Reporting players who block - just why?

[james1974]

I’m guessing a lot that you’re hearing of are reports of people who block for the sake of it. This happened to me the other day. His route was on the other side of the map, but once he figured out where I needed to go, he blocked me.
Fair enough, I usually give them the benefit of the doubt, like you suggest. So I placed a train to go around and he blocked again. Different routes that couldn’t possible be related to a strategy. This happened one more time before I quit the game (I’d rather take the karma penalty than play out a game where this is happening) and reported them.
“It’s a game, they did what it took to win, isn’t that the point?” No. Being a ***** is not the point. Kingmaking is explicitly against the rules, so should this be.
Blocking where it turns out the person had a route they were trying to get to, I get. I don’t report. That’s stupid. But players who are deliberately screw with people and try to ruin the game? IMO reporting them should be done early and often.

Blocking another player's route options is big-time part of the game. If I can block you I'm going to do it. If you try to sneak around that - I'll block there too. That's the game. Calling people names, reporting, or rage quitting it is the bad behavior.

Not everyone plays board games the way you demand they do.

in a two player game yes, but in a 4 player game if player A decides to spend their time blocking player B while C and D go about claiming their routes is pretty pointless for everyone.

A won't win, B will be frustrated, and C and D won't get a real challenge.

[james1974]

Interesting. So, I’m new to playing, and was getting crushed by advanced players that used blocking. I wasn’t offended, or mad, I just thought” oh, it’s like sports, with offense and defense. I’m clearly unskilled at defense so I’ll try and develop that skill for a few games and see what happens.” People get MAAAAAD! Lot of name calling. Quitting. I was shocked. When I play sports if a person has a move that is beating me, then I try to up my game in a way to counteract that. I’m seeing now that it’s considered something of poor sportsmanship so I’ll lay off. But also don’t really agree. It’s a part of the strategy and gameplay. It has risks and rewards.a person that does that too much isn’t building their own and may lose! For me the fun of games is trying out things and testing strategies.

yes, some people want to play a game like chess with interaction and strategy, while others just want to time trial with minimal interaction (note that deliberately finishing the game as quickly as possible can also be a strategy; claim routes quickly then claim 6 carriage links to use trains in minimum turns, leaving opponents stranded with unfinished routes and cards and trains in hand.)

Being blocked is often a punishment for being greedy with too many routes, claiming your links in a poor order, or telegraphing where you need to go.

[Earthboundia]

I've heard from a couple Ticket to Ride connoisseurs that they get threatened in the chat, rage quit on, or straight up reported if they block their opponents. My question is, what the hey? If someone clearly has a certain route that's going to get them a lot of points and the opponent has the opportunity to block it and increase their chance of winning, why shouldn't they? The goal is to get the most points, after all. I get that it's really frustrating when it happens to you, but getting angry at the opponent is childish. I would consider buying a hard copy of the game and playing it solo if you just want to build some train routes uninterrupted.

From my experience there are 3 types of blocking. People who block accidently while trying to claim a route of their own not realising that they are blocking another person, a player who will block a route because it helps them but have a hunch that an opponent might be going there too so by blocking they are forcing the opponent to take a longer route and hence granting the blocker more control in the game. And the 3rd who will have no route or vested interest except to make other people unhappy by blocking a route that they know someone else is going for. The first two I don't mind, anyone who does the 3rd I will red thumb and it's obvious if someone is doing the third, if you are in doubt though look at the replay from the players perspective post game to see their tickets.

[ExaltedAngel]

I've heard from a couple Ticket to Ride connoisseurs that they get threatened in the chat, rage quit on, or straight up reported if they block their opponents. My question is, what the hey? If someone clearly has a certain route that's going to get them a lot of points and the opponent has the opportunity to block it and increase their chance of winning, why shouldn't they? The goal is to get the most points, after all. I get that it's really frustrating when it happens to you, but getting angry at the opponent is childish. I would consider buying a hard copy of the game and playing it solo if you just want to build some train routes uninterrupted.

From my experience there are 3 types of blocking. People who block accidently while trying to claim a route of their own not realising that they are blocking another person, a player who will block a route because it helps them but have a hunch that an opponent might be going there too so by blocking they are forcing the opponent to take a longer route and hence granting the blocker more control in the game. And the 3rd who will have no route or vested interest except to make other people unhappy by blocking a route that they know someone else is going for. The first two I don't mind, anyone who does the 3rd I will red thumb and it's obvious if someone is doing the third, if you are in doubt though look at the replay from the players perspective post game to see their tickets.

I think the third type is perfectly fine if it's in the interest of the blocker. I mean, let's say I have completed all my objectives, I can invest my remaining cars to block opponents ensuring me the win. I don't see anything wrong about it, it's a competitive game.

