Thursday, August 03, 2006
Passing as a strategy
Would someone please explain to me what the big flap is all about over passing as a strategy? If you read the rules of wordox they state "If you choose to not make a word on your turn you may pass to your opponent" . Thats straight from the hoyle word games rules of wordox. There is also if people have noticed a button specifically for the purpose of passing. Every leagues rules also state that passing is an acceptable strategy yet there are people who get all pissed off if you pass. When the game was invented why did they put a pass button there if it was not intended to be used as a strategy? In scrabble you can pass your turn and exchange tiles , am i not correct in this? The reason for this post is because i have had it come up several times in the past few weeks in email and lobby chat. If you are in a league game or tournament competing to better your rank or your stats and a play will cost you the game but a pass may give you an oppurtinity to win please explain to me why it isnt ethical to pass. I have seen people pass and it cost them the game. In my opinion if you are in a league and your opponent passes you should use whatever strategy you can to counter the action.... if a play can be made that wont hurt you play it, if not pass back.... gamble , take a chance .... but please dont distort the rules of the game and of all the leagues by protesting when a player passes as a strategy, it makes no sense and cause only hard feelings. I personally refuse to pretend the pass button isnt there until someone can prove to me that it wasnt put there for use as a strategy. I may or may not choose to pass , it depends because i do take wild gambles and they do payoff sometimes but i damn sure dont want anyone pissed off at me when im staying well within the rules.
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5 comments:
Everything you said about passing is correct. Some players have been bitching and moaning about passing for years. These players who protest against passing need to read the damn rules. Some people may choose not to pass (that's their choice) or may not like it when their opponent passes but it's not illegal or unethical. IT'S PART OF THE GAME. The players who disdain passing have two options if they dislike it so much: 1)Get the wordox rules changed or 2)Don't play wordox. Too bad you don't like it but the fact is PASSING IS ACCEPTABLE. Live with it. Enough of the whining already. And if someone refuses to play another person because the latter passes, that's ridiculous.
Well said!!!
Personally, I have never used passing as a strategy because it usually comes back to bite me in the ass but some people tend to feel that those who do are evil incarnate.
If you feel that strongly about not wanting to play someone who passes as a strategy, go play something else.
I expressed my personal opinion about passing, I also said I knew it was legitimate. Scrabble is somewhat different, you might get a new rack of tiles, but pinks dont clear the board!! I also used my name and didnt hide under anonymous. Peeps can pass as much as they like in a no pinks game,in regular ox they usually do it when it means giving their opponent the pink. But I still hate it in that case and will not do it myself, if you want to win that much you can have the game. I personally don't care about rankings and such, I play in leagues because you get a better game. Perhaps as anonymous 2 said I should go play something else!! There are quite a few players that play for the enjoyment of the game rather than the kudos beleive it or not.
Jeff, come on. You "don't want anyone pissed off" at you? I thought that was the whole point of this blog - to stir things up. You've finally touched on a subject that stirred me up enough to write.
First, enough about the pass button being there so that you can give up your turn as a "strategy." The pass button is there so that when the rack is something horrible like QZVXCCC, you don't have to wait for the clock to run out in order to get new tiles. And BECAUSE it is needed for that situation, it also had to be incorporated into the rules. Hoyle recognized that enforcing any rule about "not passing" would be impossible.
Second, the ethics issue is relevant because passing is not a legal issue - clearly, passing is allowed in the rules. If we are playing the game under basic assumptions and our opponent stomps on those assumptions, that is not ethical. For example, we assume games with league opponents are to be reported as ladder games. If someone plays a game and then refuses to report because "you didn't say it was a league game," that is unethical. If we play an entire game under the assumption that our opponent will make the best play with the tiles they are given, we also play accordingly. For example, I might clear a board leaving the worst possible tiles on the rack, calculating that my opponent may not get the 5 points he needs to win. However, if I know before I play that he will simply pass until he gets a 5-point word, then I might as well end the game right then and there. It's a huge letdown to take the risk, think I have won, and THEN be hit with a pass. Even worse to have someone make an obviously FAKE word instead of passing outright. At least show some dignity - don't play something stupid and pretend it's an "oops."
Third, I do not refuse to play people who pass. I prefer to take advantage of passers and get even by winning! In my experience, I find that I win more than I lose if your "strategy" is to pass when you play me.
Passing is not a "strategy" - it is "giving up" - it is running away from the challenge of finding the least risky play while MAKING POINTS - it is like saying, "I'd rather take ZERO POINTS than think about this any more" - because NO ONE (except someone with complete word knowledge and instant recall - no one like that is playing Ox) can perfectly analyze a board full of words and prove that the best play is to pass. The ONLY time you can guarantee a win is if you choose to pass on the LAST play of the game, when you can afford to wait for the "right tiles" to appear. Otherwise you risk your opponent finding something you didn't see, or your opponent making points while you continue to take zero because the right tiles don't appear.
Passing is WEAK and my respect for your game-playing ability will diminish each time you pass when you play me. I won't say it's evil and I won't hate you, but I'll think less of you as a Wordox player. I don't believe that passing should be outlawed, I simply think it is NOT PLAYING. I'm here to PLAY and make points. Take zero points if you like, and give me that extra turn. And if you pass at the end of the game, I'll understand that you really wanted to win WITHOUT PLAYING.
I think Wordox should be played like golf: as it lies. Call it ethics, call it personal preference, call it what you like, but I will not pass if I see a play.
That being said, a game of Wordox is a shared sandbox, and if someone wants to pee in the sandbox, more power to 'em. But such people shouldn't wonder why other people don't want to get too close.
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