Backgammon Online

10-Nov-2009
03:32 PST

Hey...

I've been searching through the FAQs and came across this:

'Games that end before each opponent makes 2 moves (short game) do not affect the winning player's rating and stats. The losing player's ratings and stats are always affected, regardless of the number of moves made'

sorry if this seems like a dumb question or its been mentioned and I've missed it...but what happens if a game is cancelled before any moves are made? I'd been playing with someone - 3 games - and challenged the player after a win...the other player won the other two...I noticed that the player put up some games as a challenge after this...but I couldn't play that player due to a rankings issue...so I cancelled the game I'd challenged the player to...now I'm worried that I may have affected that player's ranking? After cancellation it said my ranking wouldn't be affected but I don't think it said anything about the other player's ranking.

sorry this is so long winded...did that make sense?

D

10-Nov-2009
03:37 PST

also, when that player puts up any new games it always says I can't join because a game has been cancelled/...

maybe they just don't want to play with me lol

thought I'd check as I'm trying to learn the ins and outs of how the rankings/challenges work...

12-Nov-2009
13:36 PST

Thanks for the questions!

Games that are canceled are not considered to have a winner or loser so no ratings are affected.

In Backgammon, short games occur from timeouts so there is a winner and a loser and ratings are affected.

The only way a player can negatively affect another player's rating is by completing the game with a win. (If a player time's out or resigns, that player loses.)

If you cancel games or decline challenges with a player, you will not be able to challenge that player or join that player's game for a few days.

Hope this helps  

12-Nov-2009
14:05 PST

yep...that explains it  

D

31-Dec-2009
15:24 PST

This seemed like the most appropriate thread for this question since cancellations are mentioned, but I'm at a loss as to why they are allowed. You can, for example, see your roll (or whether you won the roll) and then decide to cancel the game if the roll is not a good one or if you lost the opening roll. This would give someone an advantage if they chose to take advantage of it. I can see allowing cancellations before any information is revealed but not after that.

Also, I'm not sure it is still true that you can't challenge someone if you recently canceled a game. One of my opponents recently canceled two games on the same day and then challenged me again a few hours later.

04-Jan-2010
13:07 PST

Thank you for your question. We certainly hope that players use the 'Cancel' option sparingly, but recognize that some may not. We will investigate the issue you've raised, and add safeguards if necessary, to prevent the abuse of the 'Cancel' option.