Hangman: The Forum Game, Edition XX

[Drogue]

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10 guesses remaining

Incorrect guesses: AR

[Drogue]

Originally posted by Sparrowhawk
Unwritten rules are fine if everyone follows them (or at least all of the "regular" players).

Who's a regular player? Many people browse in and out of this thread, without reading all the stuff that they've missed. Moreover, having unwritten rules makes it seem like some cliche club, and stop others joining. Which means as people drop out, we end up with fewer and fewer participants.

I prefer just being honest, writing the rules down and playing the game. Unwritten rules are find as long as nobody has a go at someone when they break it, but then what's the point in that?

[joncha]

I

[Nikolai]

E

[Ljube]

There are no unwritten rules.

[snoopy369]

Unwritten rules

[Paddy]

and this is the 20th thread of fun and entertainment for all ages

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by joncha
I agree with Spike.

And in fact the reason I thought the rule had changed (Ljube is correct that we took all words guesses initially) is because that is how you've applied it when setting in recent games, IMO quite righty so.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Drogue
I believe that it's *far* to confusing to try to argue unwritten rules, as we seem to be getting a lot of them. Let's write the rules down, and then play by them. Pulling someone up for breaking a rule that isn't written in the rules is confusing and hardly helps others get involved in the game.

I agree completely, and I always make the point that you can't blame new players for breaking unwritten rules.

However, although it sounds very easy to just have all the rules explicitly written even with a simple game as Hangman there are lots of wrinkles in the FG implementation that no one is going to figure out and specify beforehand. I (and others) do try to keep the rules up to date with practice, but inevitably things slip through.

There is also the point that with explicit rules you have to be incredibly explicit, as there are those that get off on trying to exploit loopholes (regardless of what game practice is) and then hiding behind the rules. This of course doesn't mean you shouldn't have them, but it does mean that updating and maintaining the rules as the game evolves is a trickier job than you would imagine.

[joncha]

I thought we had agreed to change it...

[DrSpike]

Me too.

Since we are the main people that update stuff shall we just change it and not tell anyone? A written 'unwritten' rule.

[Sparrowhawk]

Originally posted by Ljube-ljcvetko
No need to change rules.

I took this post to mean that we didn't need to update the rules, I believe there is a need.

And Drogue, point taken, unwritten rules are harmful to the game, but as DrSpike points out and Ljube has stated in the past, it is impossible to account for every contingency in the ruleset.

/me

[GeoModder]

So, is it allowed to spam here inbetween updates?

[joncha]

No. Please stop.

[Ljube]

If anyone wants to change the rules in some respect, they should post their proposal here. A vote should follow to determine whether we accept the change or not. If the change is accepted, rules should be updated.


I don't think any change is needed because the current rules seem coherent and complete. Consecutive word guesses are not a problem in my opinion.