Board Game Arena

Something seriously needs to be upgraded for die/dice rolls on BGA with games that have dice. It's horribly inaccurate and not random at all. Like the dice rolls in yahtze and backgammon. They hilariously bad. I know games are for fun, but the awful dice randomness kills the fun. Who else sees the problem with the dice?

not another post with this....
ur just UNLUCKY.
dont play if u cant accept that.

BooChihuahua wrote: ↑21 March 2021, 05:54 Something seriously needs to be upgraded for die/dice rolls on BGA with games that have dice. It's horribly inaccurate and not random at all. Like the dice rolls in yahtze and backgammon. They hilariously bad. I know games are for fun, but the awful dice randomness kills the fun. Who else sees the problem with the dice?

Got any stats ?

Humans are bad to see randomness.
More infos in the backgammon forum:
https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 71&t=14562

Up until know, each time one of BGA games was checked by the community for its randomness, the algorithm was shown experimentally to be fair and random. Recently, someone checked French Tarot (https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewto ... 89&t=20143) and debunked suspicions of lack of randomness in the card distribution.

If there is shenanigans, it's well hidden, and you would need more than "it feels off" for us to take this seriously. (For example, statistics about the last thousands dice rolls you had on BGA).

Romain672 wrote: ↑21 March 2021, 20:01 Humans are bad to see randomness.

1000x this.

In a recent game someone complained that a dice roll only had a 0.03% chance of occurring. Of course, that's rare. But if it NEVER EVER happened, *that* would be anomalous. Rare events simply stick out in your mind because 1) people underestimate how often "unlucky" things should happen (and yet curiously don't complain about the equally unlikely lucky events when they benefit from them), and 2) behave as if low probability equals zero probability.

I am the one who started the thread on the Backgammon game (link posted by some user, above).
People might have a difficulty providing 1000 games statistics (or even 100), because the site won't allow replays after a certain limit.
So i don't understand why you keep asking for proof... Proof for what?
If i have a FEELING something weird is involved in the algorithm in certain games (like Backgammon...), i am free to write it here, because it is only a feeling, I am not attacking anyone in particular and I want to see other people's opinions.
I think something is off with the algorithm in certain games (perhaps unknowingly).

1. I noticed in Backgammon, I only have 2 periods: when i lose a lot (more often, lately), or when i win a lot; no balance.
2. i play IRL too, and I swear i never see so many doubles, lucky turn-of-events and so on.
3. It is a feeling, a good one i might say, and i would say this even if i was nr. 1 in backgammon!
4. a few games in a row: enemy needs two 6-6s or two 5-5s to win, otherwise i win; of course he/she gets those 2 doubles. next game: i have two last pieces, one on 1st. line and the other on 3rd. line, and the enemy has four pieces on 5th. line; i am first to get the dice, so i basically have the game won, unless i get 2-1 and the enemy gets 5-5 or 6-6; of course i get 2-1 and he gets 5-5... And last game... i have 1 last piece on 6th. row, and the enemy has 2 on 6th. row. I would most probably win if i get a sum bigger than 6. He is first and of course he gets a 5-5...
5. getting 6-6 right after being taken out... It happens soooo often (for me!) on this site, that i don't even consider that weird anymore.
6. And soooooooo many other situations... Yes, it is a feeling, but it is not only after a random game, and i repeat... even when i am lucky, the luck seems either forced or extreme, and it is usually in a period of more games, not in 1 game, followed by loss, then win again, then loss, etc.
7. I agree that for something to be certain, you need proof (data, verified scenarios, etc.)! But as i said, one has a limited number of replays available, and i personally prefer to remain with the feeling, and boycott games with >50% luck involved, rather than spend hours (more days since the REPLAY ERROR says something like "you reached your replay limit for today") for some details in games, that will probably never be verified by a game developer or an administrator, anyway.

Cheers.

In the thread i mentioned above, i wrote this at a certain point, to which someone gave a particularly interesting reply:

Ze Monstah wrote: ↑08 March 2020, 22:11
Backgammon BGA adaptation has been developed by a member of the BGA community: You can send him a message if you want::
https://boardgamearena.com/player?id=2892085

Here is the PHP code that he wrote to roll the dice:
CODE: SELECT ALL

// Roll dices
$dice1_value = bga_rand(1, 6);
$dice2_value = bga_rand(1, 6);
bga_rand() function is defined like this:
CODE: SELECT ALL

function bga_rand( $min=null, $max=null )
{
if( $min === null && $max === null )
return random_int( 0, getrandmax() ); // For compatibility
else
return random_int( $min, $max );

And the reply:

What is the purpose of getrandmax and default null inputs. Seems to me if the function is ever called with improper values it's a serious bug and could well be a factor in the backgammon artifact we've all noted. I don't see any dice issues in say Can't Stop. It seems unique to the backgammon code.
anyway to loop https://boardgamearena.com/player?id=2892085 into this thread?

And anyway... IMO, you can call everyone who has a "feeling", paranoid or any other name (since i was called in that post, as well), but I think that a decent player... who frequently loses more than 5 or 6 Backgammon games in a row, without playing too risky! (regardless of who he/she plays with), or loses more than 75% games of the last 20 games played in a short period of time... is enough proof that something is not ok. Then the luck changes to 180 degrees for the next days, and so on. So IMO, I prefer games where the luck is far less needed than Backgammon, Koi Koi, Buttons and their relatives.

Another interesting thing i noticed... Perhaps i might be a bit off here... For some reason, in my 7 wonders games (games of 4 players or more), where there is 1 player from USA (US flag), and the game has Rhodos in it... that player from USA gets RHODOS...It happens like... 3/4 games i play in. It became so frequent that I expect it by default, before game start. Other things, less obvious: the players with higher elo, almost always get a better start position, and setup (his/her wonder and neighbouring wonders)

My opinion is that there might be glitches about how some parts of the "randomness" work on this or any other site, that the people who lead it and the developers might not be aware of, but the players might get aware of them by playing, and express their feelings with/without bringing the proof needed, for the reasons mentioned earlier. <- I see this opinion of mine, as possible as the "you are incapable of seeing the randomness because you are paranoid" one.