Hi!
I got Dominion Online a couple of months back, after owning some IRL expansions for like a year. Ever since I stumbled onto this forum, I read page after page of game reports and strategy articles whenever I had some time to kill. On my way to work, mostly. Finally, I decided to register and I wanted to introduce myself ("Hi") and immediately awkwardly request a skype buddy for some games of Dominion Online who is willing to play on a "sort-of-regular-basis". Here's why.
Short version:
I like Dominion. I like talking about the boards and strategies. I like people. Most people, anyway. I have a decent understanding of the cards (unrelated, I do own them all) but I'm always looking to better myself. I am from Germany, but I'm fairly fluent speaking English. And I am very self-aware about this request kinda sounding like online dating. PM me and we'll set something up.
Long Version:
Eventually - before getting into Dominion Online - I found some Dominion streams online. I watched a lot of the videos that Adam H. uploaded to youtube and I quite liked the idea of his and Qvist's Skype games since Dominion 2p seems perfect for skyping. Since then, I introduced a buddy who lives in Belgium to Dominion and we've been playing a bunch of Skype games since then and it's been way more fun than playing online with only the interaction that the chat interface (which - I think - is quite horrible) provides.
In my experience, talking about the game and turns during a match or afterwards greatly enhances not only the amount of fun you're having, but what you are learning about cards and combos. Also, analyzing games puts winning and losing games into perspective, because to me it's no longer people but strategies competing. Thirdly, I like to take a minute or so to look at the board. I'm a big fan of Adam H.'s "alright, three/four, estates, what's going on here?" brief overview (I watched some games of MicQsenoch and I found him saying "alright, looks like "XY" before my brain had even processed one card's title on the board quite insane), but in games vs. unknown opponents, I sometimes feel pressured to not take up too much time. Most of the people I've played online were nice and some were willing to chat a bit (like I said, though, the chat interface is not really capable of housing the exchange of strategic ideas), but I've also encountered people who didn't seem interested in any conversation whatsoever (or they didn't see me saying "hi, good luck") and I particularly recall the weird insult "fu, ninja turtle, I don't have all day" after typing "sorry, thinking.." and taking a minute to think about a somewhat complex governor turn. Being able to talk here also alleviates the problem of someone feeling he's being slowplayed. These might seem like minor incidents to experienced online players who've seen rage quits and the likes, but I'd rather find someone who shares my views then annoy people with my trying to say hello and exchange strategic ideas.
If you read all of this and didn't roll your eyes, I think I'd like to buy you a beer.
Cheers!