In principle, at least in casual games, it would seem to make a lot of sense. There's even an option to disable takebacks if you would like to, which I do.
In practice, it leads to tons of toxicity. Here's an extremely ordinary course of events:
1. A player makes a mouseslip.
2. A player requests a takeback. If I accept, the story ends here. But I'm under no obligation to accept.
3. The player becomes extremely irate and yells at me over the chat. He blames me for his mistake.
4. The player decides to punish me for his mistake by sitting online and waiting for his clock to flag.
This occurs even when I disable the button.
I think it should only be a feature when playing with someone on your friends list
I think the the feature is great, your opponents are the ones wrong. I suggest reporting them.
Unfortunately those types of people will always exist, it's probably best to report them and move on.
Personally I like this feature because if you're having fun with your friends and you wanna do a take back, then the option is available. Or if you're trying to teach someone and need to try and make them make a better move.
To get away from these people, playing in tournaments is always a plausible option, though I understand they are not available all the time in all types of variants with all types of time controls.
Redscales, shouldn't they be disables in rated games at least? If for nothing else, just for the integrity of the rating pools?
The option of taking back is good when you are playing against your coach/trainer. Otherwise, it should be disabled.
I think it'd be cool to have takebacks disabled and be asked in print to move something and back so that they would move their last move back in between, then re-move their last move. Doesn't work for all sorts of moves, though.. Great moment to put your queen en prise.
Nearly all mouse misclicks, no matter how grotesque they are, would be fatal then, especially when the opponents neither understand each other's language nor English. The takeback function is good as it is now and shouldn't be changed. Keep in mind that mouse slips happen much more often than 'hand slips' in face to face games. As for myself, (before Corona) in a face to face game I have never seen a player drop a piece accidently on a square where he didn't intend to put it and then push the clock. But online those kinds of slips happen. Especially because the move is already fulfilled when you just remove your finger from the mouse button, whereas in face to face games you still have to push a button on a clock afterwards.
#1 Hey, I like the idea of removing code. :-)
But seriously it's not my choice to remove such a feature.
I like takebacks because when my opponent suggests one, it instantly sends up the "he just blundered, I need to take a closer look at his move if I don't already see it" flag. I've gotten a few free queens that way.
