I have the kind of job that, on rare occasions, takes me away from internet access for a few days without prior warning. Maybe once or twice a year, but it does happen.

Now, I generally know ahead of time, so I don't join any games that are going to be going on when I'm gone, but every once in a while I do need to pick up and go all of a sudden.

Normally, and that is to say on the one previous occasion when this happened, I ask for a pause, and everyone has been generous and given it. However, this time I happened to be playing two 24-hour games, and one person in both games said that "they don't pause, as a matter of principle."

This meant that I had my wife playing for me, who has never played before and who's stewardship was, through no fault of her own, a disaster. People knew there would be a weaker player and took immediate advantage.

So, I took my lumps. One of the games went from a very strong position to near extinction. So be it.

However, in my other game, I managed to hold onto a decent enough position to restore power, upon my arrival, and progress with a very good ally in England. Then, my English ally went on vacation, leaving the game in the hands of his totally well-meaning but also incompetent son. Very soon, as a result of the new player not knowing what they were doing, we were on the verge of defeat.

Add to this the pause when the servers changed, and the chaos when another player missed a turn upon the unpause, and the game has just generally not reflected what is going on.

So, my question is what is the policy on just throwing out games? I don't know if it's worth doing in these games, because I really don't care about the results, but what is the mods' general rules on this? The players who have benefitted from the chaos are generally unwilling to discuss various options (I suggested a draw just to end the game and move onto something new) and are taking full advantage. I recognize their right to do this, but it feels contrary to the spirit of the game.

Is there a set rule, or is it determined on a case-by-case basis?