I start to understand why people want to disabled the chat.

[compte obelète]

Well, a lot of time, more frequently on the original game, people just tell none stop everything, and people are likely to actually found the gold, , and this is anyoing, also when there a lot of people, we should have some limitations here , so likely to cheat whit that, I understand now the men wanted to play whiteout any chat in this game.

[nairobiny]

I don't know... the banter in Saboteur is the main reason to play!

[KlaatuBaradaNicough]

This game doesn't even make sense without table talk.

[Szepalmokat]

This game doesn't even make sense without table talk.

100% agree!
I believe that the game is only really funny if you can play with vocal chat / around a table.

[Mariana Gama]

No one talked in my gameplay of this game. i must be lucky then.. people agreed that is no use to troll geologists.. but then they loose to me , i played this class two times

[Yorgad]

This topic was discussed already:
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 449#p53449

Answer from BGA admin: "you are allowed to speak, to lie, or to say the truth."

What is not allowed is to reveal your role (i.e. your role card must remain face down), but that's all.

Cheers,
Y.

[Wreckage]

For the last year or so, there are more 5p tables and fewer 7p tables. At 5p tables, players generally agree there is no talking. At 7p tables we generally agree anything can be said.

Here are a few thoughts on the subject:
1. When sharing knowledge, it must be open to everyone at the table. Any form of private message is cheating.
2. In order to cooperate with discussion, diggers must also reveal info and weaknesses (where the gold is, who to break, etc.)
3. Open discussion helps diggers more than saboteurs.
4. 5p games, (with max sabs), favors the diggers slightly, so sharing information makes the teams even more unbalanced.
5. 7p games, (with max sabs), favors the saboteurs slightly, so sharing information makes the teams more balanced.
6. The biggest benefit to playing with 5 players is shorter games, and shorter turns.
7. The biggest benefit to 7 player games is richer strategy, and learning interesting tips through discussion.
8. Since there are fewer tables with open discussion now, experts can't share knowledge, and so the skill level on the site has dropped.
9. By default, open discussion is allowed, but players may agree to no talking, and the game can be enjoyed either way.

[Snowcrash000]

If you don't want to talk, you shouldn't even queue up for this. Sharing (mis)information and banter are the whole point of the game and it's nigh impossible for the miners to win unless they communicate. If you can't handle that, this probably isn't the game for you.

[AVTactics]

I would disagree with people who say "no chat = no game".
Online playing is different from offline. In online game experienced players prefer not to tell where gold is (as it least) because it ruins game balance, it becomes super hard to win for sabs, diggers get the advantage. This is the main reason why you can see unwritten rule of "dont tell where gold is" here on BGA, some players even state in table description "silent" or similar to that, moreover, when somebody doesnt follow this rule and continue telling where gold is he will likely be put in black-list by other players.

This "silent about gold" is not about to break fun or limit players "just because I want to" - no! With more experience many players just realized the difference between online and offline playing so this keep silence is about to keep balance, to keep fair chances for both teams to win.

I met some players who dont think so and they try to argue about that but on practice there is nothing to discuss, you will see how many experienced players keep asking not to tell where gold is, they will put you in black-list and stuff.

Is there anything else you should not tell about in online game? Yes, dont tell about direction where to dig (or tactics) and what cards you have on hand. Everything else is free to chat about, for example you can discuss roles, bluff about roles if you want to (except being on table that calls "silent" which means "completely silent").

[DutchBoy]

The whole point of the game is to communicate and to lie about the gold or about your role. When i am in a game with disabled chat, i just experience that the game is dead.

I love playing the game irl with my friends(ca. 10 ppl, we play the second variation with the geologists and stuff) and one of the things ive learned is that teaming is underrated in the game. most ppl dont rrly conversate about who they are going to bully, or what kind of cards they have, but it makes the game so much more dynamic, bc you can always lie and you can never trust someone fully.

So, in my opinon chat shouldnt be disabled, but it should instead be used more