Community consensus / unwritten rules about blocking?

[Jellby]

You can red thumb all you like, but threatening with a red thumb (even if it's not phrased as a threat but a simple statement) is considered aggressive and a sanctionable action.

[dhnyny]

This is not like playing a round of golf where you might just be competing against your own handicap or trying to achieve individual goals that have nothing to do with the people you are playing with. Playing "with" rather than playing "against".

My point is that some TTR players do see the game as similar to playing a round of golf and trying to achieve individual goals. And who is to say that they are wrong?

Part of the big debate here does, I think, boil down to whether you see the game as playing "with" other players or playing "against" other players, as you put it.

But I think the real disagreement, which we can't seem to get beyond, is that some players see the game one way, other players see it the other way, and both camps think the other is simply wrong, doesn't understand the game, and is irrational, unreasonable, or unsporting. I think we could benefit from simply acknowledging that those in the other camp simply see it differently and that's perfectly fine, equally valid, and just not a view we happen to share.

As I said before, we can use the "presentation" option to signal to potential players what kind of game we're looking for.

[dhnyny]

At the risk of triggering our friend johnny again, let me make another analogy: this is like saying some Monopoly players get pleasure from completing property color sets (blue, red, etc, 2-3 properties each), and if another player buys the third property when another player has two, then that is similarly "malicious, or unfriendly, or "hard core," or "win by any means necessary."

C'mon, be honest: if we were talking about Monopoly here, and someone felt that way about how other players lock down things on the board, you wouldn't really think that, you'd think Why is this person even playing this game, if that's the way they react?

This is a good analogy but it only goes so far. I don't know but I suspect there aren't that many Monopoly players who focus on building monopolies and are less concerned with bankrupting other players (i.e., doing what the rules calls "winning").

But it is clearly, empirically a fact that there are a significant number of players of TTR who consider completing destination tickets to be a goal in and of itself, such that preventing other players from achieving this goal is objectionable. So, whether we agree or disagree with this view of the game, I think we should acknowledge that it's widespread enough to be something we can accept as a real variant, not a bizarre misunderstanding of the game.

[Flop Hecki]

I hate purposely blocking. It’s rude and unsportsmanlike.
I recently had a game where someone blocked me on purpose right near the end. I said in the chat, “hey that’s not cool to block on purpose. I don’t like playing with people who do that so I’ll be giving you a red thumb.”

You'd play Chess without killing the King?

[ManonIronteeth]

You can red thumb all you like, but threatening with a red thumb (even if it's not phrased as a threat but a simple statement) is considered aggressive and a sanctionable action.

That’s ridiculous and it’s not even noted in the rules anywhere, I looked. If it’s an unspoken rule in moderation then it needs to be documented. And until then it can’t be seen as aggressive behavior because it’s a statement of fact.
Anyone who thinks someone else saying they will give them a red thumb is aggression needs to check themselves, do they think everyone is aggressive? Maybe they’re just too sensitive.

[ManonIronteeth]

I hate purposely blocking. It’s rude and unsportsmanlike.
I recently had a game where someone blocked me on purpose right near the end. I said in the chat, “hey that’s not cool to block on purpose. I don’t like playing with people who do that so I’ll be giving you a red thumb.”

You'd play Chess without killing the King?

That’s nowhere near the same thing and you know it because that is the actual goal of chess. The goal of TTR is not to block other people on purpose.

[Carolinemgm]

The goal of TTR is not to block other people on purpose.

The goal of TTR as written in the rules is to make more points than your opponents, if this can be done by blocking, why not using it ?

[ManonIronteeth]

The goal of TTR is not to block other people on purpose.

The goal of TTR as written in the rules is to make more points than your opponents, if this can be done by blocking, why not using it ?

But the rules don’t say to block. That’s just a conception that players have come up with themselves. And then they, like you, are trying to justify your pettiness and inability to play sportsmanlike by saying it helps you get more points. But it doesn’t, it just keeps the other player from getting points while you make an enemy of them.

If you block me I’ll red thumb you all I want.

[KP1024]

Blocking is not a conception or a rule, it's a strategy. It is sometimes not even a good strategy, and hopefully you can play in such a way that prevents blocking from being a good strategy. But as long as you're not objectively kingmaking, there's no way it can be considered unsportsmanlike.

[Flop Hecki]

The goal of TTR is not to block other people on purpose.

The goal of TTR as written in the rules is to make more points than your opponents, if this can be done by blocking, why not using it ?

But the rules don’t say to block. That’s just a conception that players have come up with themselves. And then they, like you, are trying to justify your pettiness and inability to play sportsmanlike by saying it helps you get more points. But it doesn’t, it just keeps the other player from getting points while you make an enemy of them.

If you block me I’ll red thumb you all I want.

Is there any rule that blocking is forbidden? No? Then it's just an allowed strategy.