Players that target a specific player instead of playing to win

[2pazzi]

This also occurred to me.

I have experienced this a lot of times. Too many.
I saw players targetting a specific player who was not even remotely in the lead, and focusing to having him not complete roads/monasteries/cities, while with the tile in which they stop that player, they could have made a lot of points more if used in their city (like, using the tile to close a city with a cathedral).

This is so bad. I don't know how to address this problem so I would like to ask for your advice.
Basically, these are trolls playing... I find it incredible to find them on a boardgame site, but it happened SEVERAL times not just once!

[Kaladry]

I come across this a lot too and it really annoys me. I give them red thumbs. Best we can do really.

[thx3811]

I call them 'blockers' because their main tactic is to block the opponent. To me it's a dishonorable way of playing. I always give them thumbs down to avoid in the future. I perceive board games as a source of enjoyment for all involved and 'blockers' make only people feel angry.

[indicouch]

I may have inadvertently done this. Or it would look like that to an outside viewer. IDK, i got attacked for it? Called stupid? Anyway, I was trying to be strategic, not block anyone. Just want to throw it out there, things aren't always what they seem. Especially with newer players.

[Dr StrangeIove]

who cares when the website itself is corrupt and manipulating the tiles anyways............

[Goldgrog]

Most of the Carcassones games I've played with on this site do that and it's been very frustrating for me. I've been playing Carcassone since the 90s but only recently started playing it on this site - and I've actually started wondering if I've been playing it wrong or if I somehow missed the point of the entire game all these years. I understand blocking your opponents a few times here and there at strategic parts throughout the game. But countering a player's EVERY move, specifically trying to prevent them from scoring, or - in some cases - even being able to lay a tile or put a Meeple down, is completely toxic. Not sure how anyone gets pleasure out of playing like that. I left a game early last night because I got the point where I was just laying tiles down wherever and passing on laying any Meeples down because it literally didn't matter how little I might gain from a particular move, they would find a way to block or limit it. I just wanted the game to end so I could play with someone else. I was like "totally worth the 10-point ding!!" I wish there was a setting or indicator of some kind where players would have to disclose that as their technique so we could tell what we are getting into from the start and could avoid those folks ahead of time.

[Oxmeister]

I think some of these posts are a little misguided. Blocking and trapping of meeples can be a highly effective strategy in Carcassonne, and as such is a normal part of the game , especially when played competitively. Although it's not always appropriate to block/trap a player, once a player has 1/2 meeples trapped and perhaps also has another few committed to long term projects, it will become increasingly valuable to trap the remaining meeples since that player will have very few ways to increase their score.

While you may not like this style of this play, or the experience of happening to you, it is likely that the players that you are talking about were simply trying to win the game, which is a common motivation when playing board games. To wish for a feature that would highlight players who play competitively is probably looking at this the wrong way round, since this should be assumed to be a default behavior. It might be worthwhile requesting a feature to allow the playing of 'friendly' games where like minded players can play in a style you'd prefer, though I suspect some modifications to a game like this might still be needed given the scope for player interaction.

However, working with what's available, I'd recommend you seek games where expansions 1 & 2 are selected, with 4 players or more - the expansions make blocks less effective as there are fewer ways (especially early on) to completely block a space , while increased player counts make it less effective in general to focus on reducing other players scores.

[Kaladry]

Most of the Carcassones games I've played with on this site do that and it's been very frustrating for me. I've been playing Carcassone since the 90s but only recently started playing it on this site - and I've actually started wondering if I've been playing it wrong or if I somehow missed the point of the entire game all these years. I understand blocking your opponents a few times here and there at strategic parts throughout the game. But countering a player's EVERY move, specifically trying to prevent them from scoring, or - in some cases - even being able to lay a tile or put a Meeple down, is completely toxic. Not sure how anyone gets pleasure out of playing like that. I left a game early last night because I got the point where I was just laying tiles down wherever and passing on laying any Meeples down because it literally didn't matter how little I might gain from a particular move, they would find a way to block or limit it. I just wanted the game to end so I could play with someone else. I was like "totally worth the 10-point ding!!" I wish there was a setting or indicator of some kind where players would have to disclose that as their technique so we could tell what we are getting into from the start and could avoid those folks ahead of time.

I agree, I hate when that happens too. I’d been playing Carcassonne for 10+ years before coming here and never encountered that style of play until here. I guess my family and friends aren’t that malicious and hardcore to win. I’ve somewhat gotten used to it now and prefer to either play 3+ where it’s not worth singling out one other person to block in all their meeples, or if I play two player and they do that you can concede once it hits 50% I think, so I’ll randomly place tiles until the point I can concede and then I red thumb them.

[Bird2018]

Yes! I find this really toxic. I’ve been playing this game IRL for years and I’ve never encountered this degree of that kind of play. I really hate it and wish there was a way to weed out those kinds of players.

[Meeplelowda]

I really hate it and wish there was a way to weed out those kinds of players.

You can create a safe space with like minded people. There are others in this thread who would join.