Board Game Arena

I'm SO tired of getting this warning. I almost exclusively play Carcassonne with all expansions. Blocking is one of my main strategies. Other players don't like this and give me a red thumb. But the way in which starting a game works does not allow me to advise people that I block before they have joined the game and we've started. Why does BGA continue to tell me more than 10% of people don't like playing with me without giving me the means to correct it?

Perhaps someone knows why it gives this warning. I've never had a notification about this.

If you use the "Play Now" lobby you can chat before a game starts.

Unfortunately, not everyone uses this lobby, and that feature seems to have been removed in the new lobby system.

There is also a notes system, I think, so you can add a comment for a table...but I'm not sure if anyone can see that in the new system, only the old Play Now system.

fluffy-chick wrote: ↑30 September 2024, 15:16 I'm SO tired of getting this warning. I almost exclusively play Carcassonne with all expansions. Blocking is one of my main strategies. Other players don't like this and give me a red thumb. But the way in which starting a game works does not allow me to advise people that I block before they have joined the game and we've started. Why does BGA continue to tell me more than 10% of people don't like playing with me without giving me the means to correct it?

Create a tournament and call it "Carcassone for Blockers". You will find a whole group of people who play like you do. Friend them and play them in the future, rather than playing those who hate playing blockers. You can even create a group for those who prefer to play the blocking strategy to see if you can find more Carcassone friends that way.

It does make me curious how you feel when you play another blocker? Does the game get anywhere when both are blocking the other? Does it bother you at all when the other player constantly blocks you?

JoysJoy wrote: ↑30 September 2024, 21:05 Does the game get anywhere when both are blocking the other?

I haven't played a lot of Carcassone but as I understand it the game does not fall apart by people playing in a way that is perfectly reasonable to expect from gamers.

Personally I would prefer a highly interactive game of me and my opponent trying to block each other, over a multiplayer solitaire game where we go to our own separate corners and come back at the end to compare scores.

Everyone is different. I can't say I've played enough Carcassonne on BGA to come across many "blockers" or maybe it doesn't bother me. But I don't really enjoy someone in TTR whose entire strategy is blocking (and I'm not sure you can usually win a game that way, if your opponent realises what you're doing and gives up on their routes). Playing to get long routes (as in single 6 space routes, not as in a ticket) and deploying occasional strategic blocking is reasonable, but blocking for the sake of it feels like someone just trying to make someone else not enjoy their game. That said, it's a valid way to play and I will red thumb people who play in a way that doesn't suit me. Red thumbs don't actually affect your reputation anymore, so if you understand why you're getting those red thumbs and you're ok with not playing those people (which I assume you also would be), then I wouldn't worry about it.

fluffy-chick wrote: ↑30 September 2024, 15:16 I'm SO tired of getting this warning. I almost exclusively play Carcassonne with all expansions. Blocking is one of my main strategies. Other players don't like this and give me a red thumb. But the way in which starting a game works does not allow me to advise people that I block before they have joined the game and we've started. Why does BGA continue to tell me more than 10% of people don't like playing with me without giving me the means to correct it?

Have you tried filtering opponents by higher rating? This objection melts away at the higher levels. You may get crushed, but they won't whine about blocking. In fact, there was a strategy video posted by one of the highest ELO Carcassonne players (700+) in which it was just assumed that blocking was part of the strategy. Blocking is the whole point of the first endgame situation he covers in the video.

I think carcasonne has a fairly large player base, you won't have trouble finding games. So the ones red thumbing you are just doing you a favor and getting out of your games.