Do you ever lose your temper while playing ASL?

Honza

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I used to be okay. But recently while playing solo I started to lose my temper with the game, particularly the dice. It is my fault but it is exacerbated by my tiredness and stress syndrome. There are people around who I could be playing FtF with, but while my temper is so fraught I'd rather play solo and not embarrass myself. I'm pretty sure that my old FtF partner who I played for 10 years quit the game because he had lost his temper with it.
 

hongkongwargamer

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I used to be okay. But recently while playing solo I started to lose my temper with the game, particularly the dice. It is my fault but it is exacerbated by my tiredness and stress syndrome. There are people around who I could be playing FtF with, but while my temper is so fraught I'd rather play solo and not embarrass myself. I'm pretty sure that my old FtF partner who I played for 10 years quit the game because he had lost his temper with it.
No .. can't imagine why I would .. it's a game, no? But any opponent who does I do quit. I figured if this is how the game makes you feel you should go play something else - you ain't gonna ruin MY game even when you ruined yours.
 

holdit

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But it has the potential to be taken very seriously. A bit like chess.
There are many stories of even grandmasters losing the rag and batting the pieces of the board in a tantrum, but the most stylish display of temper must have been by Aaron Nimzowitsch who, in the middle of a tournament, stood on his chair and announced to the whole room, "Why must I lose to this idiot?"

Going back a lot further, there is a story of King Canute, who was playing a game with one of his Earls, Ulf. Unhappy with the way the game was going, Ulf upended the board. Canute challenged him, "Ulf thou coward, doest thou flee?". Ulf shot back with, "A greater defeat would have been thine had I not come to thy assistance when the Swedes beat thee like a dog. Thou didst not then call me coward," and walked off. His satisfaction must have been short lived, though, because the story goes that Canute had him executed the next day...
 
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Martin Mayers

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No .. can't imagine why I would .. it's a game, no? But any opponent who does I do quit. I figured if this is how the game makes you feel you should go play something else - you ain't gonna ruin MY game even when you ruined yours.
I find that a more extreme position to take than the guy who lost his temper.

Some of my best friends in the game, and indeed I myself, have the capacity to lose their temper. It just happens sometimes, game or no. Then ya move on to the next scenario.

We talk, some of us in the UK, of the "Staniforth Sweep". Simon's one of the most pleasant chaps on the UK scene. I was playing him during the early stages of his 'career'. The scenario was Le Herisson. And I was giving him an uncomfortable time. He'd been trying to self-rally this half squad in a key building for, like, three turns. So he decides it's such an important situation that he'll move a leader over from the right flank, to the left, taking two turns to do so.

Leader arrives. Next rally phase.....of course you don't need me to tell you what happens....

So.....with the arm of a butcher......SWEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP.

Counters everywhere. Bright red face. Then, I, "do I take it that this is your formal surrender?"

We laughed for hours and everyone in his circle of ASL buddies still talk of it.

Why would I never want to play this guy again. We have great laughs. Even if we both play hard, and occasionally struggle with our own emotions :)
 

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I don’t think I’ve ever lost my temper, although at times I’ve felt pretty frustrated. My inclination is to start internal whining, rather than upending the board. I have a rule, though - don’t mention the dice, even if I feel they’re being outrageously partisan (although I have, to my shame, sometimes broken this rule). The vast, vast majority of games, though, are 100% fun so frustration is rare. I think I would stop playing if I felt that my emotions were becoming difficult to handle, especially if I sensed that I was impinging on an opponent’s enjoyment.

A few years ago at one of the bigger European tournaments a player lost his head for a moment - dice flew, loud utterances ensued! I wasn’t playing in that game, but I think it was treated by all as a somewhat amusing, momentary lapse arising from a slight excess of competitive spirit and an evil run of dice rolls. No problem - it’s a tournament, right, and we want to play competitive players.
 

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With my opponent or the game, never. But with myself, when I realize that I have made a mistake, bad deployment, etc., yes.
 

hongkongwargamer

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I find that a more extreme position to take than the guy who lost his temper.

