Internet Backgammon Etiquette
Ron and Ann Barry
I have recently had the experience of being chastised in the chat
section of Yahoo backgammon for my part in the following exchange:
(1) I was in a disadvantageous situation, made a lucky roll, and
reversed the advantage with my play (which was an obvious play).
(2) My opponent posted the following in the chat box: "nr", which I
take to be an acronym for "nice roll".
(3) I posted "Indeed", for lack of anything more cogent to reply.
(4) Whereupon my opponent rather snippily informed me that a simple
"ty" (for "thank you"?) would have been sufficient (and presumably
necessary?).
(5) I apologized for my seeming rudeness and proceeded with the game.
My questions are these: Why would anyone bother to congratulate
another player on having been the recipient of a favorable chance
occurrence, which has nothing to do with the other player's skill? What
should be the appropriate response to such a non sequitur?
Regards, Ron Barry.
Douglas Zare
> [...]
> My questions are these: Why would anyone bother to congratulate
> another player on having been the recipient of a favorable chance
> occurrence, which has nothing to do with the other player's skill? What
> should be the appropriate response to such a non sequitur?
See http://www.bkgm.com/rgb/rgb.cgi?view+453 .
Your "Indeed" was fine. I usually try to ignore it when my opponents say
"nr" or "vnr." I don't just think of it as a non sequitur; I think it is
often a rude comment suggesting that I win only through rolling well. If
you are sure that your opponent means to be at all abusive rather than just
making a silly comment, ignore them or boot them from the table and never
play them again.
If you tell your opponents that they have had really bad dice, that upsets
them some times, too. I usually save comments like the following for
players I know will appreciate them:
1) Why did you roll that?
2) Did you run over the Dice Fairy's pet?
3) Snowie-Trainer would have rolled 6-6. Equity lost: .435.
4) Another double shot missed! Are you even trying?
5) It's all in the wrist.
Douglas Zare
Andy M
is :-( ok?
or will it suggest I doubt my opponents skill.
--
Andy M
"Douglas Zare" <za...@math.columbia.edu> wrote in message
news:3AC245B1...@math.columbia.edu...
Mogath3
>reversed the advantage with my play (which was an obvious play).
>
>(2) My opponent posted the following in the chat box: "nr", which I
>take to be an acronym for "nice roll".
I make it a habit NOT to chat during a game unless someone engages me. There
was nothing wrong with your response and if the person you were playing was
asshole enough to tell you what he did, then you should have turned the heat up
higher. HE engaged YOU in chat. I can't stand people like that and I rarely
play online anymore because there are simply too many assholes and cheaters out
there.
Regards,
Jeff
Jive Dadson
>
>
> I have recently had the experience of being chastised in the chat
> section of Yahoo backgammon for my part in the following exchange:
>
> (1) I was in a disadvantageous situation, made a lucky roll, and
> reversed the advantage with my play (which was an obvious play).
>
> (2) My opponent posted the following in the chat box: "nr", which I
> take to be an acronym for "nice roll".
I hate that. It seems the opponent always says "nr" when he's mangled
half of his plays, but he's rolled enough miracles to bury you anyway.
Then you get a good shake and he says, "nr". Grrrrrrrrr.
I remember once I had been watching my opponent shuffle his checkers
forward randomly as I suffered from chronic entry-failure. I guess I
must have had trouble clearing my mid point or something like that.
Anyway, I had one man collecting dust on the bar, and all my other men
were on my eight point or lower -- a priming setup, but not a speed
board. While I was dancing, the opponent had made a five point board
missing the five point, and had scrambled all his checkers home except
one. His lone straggler was on my nine point -- and he had a one left
to play. He could shift a free checker in his inner board, or he could
move the straggler forward a pip. He moved the blot forward. I knew
what to do! I correctly rolled double fives. Whap! He typed "nr". I
responded, "dr". "What does that mean?" he asked. I typed, "Divine
retribution."
