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Dear Nettie,
I don’t usually complain but this week’s Challenge in Bingo Luau has caused no end of grief.
I was in 5 or 6 different rooms and it was always the same. Because some of us called Bingo before ball 70 we got yelled at. We were NOT in sharing rooms either. I, for one, do not want my badge handed to me. I want to earn it.
When these people yelled at us, we told them it wasn’t a sharing room and they said we were selfish. We told them to go to a sharing room and more than once we were told the sharing rooms were full. I checked the rooms and only 2 of the sharing rooms were full. Some even had 0 people in them.
Yes, we can mute them but thery are always yelling at us and calling us selfish because we want to earn our badge. I wish I had a suggestion to solve this problem but I don’t.
There will always be people who want to cause trouble, but it seems like there were more this time. I moved to different rooms several times and was treated the same way. I am not the only one dealing with this problem and I am sure you will get more letters than mine.
Thank you for the great job you do. You are appreciated.
Got a Bingo? Call the Bingo!
| Dear Got a Bingo?, I truly wish I did have a solution for this ongoing issue, but alas– I do not. And you are right– any time we have a challenge in any of our Bingo games, I get letters. From a purely sociological perspective, it is interesting how so many people have flocked to this “sharing” theme so tightly that many of them have cast off their manners and partake in the behavior you describe. But this isn’t a classroom, so the situation is more annoying than interesting. And you’d think during the week of a badge these folks would just let it go and accept that people will call Bingo when they want. But nope! They’re attempting to make you play the way they play, even though it’s not the way the game was intended to be played. This, unfortunately, is one of those cases where we must be the wiser people and recognize we can’t change their behavior, and they can’t change ours. The one thing we can do is either turn off chat or mute the people who are yelling. They’ll still yell of course, getting their tea bags all twirled up, but you won’t know what they’re saying. You’ll get your badge, move on, and they’ll continue spinning the endless wheel of attempting to change people’s behavior through intimidation. Or, if you do want to chat, find a few friends and enter the same room. Then go into Private Chat and ignore the public chat. All that said, if before you mute them, go private, or turn off the chat, should they violate the Terms of Service you should report them. This also seems like an appropriate time to remind everyone of the “mute all” option. If you don’t want to deal with what’s going on in the chat room, but want to see your progress for the badge, simply type the following into the chat box:
That’s the “slash key”(/), the word “mute”, one space, and an asterisk. |
Ms. Netiquette,
I was in a room with quite a few players and at least half of them entered the room and asked, “Okay, how do you play and what do I need to do to get the badge?”.
This is extremely annoying when you are trying to chat with others and it keeps getting interrupted by this very same question over and over. Why can’t the developers of Pogo put a disclaimer or something that reminds people to please read the badge requirements and/or the instructions before entering a game room? After responding, “Read the requirements and the instructions”, I was called a stick-in-the-mud and several other names because I wouldn’t just tell them what was in writing already, but they were just too lazy to read.
Thank you,
Informed Badger
| Dear Informed Badger, Sure, we could force everyone to click “ok” in a pop up message before they entered the game room or put reminders in the chat. We could also scream it from mountaintops, have it sky-written above every town in the world, but guess what? Yup! It might prevent a few folks here and there from asking, but it won’t stop many. Plus it would be incredibly expensive and very hard on our vocal chords. So, my advice for you is nearly the same as my advice to Got a Bingo? Use the mute, turn off chat, play with your friends in private chat, or use that /mute * option. Furthermore, you could also wait a few days after Badge Day to begin your badge. Most people try to get their badges as soon as they are released, so if you were to start thinking of Friday or Saturday as your own personal “Badge Day”, you could probably avoid a lot of those questions you find annoying. |
Hi there Ms. Nettie!
First of all, let me just say I’m very fond of your exceptional advice and tea. I read every one, and I love the advice you give. But onto the actual question.
Today while playing Battle Phlinx, I was having some toast, (toast and Battle Phlinx, all I really needed was some hot chocolate to make it perfect) and I decided I’d play a couple games and then go.
So, I started a game with myself and the same 3 computers, it seems, that I get every single time – they’re not too shabby, but they could use a few rank-ups! N Anyway, while playing, another player wandered into the room and began to play. Since I had been playing for a little longer than I had liked, I left to clean the kitchen up. When I came back, I noticed the same player that had found me earlier was still at the same table with the same computers.
It made me feel bad, because I had just left them like I was ignoring them or something. I didn’t mean to be rude. I just simply needed to go. Now that I think back on it, however, I wonder, should I have said something instead of just leaving? I know from experience, it is quite frustrating to have players leave right in the middle of the game after they lose, but I never really thought about it much.
Thanks!
Worried About Being Rude
| Dear Worried About Being Rude, Any long-time player is used to playing a game and losing his or her opponent mid-way through and while perhaps may be mildly annoyed, shouldn’t be letting this get to him or her. However, we’re used to mild annoyances every day, so an act of politeness could potentially make someone’s experience a little brighter. So, by all means, the next time you’re about to take off in the middle of a long game, politely tell your opponent of your intention. A simple “As much as I’m enjoying this, I’m afraid I must attend to something else” should do it. Although you’ll sound a little too much like Ms. Netiquette, and sometimes that old Nettie sounds a bit too prim and proper for the online world, so you’ll want to use you’re own language. ;) If it’s a short game, the polite thing to do is to finish the game, unless it’s some sort of emergency. |
Have an etiquette question for Ms. Netiquette? Email msnetiquette@pogo.com
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