Personally, I find it more rude if an opponent crushes me and leaves chat without a word than if they type "gg". At least they acknowledge my existence that way. To me, it doesn't matter so much what people write in chat, as long as they write SOMETHING. We are not playing bots on here, but people.
I tend to use the preprogrammed niceties when I play on PC and always go for the GLHF sentence. I am not superstitious like some, that refuse to wish their opponent good luck, and on the other hand I also want them to have fun. So using only one of the two sounds like I don't wish them the other one. On mobile it's often easier to type glhf, and I have no issue with that either.
For me, gg is something you say at the end of the game, not at the beginning. I realize some have a different interpretation, so once in a while, when I see somebody type gg before a game, I realize it might not be mistyping (or accidentally selecting the wrong preprogrammed sentence).
I have also taken to choosing "Thank you for the game" if I win by a landslide, but in general what I always do and half expect other polite players to do is to be a good loser and type "gg" as a virtual handshake when they see that they've lost. Against some players that I play with a lot, I always lead with glhf and end with gg, and they will either type nothing or just gg at the end. If they're on mobile I understand that it's not that easy as you need to open the chat window which covers the play area, but I still do that for every game and I appreciate those who take time and effort to do that when they play against me. But even if I play game #100 against an opponent that NEVER typed a single thing in chat to me, I'll still greet them with glhf (or the full sentence when playing on PC) and end with gg. I want to set a standard, and it doesn't cost me much to have this habit. If I were to consider who is worthy of my greetings and which greeting I should use, it would take more effort, and I don't see the purpose.
Another very good reason for greeting EVERYBODY for me is that quite a few players will not only greet me back (like the overwhelming majority), but also type something more. Chat about the game can lead to more chatting and friendship requests, and I've made several virtual friends on here. I appreciate the BGA community, and especially these days, I believe it is important that as many as possible partake in international cooperation, even if it's just typing "gg" to an anonymous opponent in a virtual board game that takes a few minutes of your life.
TL;DR: Let's appreciate that somebody takes an effort to write anything at all, rather than assume that they are deliberately trying to insult you. Let's not raise our expectations too high. Playing hundreds of games a week (or whatever is a "high level of BGA activity" for you), it quickly adds up if you're going to type a whole sentence instead of a couple of letters. I'd rather have some interaction than none at all.
I tend to use the preprogrammed niceties when I play on PC and always go for the GLHF sentence. I am not superstitious like some, that refuse to wish their opponent good luck, and on the other hand I also want them to have fun. So using only one of the two sounds like I don't wish them the other one. On mobile it's often easier to type glhf, and I have no issue with that either.
For me, gg is something you say at the end of the game, not at the beginning. I realize some have a different interpretation, so once in a while, when I see somebody type gg before a game, I realize it might not be mistyping (or accidentally selecting the wrong preprogrammed sentence).
I have also taken to choosing "Thank you for the game" if I win by a landslide, but in general what I always do and half expect other polite players to do is to be a good loser and type "gg" as a virtual handshake when they see that they've lost. Against some players that I play with a lot, I always lead with glhf and end with gg, and they will either type nothing or just gg at the end. If they're on mobile I understand that it's not that easy as you need to open the chat window which covers the play area, but I still do that for every game and I appreciate those who take time and effort to do that when they play against me. But even if I play game #100 against an opponent that NEVER typed a single thing in chat to me, I'll still greet them with glhf (or the full sentence when playing on PC) and end with gg. I want to set a standard, and it doesn't cost me much to have this habit. If I were to consider who is worthy of my greetings and which greeting I should use, it would take more effort, and I don't see the purpose.
Another very good reason for greeting EVERYBODY for me is that quite a few players will not only greet me back (like the overwhelming majority), but also type something more. Chat about the game can lead to more chatting and friendship requests, and I've made several virtual friends on here. I appreciate the BGA community, and especially these days, I believe it is important that as many as possible partake in international cooperation, even if it's just typing "gg" to an anonymous opponent in a virtual board game that takes a few minutes of your life.
TL;DR: Let's appreciate that somebody takes an effort to write anything at all, rather than assume that they are deliberately trying to insult you. Let's not raise our expectations too high. Playing hundreds of games a week (or whatever is a "high level of BGA activity" for you), it quickly adds up if you're going to type a whole sentence instead of a couple of letters. I'd rather have some interaction than none at all.
