Variants Q&A

Have you played enough standard to realize that this isn't viable?

If we restarted everyone at 1500, we would have a really fun time with high rated players at low ratings destroying everyone and making new players really confused; this isn't like standard chess and 960, it's the application of extremely similar skills to an even higher degree.

Now, if we just copied ratings, then what we'd see is players sitting on a rating and the situation being made even more confusing as is once we look at how many rating categories for standard 4PC there already are. When you ask someone what their rating is, I'm pretty sure what the response back is shouldn't be "2800 in BY Setup Teams 4P Giveaway", which makes no coherent sense to any average player not in the community.

I'm sorry, I am not a high-rated player by no means, BUT I've played a lot and I was among the 16 2022 FFA World Championship semi-finalists, AND I've played with strictly all stars many times already. I definitely find the discussion above rather irrelevant because the set-up is only relevant for the 6-10 first moves. Then it's strictly the same thing.

I believe that some of the positions above are inspired by the fact that many high-rated players PREFER the old set-up as they accumulated a lot of experience and theory insight on it and are more used to that and simply like it more. BUT it's a matter of fact that for instance Radon (one of the biggest OS funs) could reach the top 20 in something like 30-40 games only with an ALT account (from 1500 to 3000) with the new standard. I think this demonstration was quite convincing and brilliant of the point I made above.

Consolidated all questions so far. A reminder that upvotes are definitely the most appreciated way to signal boost, so if you can skim before posting, that'd be great.

and dont downvote posts!

When will 4-player chess glitches be fixed

@jackityjackjack and @Arjun1516, really hate to mini-mod, but Goondrius isn't gonna notice you more if you repost questions that others/you have already asked; with the limited amount of comments on the post already I highly doubt they're going to ignore a question.

Oops, didn't realize I already posted it. It's just when I play some 4PC I see glitches so I thought when will it be fixed.

Hey folks, just wanted to give an update here. We're still working on answers to a bunch of the questions. It was mostly a personal mismanagement of time, but I also ignorantly thought I'd be able to answer more of the questions on my own . I'm hoping that the extra input and time will make for better answers. As of now, here it is:

To whom may new ideas may be submitted?

• • This forum, please! We try to keep up with everything there, though we may not always respond directly. It’s definitely the best place to get feedback from others and build momentum for ideas. For variant suggestions that are supported by the current system (i.e. you can play a game), check out the brand new Variants World!

Why didn’t I get a response to my suggestions?

• • We try to incorporate all feedback into internal workflows and prioritize accordingly. We naturally can’t address or respond to all suggestions, though. If you want to post your suggestion here, I can see if we can bump it a bit!

When do the NCV testers get chosen? I put in a request a couple months ago, and I haven't gotten a response. Did I fail, or are you still working on it?

• • The team just finished reviewing submissions this week and have sent out the invites to the testers.

Would it be possible to include Glinski's hexagonal chess as a variant on Chess.com?

• We get a ton of requests for new variants and it’s really tough to decide how to prioritize them. First, we want to hear a compelling case for "why this variant?". Then, we try to gauge the development effort against the demand for the game. In the past, a developer did reach out about hexagonal chess and there was some time put in, but it wasn’t quite as compatible with the current Variants system as we’d have liked. It’s possible this avenue will open up again in the future.

The option of creating custom fairy pieces or modifying pieces that already exist will be added? Also, are there going to be new fairy pieces added ever?

• Similar to variant rules, fairy pieces have infinite potential for development. We’re always open to hearing about them, but need to be strategic about what we choose to pursue. Some are relative easy to implement, but others are tricky (I’m looking at you Grasshopper…).
• There are no plans for a flexible custom fairy piece system.

Will automate come back?

• No. Similar to the current issues with the invite-on-demand bots, this game was causing some technical issues with the server. The stats aren’t available currently, but it also wasn’t considered a popular game mode.

If you have a “checkers” easter egg, why haven’t you already added overtakers?

• Could you clarify this a bit, please?

Bugs

When will the 4-player chess glitches be fixed?

• I'm not sure what you mean, could you please be more specific?

When I choose 1/7 FFA no restrictions it gives me a random lobby with restrictions?

