: I have been a ladder member for quite some time. As a matter of fact, was one of the first few on ladder for version 1....I am amazed that many of you wonder why this site has continued to lose players. I have not played here much in the past couple of months and have come back and tried to play the past two evenings. Lo and behold, my open invitations go by the wayside and many of you opt to start other games....mayvin, ezewide, pasha.....and others as well. Guess the "fun" has been removed.

• Re: They think this junky graphic board site is better? View
    by yackydoodle1 on October 26, 2002 at 09:08:12 PDT
  
  : Some people are plain weird..irc.com site is the worst grpahics i ever saw and i rmeoved the download as soon as i saw how horrid it was.

  As one person said to us about our initial reaction to the isc site, "should graphics get in the way of playing a great game?" After getting used to it, it's terrific. I quickly got tired of the unctuous cowtowing to higher-ups (even known cheaters) here on the ladder, not to mention the non-reporters who get, at most, slaps on the wrist. It's just an incredible hassle, and an annoying hassle, to play on the ladder.

  The isc site, on the other hand, allows you to set your desired parameters: preferred dictionary (not just our [actual unexpurgated] tourney dictionary, but also SOWPODS, or even French or Romanian), length of game, and the ratings level of those you want to play, not to mention having both a buddies list and a noplay list, so you don't have to give a thought to obnoxious people you don't want to play (a huge plus). The only downsides at isc are that you can't shuffle your rack by clicking on a button, only drag and drop (I don't find this to be a limitation, since I like to control where the tiles are on my rack), and it would be nice if the board was bigger. These are minor limitations which are more than offset by the great features, and the fact that disco queens (of whatever sex) are non-existent, since a discoed game is adjudicated in favor of the remaining player after several minutes.

  We initially were put off by the site, but now rarely play even on basic, not to mention version 1 (want to talk about bad graphics!?). One other really great feature at isc is the ability to watch games between high-ranking players; a real learning experience. Last week all were even able to watch a 4-game match between GIJoel Sherman (Nat. Champ) and his English counterpart, Andrew Fisher, playing SOWPODS. Don't try this on the Zone.
  

  • Re: They think this junky graphic board site is better? View
      by CyberWolf_001 on October 26, 2002 at 15:41:33 PDT
    
    Well said....you put down exactly what I was thinking but failed to convey in words here.

    I forgot about the observing games part and it was certainly a treat just watching GIjoel and fisher play. It is fantastic learning tool to watch any of our country's high rated players (or world players for that matter) play each other and see their ability in the game. These guys make lemonade from lemons for the most part.

    
    : : Some people are plain weird..irc.com site is the worst grpahics i ever saw and i rmeoved the download as soon as i saw how horrid it was.

    : As one person said to us about our initial reaction to the isc site, "should graphics get in the way of playing a great game?" After getting used to it, it's terrific. I quickly got tired of the unctuous cowtowing to higher-ups (even known cheaters) here on the ladder, not to mention the non-reporters who get, at most, slaps on the wrist. It's just an incredible hassle, and an annoying hassle, to play on the ladder.

    : The isc site, on the other hand, allows you to set your desired parameters: preferred dictionary (not just our [actual unexpurgated] tourney dictionary, but also SOWPODS, or even French or Romanian), length of game, and the ratings level of those you want to play, not to mention having both a buddies list and a noplay list, so you don't have to give a thought to obnoxious people you don't want to play (a huge plus). The only downsides at isc are that you can't shuffle your rack by clicking on a button, only drag and drop (I don't find this to be a limitation, since I like to control where the tiles are on my rack), and it would be nice if the board was bigger. These are minor limitations which are more than offset by the great features, and the fact that disco queens (of whatever sex) are non-existent, since a discoed game is adjudicated in favor of the remaining player after several minutes.

    : We initially were put off by the site, but now rarely play even on basic, not to mention version 1 (want to talk about bad graphics!?). One other really great feature at isc is the ability to watch games between high-ranking players; a real learning experience. Last week all were even able to watch a 4-game match between GIJoel Sherman (Nat. Champ) and his English counterpart, Andrew Fisher, playing SOWPODS. Don't try this on the Zone.

