Can we Have Option for Block/No Blocking Games for People Who Hate SABOTAGE Players?

[Wistama]

Your reputation is not penalized by red thumbs.

Maybe not, but it can be somewhat harder to find games ?

Harder to find games against people who don't play the way you want to.

Enough red thumbs and we'll split up naturally into blockers and non-blockers.

That kind of splitting up, an amicable divorce, would be great -- if it were feasible. One problem is that "non-blockers" may not be a monolithic group. You have two ways to connect two cities -- is it blocking if you pick the less efficient one because it's more likely to block your opponent? Is it blocking if you take a segment that you don't need right now, but you might need it for future tickets? (E.g. you've connected Los Angeles to New York via Nashville, and you take Nashville-Atlanta in case you need Atlanta or Miami soon.) Is it blocking if you take a segment you don't need at all, but you have 6 of that color and you simply want the 15 points? In the hypothetical TTR-NoBlocking forum, there would be a lot of heated arguments about the rules/understandings.

[Jontia]

In the hypothetical TTR-NoBlocking forum, there would be a lot of heated arguments about the rules/understandings.

Sure, but that wouldn't be my problem any more...

[newbiegeek]

[quo

te=Suoivax post_id=233405 time=1764216883 user_id=1278057]

You might try looking at it another way...

Opponent has absolutely awful tickets, doesnt matter what you have, it WILL be better than his, so his only real option is to stop your scoring opportunity.

He tries that and fails.

And because you were successful in overcoming his strategy...... you're angry? you successfully overcame an-out-of-left-field strategy! you should be happy!!

I’m not angry, just annoyed. Sure, it feels good to win, and yes it feels like vindication to beat someone at their own game when they are being obnoxious. But my understanding is that these are supposed to be friendly games where everyone can enjoy playing. This is not supposed to be a cutthroat competition. When another player intentionally interferes with my ability to complete any tickets or attach my train and ignoring their own routes, that is 1) extremely frustrating 2) not at all fun to play and 3) feels spiteful. I don’t enjoy spending time with people behaving spitefully.

And I also disagree that “his only option was to stop [my] scoring opportunity”. He could have taken more destinations. He could have used the long routes. And how would he possibly know that my destinations “had to be better than his?” He could not.

Another game like this I got so frustrated I conceded. Because I think the whole point of this “strategy” is to make the other player feel frustrated. In my opinion, it’s the trolling of the online board game world. Afterward the person wrote “lmao”, which is the attitude I sense from this kind of playing. I will play with others who don’t behave this way.

Another person (or at least another account/username) used this same “strategy” today. I won by a lot. But it wasn’t fun. I only finished the game because I could tell I’d win anyway and didn’t want to give the person the satisfaction of my conceding.

That’s why I continue to thumbs down people who purposefully cut off all my routes, not even bothering trying to get their own. You can call it strategy, but I call it rude. If I wanted to play that type of game I’d challenge a toddler in the middle of throwing a tantrum. No thank you. They can troll someone else’s game.

[Ceaseless]

I’m not angry, just annoyed. Sure, it feels good to win, and yes it feels like vindication to beat someone at their own game when they are being obnoxious. But my understanding is that these are supposed to be friendly games where everyone can enjoy playing. This is not supposed to be a cutthroat competition. When another player intentionally interferes with my ability to complete any tickets or attach my train and ignoring their own routes, that is 1) extremely frustrating 2) not at all fun to play and 3) feels spiteful. I don’t enjoy spending time with people behaving spitefully.

I don't recall rated games with players that don't know each other having an obligation to not be cutthroat. Not to mention there's no reason a cutthroat game can't be enjoyed by both players either.
If you want to create mental stress for yourself over a player just playing the game, that's your problem, and trying to drag others down over it is just attempting to make a pleasant game uncomfortable for everyone.

And I also disagree that “his only option was to stop [my] scoring opportunity”. He could have taken more destinations. He could have used the long routes. And how would he possibly know that my destinations “had to be better than his?” He could not.

Taken more destinations? A bad idea in most circumstances, even worse when your current tickets are underwhelming, since now in addition to the lost turn you have more tickets that might be bad or just clash with the ones you already have and you've dug yourself into an even deeper hole. As for using long routes, that's a normal plan they should already be doing, but if both players are doing it (or if the ticket gap is absurd enough), another tool may be needed.

How can they tell your destinations had to be better? They can see how bad theirs are and make an educated guess. There are no guarantees, it comes down to judgment calls.

Another game like this I got so frustrated I conceded. Because I think the whole point of this “strategy” is to make the other player feel frustrated. In my opinion, it’s the trolling of the online board game world. Afterward the person wrote “lmao”, which is the attitude I sense from this kind of playing. I will play with others who don’t behave this way.

Frankly, this is you just making things up and as a result everything just gets harder for you. If you're going to create that much stress for yourself over so little it's not going to be fun for you. A single user typing “lmao”? It reminds me of when you were bragging about having beaten a user just earlier. After all, anti-blockers have a reputation for being one of, if not the, most toxic groups you can run into on Ticket to Ride. Some people are going to be amused when they see an anti-blocker self-destruct as a result, and for them it's basically an example akin to what you were posting yourself. Personally, I just set filters that ban the vast majority of anti-blockers from my games, greatly improving the quality of my games as a result.

