Slitherine

I think that it could add to the game experience to allow "hot" joins for certain PBEM games. A game I play in particular is FOG: Empires, and it can allow up to 16 players. I had a recent example where a noob player accidentally "retired" from a game well in progress. They didn't understand what they were doing, and allowing them back in would have been nice. I assume this reason alone is fairly rare and perhaps not good justification, but it is one example. Other reasons include if/when a player may need to bow out and someone could step in, or a new player comes available, a player suffers a major setback and wants to rejoin as a different faction, etc, etc. IMHO this could add some nice options for players, and this includes the option NOT to use it in for their own reasons.

You understand that at some point people will start using this function, some kind of contractual battles will begin, etc. This is a nice feature, but players will find a way to use it to their advantage in foul play.