A question for experts

[fatboyslimjim]

I am not an expert at any of the games I play on BGA, so this is an honest question and I'm not calling out anyone. But I am curious about this. If there is a table of average or apprentice tables, do you, as an expert, enjoy joining that game and winning that game?

For me, it wouldn't be a challenge. However, as I said, I am not an expert so I don't know why an expert would do it? Do you like the domination? The low risk of lowering your rating? No one else is playing the game you want to play so it's apprentices or nothing? You don't consider your rating and you just like playing whomever? Some other reason?

Again, just curious. No judgment.

[RicardoRix]

I'm not actually an expert in anything, but strong in a lot of things. I have been known to join low rated players as a strong player, and also join a high rated table as an average player to see if I can make an upset.

It of course depends upon the player, and it can depend a lot on the player pool.
If there is only a very few number of tables out there though, then what else are you going to join?

I find it best to always play against players your own ability, whenever possible.
There are table restriction settings. Use them!

I also think it's a fallacy that experts will beat up on younglings just for ELO/points. It's actually the other way around, they have more to lose. They might likely come across a player/players that are climbing the rankings and are actually far better than their rating.

Either way, you learn more from your loses, and everyone is beatable, even the #1. So give yourself a chance, you'll likely learn more than you think.

[ViolentSilence]

Not an expert, but I can maybe suggest a few things that people have said in places that has stuck with me.

Tom Vasel on the Dice Tower will regularly play games with less experienced people, but when he does so, he generally tries out weirder strategies if its a complex game, so he is less likely to destroy the opponents, but he also may learn something he can use if he does play the game to win later on against another expert.

Some may play with beginners because they enjoy helping players get in to a more complex game. That's probably where I'd be if I was an expert. I think I'm rated Strong on Incan Gold, but that's a very lucky game so I don't put much stock in my rating on that

I think there are questions of ELO here. I'm not 100% sure, but I think your ELO score takes a bigger hit if you lose to lower ranked players so some experts may also avoid beginners etc for that reason. I generally couldn't care about ELO though!

[Romain672]

Personnally, I limit usually to 200+ elo, to only get people which got some experiences.

I've try some tables at 3 players, and even if people don't play against me, when they got similar choice to help me or the other player they will naturally just choose the other player, which often make me angry on that part, so I stopped playing with new players in multiplayer.

And so I personnally goes into cooperative games, since it, you can share strategy, and play with any level of players more easily I believe.
The thing about hanabi which is the counter example is that any mistake you make in Hanabi cost a lot, potentially the game. And so I believe that make the community be less friendly. While on like the crew, a mistake has an high chance to cost nothing, and a chance to just lose the mission. But hanabi's game is 20+ min, while one mission of the crew is ~4 min.

[vichy]

I am not an expert at any of the games I play on BGA, so this is an honest question and I'm not calling out anyone. But I am curious about this. If there is a table of average or apprentice tables, do you, as an expert, enjoy joining that game and winning that game?

For me, it wouldn't be a challenge. However, as I said, I am not an expert so I don't know why an expert would do it? Do you like the domination? The low risk of lowering your rating? No one else is playing the game you want to play so it's apprentices or nothing? You don't consider your rating and you just like playing whomever? Some other reason?

Again, just curious. No judgment.

I'm not an expert in anything but I do play with apprentices sometimes.

sometimes it is for them, so that they can practice and discuss doubts if they have. or try a game, if it's your first game. and that I remember that when I was new I didn't always find friendly players.

sometimes it's for me. I'm killing time while doing something else, I'm not 100% dedicated to the game. domination and winning easily doesn't matter to me. I often don't look at the scores. The fun for me is playing, not winning.

[Meereseule]

I just play for fun and don’t care about my ratings.

Also I think, new players can learn from more experienced players. That’s how I got good in some games.

Another thing. When a table is open for a long time and nobody joines, I sometimes join a game, so the other one can play.

But, what I see and this is really a problem, is that (especially in cooperative games) some experts are really over the top. It’s annoying, that they are so focused on winning, that they can’t have fun anymore and are criticizing way too much, always pointing fingers.