Can't create game with specific side any more

@Munich said in #519:

like others said before me: lichess could adjust the code a little bit. The change as it is now is a big let down.

Of course they could. But then the question is:

• What changes are fair?
• What UI Clutter does it entail
• What is the cost of upkeep
• Who is going to invest the development hours?

the last question is the thing, though. We take everything for granted, some enthusiast will do it, and not get much credit for it, unfortunately.

I doubt its a big code task, but even 20 lines of code need to be created by someone. An improvement can be achieved, but who is doing it?

@BeDecentForAChange said in #517:

Forcing your preferred color on random isn't either
Not forced, everyone is allowed to choose a game of their choice in the lobby

Having the feature doesn't mean it's fair. Also chess.com has a few million extra in budget even if it was.
Im pretty sure keeping a feature already built in doesn't take a few million extra.

Or it was deliberate, embracing the philosophy of Thibault to cut out the problem.

All philosophies have weak points.

No, if you start a game with random colours, you were still matched against people who pick a colour. Your solution sounds like you should only use the lobby for picking games, and not for matching games.

That's true, that's why you can choose a game where the color is randomized. (Im talking about casual games)

Not according to the download stats, the app is used a lot as it has much better UI than the mobile site.

You can have the app and use the browser version at the same time. Actually, I didn't know the browser version was even usable, I found out about it on a forum and it seemed like common knowledge that you use the app for ease of access to puzzles etc and the browser app for everything else. And again, that seems to be an issue with the app, not with the color option.

@Munich said in #521:

the last question is the thing, though. We take everything for granted, some enthusiast will do it, and not get much credit for it, unfortunately.

Open-source devs usually don't do it for public credit, just to showcase that they've worked on it, on their GitHub

I doubt its a big code task, but even 20 lines of code need to be created by someone. An improvement can be achieved, but who is doing it?

Well anyone can contribute. So it it's important to you, you can do it yourself. If it's only 20 lines of code, you can even pay someone 50$ to make the changes for you!

I can imagine it being well received, so if the pull request is made, please do share it here

ye, actually, if someone does it, I guess it would be the first time people write "thank you". ye, its not worth much, but normaly those coders are never praised.

Can I simply do the code? isnt there somehow a permission needed if parts of lichess gets reworked?

@NotTakenUsername said in #522:

Not forced, everyone is allowed to choose a game of their choice in the lobby

Yes forced, you are auto-matched against them

Im pretty sure keeping a feature already built in doesn't take a few million extra.

It won't, but the cost of upkeep could very well not be worth it

All philosophies have weak points.

Same argument could be made for yours then

That's true, that's why you can choose a game where the color is randomized. (Im talking about casual games)

Yes, you choose this option for you to have a random color. that still means that if I am matched against someone who picks white (because white/black and white means I play black). So this means that the color pickers and normal players would need separate lobbies or settings

You can have the app and use the browser version at the same time. Actually, I didn't know the browser version was even usable, I found out about it on a forum and it seemed like common knowledge that you use the app for ease of access to puzzles etc and the browser app for everything else. And again, that seems to be an issue with the app, not with the color option.

Having the lobby still persists the issue, unless color picked games are treated as an entirely different type of game across the site and app (just like blitz chess can't be matched against blitz anti-chess).

@Munich said in #525:

Can I simply do the code? isnt there somehow a permission needed if parts of lichess gets reworked?

You can clone the repo, make the changes, and the open a pull request to the GitHub repo. Thibault or one of the others will then review it and merge it (make it live) if there are no issues with it

@BeDecentForAChange said in #526:

Yes forced, you are auto-matched against them
There is no quick pairing for casual games from what I know, so no, you aren't automatched, there are always games in the lobby, you can choose one game of your liking.

It won't, but the cost of upkeep could very well not be worth it
So now the issue is about maintaining the code?

Same argument could be made for yours then
I dont have a philosophy, I like playing chess as a hobby and sometimes, I like playing certain openings with certain colors.

Yes, you choose this option for you to have a random color. that still means that if I am matched against someone who picks white (because white/black and white means I play black). So this means that the color pickers and normal players would need separate lobbies or settings
Why create a custom game when you can just choose a game with a player already waiting? And if playing with black all the time is a problem, create a custom casual game where you have the white pieces.

Having the lobby still persists the issue, unless color picked games are treated as an entirely different type of game across the site and app (just like blitz chess can't be matched against blitz anti-chess).
No, having the lobby actually solves the problem. You have freedom of choice. As my stats suggest, if you choose your games, you never run into such issues.

@NotTakenUsername said in #526:

There is no quick pairing for casual games from what I know, so no, you aren't automatched, there are always games in the lobby, you can choose one game of your liking.

There is quick pairing for casual games.

So now the issue is about maintaining the code?
No, the issue is about abuse. There could be a lot of arguments made for any of the solutions, one of them being maintenance, which is something Thibault mentioned in his forum post about the cost of maintenance.

I dont have a philosophy, I like playing chess as a hobby and sometimes, I like playing certain openings with certain colors.

Sure you do, it's that Lichess contributors should accommodate all types of preferences.

Why create a custom game when you can just choose a game with a player already waiting? And if playing with black all the time is a problem, create a custom casual game where you have the white pieces.

No, having the lobby actually solves the problem. You have freedom of choice. As my stats suggest, if you choose your games, you never run into such issues.

Yes, the lobby solves the issue, if normal games in there are no longer matched against color picked ones (so treated as a different type of game). This also means that these color picked games are matched entirely less frequently, meaning the lobby will be filled up with these, unless filtered out (so treated as a different type of game).

I'm not saying that's a bad solution, but someone needs to build and maintain it