Party Poker Software Pet Peeves.

[CORed]

I'm going to start a bitch session thread, in the probably vain hope that somebody from Party A. Reads this and B. Gives a rat's ass. Paty poker's software sucks. I will list my pet peeves below. I will also give my proposed solutions.

1. Multi-table focus grabbing. This is the one that drive me nuts. As soon as a betting round starts, and the "Act in turn" checkboxes appear, the window grabs the focus. Even if it's actually my turn to act at the other table, the one at which the betting round just started pops up. It takes all of the self-discipline I can muster to keep from smashing my monitor when I am about to act at one table, and the other table pops up and it isn't even close to my turn to act.

Solution. Do it like Paradise does: Don't pop up the table window until it's my turn to act. Also, if it's my turn to act, and I haven't acted, no other table should grab the focus until I have acted.

2. "I keep clicking, but nothing happens." Just to be fair, I'm going to admit that I don't have the best hardware. I have an ancient computer (Pentium 166, Windows 95, dialup internet). However, Paradise's software never seemed to have any problem with this setup. The problem here is that, once you click a button or a checkbox, the client software doesn't do anything until it gets a response from the server. The check doesn't show up in the checkbox, the button doesn't move, nothing. In fact, when the software is in this waiting state, you can't even switch windows. So, if the connection is slow, or the server is slow, I am left wondering whether I moved my mouse and the click didn't register, or it did register and the connection or server is lagging. On a checkbox, this is particularly annoying. Often I will click the checkbox, see nothing, click it again, then see the check mark appear and disappear when the messages finally get back to the client.

Solutions:
Checkboxes: Okay, here the cut-rate Indian software developers just got it wrong. There is no reason the checkbox shouldn't get marked or unmarked as soon as you click it. The client should take care of the display, then send the message to the server. Actually, the best way to handle the checkboxes would be for the server query the client on the state of the checkboxes, when it is time for the player to act. There is really no need for the client to communicate with the server when they are checked or unchecked.

Buttons: Let me know what's happening. On Paradise. at least the buttons move (actually, the graphincs change so it looks like they move) when you click them. This helps. but it would be better if the window gave some indication--An animated graphic like web browsers, a text message, anything--that it is waiting for a response.

Hanging on wait: Find some programmers who actually know how to develop a multi-threaded client-server application. It appears that the fundamental problem is that the Party client software is just a terminal emulator with fancy graphics. It doesn't seem to do anything on it's own but display the data from the server.

3. The lobby is living in the past: Many people have complained about this. The lobby shows the table has two empty seats. You go to the table and it's full. This is especially bad with the low buy-in SNG's. By the time the lobby shows a new tournament is open, it is already full.

Solution: This one should be simple. Update every 10 seconds instead of every 10 minutes.

4. Sorcerer's Aprentice dialers. If I set my dialup to auto-connect, and I get a modem hangup while a game is in session, Party's client will keep spawning new dialers, which will all try to get the modem, preventing any of them from actually connecting. I have to quickly cancel them all, then reconnect manually.

Solution: I don't know enough about this API to give any specifics, but folks, obviously your developers screwed up here. Get it right. Maybe this is just a Windows 95 problem, in which case you can probably safely ignore it. I would be curious to see if people running newer versions of Windows have this problem.

General solution: Your marketing people have done a top notch job of capturing market share. You should be making lots of money now. Invest some of that money and hire some top notch developers who can write software that really works, instead of software that just kinda sorta words most of the time. If you don't you will see your customer base slowly dribble away to other sites, when they get tired of fighting with your crappy software. Maybe outsourcing your sofware development to India was all you could afford when you started up, but now it's time realize that getting good developers is one of the best investments you could make. This also applys to your costomer support.

[NutCrackerr]

Being able to join a waitlist for the SnG's would be a fantastic improvement as well.

[JDErickson]

[ QUOTE ]
I keep clicking, but nothing happens

[/ QUOTE ]

This is my biggest peeve. I have cable modem and sometimes I will click on a button 2 or 3 times before anything happens. Screws you up when you have 2 tables going and both are hitting at the same time.

[astroglide]

i hate the lack of responsiveness.

i hate the waiting lists (although it got better last release).

would also be nice if the software would snap to corners a la paradise.

[berya]

"2. "I keep clicking, but nothing happens." Just to be fair, I'm going to admit that I don't have the best hardware. I have an ancient computer (Pentium 166, Windows 95, dialup internet)."


THIS ONE HAS GOT TO BE THE WORST ONE BY FAR. And it is not your computer! Clicking these buttons multiple times is driving me nuts.

[David Steele]

One more:

There is a bug where you sit at one table, check wait for BB,
and then go into another table. When you quit the second table it sets you sitting out at the first table.
Then if you don't get the wait-for-big-blind off fast you will miss posting after the blinds pass too.


Also:
I think having the buttons needing two hits is to avoid
accidental raises when you are only clicking to get focus.
It doesn't bother me that much since I expect it.

[CORed]

Yes, I've noticed the "wait for big blind" bug, too. I also forgot another one. Since the last upgrade, the menu items that are supposed to bring up a web page in your default browser (e.g "my account") aren't working.

[Adde]

"2. "I keep clicking, but nothing happens." Just to be fair, I'm going to admit that I don't have the best hardware. I have an ancient computer (Pentium 166, Windows 95, dialup internet)."

I think this is because of the window not being activated properly by the software. If you look at a popped up window you see that (sometimes) the name list of the window is grey; at a properly activated window it is blue.

You have to activate the window properly before you can click the button. I always activate every window by clicking at the center of the table before I proceed to click the button. This may sound tedious, but you'll get used to it in a short while, and your button problems are gone.

Adde

[CORed]

Actually, I don't think that's it. It often happens when the window is active. It appears that the software just hangs when it is waiting for a response from the server. When it is in this state, nothing responds. You can't bring up another window, the check boxes won't change state, everything just gets stuck. I believe the problem is that everything you do is handled by the server, and that the software, even though it has multiple windows open, is single-threaded. The checkboxes should be handled by the client. If that were the case, the response would be instantaneous. When it's your turn to act, the client would send the action to the server, or if no box is checked, it would bring up the buttons. The checkboxes would be changed when another player's action renders your choice void, of course. Nonetheless, I will try making sure the window is active before I click a button or checkbox.

[Adde]

Actually, I don't think that's it...

Ok, then I just added a new item to the list of pet peeves. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]