So when are we fixing ELO????

[Waugapapa]

I would REALLY like to play hearts on here.

Four games today. Every game had someone who was just dumping the queen, no matter what the score.

NONE of these players got first place.

Hearts only has a winner.

The only way to teach these players how to play hearts is to fix the ELO.

[harplox]

But nobody will do it....
For me under 150 cannot play in Arena

[yuniboshi]

BGA has been making their wannabe "ELO" worse and worse with every change that it's pointless to expect them to make a good change that actually moves it towards the right direction. Either it should be completely redesigned or deleted but since they're not going to do the obvious thing, the next best thing we have is the ability to block players who are throwing games and ruining it for other players. Sometimes they are players who are learning the game and genuinely played poorly despite trying and learning which is easy to distinguish from someone who clicked in without reading the rulebook. When I see some clear misplay I usually point out what the better play it would have been, some players apologize and that is a tell to me that they are actually trying. If I get ignored sometimes I block them and I encourage you to do the same if it becomes a source of your stress since getting angry over board games is not healthy.

[Carpety M]

I would REALLY like to play hearts on here.

Four games today. Every game had someone who was just dumping the queen, no matter what the score.

NONE of these players got first place.

Hearts only has a winner.

The only way to teach these players how to play hearts is to fix the ELO.

Do you have a good online resource that they could be referred to explaining to them why dumping the Queen is always strategically bad? Or more generally to help them learn how to play strategic hearts in a gentler way than changing ELO to punish them (without them necessarily having any idea why)?

[Jenny8675]

I agree, they should have just left ELO alone. No system will be perfect. The original may not have been perfect but it worked and players understood it. They should reinstate to the original and leave it alone, and everyone just get on and have fun.

[Chuck Skullz]

ELO in hearts is really insane. It absolutely ruins the game on here. It completely changes the incentive for people who either don't appreciate the original version/intent of the game, or it causes so much undo aggression towards players who have lesser skill.

It has no place in hearts. Award ELO points to the winner and only the winner. That is the only way to preserve the intent of the game. And you would be doing us all a huge favor in removing so much animosity on here.

[ufm]

Here we go again.

https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39046

[Beorn]

This has been mentioned on here for ages. The other big one is the game log showing every trick played which causes some players to slow down play so they can read the log and know what is safe to play. It is quite evident that BGA has no intention to ever change this. I hate saying it because I really enjoy the BGA site and have supported them for many years (Premium membership), but if you want to play a strategic game of hearts, this is not the site for it. When you get people Q dumping at will and people purposefully mooning knowing it will give them second, the game because very heavily luck based on what cards you are dealt.

[FrankJones]

... and people purposefully mooning knowing it will give them second, the game because very heavily luck based on what cards you are dealt.

This seems to me like a flaw in the game design. Mooning should never cause a player to lose. In that situation, 26 points should be added to the score of the player who mooned rather than subtracting from everyone else's score and causing someone else to win.

If a player is behind by more than 26 and gets a terrible hand with a lot of high cards, what is that player supposed to do if he or she cannot even try to go moon?

[FrankJones]

I think a far bigger problem is the ELo award when someone runs out of time. I know this topic has ben beaten to death, but ....

One player was having internet connection problems . But, it appeared as though all the players were going to let it slide and finish the game, which we did. I finished with the best score, but it turns out the 3rd place player or maybe the second place player kicked the ":out of time" player right at the end, causing all 3 of us to get the "win", which neither the 2nd place nor 3rd place player deserved. I doubt they would have kicked the out-of-time player if they had ended up in first rather than myself.

If people choose to play out the game to try to win, they should not be allowed to later kick the player out of time once their attempt falls short.