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BGonline.org Forums
I love playing on a computer...but what about XG cheating???
Posted By: phil simborg In Response To: Camera App--It's happening -- I'm doing it with my partner (Bob Koca)
Date: Saturday, 25 July 2015, at 3:53 p.m.
Bob, YOU ARE PREACHING TO THE CHOIR. I think you probably know that I was one of the first to play matches against others on the computer and to this day I do this whenever my opponent and the TD allows. In fact, in Chicago very early on I was able to convince Bill Davis to let me play my matches on the computer, and I do whenever my opponent agrees. I love it, and I even do it at major tournaments in side events when the TD agrees. Most TD's will not allow it for the main events as they believe it changes the dynamics of the game, and of course, in many ways they are right, so I can't argue with them. The ONLY reason I like playing on the computer over the board was so I can learn from it and see the answers. Using a camera and doing transcriptions delayed the learning process and was cumbersome, time consuming and a lot of work.
But with this product, you get the best of both worlds. Now you can play on a board and can instantly see what XG says (if you want to), or you can wait until the end of the game or match. So I would rather have the best of both worlds than just have to play on the computer.
And of course, there are people who don't trust the computer (which is silly as it is probably easier to cheat on a live board than with XG). For example, even highly experienced, top players, might distrust the computer. After I beat Ray Fogerlund in a 2 point mini match earlier this year and the computer rolled 3 doubles for me to beat him in a race, he suggested, in an email to several people, that I was dishonest and fixed the computer to do this. (This was after he and I had been playing these short matches on the computer with him for several years and he never complained about the computer before, even when he had the better rolls to win.) Even if I could somehow fix XG to cheat for me, how could I do it if I always let my opponent choose to play top or bottom? And if I were a cheater, why did he win so many matches and bets against me in the past? And lastly, even if you think something might have gone wrong, what kind of person goes around accusing someone else of being a cheater, and puts it in an email, and sends it to the President of the USBGF and members of the board, without any proof? (Do I sound pissed? You bet!)
I can't wait to play in a chouette and have everything instantly transcribed...it will completely change chouette play so that you can bet on every play (like Challenge Gammon). And of course, sometimes I am in games where I would rather not slow down the game to look at every tough decision, and there I can simply choose to put it all on a flash drive and look at it later.
Lastly, there are a lot of people who simply love the feel of playing on a live board and rolling the dice (me included), but we would also like to know how we played and learn from the experience.
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