Different is someone who blocks generating a disadvantage for both himself and the blocked (in 3+p games). This is unsportsmanlike behavior and should be punished. In my experience it's very rare anyway

[icibici838]

Can someone advice me what to do. I won last few games but people gave me thumbs down because I blocked them and now I cant play now as my rating went down to 60%

[ManonIronteeth]

Can someone advice me what to do. I won last few games but people gave me thumbs down because I blocked them and now I cant play now as my rating went down to 60%

That’s a legitimate reason for them to give you a red thumb as they (and myself included) don’t like playing with people who block just to block. It’s your choice to block so it’s our choice to give you a red thumb so we don’t have to play with someone like you. You’ll just have to work your way back up past 60%, possibly with other games, and deal with it.

[DrakeStorm]

That’s a legitimate reason for them to give you a red thumb as they (and myself included) don’t like playing with people who block just to block. It’s your choice to block so it’s our choice to give you a red thumb so we don’t have to play with someone like you.

Does getting a red thumb have any effect on BGA except to make sure you don't match up with that player again?

Is there a way to see how many red thumbs you have? I must have a lot.

I understand there is a group of people who don't like blocking games, BUT don't join someone's game and then complain about it. OR don't complain about it in Arena mode which is set up for competitive play... especially once you reach elite level.

If there is no chance of blocking, you might as well draw tickets, see who drew the best and be done with it - no need to play out the game. If some one draws Seattle-NY and Van-Mon and you get NY-Atlanta and Kansas City-Houston, you have no choice but to block or you lose.

In a 4 player game it gets a bit tricky because it could be King-makering if you pick 1 player to block and leave the other 2 alone. And if you are the blocker, who do you decide to block - the player that is going to probably win, or the player ahead of you (i.e. you are going to come in 3rd with no chance for 1st, so do you block the #2 player, so you become #2). Personally, I would try to improve my position as best I could even though I can't win, or block the player that put me in the position so I couldn't win.

Most top players will only block if they have to. Either they got really bad starting tickets, or you draw like 5-8 tickets early in the game - there is no way they are going to let you complete them all - going from Seattle to LA to NY, etc...

Blocking is very hard if you don't make it completely obvious which tickets you have. So any lower level players trying to block, you should be able to still win.

Also remember a top player has to win 20-30 games in a row just to make up for 1 loss. There is no way of doing that unless they block in some games.

-Coming from your friendly sometimes-blocking Ticket to Ride World Champion.

[Jellby]

Also remember a top player has to win 20-30 games in a row just to make up for 1 loss. There is no way of doing that unless they block in some games.

That depends who they play against. If they play 2p against another top player, 1 win = 1 loss.

[Aoimoku]

Interesting. So, I’m new to playing, and was getting crushed by advanced players that used blocking. I wasn’t offended, or mad, I just thought” oh, it’s like sports, with offense and defense. I’m clearly unskilled at defense so I’ll try and develop that skill for a few games and see what happens.” People get MAAAAAD! Lot of name calling. Quitting. I was shocked. When I play sports if a person has a move that is beating me, then I try to up my game in a way to counteract that. I’m seeing now that it’s considered something of poor sportsmanship so I’ll lay off. But also don’t really agree. It’s a part of the strategy and gameplay. It has risks and rewards.a person that does that too much isn’t building their own and may lose! For me the fun of games is trying out things and testing strategies.

Hilarious, isn't it? I imagine if the average BGA player came out every now and then and played football, his ideal game would be all around the opponent's goal scoring freely and calling the goalkeeper 'rude'.

[TVivD]

I’m guessing a lot that you’re hearing of are reports of people who block for the sake of it. This happened to me the other day. His route was on the other side of the map, but once he figured out where I needed to go, he blocked me.
Fair enough, I usually give them the benefit of the doubt, like you suggest. So I placed a train to go around and he blocked again. Different routes that couldn’t possible be related to a strategy. This happened one more time before I quit the game (I’d rather take the karma penalty than play out a game where this is happening) and reported them.
“It’s a game, they did what it took to win, isn’t that the point?” No. Being a ***** is not the point. Kingmaking is explicitly against the rules, so should this be.
Blocking where it turns out the person had a route they were trying to get to, I get. I don’t report. That’s stupid. But players who are deliberately screw with people and try to ruin the game? IMO reporting them should be done early and often.

Blocking another player's route options is big-time part of the game. If I can block you I'm going to do it. If you try to sneak around that - I'll block there too. That's the game. Calling people names, reporting, or rage quitting it is the bad behavior.

Not everyone plays board games the way you demand they do.

I thought that was part of the game - blocking routes to keep your opponents from reaching their objectives while also trying to complete your own routes. Giving the person a thumbs down to remind yourself that you don't want to play with them seems fine, but actually reporting them for playing the game strategically is odd.