He signed up to a Global Mahjong Tournament and was confronted with players who did not show up. Now Adrie Van Geffen is really pissed of!

When you agree to get together on a certain date and a certain time to play mahjong with four and two don’t show up, what will your reaction be? When you are playing mahjong with four and suddenly, in the midst of the game, a player leaves the table never to return, what is your reaction then?

It has happened in real live tournaments that a player after a game hit the tiles to let them fly across the room. ‘Sour loser’ and very unsporting. In a way comprehensible but not thought of as decent behaviour. Signing up for a tournament and never show up is rude and egotistic. Leaving a tournament early because you cannot win anymore is unsporting and egotistic as well. Not easily done when sitting at a real table, but when it’s a virtual one, some players have no hesitation. The annoyance to other players for having to play robots and the disruption of the competition don’t seem to bother them. Unsporting and egotistic. A thought like ‘why should I waste my time when I can waste time of others as well’.

Lottery

At Mahjong Logic there are frequent tournaments with prize money. A lot of players subscribe to these tournaments but never show, probably thinking ‘I’ll join if I have time and win some dollars, otherwise “What difference?”’
Well, the difference is that these tournaments turn out to be a lottery: the player only meeting robots will win. A compensation for playing against a computer for a tedious hour and a half.

Mahjong Time has taken some measure in the latest Riichi tournament. When a player didn’t play for 26 minutes in a round he/she was no longer seated in the next round. That meant that after two rounds there were two tables less than the ten the tournament started with. And later on still players left, which means that more than 25% did not start/finish the tournament. Unthinkable in a real live tournament, but also unthinkable in a virtual tournament where one is supposed to be playing for fun.

It may well be that this disruption of tournaments is done on purpose. Everyone hates to play robots and commercial competitive mahjong servers may have come up with the idea to ruin each others tournament. Or players who favour a server are doing so. I cannot look into the minds of such individuals, but it could well be.

Zero

In the rankings of the Global Mahjong Tournaments on Mahjong News those who didn’t show or left, and were disqualified, are set to a score of zero. This must definitely be taken as putting them on the cucking-stool.

As it is with vandalism and hooliganism one is forced to think of ways to get rid of it. Those on the cucking-stool apparently don’t have the decency to behave in a proper way and will have to be corrected some way or another. Banning them from subscription to a next tournament is one way. Demanding a bail at subscription and get it refunded only when the tournament is played out is another. But all in all it is sad that so many players are such sour losers and inconsiderate.