Board Game Arena

Why have you disabled the player blocking mechanism?

I am disgusted and dismayed that I am unable to block offensive players; I do not want to play against them again.
I used to be able to go to their player page and block them. Now it comes up as a formal complaint! I just want to play!!!
This comes after enduring yet another 300+ player stealing an item I needed in Castles of Burgundy, which they could not use!

I just want to play and have fun.

Lately I have become distrustful whenever I see high scored player show up at the beginning of a new game since often these are the ones who play dirty. And now you are going to force me to play with them! This is not fun anymore.

Sorry to be so negative but I am sick to my stomach if this is what you guys want.

* are you talking about? Blocking players works fine for me as usual. And there wasn't any announcemount that this should be changed as far as I know. I think the only mode where it doesn't work is tournaments.

So what happens exactly when you try red thumb someone? (Maybe even make a screenshot?)

Maybe next time, you could try ask politely if and why something is changed before going on such rant.

(And btw: You are playing 2p games of Castles of Burgundy and you complain that 300+ players block you from your stuff, seriously? I mean, it's ok if you don't like that thing but then you should simply avoid 300+ players and stick to 200- players or friends. In 2p games, blocking your opponent is an absolute valid strategy and nothing offensive.)

*Moderator edit: please use family-friendly language on BGA

dschingis27 wrote: ↑09 July 2022, 12:49 In 2p games, blocking your opponent is an absolute valid strategy and nothing offensive.)

Are you telling me that most top players in Arena get there and stay there by blocking all the other top players? I don't think that's a valid strategy, that's easily considered a cowardly approach, almost like cheating. Like in PvP computer games, only jumping low ranked players instead of fighting more equally matched opponents is not an especially heroic style.

But I guess your logic is that if it's not forbidden or technically impossible, then it's fair and square, and if you want to get proper matching you join tournaments?

Maybe it depends on what game you are playing but I agree that in somes games making your opponent not wining make you win. It seems to be part of the game.

oh no I think there is a misunderstanding here, I do not think that dschingis27 is talking about blocking as in giving red thumbs but blocking in the way you block your opponent for example to take great cards even if it is not useful for you (which is a strategy the OP seems to dislike)
Am I right ?

Carolinemgm wrote: ↑09 July 2022, 16:37 oh no I think there is a misunderstanding here, I do not think that dschingis27 is talking about blocking as in giving red thumbs but blocking in the way you block your opponent for example to take great cards even if it is not useful for you (which is a strategy the OP seems to dislike)
Am I right ?

Exactly!

SimplicatusGames wrote: ↑09 July 2022, 16:26

dschingis27 wrote: ↑09 July 2022, 12:49 In 2p games, blocking your opponent is an absolute valid strategy and nothing offensive.)

Are you telling me that most top players in Arena get there and stay there by blocking all the other top players? I don't think that's a valid strategy, that's easily considered a cowardly approach, almost like cheating. Like in PvP computer games, only jumping low ranked players instead of fighting more equally matched opponents is not an especially heroic style.

But I guess your logic is that if it's not forbidden or technically impossible, then it's fair and square, and if you want to get proper matching you join tournaments?

Read the two posts above this one. The problem is the OP used one meaning of "blocking" in the title, and the response used a different meaning of the same word.

borgette wrote: ↑09 July 2022, 11:56 Why have you disabled the player blocking mechanism?

I am disgusted and dismayed that I am unable to block offensive players; I do not want to play against them again.
I used to be able to go to their player page and block them. Now it comes up as a formal complaint! I just want to play!!!
This comes after enduring yet another 300+ player stealing an item I needed in Castles of Burgundy, which they could not use!

I just want to play and have fun.

Lately I have become distrustful whenever I see high scored player show up at the beginning of a new game since often these are the ones who play dirty. And now you are going to force me to play with them! This is not fun anymore.

Sorry to be so negative but I am sick to my stomach if this is what you guys want.

It seems to be becoming a trend where people come into the forums and complain about completely strategically valid behavior that violates no rule other than the rule of "I only want to play this game in the most simplistic way possible and never have to adapt to more complex strategies." I'm recalling a recent complaint that someone had about their cities being blocked from being completed in Carcassonne. So, your opponent is just supposed to *let* you have a massive score?

If you don't want to play people better than you, there are filters for that when setting up a game in manual mode. Or you can set them by clicking on the gear underneath your ELO score for a game on the Play Now page.

Meeplelowda wrote: ↑10 July 2022, 07:20 If you don't want to play people better than you, there are filters for that when setting up a game in manual mode. Or you can set them by clicking on the gear underneath your ELO score for a game on the Play Now page.

Exactly. IMHO this is the right approach when learning a game, and as your ELO increases, you can also filter out lower level players so your ELO doesn't get hit so badly in case of a loss. If you play Arena or tournament's, you play the opponents you get.

Blocking players should be based on behaviour, and not used strategically as a way of selecting opponents.

SimplicatusGames wrote: ↑10 July 2022, 14:30 Blocking players should be based on behaviour, and not used strategically as a way of selecting opponents.

That's right. And nobody in this thread was talking about strategically selecting opponnents. Only you