I am confused. Not as badly as last night, where I was confused, overwhelmed, and stressed out, but still confused. It's the sort of feeling that has lead to my current lack of employment. At least here I was able to walk around at 2 in the morning and then take a hot bath to try to unwind instead of having to pretend everything was fine while trying to work for another 5 hours or whatever.
It all boils down to one statement. "I don't get why you're trying so hard." It confuses me. To me if something is worth doing at all, it's worth doing at full speed. I don't understand how trying hard at something became an insultable state. I don't understand berating someone who is trying. I don't understand letting up, or giving up.
Maybe it just boils down to a lack of empathy? Or of understanding empathy? I just don't understand why I should feel bad about getting ahead, or of winning, or of leveling my guys. It reminds me of the loot drama Sky went through in World of Warcraft. Lots of stuff dropped that only he could use, and it was bad that he asked for it all. In my case it was a Blood Bowl game where pretty much everything was going my way. I was up 3-0 on the scoreboard and 11-5 in players with 5 turns still to go. As far as experience earned went it was something like 17-0. I wanted more. My opponent didn't like that I wanted more. With 5 turns and 6 more guys I should likely be able to score again, or get a couple more casualties. Or get a pass. There's a good chance of hurting some more of his guys. I had 2 crucial guys 1 experience from leveling, a fresh guy who was 3 experience from leveling, and a rough match coming up in the finals with Robb's human team.
To me it made a lot of sense to pin in my opponent's 5 guys, punch them, and try to score with my fresh guy. To my opponent this decision was trying too hard, was unsporting, and was worth badgering me about. I guess he would have been happy if I stood back and let him get 5 passing experience. That would be fairer for sure. He'd suffer no more injuries, and he'd get some experience, and I'd still win the game. Does that make sense? If everyone always played that way I guess it might? But the game is called Blood Bowl. And in my experience most people don't pull up and let their opponent farm experience uncontested. I consider that to be pretty unsporting in a league sense, actually. I'd hate it if I was about to play against a team that got a bunch of unearned experience. So if my opponent had run away from the ball I don't know that I necessarily chase after him to kill his guys (and from past experience with my Dwarf team when someone had obviously given up and run away, I wouldn't have). Instead I just try to score twice to level up. But to stand back and let the opposition farm experience themselves? That just feels wrong.
In the moment I didn't really have a chance to think these things through. Getting yelled at for doing the only thing that makes sense to me shuts my brain down. I just wanted to get out of there. Part of me was strongly considering conceding myself and quitting the game entirely. Even now I'm still confused and debating if I want to join future leagues. Two of my last three games haven't been fun, and it feels like my opponents in those games didn't like playing against me the way I play. So maybe it would be for the best to just fade away and find something else to do? Something I can try hard at without feeling bad, since I don't have the ability to do something without trying.
As your opponent I would hate if you quit. I quite like the fact that you are by far and away the best player in the league.
ReplyDeleteThe other times I have been in the situation where the game had clearly been decided (and I had been on the better side of it) in one game my opponent conceded. In the other he ran his guys to the side and let me score. To me this seemed to be the accepted etiquette. You even had a previous blog post about a player who broke his word (and how wrong that was) and I agree that seems terrible.
I felt like I should have conceded around turn 8 when you were up 3-0 and I was kicking off to you. But I figured that would be unfair to you. I lined my guys all up far away from the line to show that I had no interest in trying for some miracle comeback, and kicked the ball out of bounds so you could choose who would score.
You proceed to start going for it to come in contact with my guys and surrounding them. I just felt as though I was laying down (you were the one with the ball to pass back and forth as you saw fit) and instead of saving us both the time and boredom of finishing, you played 100% (as is your right). I wasn't mad at you, I was mainly just bored. Having to play an activity for 45 minutes that is a foregone conclusion is sometimes necessary but rarely enjoyable.
This is a common issue:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_up_the_score
Some people feel it is inappropriate, others do not:
"However, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden contended that it was not his job to call plays inconsistent with his regular offense. He felt that the prevention of further scoring was the responsibility of the opposing team's defense. New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick also used this reasoning during the 2007 NFL Season when he and his team were accused of running up scores."
Basically, if some people's view is that if you don't like me scoring... stop me.
In this particular case, you're not just scoring to score, you're doing what is best for your team (because of the leveling system)
There are various strategies for dealing with people being upset. "It's a game, I'm just trying to do what is best for my team". Or alternatively mute them, enjoy your game without listening to the chatter if it bothers you.
Snuggles
Calling someone a "Try Hard" is the newest insult in League of Legends right now.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the worst insult I've heard. Of course I'm trying hard.
But... In LOL when you try hard the game ends faster. I don't understand why blood bowl doesn't have a real concede button. It sounds like a pretty big flaw with the game.
This is a tough situation. I totally get the frustration of having to play out a game that is completely done; many nights I have other things to do and would rather spend time with Wendy than play out 45 minutes of losing. BB has a very punitive concede function that works in the sense that people really don't want to concede but in a game where you need to farm points it isn't practical to use. I don't have an answer for that.
ReplyDeleteOne thing you are running into is having a really powerful team compared to everyone else. It is frustrating to look at the opposition and be sure you can't reasonably win the game before the game even starts. That is compounded by the fact that you are really damn good at BB so you win a lot regardless. There isn't much of a cure for that though - playing well leads to having a more powerful team. :P
This was actually my Lizardman team, not my Skaven team. Which is pretty good, don't get me wrong, but it's not on the same level as the Skaven team. At the very least people have been pleading for me to switch to the Lizardman team for turbo 5 instead of the Skaven team, so that might say something!
ReplyDeleteMy turbo 4 team is a bit of a solution to the problem, though. I've lost 8-1 in my first 2 games and have only gained one level so far!
As far as conceding goes, it's very brutal for the conceder. You lose any chance for more xp (not that Mike had a lot of a chance for any in this game) but you also lose your MVP (5 free xp) and any cash after the game. And the winner gets both of those. So it's actually fine to have your opponent concede. It is worse (I bet my Skaven team would have made more than 5XP in 10 turns in the other turbo semis) but it's reasonable. No one can get hurt in a concession state, after all!