New ideas

[boysmom]

Due to an apparent glitch in the game of another player, where a game showed up as having been played 1 time with a total of 0 words, I managed to get a screenshot of what I wish the word list on the score screen would look like for the first time a game is played, Vs what it looks like now.
(I play on my phone, so it might look a little different to those of you who use a computer and type rather than swiping.)
See that lovely list of green clickable words? Yum.
admin any chance it could always look like this?

There’s a chance that a player who only looks for lomg words and played the board without finding anything and the board submitted.

to go along with you though, it would be nice to always show the green words after a board is played. It also used to be nice when I would take a screenshot of a particular record I was proud of it would like photo 1 which is more preferable to photo 2.

[crazykate]

Due to an apparent glitch in the game of another player, where a game showed up as having been played 1 time with a total of 0 words, I managed to get a screenshot of what I wish the word list on the score screen would look like for the first time a game is played, Vs what it looks like now.
(I play on my phone, so it might look a little different to those of you who use a computer and type rather than swiping.)
See that lovely list of green clickable words? Yum.
admin any chance it could always look like this?

[the cryptogram keeper]

I think an untimed and non-competitive mode would be cool. It would work for both regular and long-word players. You could take your time with a board and see what you can "mine" out of it, learn some new words, and just play for enjoyment.

[Naboka]

Another thought has to do with who actually has the best averages.

Someone might be a full game player but if you averaged their 50 or so best words, their average score might be very competitive with the solely long word players. But, because they are averaging in dozens of lower scoring words to get a higher total score, their accomplishment is hidden.

Same applies to average scores per game. If you play a bunch of low scoring boards, your average is going to suffer. But your highest 50 or so games may be higher than the averages getting trophies. I imagine boysmom and Megaword experience this most months. For example Megaword might have 50 games averaging 1200 pts, but because he's playing games where the best available score is 500. his average takes a huge hit.

Same might apply to long words.

Just an idea.

ps: undergainliness is apparently not a word. Considering that one gains gainliness, one would expect an improvement scale measuring various levels of undergainliness, where one has not reached the coveted stature of gainliness. As I age, I notice less and less gainliness, and find myself experiencing more and more undergainliness.

[Naboka]

An easy fix to the "timed" version for those of us who go for long words is to have the 10-second (or whatever) rule only kick in after 3 minutes (for 5x5). Pretty much the same game for the long-word people then, but it would really be a boon to some. (I'd love to see how high Megaword & others could go.)

On 5x5 it probably should kick in at 2:58 and go for 2 seconds; so if you're still finding words within 2 seconds the game continues. If you watch Megaword's videos, he's putting ungodly numbers of words up in ten seconds. Even 2 seconds might be a stretch. On 4x4 the timer could adjust at 1:58 and extend every 2 seconds.

In track and field we have various distances to suit the talents of different runners. Sprinters, middle distant and long distant runners. And the ultra long distances.

Someone with a huge vocabulary and poor typing skills is definitely at a competitive disadvantage on Wordtwist.

What's fair?

Big question.

If you're a sprinter, you'd never win a marathon, just as a marathoner would never win world class sprints.

What's fair for one player can be patently unfair to another.

Sometimes my mental queue has 20, 30, 40 plus words left waiting. But I'm sure not going to increase my typing speed for risk of inflammation.

Then again, I like the game just fine how it is, competitive disadvantage or not. Usually my wrists and fingers are pleading for the time to run out as it is.

ps: agree with crazykate about the new boards and links to the dictionary. Sometimes we enter things on purpose or by accident that knowing the meaning seems helpful.

[dannyb]

I believe that crazykate is just asking for an active list of words be available after the first time a board is played so that she can click on the word in the active list to be directed to Lexic for a definition. It has nothing to do with HOW the game is played by different players. Since reading crazykates message I haven't gotten an unplayed board to check if the user words played list for that first board is "active" with regards to redirecting to the Lexic resource.

I JUst got an unplyed board, and the answer is no the words played is not a live list to Lexic.

[Spike1007]

An easy fix to the "timed" version for those of us who go for long words is to have the 10-second (or whatever) rule only kick in after 3 minutes (for 5x5). Pretty much the same game for the long-word people then, but it would really be a boon to some. (I'd love to see how high Megaword & others could go.)

