One of the problems with capture-the-flag modes in games is the possibility of deadlocking the game. It’s especially common when there are only a few players in the game. Here’s how it goes:

1. Blue team captures the red flag.
2. Red team captures the blue flag.
3. Blue team flag carrier runs back to the Blue base, and waits near the (now empty) flag point for the Blue flag to be returned.
4. Red team flag carrier runs back to the Red base, and waits near the (now empty) flag point for the Red flag to be returned.
5. Nothing happens until one of the flag carriers is killed. If there are only a few people playing, or if the flag carriers have a good defensive position, the game can stalemate.
6. Everybody quits the game in disgust.

The sports-FPS Warsow solves this problem by implementing a flag timer. When a player takes the enemy flag, a timer begins counting down. When the timer reaches zero, the flag is returned (with no penalty to the carrier). To make things more interesting, a couple of extra features are introduced.

• The flag carrier can reset the timer by walking over the enemy flag point.
• If one of the flag carrier’s team mates stands on the enemy flag point, the timer will count upwards instead of down.
• If the flag carrier’s own flag has been taken, standing on the flag point will make the enemy flag carrier’s timer count upwards instead of downwards.

The result of these rule changes is a decrease in flag camping and a much more fluid game. Players who don’t have the flag will still have a reason to attack the enemy base, because it provides an advantage to their flag carrier.