Frequently Asked Questions General
Q: What is Certus Games?
A: Please read the about page.
Q: What are the technical requirements for the games?
A: Please check the Technical Requirements document.
Q: Is it free to play the games?
A: Yes. All you have to do is to create an account. However free accounts have limited access to features and games.
Q: I am having problems with the site
A: Please make sure you use an up-to-date browser. http://certusgames.com has been tested and verified on the latest browsers including (but not limited to) Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari.
Q: How should I behave?
A: At all times, you should behave accordingly to the Netiquette and Terms of Service. If you come in contact with one that doesn't, please contact the admin for the game.
Account
Q: How do I create an account?
A: Creating a Certus Games account is as easy as filling out this simple form. Once created you will have to verify the account. Once verified you can login with that account and start playing the games.
Q: I am unable to login.
A: Please verify that the entered username and password is correct. Check that caps-lock isn't active. If you are still unable to login, you can get a new password created and send to your account by clicking here.
VIP Features
Q: What is meant by enhanced in-game features?
A: Some games will have extra features activated when it is being played by a VIP. This includes, but is not limited to shortcuts, expanded history, expanded move lists, expanded userinfo.
Q: How do I use my VIP Guestook?
A: All accounts have a Guestbook associated with it, however only VIPs may read their guestbook and sign others guestbook.
When someone has signed your guestbook, you will get a notification on the frontpage. You will then be able to go to your
guestbook and read the entry. If you accept the entry it will become visible for other VIPs reading your guestbook. Already
accepted entries can also be removed. A VIP may only sign a single guestbook with a limited amount of unaccepted entries.
Q: What is a friends list?
A: As with the guestbook all accounts will have a friends list. You can add new friends to your list by visiting their account page (either in-game or from the search bar).
Once you have applied to become their friend, you will have to wait for them to accept the friendship.
Once accepted you will be able to access their account directly from your friends list. A friendship can be broken by either of the two friends.
Q: Why is support limited to VIPs?
A: Support is only available to paying customers.
Q: Why do some players have an  icon linked to their name in the games?
A: They have been flagged as quitters. That is, they have recently left a game in progress. It is very annoying when participants in a game leave before it is finished. To that end, VIPs are able to flag the user as a quitter using the command /quits.
The player tagged as a quitter will be flagged for a specified online time period. The player will keep the flag until the time period expires. A quitter flag is global for all games.
Q: What happens to all my VIP related information if I lose VIP status?
A: All your information is kept in our system. So if you temporarily don't have VIP status, all your guest book entries, people on your friends list and game statistics, will not be lost. If you later become a VIP once again, your account will include all previously information.
Games
Q: How do I play the games?
A: Click on any game link on the frontpage to go to that game. Each game page has a link to the rules for that game. When you enter a room you will be presented with a list of users and a list of tables being played at. Either click on a table to go to the table or on a chair to take a seat at the table. If there are no free tables, you may create your own by clicking on the 'Create table' button on the top toolbar.
Q: Are there any special commands I can use in the chat, like emotes?
A: Yes. You can click the emote button to the right to get a list of emotes. Furthermore you can execute some commands to determine when a player was last seen or what the time it. Please check the Client Commands page for a list of available commands.
Q: Why do the games sometimes play really slow?
A: The games will ordinarily run fine on a medium or slow computer; however you may have other programs running in the background that will affect the performance of the games. Typical applications include: Skype (or other Voice-over-IP applications), Webpages with Flash animations, Antivirus. If you experience slow downs, please shut these programs down, or upgrade your computer.
Q: Why do I lose 50 rating points when my network connection is lost?
A: The Symfoni platform supports relogin's. So if you lose your network connection you have five minutes to reestablish game connection. This can be done without any penalty. But if you lose connection three times during a game, you will be kicked from the game with a penalty of -50 rating points.
By doing this we seek to minimize the risk of interrupted games where players leave because they are losing. Rating lost due to disconnections is not refunded, mainly because the 5 minute reconnect period enable players who temporarily lose connection to reconnect and continue the game.
Abuse
Q: A player was being verbally abusive
A: You can ignore that user by selecting the 'ignore' option. If the problem persists, you can contact one of the admins for the game and tell them about the incident.
Operating System
Q: I am unable to connect to the games using Linux
A: This is a Java/Linux character conversion issue. The Java plugin needs to be told to communicate with a different characterset than the standard used.
Guide for Ubuntu Gnome, Sun Java 1.5.0
1: In the top menu, select System -> Preferences -> Sun Java 5.0 Plugin Control Panel
2: Select the Java Tab
3: In the 'Java Applet Runtime Settings' click the 'View...' button
4: Double click the 'Java Runtime Parameters' table entry for the Product Name 'JRE', Version '1.5.0_06', to begin text entry
5: Type: -Dfile.encoding=ISO-8859-1
6: Press OK and exit the control panel
7: Restart the browser and try again
|
