a bathroom break between every hand.

Brian