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Dear Ms. Netiquette,
There is a problem in the game rooms that REALLY upsets me. It has happened to me several times and I would like to share it with you and get your opinion. Sometimes I run into a player who has an obviously German screen name, and me being German (living in the USA for many years) I will ask that person if he/she is from Germany and if so, we will start talking in German.
Recently there were four German ladies with me in the room, and all of a sudden someone piped up and said how rude we were by chatting in a foreign language, and that if we wanted to talk in our language we should go to “private chat.” This player went on to say that the only reason we were talking in German, was so that they couldn’t understand what we were saying! This is NEVER the case!
It got really nasty, and more and more people started in on us and sided with the person who first called us “rude.” I told all of them that I was under the impression that Pogo is an “international” site and the Germans (or people from any other country) are free to type in whichever language they choose, just like the Americans. The more I thought about this, the more upset I became. I get excited “running” into people from my country! I got so upset I clicked out of the room and promised never to go to the same room again!
What are the rules on people talking other languages than English? And what should I do if this happens again?
German Girl
| Dear German Girl, There are absolutely no rules or any Terms of Service dictating what languages people can use to chat. As long as you’re not violating our Terms of Service in whatever language it is you’re using, you are free to chat away. So how do you best deal with someone who interrupts your conversation to tell you that you are rude simply because he or she doesn’t understand what you’re saying? First of all, you must accept the fact that the vast majority of players on Pogo are English speaking. Unfortunately, not all of them read this column, and the reality is that you will no doubt find it a common occurrence to be accused of rudeness should you type in your native language. I’m certainly not suggestion you should stop– I’m merely being frank. You must be prepared for this behavior and deal with it rationally. So, I will give you the same advice I would give someone who is upset by someone typing in a foreign language. Utilize the mute button. The moment someone says something to the effect of “you’re being rude by not typing in English” is the moment you should use the mouse to right click on that person’s name, mute them, and forget them. |
Ms. Netiquette,
I just read the response to “Am I a Loner in My Thinking’s” question regarding going alone in Euchre. I have to say that I disagree on one point with the responses given by the customer service people.
In the euchre community, it is considered rude to go alone when your score is 9 because you only need the one point to win. To those who play euchre more competitively than the average person, going alone on 9 is the equivalent of gloating, and no one likes a winner who gloats.
Going alone on 7 would be perfectly acceptable because the 4 points you would get would allow you to win while not going alone wouldn’t afford you that opportunity.
In organized settings (such as tournaments), going alone on 9 can cause you to disqualified because it is truly unnecessary for the win.
Euchre Lover
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Dear Ms. Netiquette,
First of all, let me thank you so very much for your wonderful column on Pogo. Your advice and suggestions have helped me a lot in situations that I am not sure about. So thank you for taking the time to write this column and helping all of us out with some pretty tough problems with the players.
In last week’s column you had a letter about someone that was confused about whether it was rude or not to go alone in Euchre or not. This is what I was told when I first started playing the game, and maybe it will help with anyone that may be unsure of “Euchre Etiquette.”
In Euchre Etiquette, one should not go alone if your score is 8 or higher. This just causes an extreme overbid on your hand and can make a person seem a little cocky in their bidding. Plus, if you keep it to 7 and lower on the loners you will make new friends, happy players, and not have the problem of being called rude and obnoxious which is something none of us care to be called. Especially in a card game.
I hope that this can help whomever, and if you would like, Ms. Netiquette, I have a whole set of Euchre Etiquette rules that may help you out in the future so that you can help out anyone else in the future.
Happy gaming all,
Randy Knows the Rules
| Dear Euchre Lover and Randy, Thank you so much for writing in with your thoughts on the subject. I received many letters from long-time euchre players who echoed your opinions. Several readers said that to go it alone at 8 or 9 is behavior they would expect only from someone who is either very new, or who is a bit of a braggart. One person went so far as to say it was akin to “kicking a man when he is down.” So, from what I’ve read this week, it does sound like “going it alone” at 8 or 9 is considered poor sportsmanship by a large portion of the euchre community. |
To the always-proper-but-never-too-prim Ms. Netiquette.
I wanted to point out a clarification to your column from last week…
One of your readers had written complaining about poor sportsmanship from people who are manually targeting other players in Battle Phlinx. You pointed out that if this becomes a problem, players can always turn off Curse Stones and Pranks from the Battle Phlinx table options.
While this is true, it’s kind of a bummer to have to turn off Curse Stones entirely just for people who don’t like the whole “picking on one person” aspect of manual targeting.
For those people, I’d like to point out another option in the Battle Phlinx table options — the awfully-verbose “Allow players to send curse stones to players they click as targets” option. If you leave this option unchecked, you can still have Curse Stones in the game, but players won’t be allowed to select a specific person as their target. I usually play with that option unchecked myself. It helps prevent players from being picked on too much, which is always nice.
Hope that helps!
–Todd K.
| Dear Todd K, Thank you so much for writing! It’s not every day we’re honored with a letter from an actual Pogo Producer, and we appreciate your feedback! So there you have it folks– straight from the gentleman who produced the game! For more information on Todd K, and some of the games he’s produced, read his interview here. |
