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BGonline.org Forums
Many will find this ludicrous...
Posted By: Michael Petch In Response To: Many will find this ludicrous... (smcrtorchs)
Date: Sunday, 9 September 2012, at 11:27 p.m.
I agree with much of what you said, however our difference opinion comes down to one thing: "Therefore casual players face a learning curve only at the beginning with backgammon. When indeed they do not know the game and they will draw their own conclusions. For most of them the process learns quickly."
It seems to me that your view is that Backgammon is learned quickly, and that they will get to a point where they will understand Backgammon enough in short order that they will no longer conclude that the dice are rigged. While I agree it is easy to learn to master the basics of Backgammon, most of those same people have absolutely no grasp of randomness. A lot of casual ONLINE players don't actually play live so it is very easy for them to continue believing there are issues with the dice long after understanding Backgammon. They can believe in the myth that real dice don't behave that way, even though many of them don't actually play Backgammon on a real board with real dice. There are enough people promoting the rigged dice theory online that it is very easy for new players to believe it too.
I have known a LARGE group of players that started on the MSN Gaming zone, play ONLINE tournaments every day, and a decade later they still believe that the dice are rigged. They can play Backgammon reasonably well (average player), but they hold onto misconceived notions about the nature of randomness, and what randomness looks like. They will blame the bot is cheating and or the dice are rigged on gaming sites.
I might have a differing opinion on this matter, however given my 3 year odyssey with 2 types of dice (one for social players and one for competitive players) on SHG (gaming site) and studying those dice (and the people). I would say that without a doubt the majority of ONLINE players who simply wish to play Backgammon for fun maintain their "rigged dice" position even after they have mastered the basics.
There is a situations where these casual players do seem to finally understand the dice aren't rigged, and that is when they finally play live competitive matches. I know a small number of people now who have come to me, and in a way apologized for giving me grief about my dice studies and that they believed the dice were rigged. What was the motivating factor for their change in view? Well after so many years of casual play they started playing on the ABT (at the intermediate level). They now better understood how real dice behave in a competitive environment.
Summary: my opinion is that people who play strictly ONLINE, and play casually (or semi competitively) are far more inclined to believe that their inability to win is based on bad dice of a gaming site (or a rigged bot), than attributed to a weak skill level, and this view can be held for many YEARS. The large number of people around that promote this online dice myth publicly cement this idea in newer players. Online reviews of mobile Backgammon apps reinforce this view for new players who download and use it. Why? Many of the reviews challenge the dice, or that the bot must be cheating. New players who don't know any better will (IMHO) likely believe what they read. I do not hold this view for the group of people who learn to play in real life, and do so somewhat competitively. These people will better appreciate how fickle real life dice can be, and they have a better gauge to measure the dice they see online. I think there are 2 issues. Understanding Backgammon (the game) and understanding randomness.
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