Tuesday, March 04, 2014

My Fragile Apology

This started yesterday with my post Fragile is Not the Same as Broken... and then I realized I'd written about "fragility" and "board games" before... which is, at some level, a mea culpa for pounding on Modern Art.

1st things 1st... I need to apologize to all of you for my nonstop belittling of Modern Art for, if I remember correctly, its "fragile" nature.

2nd things 2nd... the reason for that apology is that I've seen
Puerto Rico do the SAME DARN THING. Years ago, I played in a 5 player online game that was reasonably tight. Final scores as follows:

"The Winner" Total VPs: 46
Goods + $: 9 VPs Chits: 15 VPs Buildings: 21 VPs Bonus: 10

"2nd Place" Total VPs: 41
Goods + $: 5 VPs Chits: 23 VPs Buildings: 13 VPs Bonus: 5

Fluff Daddy (aka ME) Total VPs: 40
Goods + $: 8 VPs Chits: 24 VPs Buildings: 16 VPs Bonus: 0

"Braindead Player" Total VPs: 34
Goods + $: 3 VPs Chits: 20 VPs Buildings: 14 VPs Bonus: 0

"Other Guy Playing" Total VPs: 30
Goods + $: 9 VPs Chits: 16 VPs Buildings: 14 VPs Bonus: 0

I knew it was pretty much a 3-way race between "Winner", "2nd" and myself. (Names changed to protect the not-so-innocent.) Both "Winner" and "2nd" had built 4 pt buildings, but had as yet been unable to man them... and they went 1st & 2nd in the final round, using the craftsman & the captain.

"Braindead Player" inexplicably chose the Mayor, though it was clearly the last turn (the site is even kind enough to flag this!) and it was of ABSOLUTELY NO BENEFIT to him.

Take a look at the bonus points - without this generous gift, the final score would have been:

Me: 40
"Winner": 36
"2nd": 36 (less goods/cash)
"Braindead": 34
"Other Guy": 30

Heck, yes, I'm cheesed off. I'm ready to throw a tantrum of Derk-like proportions. It's one thing if "Braindead" gets something out of it... that I understand. But to just hand the game over with complimentary giftwrap makes me nuts! (Note: this event occurred three years ago... and is a perfect illustration that "time heals all wounds" is a logical fallacy.)

Note to self: stop playing Puerto Rico with random people.


This is not over - stay tuned for tomorrow's video illustration on fragility, in which Survivor meets Modern Art.

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