I think pointless games should also not be counted in the stats. Anyways, yes, it was suggested also when points were introduced, and I do agree it could be nice to have them.

Newbies don't actually risk their points, as they get them back when the game ends if they have less than 100.

It would also be good to have these games to get to know the rules, and also for trying out variants.

yea, but they do risk points. you'll always be able to play but still if your looking to get a high point count you wont want to waste 30 or 40 on your first few games. both good points, i honestly dont know why they dont introduce it.

because the whole reason for the point system is to limit the rumber of games someone can be in, so that they don't join 100 games and only continue with the ones they are doing well in, going CD in the others. if 0 point games were an option, you might as well get rid of the entire point system.

they honestly have no other way to limit how many games a person is in....?

DJ: but the idea is that pointless games are, well, pointless...

They shouldn't count towards your statistics at all.

Why would anyone do that in games that have no consequence at all?

And if they do, what's the problem?

@ xapi fair enough, the problem is people going CD, but i guess points or no points isn't usually the greatest predictor of that anyway. but if folks who are new to the game and the site see the no points option, they may take it, and then have a frustrating experience with lots of CDs. but then again, maybe not.

Murk - There are, such as a forced limit. However, this system works very well. There have been players here who've kept up masses of games (I think I heard 16 as someones peak?) which are beyond others. Limiting them to 100points limits the amount of 'damage' that can be done if they find out that they're in too many games.
Also, adding pointless games wouldn't stop this. Players often join a number of games, then find they've got too many going and don't play them propperly. This would wreck the games which, pointless or not, you surely want played properly?

I think that murk's idea is good for three things:

1 - Variants wich you don't want to be a part of your record.

2 - Practice games.

3 - Games where it would make no sense to multiccount.

On the downside, the possibility that CD's are more common in such games exists.

Anyway, it's one of those things that you say "Ok, this would be a nice feature, but is it worth it?"

Perhaps you could limit the ammount of pointless games a person takes part in?

I know that I'm more reckless in a 10 point game than in a 50 point game.

WOuld I be infinitely reckless in a 0 point game? I'm not sure I want to find out.

There's a chance you'll act completely differently since there's nothing at stake but your time. I'm not against the idea, I'm not sure the limit on games applies here since these games are completely throwaway. The major incentive from earlier to play in a slew of games was because your "ranking" was based solely on raw wins.

@djbent:
the limit was actually removed when the point system was introduced, so you're right in saying that the point system is in part capping the number of games too (before you couldn't join more than 10 games)
having 0 pot games would allow people to try the game before playing... I mean, when I joined I was wondering how it worked, and wanted to start a game just for myself, but then discovered you needed at least other 4 players, so I decided to take over two CDs to make some experience. I still believe people should be able to try it out to see how it works, be it with 0 point games or with a sandbox mode.

@figlesquidge:
I have played with someone who had 27 games going; and he wasn't playing badly, but I think he was an exception

@chris: if I remeber correctly, at least one person arrived to "diplomat" with less than 2 wins, simple because he played a lot; but I might remember badly

and i did not say POINTLESS games i said POINTSLESS. i guess it does have a lot of potential problems. how about private pointsless games? that way you know none of the people will go CD immediately

would it be possible to put the people who are new to the site into some kind of probation period? maybe 3-5 games where they dont have any points with which to gamble with?

I know that some people who join are seasoned vets at the game so there could also be a button you press that opts you out of the probation period.

unless there are a bunch of people that like 5 point get-to-know-the-rules games, i think that by having games that dont cost anything it would reduce/eliminate those games. now im not saying that those games are bad there just wont be as many/any.