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What happened to this place?
Posted in 
Billiards
What happened to this place?
Posted in 
Billiards
What happened to this place?
Hi there, returning player here. I've been playing FOD on and off since 2004, now returning after 8 years (i think). Had to register again, because i couldn't log in with my old account, due to forgotten password.

The reason i'm making this topic is that I'm shocked at the sorry state of the Billiard games now, mainly 8 Ball and 9 Ball, as i was never a big fan of the other games...

First of all, where are all the players? I get it, a lot of them probably grew out of FOD... some, like me, might be taking a long break from the site, but back in the day i remember seeing 7-8 full rooms in 8 Ball. Now we can barely fill one room, and 60 percent of the players are ALWAYS in brb state. And all the guests, god, i've never seen so much guests in the first room ever... i guess that's because now there's always free places in room #1 for them to enter.

I don't understand this... Some people will grow out of the game, sure, but shouldn't there be new blood taking their place?  Last time i checked billiard games still have millions of fans around the world, and FOD is the best place for online play...  In fact, i sometimes find it more entertaining than playing real life pool. The simulation is great, even though it's not 100% realistic it's still the best out there. You won't find other games like that on the internet, the other all have stupid aiming assistance and overall unrealistic gameplay. So why can't we bring more players here? Are they finding it too challenging? Or maybe FOD is buried deep under in the web and no one (outside us, the old timers) even know it exists? 

Sadly, the dying popularity of the FOD billiards is not my only problem with the current state of the games... it's the current player base too. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not all bad, i see a lot of good old familiar faces still hanging around. The bad thing is, the rude and toxic players, who were once a minority on this site, are now the majority, which could be another factor for the shrinking player count. That problem is mainly noticeable among the lower ranked players (from 0 to 350 points) which is where i'm normally hanging too. 

No one has the decency to say a simple "Hi" or " Good luck", everyone runs and scares after winning the first game, even though there's no one else to play with. 
I would at least understand the runners back in the day, who want quick boost in ranking, but nowadays, there's no one to play with.. why run? There's like 30 players in 9 Ball, half of them are in brb mode, and still everyone runs. 
When they lose, they insult or complain. One guy accused me of cheating and he even reported me, or at least he said it did... i don't know, if a moderator reads this, please, let me know if i'm reported. When i asked  the guy, how i cheated? He said his english wasn't good enough to explained it, yet he was crying in shared chat, accusing me in front of everyone of cheating, even to i had like 90 rating at the time and a bunch of loses already. Then i checked my accusers stats, only see a guy registered 8 years ago with 6k games, but still playing like a total newbie, just smashing balls without any logical thought, not giving any effort to the game, but still getting angry when someone make good shots and positioning... This is the sort of players, i've been dealing with. 
The amount of stupidity among the current players is just laughable. There are so much players who don't even try, just smash the balls and hope, and that's even common with players with 150 rating and above. I see players with 10 thousand games behind their back, playing like it's their first day on the site, just smashing and fluking balls... how could they possibly find any joy in such a style of play after 10k games is beyond me. 

Another thing that bugs me, is how many players are just posers. They achieve some rating, it could be any rating from 100 to 700, and just stand there and pose, but never play anyone for hours, because i don't know, maybe getting 250 rating in an online game is the greatest achievement in their lives... who knows? It's either this or just spam the chat, with other players, like they're on sky or facebook.

And also, for some reason, everyone seem to get salty and starts throwing insults whe you move the ball in hand from an opponents fouls. What? Since when did that became such a taboo? But i get it, there's a bunch of noobs, who want to mash and fluke balls, but in case they pot the cue ball, they want no consequences for it, that's why they demand games to be played with no cue ball moving... Well, guess what? That doesn't fly by me. The rules are the rules, deal with  it!

I got so tired of all the dumb, angry, rude noobs, and the rest of the stupid stuff that happens, that i just started muting everyone i played with. I'd rather have a quite game that i can enjoy the best i can, than having to deal with all of this. Also, when i play fair players, i will always give them rematches, but i will always run on or completely ignore runners from now on. Someone need to teach these kids a lesson. 

