FREE Bonus Tokens, Promotions, Amazing Minis, Sweepstakes & more!
Hats, mugs or t-shirts and more at the 
Dear Ms. Netiquette,
I have experienced the same issue in two different game rooms. A couple of Pogo players will say hello to each other in chat and then begin to speak German and other languages besides English. I find this highly annoying when I am looking up to check game progress and there is a bunch of mumble jumble on the screen. It leaves others insecure, making them wonder if they are being talked about right in front of their faces. Is this proper? Shouldn’t they go to private chat if they do not want the other players to understand what they are typing?
Sincerely,
Highly Annoyed
—
Ms. Netiquette,
I, too, like many others observe some of the chat that goes on in a room. I’ve noticed some people come into a room where others are talking in other languages, like German, and these players become rude because they do not understand what’s being said. Can you remind people that English is not the only language and it is rude to start a war of words just because they do not understand what’s being said? It’s easier to just leave the room. This is disturbing to those who just want to play the games.
thank you
Live And Let Live
| Dear HA and LALL,Language is such an interesting thing, isn’t it? The bottom line is that Pogo is accessible from the “World Wide Web” and thus people from all over the world can play here. These players may be German or French or Italian or Senegalese. They may not know English, or they may simply feel more comfortable typing in their native language. Either way, there are no rules about what language you can use on Pogo, so it’s perfectly acceptable to type in whatever language you wish, so long as it does not violate the Terms of Service to which we all agreed upon signing up.As for other people feeling insecure and wondering if the other players are speaking about them, that sounds a little paranoid. If you were to go into a German game room, for instance, would you take a look at the list of players and choose someone at random to start insulting? Why assume the negative if you don’t understand what they’re saying? Maybe they’re just saying “Oh look at all of these beautiful people playing such an exquisit game!”Finally, if you don’t like whatever is going on in the chat area, simply mute the individual who is annoying you. The sooner we get used to using the mute feature, the more control we have over our online experience. |
Hi Ms. Netiquette,
I was playing a game of Canasta one night like I always do, and I happened to pick up a very large pile! Of course I’m as happy as can be and I use the ‘:P’ emote in chat like I have many times before and have seen many others use also in that situation and others. Well, to my surprise the person I was playing against got really offended and became quit rude towards me. Now was I the one being rude or were they?
Yours Truly,
Was I Too Rude?
| Dear WITR,That’s a tough call with such little information. It’s possible that neither of you were actually rude, but that this was simply a miscommunication. What did this person actually say? Had you been conversing with this person for a while? Did you and this player build a friendly rapport?If you’ve been playing online for a while, chances are you’ve developed a certain comfort level with other players who have also been playing for a long time, and these folks accept that a little friendly teasing is just part of the fun. However, there will be occasions when you find yourself playing against someone without that comfort level.The best advice I can give you is to be sensitive when you play against folks with whom you’ve never played before. They may be newer, or they may not understand the meaning of the emoticon. To your opponent, the :P may have come across not as your intended friendly ribbing, but more like a boastful statement about how much better you are at this game. |
