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XG Semantics

Posted By: Nack Ballard
Date: Sunday, 2 March 2014, at 9:57 p.m.

In Response To: XG Semantics (Nack Ballard)

As I have been receiving e-mails on the subject, I'll expand on my previous post.

Regarding the first of the two words: Non-match, limitless, no-limit, infinite, individual, independent, separate, session, and others, have been very reasonably proposed. However...

For unlimited, XG provides a choice of Jacoby and/or beaver being toggled on or off. (Tom Keith also pointed this out.) Hence, I support "unlimited" because in essence Xavier has made that word stand for money-type play with any of the four possible settings, whereas none of the other words have yet been "defined" that way. As David Rockwell brought to light, the word unlimited has been in use for awhile now, and IMO nobody has put forth a good reason to override it. (Any word might mislead or confuse.)

That said, I intend to continue using "money" for non-match or theoretically-unlimited-score play when both Jacoby and beavers apply, to distinguish it from the other three categories of unlimited play. (That assumes I am addressing seasoned backgammon players. For the general public, instead of the home-wrecking "money" I might use the less specific "unlimited" or "non-match" or one of the other suggested words.)

[The match score (in the format –x–y, or in the case of -1-1, c-2 or -2c respectively, "d," "s" or "g" is substituted) is indicated in front of the leading bracket in nacbracs (e.g., "d" for dmp). As a non-match adaptation, you may have noticed that Mike Mannon writes "b" for beaver-only, "j" for jacoby-only, or "n" for neither. The letter "m" ("money") is for the case of both (beaver + jacoby), but as this is the most common of the four (unlimited) options we treat it as the default case and generally omit the "m."]

Regarding the second of the two words: As per my earlier post, I prefer "play" (to "game" or other) because its definition is flexible, robust. "Play" can more naturally refer to a single move, a whole game, a couple/few games, or a long session.

In short, I agree that a wording change is in order, and I recommend it to Xavier for his interface, but only from "Unlimited Games" to "Unlimited Play."

Nack

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