• • I can’t reproduce this! Does it happen often? Please submit a bug report next time you see it.

In WFT the number of lives the king still has is very often inaccurate. Imagine how many games players lost thinking that their king has 2 lives whereas it was just 1?!

• • • Tracked. Please continue to report it when you encounter it.

Server

As many have mentioned above, the SERVER has not been fixed in full yet... It’s a real problem. YES it's much better than in June 2022 for instance, but still. ... When will we have a stable server, like we used to pre-merge?

• • There have been major changes in the last couple of years to the underlying technology that supports Variants. It has resulted in a lotta bugs; some short-lived and catastrophic while others have an annoying persistence though relatively small impact. Coming out on the other side of this journey, we have a more stable version of the application, from deployment to monitoring to user capacity. Stability is one of our primary goals ongoing and the new architecture should support that well.
  • I was personally involved in a lot of the recent changes and I know it was quite hectic. I'm hoping that we're past most of the major game-breaking bugs. As far as I can tell, the "clock bug" (e.g. timers stuck at 0.01 then all of a sudden you forfeit on time) that happened in the 4PCWC was the last truly unknown bug. We have a short-term fix, but the root cause is a little deeper and might take us awhile. We have pretty solid stats in place now, but please continue to report any strange behaviors that you witness so we can address them ASAP!

In 1/7 FFA when you play you can chose a rating range. No matter what you choose you usually get forced to join a mode with different rating ranges. The only it doesn't happen to me is when there is no rated FFA 1/7 games in the browser.

You mean (for example) a 1700+ queue creation joining you into 2400+? That's an intentional feature afaik

Yay, and why would that be intentional. I put settings like rating range: All and get 800-2000. Basically delete the idea to make rating ranges if you can't control it otherwise make it so that you don't get set to random controls

In WFT the number of lives the king still has is very often inaccurate. Imagine how many games players lost thinking that their king has 2 lives whereas it was just 1?!

Tracked. Please continue to report it when you encounter it.

It happens virtually in EVERY WFT and KING SAFETY game, many times. Maybe seen 50 times today. This very annoying bug appeared maybe 2 months ago. IMHO it should be a clear priority as REALLY it makes people lose sometimes in good faith, and it's not fair.

but please continue to report any strange behaviors that you witness so we can be address them ASAP!

Done many times, with no real reaction. Somewhat discouraging. There are MANY totally abnormal bugs. The WORST is that sometimes you're disconnected BUT THE SYSTEM DOESN'T MAKE YOU KNOW (sometimes you are made aware, and almost immediately you're reconnected, but sometimes you are NOT AWARE). So you lose 10, 20, 50 sec. thinking that someone else is taking his time. Then you guess you should reload, and you discover that in fact you have only 13 sec. left for instance. And in bullet it kills. A similar glitch appears ALWAYS when you lose a game, join another one, then the 1st game finishes and your rating is updated (so there is a pop-up about it), and... in fact you're immediately disconnected from your 2nd game BUT YOU DON'T KNOW THAT. I lost 3 games like that this week, of which one today that I was sure to win. So yes, it's unfair and very annoying.

Also, another VERY annoying thing is that quite often you're almost winning a game (especially in the end of a blitz or bullet), than a player flags, you're comfortable as you have still 3-7 seconds, but suddenly your time is frozen, everything is frozen, and... after some seconds of waiting you're shown with 0, so you've lost. Like in https://www.chess.com/variants/4-player-chess/game/58831754. It happens to me about twice per day, and it is very frustrating to "lose" like that, because of the server 100%.

Wait, fast games like blitz and bullet have bugs?

One question: the option of creating custom fairy chess pieces will be added?

It was answered, NO

Yes, they do, this is a very publicized issue

Who is "we"?

Who will answered to crucial questions about future of 4PC?

nicknames?

( just want to know are they have experience in 4pc )

I confirmed that it is the case that unless you make the check, the lives lost don't register.

Continuing to report these as "clock bug / silent disconnect" will help gather info on how/why it happens. I found one case.

Another was just reported where if an old game ends while you're in a new one (i.e. you see the "Your rating has changed") you also get disconnected!