The Yahoo Games website allows
people from the world over to
. Yahoo also has Chess and Go, but also
games like Dominoes, as well as card games like Canasta and Gin.
Unlike classical board games like Chess and Go, which have been played
in clubs, tournaments, and other formal environments for centuries,
Yahoo Games has given Dots and Boxes the first venue for serious
competition. Indeed, the first Dots
tournament seems to have been played in 1994, so prior to Yahoo
Dots, and the quality of play was at a rudimentary level.
Apart from allowing people from all over the world to play with
each other, Yahoo Games also has a rating
system similar to the one used in tournament Chess, thus providing
an objective standard for comparison, though there is much abuse and
cheating.
On top of the gaming aspects of the Yahoo site, each game table is
also a chat room, so one gets to know one's
opponents, including an introduction to the new phenomenon of the
chat world.
On average, Yahoo Dots has relatively fewer numbers of people (about
500 people) than Chess (a few thousand). Also, Dots is most popular
in the United States and almost completely unknown in countries like
Spain, so the peak Dots times correspond to afternoon and evening
in the United States.
The Yahoo rating system is based on the
chess performance rating
method introduced by Arpad Elo in the 1960's: When two
rated players meet, the winner wins 16 points plus 4% of the rating
difference. The loser loses the exact same amount of points. For
example, if a 2000 rated player beats a 1800 rated player, then the
new ratings will be 2008 and 1792.
The rating system has extra safeguards, so that you can never lose
points for winning, so you win about 0 points for beating someone
more than 400 points below you. Similarly, you only lose 0 points
to a player more than 400 points above you.
This implies that the maximum you can win or lose is 32 points.
Experience with Dots players of all strength level seems to indicate
the following general correspondence between ratings and
Dots ability. This classification applies to players who
regularly face opposition of all strength, including stronger
players. Players restricting themselves to weaker opposition will
quietly inflate their ratings, while
boosting will make a rating completely meaningless.
Chess ratings roughly reflect the following hierarchy of ability and
commitment to the game:
The International Chess Federation
ratings all start at 2200.
A rating of over 2450 probably means that you are an International
Master, and over 2600 an International Grandmaster. However, these
titles are earned by achieving good results in international
tournaments, not simply by rating points. A rating of 2800 means
that you are either the current or former world champion.
The chess rating system is also used on internet Chess servers like
Internet Chess Club
and the
Free Internet Chess Server.
People mostly play speed chess on these sites, and the ratings
hierarchy roughly corresponds to the one outlined above.
The Yahoo system has a few idiosyncracies which set it
apart from chess ratings.
In Chess, a new player first plays 20 games with a provisional rating.
After 20 games, his permanent rating will be computed as a function of
his performance against the average rating of his opponents.
In Chess, after a tie, each player gets (or loses) 4% of the
ratings difference, to reflect the fact that a tie with a better player
means you are improving.
The first difference makes a big impact on the significance of
ratings, since it basically implies that the average rating will be
about 1500. However, the average chess rating is about 1200 to 1300,
so this implies that Yahoo Dots ratings are inflated by about 200 to
300 points compared to Chess ratings.
The Yahoo Dots rating hierarchy seems to be roughly consistent with a
500 point inflation with respect to chess. That is, a 2500
Yahoo Dots rating, should reflect a chess ability level of at most a
2000 rated player. In particular, I reached 2500 level within 3 months
of my first Dots game, whereas it is not uncommon for players
to reach 2000 chess level in one year, but rare for players to
get much higher in that short a time.
There are many people abusing the Yahoo rating system. In particular,
many players spend a lot of time boosting their rating by creating
multiple identities and having them play against each other in bogus
matches. For example, on January 25, 2003, I logged into Yahoo Dots
and noted that about half of the 170 participants of the room
"Octagon" were two people using multiple identities to boost their ratings.
Examination of this identity's profile showed that he was playing one
game every 30 seconds against his other identity. The 30 seconds is
needed because Yahoo requires a 30 second minimum for the game to be
rated.
Further examination of the game itself reveals that no move was ever
played, only the 30 second time limit was respected.
Such boosting methods are not possible on internet chess servers
which do some checking for match validity. However, Yahoo
does check for multiple identities, that is, it does not allow
two identities from the same computer IP address to log into the same
game room. However, this can be bypassed by using a special
Dots backdoor site dedicated to helping Dots cheaters.
Finally, there appear to be other methods of boosting depending
on bugs in the system. For example, this seemingly inexplicable
profile.
Apart from the more or less innocuous practice of boosting which
doesn't involve anyone else, Yahoo Dots a source of inspiration
for more insidious forms of cheating.
The first cheating which I encountered was the impostor, that is,
someone with a high rating passing of as a beginner. Though not
strictly against the rules, this practice is extremely frustrating,
as you will lose many points for losing to someone stronger than you,
or what is even more infuriating, lose many points even if you win
3 games to 1 against a player that is slightly weaker than you.
Because of impostors, I was continually underrated, having lost
numerous matches this way. Some of the impostors used further techniques,
such as inviting me to play while they had a little girl with baseball
cap icon, then changing to a devil icon after the minimal 30 second
rating period had elapsed.
This became most bothersome when I was at about 2000 level, since
I was not good enough to defend against impostors, but I was a
prime target due to my fairly high rating.
I should say that impostors were a strong motivation to improve, and
the problem went away when I reached 2200 level, at which point
players interested in such tactics were no longer good enough to beat
me.
These impostors seem to be players who have achieved a minimal level
of skill but don't have the courage to improve or to face players who
can beat them, so spend their time trying to find easy marks, and derive
satisfaction from regaining their 2200 rating from the initial 1500
in as few games as possible.
