Community consensus / unwritten rules about blocking?

[gonzos1971]

This argument sounds to me like playing baseball and complaining when the pitcher tries to get you out… …Its way more fun if he just lets you hit it and everyone has a great time, right? or when that mean outfielder catches your fun hit.
Or in soccer when that mean goalkeeper ruins your fun by blocking your shot!

You are missing out on half of the game.

[AVAWalker]

What is different about this particular game that causes some people to think that it is unfair, and possibly even cheating, to make a move to block an opponent's progress?

There are dozens, probably hundreds, of games where making a move to block your opponent's effort toward reaching a goal is considered good strategy and never frowned upon. It's a matter of finding the right balance of offense and defense. Without blocking, the defensive aspect of this game is missing.

I don't understand why anyone would consider this game to be any different. I have not seen any explanation as to what is unique to this game such that what is considered good practice in other games, would be unfair here. Maybe I'm missing something because there seem to be an awful lot of people with that opinion. Can anyone explain to me why this game is different?

[Strode]

What is different about this particular game that causes some people to think that it is unfair, and possibly even cheating, to make a move to block an opponent's progress?

It's a super-popular that attracts a lot of "light" gamers.

It has a "complete mission" aspect to it that is what people first notice about it. Maybe this makes people slow to realize that the blocking is there. And a lot of people, even more serious gamers, just want to build their own stuff without interference.

I've seen similar arguments with Carcassonne and Azul, where people complain about "mean" gameplay.

[Strode]

duplicate

[Strode]

duplicate (issues with server)

[Mr_Magic]

Agreed, some people just like building nice little rail networks or nice groups of cities. the scoring is secondary.

I really don't think there is a ay to integrate these groups of games, those who want to pay it as a game and those who want to pay it as an experience.

[AVAWalker]

What brought me here to make my post above was that I had just played an Arena game against a player with a much higher rating who became very upset when I played a move that blocked him. He said that playing like that was a red flag and he was going to block me on BGA so that he would never have to play me again. At the end of the game, he made a point of telling me that he was glad he was never going to have to play against me again.

The purpose of arena mode is to provide a competitive environment. It seemed odd to me to complain about it in an arena mode game. People who want to play in a non-aggressive, non-competitive environment, should play in friendly mode. In arena mode, any legal move that does not somehow involve cheating, should be expected. But it seems like for some people, blocking is cheating.

[menettm]

I confirm your words, from a certain level, there are no more gifts to be given if we want to move up the hierarchy and likewise we must accept being blocked. That's the game.
You have the opinion of an expert of TTR.

[Mr_Magic]

IMO Arena matches should ignore the blocklist.

[ExaltedAngel]

IMO Arena matches should ignore the blocklist.

I strongly agree