Reconnection and proxy control are needed

What it is

Reconnect and proxy control maintains the absent player's character, state, and decision continuity after a disconnect: offer a recoverable window and reconnect path, assign teammate control, AI policy, pause, or mode degradation during it, then substitute or settle only after the window closes.

Why it happens

Reconnection is not restoring a login; it restores game state and input authority. The server must preserve position, health, cooldowns, economy, task binding, and permissions; on return, synchronise differences and grant brief protection so the player does not die instantly or recover gear only to lose it again. Proxy control follows match structure: co-op can let teammates temporarily control or have AI maintain minimal duties; competitive play can use sealed practice, delayed AI, or remove the character from combat so proxy control never gains supernatural precision; turn-based play can skip turns or vote within the team. Window length should match plausible network recovery, from tens of seconds to minutes, while showing remaining time, who controls, and what proxy control can do.

Where it stops holding

Proxy can be abused: deliberately disconnecting so AI preserves an advantage, or handing the character to a more skilled teammate. Rules must keep proxy competence minimal, log takeover events, and prevent restored players from inheriting resource gains produced by proxy. Long reconnect windows make nine people wait in fast games; low-population modes cannot find substitutes. Reconnect cannot solve broken hardware or stolen accounts, so teammates need a route to early settlement. Cloud and mobile networks have brief jitter that may trigger the flow repeatedly; policies must prevent looped idling.

Applying it

• For each mode, define reconnect window, protected state, proxy hierarchy (teammate, AI, disengage, settlement), and resource rules on return, visible to the whole team.
• Log disconnect, takeover, recovery, and proxy gains; after reconnection, give a thirty-second tactical recap and role-state summary.
• Verification: inject 15-second, 2-minute, and 5-minute disconnects, comparing win-rate change, teammate burden, and reconnect success; test whether proxy play becomes superhuman or farms resources, and check whether returning players understand the situation.

Related

• Same group: W9.10.1 Disconnection harms other players · W9.10.3 Punishment must distinguish deliberate quitting from network failure
• Nearby: K1.02 Latency and network resilience · I1.02 Feedback and sense of control · W9.07 Cheating and fairness
• Search terms: reconnect window · AI takeover · disconnection recovery · proxy control