When I was first confronted with this practice, I was very
disappointed, since I have usually observed among good games players,
that better players do not indulge in unethical behavior. However,
after reaching a level in which I can compete with the best Dots players,
I now realize that impostors do not represent that high level, and
my initial depression was unwarranted.
But, as in every human endeavor, there are genuine Dots cheats. There
is one player who sets up his own table making sure that it has
no time limit. If he's winning, then there's no problem. However,
if he gets in a lost position, then he will refuse to move, leaving
his unsuspecting opponents to just sit there with absolutely no
recourse. Leaving your computer on overnight won't work either, as
Yahoo will log you out after 30 minutes.
Not only can you play Dots on
Yahoo Games, but each game also gives you the privilege of
engaging a chat session at your table. This was a totally new
world for me, and I had to learn its ways.
The first thing to know is that much of the communication
is done via abbreviations such as
Interestingly, the acronym sol = shit out of luck, common in written
English, is not used. But the most infamous of all abbreviations is
My
wife, being a regular player on Yahoo games, informed that
asl = age/sex/location.
My years in Canada had left me with some of the reserve that its citizens
are known for, and I didn't
like telling strangers my personal data. I tried to get around the
question by giving my initial response, the meaning of the
antiquated acronym. When that didn't seem to work, I followed with
the various meaningful permutations, which are
None of this had much effect, and my opponents were like the Terminator:
They absolutely will not stop until they get what they want,
good for Dots playing, not necessarily for chat.
Whole lines of ASL???????????? and other exclamations would appear
on my computer screen. In many cases, my
simple refusal to reveal my age led to immediate resignation. I
suggest that approach for people who want to win quickly.
But why this obsession with age/sex/location? The answer, I believe, is
fairly simple, especially in the light of the fact that the true asl
maniacs are invariably Americans: In American society, knowledge of
age and sex are essential to casual social intercourse.
Male bonding, flirting, and
similar social behavior is impossible without age and
gender determination. Combine this with lower tact level and higher
self-righteous level of Americans, and
you get your answer. True, many of the asl'ers were very young, but
they merely say directly what the majority is thinking.
Such problems rarely came up with other cultures.
On February 12, 2003, an unsuspecting opponent volunteered her
ASL: "16 f uk u?" This of course, was a source of ammunition in
the ASL battles and I came back with renewed vigour.
The ASL interactions are consistent with
my preferred form of chat, incongrous interaction. For example
masturbator_2003: ilanpi, u wanna play?
ilanpi: no, I can't
masturbator_2003: y
ilanpi: because you can only play with yourself
masturbator_2003: huh?
For example, the following conversation occured between two of
the best Dots players.
Trash talk also includes temper tantrums the bad losers
who opens the floodgate of insults when
he realizes he has a lost position. In this game, the
verbiage started when the position in the diagram was achieved.
Amusingly, this person was right, I was using Dabble during the
game, but to record it. Interestingly, I later discovered
that this person was none other than the aformentioned Pablo,
an expert player generating tremendous torrents of trash.
This in turn has made him the object of abuse, some of which
being fairly amusing. For example, my
wife
once tried to be a mother hen to a gaggle of my youthful
colleagues and started it off in
Linda Richman style:
foxycath: OK, I'll give you a topic. Which do you prefer, Coke or Pepsi?
t0lvy: paBLOW prefers whichever one tastes more like cock.
This struck me when I later found out that the respondent, one of the
top Dots players, was 14 years old. Kids say the darndest things!
The careful reader may have detected that some of the remarks
very subtly verge on the homophobic side of the spectrum.
Is this a reflection of anti-gay
sentiment among chatters? I'm not so sure, as these epithets
are so overused, that one might venture to say
that the anti-homosexual aspect has lost all its original impact.
In fact, it seems to be more in the nature of the
posturing phase of American male bonding rituals.
Then again this trash talk is likely related to the age of the best
Yahoo Dots players, which runs between 14 and 22 years of age (I
seem to be the only one not this range). But,
since a number of the best players engage in this practice,
I decided I needed a little practice, and my conclusion
was the simplest method was to return the statement "X" with "no, X"
as in
opponent: ur gay
ilanpi: no, ur gay
opponent: u r a homo fag
ilanpi: no, ur a homo fag
and so forth. Then there is the escalation to ALL CAPS, which is
the written equivalent to shouting.
opponent: UR GAY
ilanpi: NO, UR GAY
I also tried it out at home with
foxycath,
supplying hours of mindless entertainment for the ilanpi family.
On the other hand, racist comments seem to be strictly limited to
rare self-referential remarks such as
rob777: I'm the worst dots playing nigga ever made by black jesus
by one of the very best Yahoo players.
Unfortunately, there
are laso people who insult their opponents from the get-go.
This can be quite a trying experience, and does have a
destabilizing effect, especially when the offender is
an unkown quanitity.
For example, on the night of January 29, 2003, I encountered the
following
The person in question had a 14-0 streak and was therefore a likely impostor. Such wrath could have been expected
once the outcome of the game was decided in my favor, since his goal
was to achieve a high rating with a perfect winning streak. However,
the abuse started as soon as the 30 second limit had elapsed, which
took me a little off guard. I took the insults as a test of
concentration and I did manage to win the game, and without ever
responding.
Yahoo Ratings
The Rating System
Dots Hierarchy
Chess Ratings
Comparison with Chess
Abuse
Boosting
Impostors
Chat
Jargon
ASL
Trash
Trash Talk is a common practice in American sports. It consists
in producing a constant stream of insults as a way to destabilize
the opponent. In Yahoo Dots, it seems to be a common practice among
some players, but more as a kind of latter day self-assertiveness
method.