Some of my best friends in the game, and indeed I myself, have the capacity to lose their temper. It just happens sometimes, game or no. Then ya move on to the next scenario.

We talk, some of us in the UK, of the "Staniforth Sweep". Simon's one of the most pleasant chaps on the UK scene. I was playing him during the early stages of his 'career'. The scenario was Le Herisson. And I was giving him an uncomfortable time. He'd been trying to self-rally this half squad in a key building for, like, three turns. So he decides it's such an important situation that he'll move a leader over from the right flank, to the left, taking two turns to do so.

Leader arrives. Next rally phase.....of course you don't need me to tell you what happens....

So.....with the arm of a butcher......SWEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP.

Counters everywhere. Bright red face. Then, I, "do I take it that this is your formal surrender?"

We laughed for hours and everyone in his circle of ASL buddies still talk of it.

Why would I never want to play this guy again. We have great laughs. Even if we both play hard, and occasionally struggle with our own emotions :)

Good for you!

Losing ones temper whither in work or play is bad form, bad manners and is shameful.

Now this is not to say I never lose my temper. as a matter of fact I have some the fieriest temper i know and its no less shameful / dishonorable.

But thats how I roll when it comes to ASL games and please hold me to the same standard.
 

Carln0130

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Me? Lose my temper all the time with the game as do most I play. However, there are some rules of thumb I always abide by.

1) I NEVER disparage my opponent when I lose my temper, it is always directed at my cardboard troops. It's not his fault my dice suck and the cardboard has no feelings.

2) I try to be creative with my cursing. Everyone has heard the usual list of swears and curses. It's the words you frame it with that makes for great entertainment. So while disparaging my troops and dressing down their sub-standard performance, I try to be inventive.

3) Know your audience. Some people enjoy the intensity of a good game, complete with swearing, others don't. Were I to play Ron Duenskie and we did not curse our lungs out, Ron would somehow feel cheated and wonder what meds I was on. Other players are put off by it, so I bite my tounge even during the most frustrating of sequences. The game requires a fair amount of mental exertion and frustration when you have spent the last four hours working yourself into a position only to see the boys defecate upon the sheets and wipe themselves with the curtains can be frustrating. Meh, part of the game. Heck, if my opponent comes up with a few combinations I haven't heard yet, I usually get a chuckle out of it.

Keep it light, respect your opponents style, so long as he never goes after you personally, or vice versa and enjoy the game. For some of us, that intensity and the language that goes with it is just a part of that. If we ever have the opportunity to play Jan, please feel free to cuss the lights out.
 

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They used to teach a thing to us as children, that was called good sportsmanship.

I think they stopped teaching that when the dad's got lost in themselves and the mothers took over and became the soccer mom's and the women created equal rights and taught the children that we are all winners even if we are losers and the passive men no longer stood up and taught good sports man ship and the fact that there is a winner and a loser in games.

So the question is not if you loose your temper while playing ASL, but how do you maintain temperance with good sportsmanship while playing a game.

Just atoms floating in the Jetstream of consciousness as I drift on by.
 

boylermaker

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I used to be okay. But recently while playing solo I started to lose my temper with the game, particularly the dice. It is my fault but it is exacerbated by my tiredness and stress syndrome. There are people around who I could be playing FtF with, but while my temper is so fraught I'd rather play solo and not embarrass myself. I'm pretty sure that my old FtF partner who I played for 10 years quit the game because he had lost his temper with it.
I find that I get much more frustrated with solitaire gaming than face-to-face; I could not explain why, though.
 

Martin Mayers

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Good for you!

Losing ones temper whither in work or play is bad form, bad manners and is shameful.

Now this is not to say I never lose my temper. as a matter of fact I have some the fieriest temper i know and its no less shameful / dishonorable.

But thats how I roll when it comes to ASL games and please hold me to the same standard.
Shameful?????

It's not cheating, or shitting in your opponents lunch mate :)
 
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