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Time penalty vs. Point penalty

Posted By: Michael Sullivan
Date: Friday, 30 May 2014, at 2:21 p.m.

In Response To: Time penalty vs. Point penalty (Matt Cohn-Geier)

The difference is that the clock penalty starts very small and finishes with a bang. If you are 10 minutes late, the clock penalty is insignificant unless you are a slow player or have a lot of difficult decisions in the match, while a 1 point penalty is significant always. At 18 minutes, it's 3 points, which is a 30% ME penalty, while the clock penalty is still merely annoying for a non-slow player in most matches. OTOH, as you get closer to 26 minutes, the clock penalty begins to steepen. Playing the whole match with only delay time would have to affect almost anyone's play. But *still* is much easier than having to play from 5a-1acrawford after 4 points of penalty, and probably no worse for most late players than 1 or 2 points of penalty.

So point penalties hurt pretty hard as soon as you cross the late threshold, while clock penalties only start to hurt most players much as you get within a minute or two of forfeiting the match.

OTOH, starting the clock seems like the most natural penalty for lateness. By being late, you hold up the other player. Starting the clock limits how long they can be held up to only how long you could have held them up by playing slowly (if you started exactly 8 minutes late). So the punishment better fits the crime.

I prefer the clock penalty in general for that reason, though if you care about the deterrent value to starting 10-15 minutes late, a point penalty works better.

You could also make the clock penalty harsher earlier by starting the clock at the 8 minute mark, *and* reducing the delay time by 1 second for every N minutes of additional lateness. Same time to forfeit within a few seconds, but the match becomes much more uncomfortable to play at the 15-20 minute mark with a reduced delay time as well as only 5-10 minutes of thinking time. That has it's own problems though, with discouraging good dice habits.

Messages In This Thread

• Time penalty vs. Point penalty
  Chiva Tafazzoli -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 1:59 p.m.
  • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
    Bill Riles -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 3:11 p.m.
    • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
      Chiva Tafazzoli -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 5:08 p.m.
      • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
        Keene -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 5:28 p.m.
  • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
    Keene -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 3:25 p.m.
    • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
      Bob Koca -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 3:56 p.m.
      • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
        neilkaz -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 4:12 p.m.
      • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
        neilkaz -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 4:32 p.m.
        • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
          Taper_Mike -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 5:54 p.m.
        • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
          Robert Chow -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 8:56 p.m.
          • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
            Taper_Mike -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 4:40 a.m.
        • You cannot start both clocks when both players are late!
          Taper_Mike -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 4:47 a.m.
          • You cannot start both clocks when both players are late!
            Matt Cohn-Geier -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 5:17 a.m.
            • You cannot start both clocks when both players are late!
              Taper_Mike -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 7:00 a.m.
              • You cannot start both clocks when both players are late!
                TarHeelFan -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 11:26 a.m.
              • You cannot start both clocks when both players are late!
                Bob Koca -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 12:56 p.m.
                • You cannot start both clocks when both players are late!
                  Tom Keith -- Saturday, 31 May 2014, at 5:03 p.m.
                  • You cannot start both clocks when both players are late!
                    Bob Koca -- Saturday, 31 May 2014, at 6:06 p.m.
                    • You cannot start both clocks when both players are late!
                      Tom Keith -- Saturday, 31 May 2014, at 6:25 p.m.
  • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
    Matt Cohn-Geier -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 7:16 p.m.
    • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
      Stick -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 7:19 p.m.
    • Time penalty vs. Point penalty...small correction
      Rory -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 7:58 p.m.
    • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
      David Rockwell -- Thursday, 29 May 2014, at 10:43 p.m.
    • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
      Michael Sullivan -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 2:21 p.m.
  • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
    jdg -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 4:27 p.m.
    • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
      Chiva Tafazzoli -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 8:22 p.m.
      • Time penalty vs. Point penalty
        jdg -- Saturday, 31 May 2014, at 2:02 p.m.