Board Game Arena

It seems that games are being changed by "Gurus" to be played with "variant" rules. A couple that come to mind are Yatzee and Caton. When the changes are made, the Classic games with rules as written are being changed and made not available in Arena. So please keep the Classic version available so that those who like to play the games by the original rules.


Who is involved in the selection of what goes into Arena (Competitive) versiions of the games

Is there a referendum (vote)? In other words who owns the decisions of versions present in Arena?

They are. No one forces you to play Arena.

OK, so are you saying if you want to play Arena (competitive), you should not have the opportunity to play "Classic Rules" games?

So, should "we" take our memberships to more classic online game providers?

marknibb wrote: ↑24 October 2024, 16:35 OK, so are you saying if you want to play Arena (competitive), you should not have the opportunity to play "Classic Rules" games?

So, should "we" take our memberships to more classic online game providers?

So are you saying that everyone should have to play by the "classic" rules in Arena just because you happen to prefer that rule set? They are unlikely to ever have separate Arenas for different variants of a game within one season, so a choice has to be made and there is no reason that choice must always be the default variant every season, year after year.

With regard to "unconventional rules":
1) Frequently the chosen rules are variants that were published in the same rule book as the "classic" rules, and those rules often make the game more strategic than the base rules.
2) Even if an unpublished variant is implemented, it still has to be approved by the rights holder for the title, so it's not something the gurus are just making up on their own.

I believe BGA only uses rules and variants that are approved by the designer/publisher. So, in that sense there aren’t really unconventional rules. Players are free to use the “simple game” setup to generate competitive games using any settings including ‘classic’ or basic versions without variants. I too miss basic Yahtzee in Arena but can still play it as a simple competitive game when I wish.

"So are you saying that everyone should have to play by the "classic" rules in Arena just because you happen to prefer that rule set? They are unlikely to ever have separate Arenas for different variants of a game within one season, so a choice has to be made and there is no reason that choice must always be the default variant every season, year after year."

All I am saying is that the "default" (your word) should be an option in Arena "competitive". As it is, it seems that "Default" (by the main rules" is taken away when implementing "alternative" rule sets.

marknibb wrote: ↑24 October 2024, 17:32 All I am saying is that the "default" (your word) should be an option in Arena "competitive".

Arena is only configured for one rule set per season because the rankings would be meaningless if you have some people using default/classic/base or whatever you choose to call it rules and others using variants. Saying default/classic/base "should be" an option is tantamount to saying it must be the only option (see first sentence).

And as I mentioned before, some variants make some games more strategic, which many people find more appropriate for competitive play. The merits of that position varies from game to game. It's largely subjective, but as a rule of thumb a variant that reduces the role of luck (for example, card drafting instead of randomly dealing cards) is considered more strategic.

So it still seems that when someone wants to play "competitive" games" per the original rules that the rest of the world is familiar with, and which seem to have built in fairness by design, they are not able to expect to play in the "competitive" league by those rules. It does seem that the changes to the rules take away from some of the fairness by design.

Why not put it to a vote?

marknibb wrote: ↑24 October 2024, 22:26 Why not put it to a vote?

That's essentially what game gurus are - a representative portion of the players (to ask every player to vote would be a huge task for some games). Gurus are those who've played the most of that game in the previous period - if you play a lot of something, you may end up being a guru yourself sometime. I don't always like the rule sets chosen for an Arena season, but I think to have those who have been playing a game most choose the parameters is as fair a system as any other. If I don't like that season, I skip. You can always post to the game forum and suggest you'd like to see a different rule set, as I think some gurus are receptive to that, but it is up to them as a group to decide.

marknibb wrote: ↑24 October 2024, 22:26per the original rules that the rest of the world is familiar with

This contains an unstated, and I believe false, premise that published variants are not part of the "original rules." For most games you can gain familiarity with the variants in exactly the same place you gain familiarity with the simple rules. The fact that some people may choose not to read them has no bearing on whether they have access to that knowledge. You seem to be bent on characterizing published variants as having some kind of lesser status.

I'll accept that one may think of unpublished variants differently even if they have been approved by the publishers.

marknibb wrote: ↑24 October 2024, 22:26 Why not put it to a vote?

It has been put to a vote....by gurus. If you play enough games in a certain period of time to become a guru, then you will also have a vote.