[dannyb]

I just played a new game (as in, I was the first to play the board) and got a couple of words that I entered by mistake but they still counted. Now, usually if I do that, I then go to the list of words at the end (with the green, black and red ones) and click on the ones where I'm interested in learning the definition, and it takes me to the dictionary entry.
If I'm the first to play a game, this list of words with dictionary links is not shown. Probably because it's assumed that if you entered the word, you know what it means. However, it would be really helpful to add this feature even for new boards.

I believe that crazykate is just asking for an active list of words be available after the first time a board is played so that she can click on the word in the active list to be directed to Lexic for a definition. It has nothing to do with HOW the game is played by different players. Since reading crazykates message I haven't gotten an unplayed board to check if the user words played list for that first board is "active" with regards to redirecting to the Lexic resource.

[bwt1213]

ditto for me. as another long-word/avg-points player, i often sit and stare at a board for a while before typing any words, so i would definitely not like a requirement to enter a word every certain number of seconds.

The quoted suggestion was mine, and I stand by it -- as a separate game, for those who want to play for highest score per board/highest average number of words without having to become speed typists. It would certainly not be a version of the game favored by most who play for highest average points per word. In any case, as I had mentioned, games with that "shot clock" feature would have to be in a completely separate category; none of their records would be comparable to the standard version.

[John13verse34]

But, as an 'average points per word/long-word player,' I really don't like this idea:
"play continues until ten seconds have elapsed since the last valid word, then the game ends. So as long as you can type new words at a rate of 6 wpm or more, you can just keep right on going. Fast typing doesn't help as much that way. Of course, all the records from such games would have to be in a completely new category. The highest average score per word would be a much different and more difficult game that way."

ditto for me. as another long-word/avg-points player, i often sit and stare at a board for a while before typing any words, so i would definitely not like a requirement to enter a word every certain number of seconds.

[the cryptogram keeper]

I like this idea:

I just played a new game (as in, I was the first to play the board) and got a couple of words that I entered by mistake but they still counted. Now, usually if I do that, I then go to the list of words at the end (with the green, black and red ones) and click on the ones where I'm interested in learning the definition, and it takes me to the dictionary entry.
If I'm the first to play a game, this list of words with dictionary links is not shown. Probably because it's assumed that if you entered the word, you know what it means. However, it would be really helpful to add this feature even for new boards.

But, as an 'average points per word/long-word player,' I really don't like this idea:
"play continues until ten seconds have elapsed since the last valid word, then the game ends. So as long as you can type new words at a rate of 6 wpm or more, you can just keep right on going. Fast typing doesn't help as much that way. Of course, all the records from such games would have to be in a completely new category. The highest average score per word would be a much different and more difficult game that way."

Have a good day, all.

[quyxyz]

I've only come across 1 or 2 games I've already played in the last 10 years I've been playing here.

Really? I come across games I’ve played before every so often. In fact, last week I played the same board twice the same day. I remembered it because I saw EYELASHES after it closed and was able to get it second time around.

[crazykate]

I just played a new game (as in, I was the first to play the board) and got a couple of words that I entered by mistake but they still counted. Now, usually if I do that, I then go to the list of words at the end (with the green, black and red ones) and click on the ones where I'm interested in learning the definition, and it takes me to the dictionary entry.
If I'm the first to play a game, this list of words with dictionary links is not shown. Probably because it's assumed that if you entered the word, you know what it means. However, it would be really helpful to add this feature even for new boards.

[2cute]

Hi all,
I’m sitting here thinking about how I’ve been playing Wordtwist now for 16 years and thinking about all the changes that have happened since 2008. I wanted to toss out a two new ideas and get some thoughts/feedback from the community.

idea 2: maybe as an idea for subscribers but putting words that no user has found yet at the bottom. I think this is a great way to learn new words.

Let me know what you think!

I like Idea #2; course it would give it away, especially for the super long word players, the longest & best word.

I was thinking it would be nice to see if I've played a board before even if I don't hold one of the records. Maybe a red dot or something ... maybe also see my previous scores by hovering over it so I can try to beat my own record.

Ooo, I really like this idea. I think I’ve only come across 1 or 2 games I’ve already played in the last 10 years I’ve been playing here.

[bionicflutist]

I was thinking it would be nice to see if I've played a board before even if I don't hold one of the records. Maybe a red dot or something ... maybe also see my previous scores by hovering over it so I can try to beat my own record.