this is a common problem for me, when you finish a game and do not click cancel a new game begins even when you do not want it to. in the old game as far as i can remember when the timer ran out you began to watch not start a new game. this usually happens to me when i am playing a game before a tournament i have entered and dont want to start a new game i will have to quit to play the tourny.

In the "old game", there wasn't a timer full stop.

The simple solution is to click cancel, or join one of the public rooms.

there definetly was a timer when you finished the game 30 seconds long and if you didnt click anything when play or cancel were on the middle of the screen you began watching

Nope. The timer was brought in to stop people joining games and just sitting there not doing anything.

You know whats going to happen if you don't press cancel anyway, so whats the problem?

This has been in place for a while and is nothing to do with the recent look and feel changes to the game.

Basically it is to stop people wasting other people's time in game rooms. If you do not wish to play simply ensure you're not taking a space in a game room - either click cancel to watch the game, or move out into the game room.

For maybe a few weeks about a year ago we did perform it the way you mentioned - players not clicking were moved into watching state. However when you looked for a game you would often (even up to 50%) find dormant players (who had just left the PC or doing other activities) and would cause the new player to wait without getting a game. The new rule is in place to try and get people to remember to leave game rooms if they no longer want a game.

if the 'dormant' player was in watching state then when a new player arrived it shouldnt affect the running of the new game when a third person entered the room looking for a game. that is my experience anyway. i just thought it was a better way to run the game as im not the only one it happens to. often i play people who have forgotten and they lose on 3 random shots rule.
lastly to rebut your claim that dormant players take up space they do not if they are watching then on the game selection screen the game appears as available and waiting even though there is two players in the room

iamtheworst: the only problem is my own stupidity and distraction that causes me to forget

clearly i have been shot down lol but i thought it worth airing my opinion

Edited at 12:57 Tue 12/05/09 (BST)

Edited at 13:15 Tue 12/05/09 (BST)

yeh ive posted a thread about this before aswell.. i dont see the problem with removing the pre game timer? surley it would be a good idea? After playing a game i often browse the internet and forget about the fact that if somebody joins to play i will end up playing a game i dont want to. Removing the timer would prevent people from losing rank without being able to do anything about it. Yes the simple solution is to click cancel but i often forget to do this and a simpler solution would definitly (IMO) be to remove the timer

I think Nick has explained very well why this timer is good:

So it's there exactly to prevent what you said: staying in a room without reacting. You also wouldn't like to join rooms just to have idling opponents. With the timer, idling players are more forced to leave the rooms, therefore other players join less idling rooms.

i was not suggesting removal of the timer. i see the purpose of the timer. i was merely suggesting the change of the outcome when the timer runs out from starting a new game to changing your status to watch. surely if you wanted to play a new game you would have pressed the start button within the allotted 30 seconds. it is a fair and reasonable assumption that if you have not done so then you do not want to play another game.

yeh sorry i didnt mean to say remove the timer i ment change it so you end up watching not playing.