Ten Commandments

[art]

1. Ignore the forum except Spion posts.
2. Ignore the chat room while you are playing. Only talk to those who you know are friendly, ignore the rest. Put the game in 800 by 600 resolution mode, giving you 2 screens to make it easier to avoid the fanfare.
3.Say hi when you start, (or maybe only if they say hi first - you don't want to start out to effectionate. You could be talking to an upstate NewYorker who takes offense at civil exchanges of greetings.
3. Never say "gg". To some that means "good golly" which could be an insult. If someone says gl, don't believe them, they are really saying "get lost". If they don't say "gg" that means they are really low lifes that lack all social graces.
4. If either player wants a rematch, say so.
5. If the other player joins a new game, and you wish not to join, say so even if not invited.
6.Excuses are fine to not play another game. Some of us have grunt work to do at home/work, we don't all run our own business from our Stratego compound.
7. If your family asks you to come out of the den every couple of days, beheed that advice, especially if your wife is threatening to cancel the internet connection. Take the trash out too.
8. If you are in a dating or "conquesting" stage, don't play 18 games a weekend waiting for someone to ring your bell. You'll end up 90 years old playing checkers at the nursing home. Remember to say gg if you lose at checkers too.
9. If a player joins your open table, and you wish not to play him, don't remove him from the board, or say you have to go eat breakfast, just tell him the truth. That you don't want to play him because either he is either lotto boy or because he is a low-ranker who will eat up your most prized rating points. Lotto aside, rating protection is ok, the former a lie. If you have to eat, go to the zentrum and put up your feet for awhile. Its a lie because, what? as soon as a 1500+ rated player comes online suddenly you've - your eggs down. I know, avoidance to some is for the "good of the game", and the "I hate to see you lose that way vs me because it is a waste of my precious millenium games , please learn how to practice the fine Art of patience" yadda yadda yadda. I myself consider patient as hitting any movable piece with my general. I look for bluffs, marshalls are only 1 piece out of 40. I am right at least 2 times out of 40 When I'm just plain scared to play again, I say so, something like "I stink, good bye". Humility works.
10.If you take a break from Stratego for awhile, and come back with a new attitude of playing for fun with no anger, then I feel your pain if you've had to play Alienator Sadistic in your first week back. My record vs "I'm the greatest human" is 0-11.

Blue for president.
Esquire for attorney general.
Jerry -most deserving of a pay raise.
Lightwing for secretary of state.
"Remember when only the 14 year old Gravoners acted up"

Sadistic - my nominee for person showing the most positivity since the kentinator game.

Note: Please do not apply logic to above. Author shares no responsiblity for maniacal acts of rage. These commandments are not factual, nor are they directed at any particular individual. Never play at metaforge. regardless of the charming people there/posters here. We call them "poster children". The site bites.2inch board?? gimmee a break.