That’s why I continue to thumbs down people who purposefully cut off all my routes, not even bothering trying to get their own. You can call it strategy, but I call it rude. If I wanted to play that type of game I’d challenge a toddler in the middle of throwing a tantrum. No thank you. They can troll someone else’s game.

"a toddler in the middle of throwing a tantrum" is probably not the worst description you could give to anti-blocking, since they're basically throwing a tantrum over players just playing regular TTR. Anti-blocking in rated is just cheating, a red thumb from an anti-blocker is a positive experience that bans that anti-blocker from their games.

[Wistama]

But my understanding is that these are supposed to be friendly games where everyone can enjoy playing. This is not supposed to be a cutthroat competition.

Read through the preceding dozen-plus pages in this thread, and you'll see that your "supposed to be" is wrong. There's no such consensus, nor is it helpful to charge "trolling" about the many players who disagree with you.

My attempt at a neutral statement:
1. Some players try to win, within the bounds of the rules as they're written. These players see the objective as scoring more points than the opponent. Depending on the circumstances, that may mean virtually ignoring the opponent, or giving high priority to blocking the opponent, or anything in between.
2. Other players try to win, but add a new rule (anti-blocking) to the published rules. These players see the objective as scoring as many points as possible, without regard to the opponent. They believe that, as a sort of "gentlemen's agreement", no one should ever make a play that's primarily aimed at reducing the opponent's score.

I'm in group #1, myself. I assure you that I have never made a play for the purpose of annoying my opponent, or impairing anyone's enjoyment of the game. My goal has always been to score more points than my opponent. That's just competition, not "cutthroat competition" -- a phrase I'd reserve for cheating. It's not cheating for me to break a "rule" that exists only in my opponent's mind.

I doubt that anti-blocking could be formalized in any enforceable way. Your only remedy is to keep red-thumbing people in group #1.

[Boudica of Celtia]

when someone is blocking me in a game (TTR or whatever), it always makes me smile. i see there's a person fighting and i will also give it my best. game on! this as gonna be a great battle

[Cournot]

[quo

te=Suoivax post_id=233405 time=1764216883 user_id=1278057]

You might try looking at it another way...

Opponent has absolutely awful tickets, doesnt matter what you have, it WILL be better than his, so his only real option is to stop your scoring opportunity.

He tries that and fails.

And because you were successful in overcoming his strategy...... you're angry? you successfully overcame an-out-of-left-field strategy! you should be happy!!

I’m not angry, just annoyed. Sure, it feels good to win, and yes it feels like vindication to beat someone at their own game when they are being obnoxious. But my understanding is that these are supposed to be friendly games where everyone can enjoy playing. This is not supposed to be a cutthroat competition. When another player intentionally interferes with my ability to complete any tickets or attach my train and ignoring their own routes, that is 1) extremely frustrating 2) not at all fun to play and 3) feels spiteful. I don’t enjoy spending time with people behaving spitefully.

And I also disagree that “his only option was to stop [my] scoring opportunity”. He could have taken more destinations. He could have used the long routes. And how would he possibly know that my destinations “had to be better than his?” He could not.

Another game like this I got so frustrated I conceded. Because I think the whole point of this “strategy” is to make the other player feel frustrated. In my opinion, it’s the trolling of the online board game world. Afterward the person wrote “lmao”, which is the attitude I sense from this kind of playing. I will play with others who don’t behave this way.

Another person (or at least another account/username) used this same “strategy” today. I won by a lot. But it wasn’t fun. I only finished the game because I could tell I’d win anyway and didn’t want to give the person the satisfaction of my conceding.

That’s why I continue to thumbs down people who purposefully cut off all my routes, not even bothering trying to get their own. You can call it strategy, but I call it rude. If I wanted to play that type of game I’d challenge a toddler in the middle of throwing a tantrum. No thank you. They can troll someone else’s game.

Hmm...
You're trolling, right? Right? ...

[johnclemente23]

There are 3 kinds of blocking:
1. I put down trains I need, without regard to you and I just happen to block the way you intended to go. No problem, perfectly fair.
2. I see you are going into a city I need (say NY) and I place trains to make sure I can get there. I can show you, with my destination cards, at the end that I needed it. No problem, perfectly fair.
3. Then there is blocking as you describe. I agree it is poor sportsmanship. But if you program for no blocking, you will prevent 1. and 2. above.

[Jontia]

Personally, I just set filters that ban the vast majority of anti-blockers from my games, greatly improving the quality of my games as a result.

What filters are these?

[Ceaseless]

Personally, I just set filters that ban the vast majority of anti-blockers from my games, greatly improving the quality of my games as a result.

What filters are these?

Rating filters. When I hit 500+ in a decently active game I tend to use them to only get paired with 300+ rated players. I did it in order to avoid games being too lopsided while still getting paired, but it happens to cut out the vast majority of anti-blockers too.