Community consensus / unwritten rules about blocking?

[Tzinacantli]

Hey!
I decided to make this topic, since the other one calls for a UI option, so it's different than this one.

I'm new to the game. Played twice so far.
In the first one I'd just mind my business, building my route, and a little of blocking each other had place on my opponents' part. It could be due to their routes overlapping. During the second game I had my both opponents block my routes constantly, on all sides, with a lot of it looking like it was blocking for the sake of blocking (I'm not going to lie, it was the most frustrating game out of the 700+ I played on BGA).

Now I am in the spot where I'm going to feel bad for any option I'd choose: if I don't block and someone else does, I'll feel bad. If I do block and they just want to peacefully put their rails to connect cities, I'll feel bad for ruining their experience.

So, my question is: what's the option most of the community prefers to play (so I follow it and don't feel bad )?
I'm going to assume that the most competitive players optimise their every move, so they likely prefer blocking. Which option describes YOU?

1) I don't block and would prefer others not to block my routes on purpose (fine when they need the path for themselves).
2) I don't block, but I have no problems with others blocking it to win the game or prevent me from gaining too many points.
3) I don't block, but I don't care when and why others block my routes.
4) I block only when I need the route for points and hope others do this only in such case too.
5) I block and don't mind others blocking for any reason.

I hope these options make sense.

Of course, the best thing to do is to add a description to the game or ask in the in-game chat, but that's not always possible.

Thanks!

[Palini]

Why would you feel bad? As long as you follow the rules (and the AI won't let you do anything else) and doesn't ruin the game on purpose, you are good to do whatever you please, without feeling bad about it. It's only a game. It's ok to block others in order to win. So my answer your question is option 2)

[thoun]

As you can see on this thread, there is no consensus : https://boardgamearena.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27324
Play as you want

[lucy williams]

I think you mean the game played on 21st November 2022, as in the second game I couldn't see any blocking going on at all.

In the game on 21st November 2022, the other 2 players were either building their own routes or taking the 6-point routes as they score highly. These happened to block where you wanted to go, but this did not seem to be their intention. Only on one occasion I could see the blue player took a 1 point route that they had no use for, and did block you a little, but it did not affect your eventual score.

I think that you were over-optimistic with your destination selections at the beginning, and you left yourself wide-open to being blocked throughout the game.

I guess that this is actually a good example that even if you have "groups" or "tournaments" which are meant to be "non-sabotage-players" only, that it won't really work as people will get even more cross as they think that people are intentionally blocking them when they actually aren't.

[Photios]

This is a perennial quandary ever since people started playing this game in Daysofwonder (original issuer of game)
Competitive players always block and are ready to evade it
Therefore, personally I would go for 5, as this i s the only way to play skillfully
However, this is also an easy game to play with your children or as a pastime without much thinking, thus avoid blocking. In this case the best tickets win (thus it becomes just another game where luck of initial hand plays the major role).
We used to resolve this issue by titling our game as "blocking" vs "non-blocking" (or "fair", which was not a fair thing to say, as forbidding blocking is against the rules). I'm afraid this can't happen in BGA. It seems you can avoid this only if playing with people you know. Stating it in the beginning in the chat would require re-starting game if other players wouldn't agree.

[Tzinacantli]

Thanks for answers, everyone!

As I said, I don't mind either option, I just didn't want to be "the bad guy" accidentally. I guess I'll treat (some) blocking as a default thing likely to happen and keep in mind non-blocking option can be reached with communication

Happy New Year!

[HerrVatter]

In my experience, blocking is usually only a valid stategy in a two (sometimes three) player game. In other games it rarely occurs, since you sacrifice your turn for the benefit of other players. In a two player game you might be forced to block in order to win and that's totally ok.
Happy new year!

[Salvidrim]

1) I don't block and would prefer others not to block my routes on purpose (fine when they need the path for themselves).
2) I don't block, but I have no problems with others blocking it to win the game or prevent me from gaining too many points.
3) I don't block, but I don't care when and why others block my routes.
4) I block only when I need the route for points and hope others do this only in such case too.
5) I block and don't mind others blocking for any reason.

6. Play to win with any strategy the rules allow, and don't get annoyed when other players also play to win.

[ELFCubed]

The game as designed allows, and even encourages, users to purposefully block opponents, so it's part of playing the game. I don't love it, but it's not an annoyance that prevents me from wanting to play.
My personal opinion on it is that focusing on defense means a player isn't good at the offensive objective and resorts to a mickey mouse strategy to overcome that. Like they don't understand how to keep a basic idea of how many of each card are left in the train cars deck, and keep drawing in hopes of getting a card that's mostly gone. Or maybe picking 3 20+ routes initially - it's very unlikely none of those routes will conflict and potentially be blocked by another player. Also seems dumb to waste a turn AND the potential to complete a lucrative destination route. Of course I've also seen Chaos players who aren't interested in winning at all just screwing up everybody else's game. Those trolls just get blocked and I move on.

[john0607]

1) I don't block and would prefer others not to block my routes on purpose (fine when they need the path for themselves).
2) I don't block, but I have no problems with others blocking it to win the game or prevent me from gaining too many points.
3) I don't block, but I don't care when and why others block my routes.
4) I block only when I need the route for points and hope others do this only in such case too.
5) I block and don't mind others blocking for any reason.

6. Play to win with any strategy the rules allow, and don't get annoyed when other players also play to win.

Number 6 I don't like. I don't like players who play to win at all costs. It's suppose to be a fun experience and players like you ruin that for others. Is it that important that you win at the expense of others enjoyment?