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[Watno]

The implemenation on isotropic is that the player who lost his last game gets to go first. This was also applied in various tournaments, and I now see some people who want Goko to work that way, too.

This leads me to thinking about this system a bit.
I think in tournaments, it would be fairer to just alternate starting player, regardless of the outcome of the previous game. This would make winning a game from the disadvantaged 2nd position more valuable.
In general ranked play, that is unrelated matches, I think the starting player should be random. This would prevent abuse like it was going on on iso (relogging after winning a game or always ending the session with a win, which I think was indeed happening), allow for better statistics, due  to starting player being fully independant of player's skill, and actually, I just don't see the reason why completely unrelated games against other players should decide who's going first in the game I'm playing right now.

I might be missing things here, what's your opinion on this issue?

[GendoIkari]

I think in tournaments, it would be fairer to just alternate starting player, regardless of the outcome of the previous game. This would make winning a game from the disadvantaged 2nd position more valuable.

In general ranked play, that is unrelated matches, I think the starting player should be random. This would prevent abuse like it was going on on iso (relogging after winning a game or always ending the session with a win, which I think was indeed happening), allow for better statistics, due  to starting player being fully independant of player's skill, and actually, I just don't see the reason why completely unrelated games against other players should decide who's going first in the game I'm playing right now.

I might be missing things here, what's your opinion on this issue?

I don't know whether or not you are aware that for tournaments (if you are playing several rounds with the same person), having the previous loser go first is actually in the official rules, it's not just an Iso thing. The original Dominio rulebook states that when playing another game, losing player goes first.

I do agree that it's a bit of a stretch to apply this logic to people playing against people, and not more matches against the same person. However, you're a bit wrong on the abuse that can happen... logging off and back on after a win does NOT help your chances of going first. Players who are logging on for the first time are put in the same "pool" as players who just won a game. If such a player plays against someone who just lost, they will always go second.

I don't see always ending on a win as abuse at all. Yes, it helps make it more likely that you will get at least one first-player game across the several that you play. But the best players are already winning several games in a row more often than not, in which case they are playing from second-player seat more often to begin with.

[Watno]

Ok, I was aware neither of the official rule being to have the loser go first (I'm pretty sure that isn't in the german rulebook), nor of the way iso actually works.

[Qvist]

Ok, I was aware neither of the official rule being to have the loser go first (I'm pretty sure that isn't in the german rulebook), nor of the way iso actually works.

From the German rulebook (pg. 4): Werden mehrere Spiele hintereinander gespielt, wird der Spieler links vom Gewinner des letzten Spiels neuer Startspieler.
Translation: If you play more games in a row, the player left of the last game's winner is the new starting player.

Edit: Actually, it's not loser goes first, it's winner goes last.

[Watno]

Damn. I've been doing it wrong for so long Still not sure wether I really like it though.

[Davio]

"Winner goes last" (let's use the correct rule) only makes sense when playing with the same group of people.

You might have an advanced player and some rookies, making the winner go last might give the rookies a bit more chance.

For online play, I would like it to make the winner go last only if you play against the same player(s), keeping seating order for every player the same. So if you play with 1. Bob, 2. Alice and 3. Clyde and Alice wins, it should be 1. Clyde, 2. Bob and 3. Alice for the next game.

If you're playing against another player or group, it should just do random seating.