Bantari wrote:danielm wrote:While I appreciate the mature attitude and more relaxed way of handling this (after all that is a big part of what sets KGS apart), I also do feel that the current system promotes aggravation too much. Aggravation leads to stress, and that leads to heated tempers.
Generally, you cannot really escape aggravation by measures enforced on you from the outside, I think.
If your temperament is such that you get aggravated by such unimportant things as escapers, if the system deals with escapers to your liking, you will find something else. I think its just a human nature... this is why I always said that to deal with that is to adjust your own attitude.
I completely agree with that. Aggravation is part of the game (even more so on the anonymous internets), and cannot be solved by means of rules or mechanisms. What I am saying is that details of the current system actively
promote aggravation, making matters worse.
Why does the wording have to be ambiguous? Do you think the current system would work any less well, if the popups would clarify the situation and not insinuate that you are doing something wrong if you close a game where your opponent has quite obviously quit in rage (e.g. right after losing a big group)?
More importantly, can you explain to me the importance of being able to join a different game (or do anything else on the server really), when the opponent you just escaped from
is still waiting for you on the board? All the heart-warming stories about computers breaking down or pizzas being delivered simply don't seem to be relevant in this case.
Some people want to talk and shout and chat - some want silence (i.e. the EGR fiasco)
Some people want to make funny kibitz remarks, some don't want to see it....
Some people want to be able to escape, some want to force them not to (current issue, very minor.)
Some want more rules and regulations, some want less...
While I don't disagree, frankly I don't think that those are good examples at all. Anybody should have a choice of how much chatter they want to be exposed to, and in a well developed system I have rarely seen this to be a problem. Judging by the regularity of complaints about the escape system, I would hardly classify that as a "very minor issue", even if that is your subjective evaluation.
I do agree in general with wms' stance on the matter, just not that it should be beyond consideration. The trick is to find ways to improve the system and make even just a few people happier, without upsetting anybody in the process. It's never easy, but also never impossible.
Consider the IGS situation: The have a stricter anti-escaper policy in place, from what I recall, but people were getting so aggravated they had to disable public chat! And now a lot of people are unhappy about that.
As far as I can tell I am not advocating for a stricter anti-escaper policy at all, and the more relaxed philosophy on KGS is why it has become my favourite server. This is not just about philosophy though, KGS scores in many ways by providing a better, less stressful user experience. All I am saying is that a few things are amiss and could (probably should) be improved.
I get the feeling that these discussions have been going on for so long, that some people have turned on auto-pilot, defending their corner of the argument without thinking about whether the system could still be improved without changing its fundamental purpose.
The reason this is so important to me is not that I can't possibly live with the situation as it is, but that I am somewhat obsessed with user interface design, and I don't think that its power to affect user behaviour and emotions is given enough credit here. Just because others don't do it better either, is not ever a reason to stop evolving.
