by Biondo » Mon May 20, 2013 9:32 pm
Again about Handicap, I have a prayer addressed at developers. Could you please remove "Handicap" stuff from the menu?
It's probably a not frequent problem, but the rare cases when it occurs are disruptive.
Many new players see that "Handicap" setting in their menu and, while tweaking their configuration, they think it's a good idea to reduce it. I can understand their thoughts because this is what I did too when I started to play SG, "Maybe if I play so bad, it's because I have an handicap of 100%. If I reduce it to say 30%, ok, I'll show everyone that I'm not a pro, but that's no secret, I surely get more chances to win. And others would forgive my weakness".
"Handicap", who the hell chose to use that word? Name it "Health" and it makes sense, or remove it completely from menu. If I'd read "Health=30%" I'd knew that I'm playing with an handicap.
I always manage to inadvertently change my handicap EVERY time I modify my name. Can't reproduce how this happens, but it happens. Maybe I press return, I use the mouse wheel, ... don't know, I always end with a bad handicap. But I realize it only at a later time, probably after few games, or many.
When I was admin in Baller, one of my duties was to help people removing their handicap. Not an easy duty with newcomers, that don't remember to have set an Handicap in their settings, that often don't speak English or frequently don't even know how to open the console (or to chat!).
BallerBude made a choice (a right choice, IMO): every player has an handicap of 100% (or better said, NONE). No way to play with an handicap in BB, so no error, no necessity to instruct new players. The problem is with other servers.
So, or all servers will follow BB example, or (better) handicap should be abandoned in the code.
Also today, after 3-4 years playing SG I can't imagine any possible use for it.
Thanks for listening.