Mouse slips + Disabled Players

I thought about something to stop mouse slips about a year ago.

A mouse slip occurs when you make a move and something goes wrong, the move you made was not the actual move that you wanted to make.

For example, say you wanted to move your pawn from e2 to e4 during a blitz game but you clicked e3 by mistake or dropped the pawn on e3 by mistake.

Give the players an option under settings called something like "Confirm Move"

This is turned off by default, so things stay exactly as they are by default.

If the player wants this option he has to turn it on.

When you make your move your mouse pointer will already be directly over the square.

With the option turned on you need to click the mouse once to confirm the move.

Example of a move with no problem

1. player drags and drops pawn to e4

2. player clicks mouse once to confirm, mouse pointer already over target

When the player drops the piece his clock still runs, the move markers on the board are coloured say red and the take back button is active, he can take back.

As soon as he clicks once to confirm, clock stops, move markers shown in normal colour, take back button disabled.

If he dropped on e3 by mistake he does not click once to confirm, he clicks take back to move the pawn back to e2, he then makes the move again.

Of course the player has to click once to confirm every move but it does stop mistakes.

Game Designer, I find you to be a chess innovator and visionary!  And you are on the right track, it's all about making it easier, more pleasant, more fun, less annoying.  So many just figure "this is fine only an idiot would do X or Y!"  Why not avoid X and Y altogether and make a smooth satisfying experience for the player?  BRAVO!

@fewlio

Thank you man

it is already an option

It has not been executed this well in the past!  I want it done exactly how OP has outlined.

I know that there is a take back option.

You click it and your opponent has to agree before the take back is allowed.

Unless I missed it I do not see an option to confirm a move before it is committed.

This idea is all done on your computer only, before your opponent even sees the move.

Only after you click to confirm does the move get sent to your opponent.  

Frankly, I'd rather have keyboard shortcuts to confirm and cancel buttons, this way chess would feel more like FPS game ( :

Placing with right click instead of "realise on mouse button up" could be sell able option to some players.

You do not have to drag pieces, clicking on piece and then on destination seems idiot-proof to me.

For me the best thing about this idea is that it allows you to be very lazy and very careless when making moves.

Just throw the pieces about the board without even caring.

It will only take a few games to adjust.

throw, click

throw, click

throw, huh? oh right, click take back

throw, click

Only thing is that it does need some sort of fancy different graphic when you throw.

So it looks a bit different, then you click to confirm and it looks normal once again.

Also it needs quite a bit of code, you need to trap each move when you throw.

Would this feature ever be useful?

Well on chess.com there are about 1.5 million games played everyday.

If you use 60 moves as the average game length, assuming games are played to completion, then the total moves played on the website each day is:

1.5 million games x 60 moves per game x 2 players = 180 million moves per day

I am pretty sure that there are quite a few mouse slips in all that.

Warlord

Yes, I am plagued by this problem with both trackpad and mouse. I lose about 20% of my games for this reason. I cannot play on my mobile at all because the problem is magnified there.

With due regard to game_designer and others who I am sure know more about programming than I do, I have another idea. It would be good to be able to type in the move. Much more precise. Also, it would allow paraplegics, people with ALS, and others with mobility (or visual) issues to play more easily. Accessibility software already installed on most devices would then be able to be engaged to speak the moves. Would be nice is Stephen Hawking showed up for one of my blitz games. 

Rachel

@Rachelsculinary

A very good idea that I fully support.

I personally know a grandmaster that has a disability.

I think perhaps that there may be some people that would like to play chess online but can not.

And I know some Deaf-Blind people who would like to play and be part of the community of worldwide lovers of chess.

I have now moved this topic to the Site Feedback & Suggestions forum.

It was previously sitting in the Off Topic forum, I had parked a few of my topics in that forum.

cool

[COMMENT DELETED]

[A comment which, by the way, wasn't "graphic and rude," as you so rudely and inaccurately point out in comment #18. The comment was, at worst, sarcastically helpful.  

I only deleted it because you blocked me from being able to defend it and to respond to your future attacks here.  And it wasn't aimed at Rachel -- it was aimed at YOU, game_designer.]

Hi Human in Training,

  Sorry you find this so hilarious. I noticed that comment #4 too, but was still unable to find settings.

Even with your additional info, I can not find setting for live chess that you display. I did find settings for daily chess. That had already by default required a check box of moves. The settings are not so easy to see or understand for everyone as you might think. I had also done a search of help and forums before speaking up and saw nothing there about accessibility. Since you seem to know so

much, would you kindly provide the exact links to where this info is located?
Rachel

Hi Rachel

I blocked him, he is very rude.

He can no longer post anything in any of my topics.

He seems to think that I am talking about a "button" in my first post for some strange reason.

I know that you have problems making moves, I will look for you later on today and then I will post in this topic.

[Edit]

@human-in-training

The above troll deleted his graphic and rude comments.

Then the troll came back to try and get the last word, but the damage was already done.

The troll was targeting me, did not bother to read everything properly, did not bother reading to the end of the topic, just started banging on that I was basically an idiot for creating this topic and then an even bigger idiot for posting more content to it, kept repeating: "I really can't believe..." 

The troll posted a graphic of the submit move settings option in daily chess. completely missed the point of the topic, then the person that I was trying to help thought the troll had responded but the troll did not even bother reading that far in the topic.

I get the last word troll because that is what really happened, now run away little man. 

Hi Rachel

I had a look, it does not look good

If you go into live chess...

There is a very small arrow icon on the right hand side of Blacks clock.

If you click that a list will appear, the last one in the list is like a wheel.

That is for the settings, it has tabs for the pages along the top and various options on each page.

I looked at all the pages, I am sorry, it does not seem like they have that option for live chess.

Hi Rachel

I changed the title of my topic, it is now called: Mouse Slips + Disabled Players

I then checked your profile for your live games, I see that you play with 10 minutes.

If you struggle at this time control perhaps you may consider playing slightly slower games, then you can relax a bit more when you are making your moves.

May I suggest "15 | 10" this gives you 15 minutes + 10 seconds added for each move played.

There are 2 ways to make moves on the board, in the examples a Pawn moves from e2 to e4.

1. Drag and Drop

2. Click and Click

Drag and Drop

This method of movement should perhaps be avoided as you have to keep pressing the mouse button when you make your moves.

Click and Click

This is the method of movement that I recommend for you.

A click is just a normal mouse click, you click and release, you do not keep pressing.

1. Move the mouse pointer to e2 and click once.

2. Move the mouse pointer to e4, without pressing when the pointer is moving.

3. Once you are over the e4 square click once.

I hope this helps you enjoy the game more.

All the best.

Steve