Please let us choose....
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So many new features!
Some of them change the way we play: for example, when you finish placing a valid word, the red play button changes to show the quality of your move.
The downside of this is that it encourages players to fish for words.... try this and that to see if they can find a high scoring tile combo that turns out to be a real word. I don't want to play with people who fish for words, so it would be really great if you would allow people to turn this off if both players agree.
I also find that the game is less fun if the game ranks my move lower than 80 or 90% and I keep having to work harder to find a better word.
This makes the game less relaxing. I would like to have the option of turning off this feature that keeps saying "not good enough! push yourself!" I may not want to work that hard! I win most of my games as it is.
Please consider offering the ability to chose how much anxiety we want to feel while playing Lexulous.
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@vickibma, i hope it is OK if i say I think you are taking this move strength thing too seriously. Just don't use it if you dislike it.
Unless your format is different than mine, you have to overtly ask (click on it) to see the move strength as it is. I happen to like it, and do fish for words if it is not high enough -- just like i fish for words that eventually win the game (and they may not be the highest "word strength") -- and did so before i ever knew there was a "word strength" indicator. -
@vickibma
I respect your attitude and understand that you don't want to play 'fishers' as you perceive it as a form of cheating.I play Scrabble because I enjoy word play of any kind such as codewords - and also those puzzles where you have a set of mixed up letters and have to rearrange them into the original words. Or find as many words as you can from a single word. So I treat Scrabble in the same way - I 'fish'. You and I see the game differently!
I don't want to have to learn all those 2-letter words so I like to see them in front of me. That's a big plus for me. Out of interest, I would like to know if you think that the 2-letter word list should be removed on a similar basis to removing the 'Move Strength'?
Following your purist approach further would imply that Lex should also no longer offer the facility for checking if words are valid either!
I can offer a different, but somewhat related, perspective. I play online chess and am aware that my opponents will 'fish' for moves using a chess engine. Also they will deliberately play lower rated players so that their rating increases and they never lose.
Among many other tricks, they will stop playing for a while if they are losing badly - hoping that I will think they have left the game and give up the play. In that case, my time would run out and I'd lose on time (I always wait them out). I play them all, I'm just happy to improve my game by facing whatever comes my way.
In a similar way to chess, why not just be happy with the wins you get IN SPITE of opponents who 'push themselves to play better by 'fishing'. You say you usually win anyway!
IMHO the Lexulous experience (in its present form) is the best online Scrabble experience on offer.
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@mistertoad said in Please let us choose....:
IMHO the Lexulous experience (in its present form) is the best online Scrabble experience on offer.
Amen brother.
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@mistertoad Jeeeeezzzz. I'm just asking for the option!
I'm sure with your impressive word prowess (and you sure just used enough of them!), you do know what the word "choose" means.
Choice: Option. The game partners get to choose what their standards are.
How could that be a bad thing? -
@mistertoad said in Please let us choose....:
I would like to know if you think that the 2-letter word list should be removed on a similar basis to removing the 'Move Strength'?
Following your purist approach further would imply that Lex should also no longer offer the facility for checking if words are valid either!Valid Points!
I played "over-the-table" Scrabble for years and then over the phone on BBSes before there was a World Wide Web and online Scrabble. So I certainly know what it is like to play with neither of those things. It took me years at Lex before i realized that guessing was free.
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@vickibma
Sorry I got 'wordy' but I felt that you raised an important issue about the ethics of 'raising our game' in the following ways:- testing random letter combinations to see if any are valid words
- checking 'Move strength' - should we keep seeking a better word?
- viewing the 2-letter word list (no need to memorise it)
- viewing the unseen letters, thereby preventing opponent 'plays'
These are not part of the original Scrabble game. Maybe players could be allowed to decide beforehand whether they want to play 'Original' Scrabble or 'Lexulous' Scrabble?
My point is that, if you are going to make 'Move strength' optional, why are you not also allowing the '2-letter word list' and 'unseen letters' to also be options? The three of them are similar in the sense that they allow us to improve our score if we are willing to put in some work - in ways which might be perceived as "cheating".
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@mistertoad Sure! I think that they should all be options.
And... I'm not a "purist," as you assumed. I use the two-letter word list all the time.
So I would want to play with partners who agree to keep that in our games. -
@vickibma Can't you just ignore the play rater thing and play as usual? BTW I seriously doubt that many other players want to have to agree to such a weird, minor setting before a game... And people on this site have always fished for words before playing-- they just looked at how many points a possible play would be.
