Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[GendoIkari]

So yesterday my opponent and I both opened Quarry/Loan (Goons, Mountebank, Village board). On turn 3 (maybe 4) my opponent played Loan, which hit his Quarry. I commented, "bad luck." I don't think he saw the message immediately, and when he did he thought that I was being snarky/sarcastic and saying "bad luck" at the start instead of "good luck." He replied "the same to you, sir!" I lol'd and explained what I meant, and he lol'd.

Got me thinking though, what if my opponent hadn't been as good-humored? Someone else who thought that I was wishing him bad luck may have just ignored it and assumed I was a rude opponent. Or responded with something rude himself. Man, the internet is a bad place for communication.

(The rest of the game continued with him continuing to have horrible luck, while I had great luck. It ended when I got a hand of Goons, Goons, Village, Quarry, Quarry.. .he forfeited after that).

[polonkus]

What a jerk!

[Kuildeous]

It is important for all players to remember that tone is often lost in text. If this was an IRL game, your opponent would have likely known what exactly you were saying—even if he was a perfect stranger.

In many cases, I try to give that other person the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes that results in me looking like a doormat, but I think I'd prefer that to hurting someone else's feelings because of my own perceived butthurt.

[mnavratil]

I've noticed similar things happening in my games. I'll look down and see a message and have no idea what turn they were referring to. Probably better to just start qualifying everything slightly: "Bad luck your Loan hitting Quarry" would have been fully explanatory in this instance for example.

EDIT: Or even easier, "Bad luck for you on Turn X"