WhatA multiplayer dropped/rejoin option
WhyIn (large) multiplayer games the chance of someone tripping over his/her powercord is always a danger. This is especially bad when it happens a couple of hours into the game. The multiplayer game will have to be ended, and a save loaded. I wish to suggest using the existing savegame mechanism and expanding it.
How1. A player is dropped from the game (powercord alert)
2. The game freezes, and a save is made
3. A 'waiting for player' window pops up
4. All players can vote to either wait for, or kick the player that timed out
(if choice = wait)
5. The dropped player restarts the game, and rejoins the server
6. The server sends the save game from step 2 to the player
7. The game resumes normally
(if choice = kick)
8. The dropped player will be pissed off
Basically you're skipping the Quit to Lobby, Restart Server and Rejoin Server steps, and you're save game is exactly where you left off.
If the player that dropped is the server, the save should be made after server migration to a different player, the rest remains the same.
Just an idea.

Greetings,
Warpath
(Cardassian Union)