Moderator: Preparing and Running a Game

The moderator dashboard is the control surface for preparing games, starting games in rooms, sharing room links, and monitoring sessions.

Basic Flow

1. Sign in as a registered user.
2. Open the Execution tab and select the room.
3. Upload or choose a game definition.
4. Start the game in the selected room.
5. Share the room link, or reserve and share a shorter room shortcut.
6. Monitor Game Catalog and Upload, Active Sessions, and Moderator view.
7. Stop the game when new joins should no longer be accepted.
8. After sessions finish, open Run Logs if you need logs, tables, charts, or analysis exports.

Dashboard Areas

The current dashboard emphasizes the live classroom flow:

• account and logout controls,
• Execution tab with selected room, room link, optional shortcut, game catalog, active sessions, and moderator view,
• Run Logs tab with completed and live run records,
• supporting status and system information.

The account controls stay visible above the tabs. The exact layout may change, but the workflow remains room-first: select room, start game, share room link, then review logs after the run.

Workspace Tabs

Use Execution during class. It contains the room selector, room link, uploaded game catalog, active sessions, and the read-only moderator view.

Use Run Logs after or between runs. It contains historical run records, file views, tables, charts, same-game comparison, and AI-ready export text.

Rooms

A room is a player entry space owned by the moderator. The default room is main.

Use rooms when you want to separate:

• different classes,
• different workshop groups,
• test runs from live runs,
• simultaneous games with different entry links.

The selected room matters. A game started while room main is selected appears only on the main room link. A game started in another room appears only on that room link.

The main room is always available and cannot be deleted.

Each room can also have one optional shortcut. A shortcut is a short public path such as /r/classroom that opens the same room entry page as the longer room link. Shortcuts are reserved by moderator account, are unique on the current server, and can be released when they are no longer needed.

Game Catalog And Upload

The Game Catalog and Upload section contains uploaded games for the signed-in moderator.

Uploaded games belong to the moderator account that uploaded them. Other moderators should not see or manage those uploaded games.

Uploaded games are organized in folders. Click a folder row to expand or collapse its games in place. The Demo folder contains reference games and cannot be edited like account-owned uploads. Account-owned folders can be created, renamed, and deleted from the catalog.

To upload:

1. open Game Catalog and Upload,
2. click Upload and choose one or more .mgd or .xml files,
3. wait for the automatic upload result.

Uploading adds the definition to the catalog. It does not start a live game.

If a file already exists, the application may ask whether to overwrite it. If validation fails, the upload is rejected and the error is shown in the dashboard.

Starting A Game

Expand the folder that contains the game and click the play icon next to the uploaded game.

Common row actions are:

• play icon: start the game in the selected room,
• stop icon: stop an open game,
• player-plus icon: open a local test player tab,
• three-dot menu: open secondary actions such as rename, move, download, or delete.

Starting a game opens it for joins in the selected room. It does not mean a session is immediately full.

For fixed-player games, the server waits until the required number of players has joined. Players should see a waiting state before the session is filled, not an early view of the game.

The same uploaded game cannot be started twice in the same room while an existing open game is still active. Stop the existing game first, or start it in another room.

Room Link

Use the room link when players should join.

Share the room link through a course page, chat, email, slide, or QR code. Players use the link to enter their name and choose the open game. They do not need a separate session-specific link.

Copy room link always copies the full canonical room link. Use it when you want the explicit room URL.

Copy shortcut copies the short /r/... URL for the selected room when a shortcut has been reserved. Use it when the link should be easy to remember or type.

Shortcut names must use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. They must start and end with a letter or number and cannot use reserved words such as play, demo, moderator, or api.

Active Sessions

The Active Sessions panel shows sessions created under the moderator's games.

It may show:

• session id or label,
• game name,
• room,
• joined and connected players,
• status,
• event count,
• finalization action,
• log download action.

A session is a player group inside an open game. Fixed-player games may create a new session after the previous session fills. One-session games use one shared session according to the game definition.

Moderator View

Click Moderator view in an Active Sessions row to inspect the session without acting as a player.

Moderator view is read-only. For tree and matrix games it shows decision progress and the current public structure. For Free Form and market games it shows the current moderator-visible stage or snapshot when available.

Session Status

Common states include:

• waiting for players,
• running,
• completed,
• finalized,
• stopped.

Status wording may become more precise as the dashboard evolves.

Stopping A Game

Stop a game when no more players should join it.

Stopping prevents new joins. It does not erase historical session information. Existing players may already have pages open, so use stop deliberately during a live class.

Before Class Checklist

1. Upload or confirm the game definition.
2. Select the intended room.
3. Start the game.
4. Open test players and play a short path.
5. Confirm active sessions update.
6. Copy the room link.
7. Share the link with players.

After Class Checklist

1. Confirm sessions have completed or finalized.
2. Open Run Logs and review or download analysis data if needed.
3. Stop games that should no longer accept joins.
4. Leave uploaded definitions in the catalog only if they will be reused.