Time is money, or are you going to waste it?

Hello everyone. I want to raise a topic that has concerned me for a long time, namely "Online Game Time." This topic does not encourage anyone to do anything; I simply want to express my overall view of the situation. **History** Let's start with history. Online play in Heroes began somewhere around 2007. Unfortunately, much hasn't survived, but more or less regular tournaments and decent rules appeared sometime towards the end of 2008. Tournaments started being held on HotA even earlier, something like 2003-2004, but even there, I couldn't find an early version of the rules. What I did see when I joined HotA was that the rule set had a turn timer of 4 minutes. With the introduction of the Jebus Cross template in early 2009, a discussion arose about switching to 6 minutes. I don't remember if we had this topic here; I didn't find it, but on HotA, there was THIS one. At that time, most people supported the idea, and on **March 10, 2009**, changes were made to the rules. On **July 30, 2009**, vbn invented the HMM3 Lighter program, which allowed troops and artifacts to be transferred from hero to hero with a single button. This was an argument for SoD players not to switch to WT, which appeared almost at the same time. Time passed, tournaments were played, and then HD-mod by baratorch appeared. I don't know exactly when it appeared, but our forum shows information appearing on **October 1, 2010**. This was a real breakthrough for fans of SoD. It seemed like HERE IT IS – a solution to all problems: fast army transfer, separation of units, and many other useful features. Now, in terms of interface, SoD could compete with WT. Then began an illogical and incomprehensible process for me... **THE TURN TIMER STARTED TO INCREASE.** WTF??? How? Why? :confused: People started playing consistently with 8 minutes, and often even 10... :smile11: The reasons for this action were varied: some felt more comfortable, some wanted a higher quality game, and for others, it was the only way to compete with professionals. In general, the arguments are logical and understandable, but the trend itself seems alarming to me. On **April 9, 2012**, the question of turn limits for different templates was raised in a vote. Personally, I see this as a warning sign. On **September 1, 2012**, the "Favorites, into Battle - 5" tournament starts at this link, where the time limit is 8 minutes on CM and balance maps, and 10 minutes on the rest of the templates. For me personally, this is a reason to start this topic (I just didn't have time before). **Reasons** Now I will try to explain the position that I hold in this matter. Of course, it is obvious that the more time given per turn, the better the game becomes. Offline tournaments (single-player games played for speed) are an example of this; during real-time, a perfect game can be shown. While this may be somewhat different, the point is clear. However, there are several drawbacks: 1. **Prolongation.** Increasing the time per turn prolongs the game. What could be played in one go or, if necessary, in two, now takes three or more turns. This leads to delays in tour deadlines, extensions of tournament timelines, and consequently, players dropping out and losing interest. I won't even mention that there has become a trend of not finishing postponed games or withdrawing from tournaments because of unwillingness to spend time on non-decisive games. If you used to be able to play several tournaments, now players simply can't handle it. 2. **Game Quality.** Many use this argument. However, watching streams of games, which there are plenty of now, I came to the conclusion that there isn't enough of it. People play with 10 minutes and actually sit there thinking; they really don't have enough of those 10 minutes. Previously, when playing SoD with 4-minute turns (without Lighter, without HD), some players managed to show a very decent level that many players of the modern generation wouldn't even dream of. Personally, I remember such players as Paladin, Stinger, vitalic, Pit, invisible, scorp, Neoandy, Deep Mike, and many others. These people were creating wonders at that time. And I haven't even mentioned that Chaos League was played with even 2-minute turns. Tournaments held in clubs before TE also had fast turn timers. And people still played. 3. **Spectacle.** Many complain that Heroes is not an esports discipline, that games last for hours, and it's boring to watch... Last year, Heroes appeared on the sk2tv website, where tournaments were held on small maps. At first, everyone laughed, but then all the players got involved, and I even played several matches according to the rules of this tournament. For me, the advantages were obvious: the game took from 1 to 3 hours, moves were passed quickly, and the dynamics were amazing. Now I understand that kalababa and co know what they are doing. Respect. But now, waiting an hour for a move....... 4. **Equal Conditions.** Some say that when prolonging the game, you need to do a lot of things with several leveled heroes with control. But the opponent has the same situation; they also need to do the same thing. The ability to make quick and accurate decisions faster than your opponent is also part of the skill. 5. **History of Time in Chess.** Before the introduction of clocks, games could drag on for days or more until someone wore out their opponent. With the advent of clocks in the 19th century, the problem was solved. I won't go into details; here is just a chronology.

After the introduction of time control, the limit was constantly reduced:
initially, at the end of the 19th century, it was 2 hours for every 20 moves;
in the first half of the 20th century, they often played with a control of 2 hours for the first 30 moves and 1 hour for each subsequent 15;
by the second half of the 20th century, the limit decreased to 2.5 hours for the first 40 moves and 1 hour for each subsequent 16;
at the end of the 1980s, a control of 1.5 hours for the first 30 moves and 1 hour for each subsequent 30 moves was tested.

In recent years, tournaments have often used control with added time, for example, "Fisher tournament control," which is a combination of traditional limits on the period and Fisher control. In this system, the game is divided into three stages:
100 minutes for 40 moves (unused time is added to the limit of the second period);
50 minutes for 20 moves (unused time is added to the limit of the third period);
10 minutes until the end of the game, according to the Fischer system; after each move made, the player automatically receives an additional 30 seconds.

Now, blitz and rapid are more popular in chess because they take less time and offer greater spectacle. **Conclusion** What I want to say in conclusion. I wrote a lot of nonsense. But the meaning of it all is simple. Skill is the ability to show the best game under any time control. Those who manage to do more in less time are rightfully winning, while those who like to play slowly and move pieces leisurely can lose. The purpose of all this writing is to awaken the thought in the minds of the forum that we need to get moving, and there will be much more enjoyment from the game and tournaments. Think about it, think about it before it's too late:smile16:. I am not suggesting cutting everything off abruptly; I just suggest **trying** to reduce the game time, at least in casual games. Maybe later we will reach tournaments as well. Let's argue! :smile35: