Under an old account i went to London for 3 weeks. I had never been there and there is a lot to see. I clearly wrote that i was going on vacation, where i was going, and why. Did that stop people from replying that i was stalling, cheating, trying to drag games out, trying to get people to resign out of frustration? Nope. Personally, I have no issue with the vacation policy. I shouldn't be made to pay for others impatience.
Just my .02
Granted, some people actually go on vacation. Though I'm not sure who is lucky enough to go on 3 months of vacation in a year. Or, how one can go on "vacation" automatically when in time trouble. Or how vacations miraculously happen every single move you make, sometimes twice a week. I'm pretty sure you can play a chess move while enjoying a scone in Hyde Park these days. In the vast majority of cases, the vacation function is not actually a vacation function. It should either be severely overhauled (i.e., only 2 weeks of "vacation" permitted per year (all at once, without starts and stops,) and remove the "auto-vacation" feature,) or it should be eliminated entirely.
Granted, some people actually go on vacation. Though I'm not sure who is lucky enough to go on 3 months of vacation in a year. Or, how one can go on "vacation" automatically when in time trouble. Or how vacations miraculously happen every single move you make, sometimes twice a week. I'm pretty sure you can play a chess move while enjoying a scone in Hyde Park these days. In the vast majority of cases, the vacation function is not actually a vacation function. It should either be severely overhauled (i.e., only 2 weeks of "vacation" permitted per year (all at once, without starts and stops,) and remove the "auto-vacation" feature,) or it should be eliminated entirely.
3 weeks in another country, and chess was the last thing on my mind. I had no desire to play. I was caught up n the trip. One time i did take a 1 month vacation. I found out i can only fish, hike, and camp so often. I couldn't wait to get back to work.
Premium members get auto vacation. Some agree with it. Some dont.
I am 57. so i grew up learning and playing chess for what it is. A game of patience. I used to play postal chess when you actually had to fill out a post card and put it in the mail...and wait. Now you have online chess players that complain about someone taking seconds to make the first move.
This is a silly idea, people have lives. For some, logging in and making moves everyday isn't possible. It's a great feature I've used many times.
Daily games can take months or years to complete. Sometimes life takes priority and vacation is useful.
If you don't like vacation, join no-vacation tourneys and/or petition the site to add a no-vacation seek option.
This is a silly idea, people have lives. For some, logging in and making moves everyday isn't possible. It's a great feature I've used many times.
In the alternative--for those poor souls who no longer feel like playing at the time control that they intentionally chose to play at--perhaps they could pick a different time control? Or, they could just abuse the "vacation" function every move.
Or.... just get over it and move on. I used to get more than annoyed when i first discovered the vacation feature. I complained a bit, whined a bit more, and then... decided there are more things in life to enjoy. Yes, some abuse the vacation just like anything else, like continuing to accept more games, play bullet and blitz while you’re no so patiently waiting. You can decide to abort the game, it’s only one loss. Or just wait it out. I also understand how the vacation feature is a good thing. Illnesses, emergencies, unforeseen circumstances, and life in general happens. I can echo KetoOn1963, if i was on vacation in another part of the world, the last thing I’d be doing is playing chess.com.
There is no reason to remove the Vacation feature. If Chess.com were to use NORMAL time controls for correspondence, then yes, Vacation should not be needed, but they don't use NORMAL correspondence time controls. They insist on a move every X days. Because of this, Vacation time is needed because people could be going on a cruise (after the pandemic is over) and have no internet for a week.
If chess.com would use a traditional time control, like 10 moves in 30 days or 10 moves in 40 days or 10 moves in 50 days, with unused time carried over, then you could get away without offering Vacation.
For those unfamiliar with traditional correspondence chess, like ICCF (basically the king of all Correspondence chess), let's say you are playing 10 moves in 40 days. Both sides get 40 days on the clock. You spend 3 days on move 1, great, you have 37 days left.
After your 10th move, if you had 12 days left, you now have 52 days to make it through move 20, etc.
This way, if you spend a total of 1 day to make your first 5 moves, you still have 39 days to make 5 more moves, and you are going on that 10 days cruise, great, you still have 29 days left when you get back to make 5 moves.
This X Days per move is nonsense, and hence why I only play a tournament or two per year, and do most of my correspondence at ICCF, where I currently have 60 ongoing games!
And actually, I'd be in fewer games here than I am now if not for the fact that the latest thematic was the French, the granddaddy of all openings when I'm at the board, White or Black!
I also don't like the vacation feature. The ONLY times I've EVER seen it used has been when an opponent was desperately running out of time and they used the feature to avoid losing on time.
That said, some people apparently like the feature.
It seems like a very simple solution is for chess.com to add the ability to play no-vacation games as well as no-vacation tournaments. I can't believe that would be difficult to implement.
When I agree to a "3 day per move" time control, I'm not agreeing to "3 days give or take 3 months." A time control is a time control. Most of the globe has wifi. The vacation feature is just an excuse to prolong games indefinitely that should have been lost on time. It's frustrating for the opponent, and serves no justifiable benefit for the player using it. Unless you are vacationing in the arctic? In which case too bad for you? Get rid of the vacation feature, please and thanks!