    
    

    • Re: They think this junky graphic board site is better? View
        by RapierDuck on December 5, 2002 at 12:36:02 PST
      
      : Well said....you put down exactly what I was thinking but failed to convey in words here.

      : I forgot about the observing games part and it was certainly a treat just watching GIjoel and fisher play. It is fantastic learning tool to watch any of our country's high rated players (or world players for that matter) play each other and see their ability in the game. These guys make lemonade from lemons for the most part.

      I think IRC stinks. But I inadvertently agreed to $60 million, 6 year contract to play 256 days a year at the site, along with incentives that could triple my compensation.

      
      

    • Re: They think this junky graphic board site is better? View
        by TheWall812 on October 28, 2002 at 04:28:57 PST
      
      Many of the world's top players play at MarlDOOM, which has no graphic interface whatsoever, so I'm told (I've never been there... I don't get how the Telnet thing works!). At some point the game itself supercedes the question of how pretty the graphics are (or, indeed, if there even ARE graphics).
      I have no trouble with the graphics at ISC. The board is way larger that the silly corporate playsite or games.com versions. No insipid Monopoly man babbling away there, either.
      I've been there since Mplayer crashed... a little before that, actually... and it's been fun to watch it evolve from basically a Romanian guy's school project (with at most 10-12 people there at any given time) into what seems to now be the "in" place for tournament players.
      
      
      • Re: They think this junky graphic board site is better? View
          by yackydoodle1 on October 28, 2002 at 11:34:29 PST
        
        
        : I have no trouble with the graphics at ISC. The board is way larger that the silly corporate playsite or games.com versions. No insipid Monopoly man babbling away there, either.

        I forgot to mention the playsite/games.com version; a true embarassment, graphics-wise. I'm surprised they put their name on something quite that bad. Actually, when it comes to graphics, the www.isc.ro site is rather pleasant to look at. The only change I'd like is to reduce the size of the chat window and move the tile rack and game controls over to that side, then make the board somewhat bigger.

        The best feature there is that a player of most any level can go there and get a competitve game AT THEIR LEVEL. So my mom, I, and Joel Sherman could all pop in there and set the parameters so as to get only those players within our range of abilities for a good, tough but not hopeless game.
        

• Re: They think this junky graphic board site is better? View
    by CyberWolf_001 on October 26, 2002 at 07:40:24 PDT
  
  While the graphics may be a bit clunky, they have been coming out with newer versions that make it easier playing there.

  The players there are much better than your average kitchen table player and you can almost always get a game. There also is a choice of 5 dictionaries there including TWL98 & SOWPODS. Given just these few things I'll gladly trade the flashy board of ver2 for the clunky graphics at isc.ro

  Last night I stopped by both zone rooms and there only 7 here at version 2 and 22 at version 1. That was at 10:30pm. When I went to the romanian site there were well over 300 players logged on.

  
  : Some people are plain weird..irc.com site is the worst grpahics i ever saw and i rmeoved the download as soon as i saw how horrid it was.

  : : I have been a ladder member for quite some time. As a matter of fact, was one of the first few on ladder for version 1....I am amazed that many of you wonder why this site has continued to lose players. I have not played here much in the past couple of months and have come back and tried to play the past two evenings. Lo and behold, my open invitations go by the wayside and many of you opt to start other games....mayvin, ezewide, pasha.....and others as well. Guess the "fun" has been removed.

  
  

• OOPS its late and yes i made typos View
    by Mermaiid on October 26, 2002 at 00:38:27 PDT
  
  : Some people are plain weird..irc.com site is the worst grpahics i ever saw and i rmeoved the download as soon as i saw how horrid it was.

  : : I have been a ladder member for quite some time. As a matter of fact, was one of the first few on ladder for version 1....I am amazed that many of you wonder why this site has continued to lose players. I have not played here much in the past couple of months and have come back and tried to play the past two evenings. Lo and behold, my open invitations go by the wayside and many of you opt to start other games....mayvin, ezewide, pasha.....and others as well. Guess the "fun" has been removed.