Jive
Greg Shackleford
only a game, what the hell do the ratings matter anyway - not like there's
money riding on it.
A perfect example of a friendly situation was a recent match I had with
Windy on FIBS. This was the 4th round of a small, free tournament. Through
totally flukey dice (namely loads of doubles) I backgammoned him on the
second game and won the 7ptr. He was really good about it - I tend to feel
guilty when FIBS serves up too many doubles like that, but what can you do -
computer dice huh!
Windy congratulated me on my win, and agreed that, whilst the doubles were a
fluke, it happens and ended by saying, 'good match, and good luck.' Superb
bloke. I've met too many who would drop over that situation - it's happened
against me, and I have never dropped (not even a bot, for shame)!!!
GregS
Ron and Ann Barry
Thanks, everyone, for your trenchant and amusing responses to my previous
post. It's nice to know that the better the players are, the more courteous
and helpful are the responses to a relative newcomer's questions.... I'm
glad I asked.
Regards, Ron Barry.
ACKdreamn
"Jive Dadson" <jda...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:3AC277B2...@ix.netcom.com...
Andy M
knew that your score would always be bollocks. The nearest I've ever got was
when someone gave me loads of stick if I paused to think ( like for more
than 15 seconds or so) so I just told him he was rude and resigned.
BTW where did you hear about the tournament? The only one on fibs I've ever
heard of was for money (so lots of hassle) and required a commitment over a
couple of months.
--
Andy M
"Greg Shackleford" <gr...@eratographics.co.uk> wrote in message
news:B6E84431.2D56%gr...@eratographics.co.uk...
Greg Shackleford
address is http://www.mindspring.com/~dgay/GammonQuest/index.html
I believe they intend to run more.
Also, I totally agree on the dropper front. No point at all. Except to
artificially raise your ratings by only completing winning matches and
frankly that is just pathetic!
Chase
<An...@jinkas.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
|I've never understood the point of dropping, one drop would mean that you
|knew that your score would always be bollocks. The nearest I've ever got was
|when someone gave me loads of stick if I paused to think ( like for more
|than 15 seconds or so) so I just told him he was rude and resigned.
|
|BTW where did you hear about the tournament? The only one on fibs I've ever
|heard of was for money (so lots of hassle) and required a commitment over a
|couple of months.
The free FIBS tournament that Greg spoke of is called GammonQuest. I
am one of the directors. The tournament was advertised here on r.g.bg,
as well as on FIBS. We are about to wrap up the current tournament,
but we will be taking sign-ups for others very soon. We eventually
plan to host both free and money tournament in variety of formats on
whatever servers the players would like to see them. You can find more
information at http://www.mindspring.com/~dgay/GammonQuest/. You can
also add your name to our mailing list to be notified of upcoming
tournaments.
Chase
http://www.mindspring.com/~dgay/GammonQuest/
_____________________________________________________________________
To respond via email, replace "USERNAME" with "demiga" in my address.
Jerry Donovan
Personally, I think "Indeed" is a much better response than "ty" or
"thank you". "Indeed" acknowledges that you got a lucky roll (from
1 above). "ty" suggests that you did something to earn it, like it was
a skillfull roll. Of course there could be skill in setting up a position
where a roll (or many different rolls) might turn things aroung, but it
doesn't sound like this was the case you had.
You were more than gracious with your opponent's rudeness.
Jerry
Bob Ebbeler
Bob
"Ron and Ann Barry" <r-ab...@telocity.com> wrote in message
news:3AC236A4...@telocity.com...
brentgary
except for novices who don't know any better, just automatically do that all
the time, ugh; like gl, gg, and all that foolishness. One response could
be, yes, i am lucky, lucky to find such an easy opponent to play.
"Bob Ebbeler" <rebb...@jacksonville.net> wrote in message
news:SFQw6.159$zX3....@typhoon.jacksonville.mediaone.net...