Thursday, December 13, 2007

Auto-Pass—How’s it working?

Hey there! Recently, we sent out an email to all of our friends and members concerning Mahjong Time’s new auto-pass feature. We want to know what you think of auto-pass, which is designed to keep your game moving.

The way it works is this way—if you select the auto-pass feature and then it comes to your turn, you’ll simply “pass” and the next player can then take his/her turn. If, for some reason, you get distracted from the game or forget to pass, auto-pass can be triggered, making your predetermined pass immediate and allowing the next player to take their turn.

Your friends at Mahjong Time feel that auto-pass can help make games move more quickly and smoothly, helping to eliminate some unneeded delays.

What do you think? Should auto-pass be adjusted in some way? What do you like about it? If there anything that you don’t enjoy about auto-pass? Do you use it? Why or why not and, if you do utilize this new feature, how do you think it’s working?

Simply tell all of your friends and fellow players at Mahjong Time what you think about auto-pass?

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and ideas about the auto-pass feature at Mahjong Time. I’m looking forward to reading your comments.

Mahjong Meld

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with the complaint that auto-pass reveals what the opponents are holding.
Why not do what real mj-ers do? Namely the player actually decides when to draw the tile. Some players play fast and some players play slow. If the opponents need time they can yell "wait" and it's up to the opponents to wait for them while the player figures out his/her combinations.
If you have automated players the wait time for drawing a tile is roughly the average of the wait time of the real players.

How's that for a feature request?

Anonymous said...

Hi

I love the Auto-pass. The first game or two were a bit odd - but now that I'm use to it I don't like playing without it. It really speeds up the games.

Fantastic.
Melissa

Anonymous said...

I think auto-pass is good to make the game go quicker; however, I find it TOO fast. It doesn't give me time to process the tile that was just dropped and I feel like I'm not on top or in control of the game. As well, as you guys have already pointed out, it slows down and waits on someone who actually needs it and reveals to everyone else know that they need it.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I love auto pass. I just wish you could get it working on American Modern. It speeds up the game and enables me to get to play more games. Please keep working on American Modern.

Thanks,
Sunny3888

Anonymous said...

I agree with others that the auto-pass makes games faster, but I don't like it at all because it reveals your hand. Maybe some of the people that say they love the feature don't realise or don't care how much this can affect the game?
However the reality is that you can have it on or off and so you can always see before you join a game as to whether the creator has turned this feature on.
I can see where it is handy because too many people seem to start a game and then leave....which is really frustrating.
But personally I would prefer a more strategic game where no-one has any idea what tiles I am holding....so I will simply continue to choose games where this feature is OFF.

Anonymous said...

While agreeing that auto pass does speed up the game when playing against slower players it does also reveal what tiles are in a players hand maybe the individual player should be given the choice once the game has started as to whether of not they want to play on auto pass by way of a button. It also takes away the feeling that you are actually playing the game and I have found myself on a few occasions actually losing concentration on what is actually happening within the game

Anonymous said...

I agree with anonymous - autopass triggers too quickly not allowing enough time to decide on moves and action them. I was playing today and kept getting frustrated that I couldn't declare moves without being timed out.
A good feature with need of a tweak.

Anonymous said...

I really dont have enough experience to comment either way. I have not learned your system well enough to play. I do enjoy mah jong solitare, but I will try again to learn the system. ceealice

Anonymous said...

auto pass is great. for those worried that it reveals their hand, they should be aware and know how to play or pass quicker. nothing's worse than a slow play round.

Anonymous said...

Especially in CO games the information revealing effect of auto-pass (as it is now) makes any serious play impossible. Try a Seven Pairs hand... Not that the others could do anything about it, but they'd know right after the second stop what you're after. I'd rather not use auto-pass, and I don't join games where it is switched on.

Anonymous said...

I do not like the autopass feature. The answer is given in your question to us: "auto-pass reveals an opponent’s tiles".
However, it is no problem for me to keep it amoung the features. I simply do not play on tables where the autopass feature is enabled. Others enjoy it.

Greetings

nobody

Anonymous said...

Autopass makes the mahjong game really quicker wich is very nice if your opponents are slow. But it also makes it an automatic stupid computer game: you dont have to think, the computer does.
Besides that the other players know your tiles. So i dont play autopass :-(

Anonymous said...

It speeds up a game, you can see wat stone a player could need. for me it is possitieve, because of the speed up a specialy with slow players

Anonymous said...

I love auto-pass!!! Without it the games are just too slow. I hate sitting around waiting for players to move, especially when they've left the table. Is it possible to have some games with auto-pass and some without? That way all MahjongTime users can select games that are comfortable for them. BTW, thanks for a great site!!!

Anonymous said...

I liked the first auto-pass - quick and exciting. The fact that it revealed those who need the tile shouldn't be a problem...in real-life games, this is done with facial expressions and out-of-turn comments, so why shouldn't we add a little spice into our on-line games as well?

Anonymous said...

I hate auto-pass! It makes the game go way too fast and out of control. I feel like I could walk away and the game could play all by itself without me. Takes all the fun out of the game. Thank goodness you don't have auto-pass in American Modern!!!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely - keep auto-pass. The pleasure it gives by providing a speedy game more than makes up for the 'possible' information that is revealed. You've done a good thing now don't undo it.

Anonymous said...

I hate Auto Pass!!!!
Please get rid of it, but if not - DO NOT MAKE IT COMPULSORY!!!
It moves too quickly, does not allow you to plan a hand (it takes tiles you were saving for a chow or a special hand) and it discards what IT wants, rather than what you want!!
I now create ALL my own games if I can't find a suitable game without Auto Pass.

Anonymous said...

Autopass is great. All the complaints about it revealing tiles means you're lazy and not passing soon enough when a tile you can use gets discarded. If you see a tile you can use come up, and you don't want it...then PASS!!!

Anonymous said...

I like autopass but I keep getting error messages saying I have already moved when I haven't moved yet. I click pass before autopass activates and get errors. Very annoying.

Anonymous said...

While agreeing that auto pass does speed up the game when playing against slower players it does also reveal what tiles are in a players hand maybe the individual player should be given the choice once the game has started as to whether of not they want to play on auto pass by way of a button. It also takes away the feeling that you are actually playing the game and I have found myself on a few occasions actually losing concentration on what is actually happening within the game

Anonymous said...

I HATE autopass mainly in JM games. I feel it distorts the main features of the game. On slow PCs, the system decides to perform chow and ruins the player's intentions.

Also, it takes all the fun of JM game-planning.

Anonymous said...

Auto-pass feature does speed up the wait time, but it reveals other players' intentions, and sometimes forces chows or pungs that the player may not really want to call. Overall, I do not like auto-pass and have found many others online who also do not like it - lots of people are annoyed by this feature.

Anonymous said...

To lower the possibility of the system reveal the players hand


Simply show everyone decisions at the same time after all three have made it.

Anonymous said...

I don't mind auto-pass so much. Every game I played had auto-pass on. So, there is no comparison for me between the on and the off. However, it is irritating that at times, I was auto-passed and given a new tile the very second my upper-hand discarded his/her tile. This left me wonder, just exactly who is playing the game? May be you can fix it so that it behaves more like a realiable machine feature rather than tempermental human behavior?