I've recently noticed an undisclosed change in the way the program treats wins and losses in regard to the ELO status.
Namely, now, even if the ELO is off, the counter still acknowledges if the game resulted in a win or loss.
When this is not much of a problem with individually won games, it is very frustrating with a cooperation one like Hanabi.
A loss is not always the fault of the entire table. Mostly it is due to beginners errors who have yet to master the rules and conventions of the game.
Thus I find it unfair to keep the counters running losses (as well as wins), while in the precedent version, ELO-off would show not such things. The game was essentially nonexistent in statistics.
Hanabi is a game really hard to lose. If given the opportunity any table can discard until the deck is emptied and the program still consider the few points they made as a win.
Therefore, the problem with continously running wins/losses hurts players' credibility.
In my beginner's days I blew those fuses, made people angry or frustrated and eventually learned to apologize right upon mistakes. Those losses on my record being my fault I wore them proudly, doing everything to avoid more, pleased to see the gap shrivelling as I was winning dozens of games
Now even if ELO is purposely off, my record shows other people mistakes! This is unfair in regards to two types of players: beginners and hot-blooded-care-for-none-misfits.
The first will make mistakes and they can be forgiven as long as they learn the trades of the game. This is why I sometimes proposed practice sessions to help them understand other players' conventions better. (I wrote a 6 pages post on those). Teaching hanabi to new players is fun, but also time consuming: beginners must be placed in the right mindset to work those clues in efficient ways. Thus it is unfair to punish teachers like me and many others by staining their records with others' misunderstandings. (I teach this game a few times a week, as more beginners pour in)
This site is openly keen on having people play joyfully together while helping new players find a good time.
Yet, knowing that I will be singled out through my win-losses statistics (for everybody to see) doesn't make me want to teach beginners anymore, especially not in a game where chatting is the easiest way to cheating. This results in a villainous mindset where good players will not want to have anything to do with noobs, casting them aside and hence, reducing the sociability around this game.
As the policies on BGA seems to promote civilized fun-sharing gaming, I find that this new use of the ELO-off status is ostracizing new players.
The second type are just angry AHO that should invest in a punching bag rather than dispensing their real life frustration on a family game site like BGA. Granted we all have bad days! But some seems to make it a game within the game to be rogue on purpose. It is often the guy that will not bend to the majority when asked for a collective withdrawal, forcing everybody to play until the last card. While it is obvious most players on the table are fed up with such behaviours, they'll shut up to finish asap, rather then reasoning with an unreasonable person.
Such trolls will often purposely play wrong to impose fuse token on the table, probably grinning with sadistic content behind their screen. Therefore, two or four players now have on record a loss that isn't of their doing, reminding them they shouldn't trust anybody, the opposite feeling of what Hanabi is about.
More importantly, This behaviour used to show in the troublemaker's record that he is one, because the gap between his wins and losses was so big compared to what a regular player would get, mostly because they angry people in the chat causing them to do mistakes, or purposely making mistakes themselves.
The old ELO-off status would shield players from such happenings. If I haven't yet played with you, I prefer ELO-off games so I can get to know you before giving those green thumbs-up. This is not Facebook, where it's normal to like anybody to avoid social backslashes! Thumbs-up should reflect how pleasant people are and how good they play.
So here it is! Even if that new ELO-off settings works in general, I sincerely believe it is ill-suited to the cooperative, polite, trustworthy world of hanabi.
Since this site aims at promoting good synergy between players, coming back to the old version would be a plus for the aforementioned reasons. Do, please, Consider it
If you agree with the views stated in this post, please leave at least a tiny comment, so it reaches game designers through statistics. Thanks!
Namely, now, even if the ELO is off, the counter still acknowledges if the game resulted in a win or loss.
When this is not much of a problem with individually won games, it is very frustrating with a cooperation one like Hanabi.
A loss is not always the fault of the entire table. Mostly it is due to beginners errors who have yet to master the rules and conventions of the game.
Thus I find it unfair to keep the counters running losses (as well as wins), while in the precedent version, ELO-off would show not such things. The game was essentially nonexistent in statistics.
Hanabi is a game really hard to lose. If given the opportunity any table can discard until the deck is emptied and the program still consider the few points they made as a win.
Therefore, the problem with continously running wins/losses hurts players' credibility.
In my beginner's days I blew those fuses, made people angry or frustrated and eventually learned to apologize right upon mistakes. Those losses on my record being my fault I wore them proudly, doing everything to avoid more, pleased to see the gap shrivelling as I was winning dozens of games
Now even if ELO is purposely off, my record shows other people mistakes! This is unfair in regards to two types of players: beginners and hot-blooded-care-for-none-misfits.
The first will make mistakes and they can be forgiven as long as they learn the trades of the game. This is why I sometimes proposed practice sessions to help them understand other players' conventions better. (I wrote a 6 pages post on those). Teaching hanabi to new players is fun, but also time consuming: beginners must be placed in the right mindset to work those clues in efficient ways. Thus it is unfair to punish teachers like me and many others by staining their records with others' misunderstandings. (I teach this game a few times a week, as more beginners pour in)
This site is openly keen on having people play joyfully together while helping new players find a good time.
Yet, knowing that I will be singled out through my win-losses statistics (for everybody to see) doesn't make me want to teach beginners anymore, especially not in a game where chatting is the easiest way to cheating. This results in a villainous mindset where good players will not want to have anything to do with noobs, casting them aside and hence, reducing the sociability around this game.
As the policies on BGA seems to promote civilized fun-sharing gaming, I find that this new use of the ELO-off status is ostracizing new players.
The second type are just angry AHO that should invest in a punching bag rather than dispensing their real life frustration on a family game site like BGA. Granted we all have bad days! But some seems to make it a game within the game to be rogue on purpose. It is often the guy that will not bend to the majority when asked for a collective withdrawal, forcing everybody to play until the last card. While it is obvious most players on the table are fed up with such behaviours, they'll shut up to finish asap, rather then reasoning with an unreasonable person.
Such trolls will often purposely play wrong to impose fuse token on the table, probably grinning with sadistic content behind their screen. Therefore, two or four players now have on record a loss that isn't of their doing, reminding them they shouldn't trust anybody, the opposite feeling of what Hanabi is about.
More importantly, This behaviour used to show in the troublemaker's record that he is one, because the gap between his wins and losses was so big compared to what a regular player would get, mostly because they angry people in the chat causing them to do mistakes, or purposely making mistakes themselves.
The old ELO-off status would shield players from such happenings. If I haven't yet played with you, I prefer ELO-off games so I can get to know you before giving those green thumbs-up. This is not Facebook, where it's normal to like anybody to avoid social backslashes! Thumbs-up should reflect how pleasant people are and how good they play.
So here it is! Even if that new ELO-off settings works in general, I sincerely believe it is ill-suited to the cooperative, polite, trustworthy world of hanabi.
Since this site aims at promoting good synergy between players, coming back to the old version would be a plus for the aforementioned reasons. Do, please, Consider it
If you agree with the views stated in this post, please leave at least a tiny comment, so it reaches game designers through statistics. Thanks!