So i guess now i'm part of the problem, but i just can't help it. Sorry if you play me and i don't respond in the chat. It's just how it is, the chat does not exist for me anymore, i just want to play the game. If you're a fair player, i'll be fair to you, but the chat will remain muted.

I know what some of you might say... the old the tired "Get good, play better players". Well, i reached 650 rating in 8 Ball, 10 years ago. I'm not nearly as good these days but still capable of getting 350-400 rating. But here's my point, rating and skill shouldn't matter here, yet it does. It's the player base that needs fixing, because it is in ruins now. 

So please tell me, am i the only one who feels this way abut the current state of FOD Billiards? 

PS: Sorry for my bad english.
And yet you replied, take care buddy. 
I'm getting tired of arguing with you, because you clearly refuse to even try and understand my point of view, before spilling your nonsense. 

An example of that is this gem:

"But it doesn't take more than 5sec to google that there are pool sites out there that has millions of players.

I like the fact you made the (), after you said that you are 100% sure that no pool fan want to play the more childish pool games, with pointers and helpers. So tell me, why is there millions playing on other sites, and not here? if THIS is the place to be(which it is), for real fans, <you can now tell me that the million of players aren't "real" pool fans, because of your (), so gj>. I will tell you why, once again. It isn't because this place is That unknown. 
Sure, to an extend it is..."


Is it unknown or not, which is it? Start making sense!

I never said there are no players out there, they're just not here, and i stated that the reason for it is PROBABLY (not certainly) because of FOD being not very popular website. Why don't you perform an experiment and google "Online Billiard" or "Online Pool" and tell us how buried FOD is beneath the rest? It comes out in 12th place when i google Online Billiard and 11th when i google Online Pool, that means in the second page in both searches. Yet you're still convinced that the millions of pool players that are registered on the "childish" websites are there because they don't feel like playing realistic pool, of which they're supposedly fans of? Are you serious? It's too hard for them, is that it? Did you personally ask every single one of them? I don't think so.

I'm done replying to your nonsense.
Seeing your new wall of text reply, your response went as expected. Which is that your clearly lack a big amount of knowledge on the online "gaming" scene of pool. I wont drop other sites names, since This is the place to be. But it doesn't take more than 5sec to google that there are pool sites out there that has millions of players.

I like the fact you made the (), after you said that you are 100% sure that no pool fan want to play the more childish pool games, with pointers and helpers. So tell me, why is there millions playing on other sites, and not here? if THIS is the place to be(which it is), for real fans, <you can now tell me that the million of players aren't "real" pool fans, because of your (), so gj>. I will tell you why, once again. It isn't because this place is That unknown. Sure, to an extend it is(promote it, like I have done on Reddit in the past). But people play those places because it is Easy, you'd be naive if you think otherwise. And other than the fact that these are Billard games, IRL or online, they cant be compared at all..

When we talk about the best place to play, which is most realistic, we can absolutely agree that FOD is the best place, hence why I play here. I came back on this site in 2017, and have played ever since. And it was only at the start of the pandemic that the player numbers went a bit up, and honestly, it's been quite steady for the past time, and I doubt that it would change to such an extend that you'd feel it(sure, if you are sit at the 5-600+ rating, there wont be many at the same level as you, which is the same in every game and sport ever made), as I said, the community here are what you'd call 'loyal', most of the faces you see are regulars, even those who come back after breaks or what not. 

To some extend, yeah, it is "rude" not to respond to someone typing "hi gl".. but then again, it kinda really isn't. People have their own rights to chat or not, and it's fine if that bothers you, but typing about how it displeases you in forums is just... weird.

Your "disappointment".. I honestly cant understand it. Why is it an disappointment to you, that people aren't as smart as you are, or perhaps doesn't care about the game or improvement as you do?.

"it's not a sport, it's just an online game" why are you even here in the forums, if all this is, is a game to you. Stop being so selfcentered, and accept that other people have other opionions and reasons than you do. 

I remember back in the day, I had hard issues breaking the 400 rating barrier, because I 'choked' alot(online gaming term for people feeling the pressure of whatever game or circumstances they are in). So when you think that people sit there, for others to admire their points.. I think that just you tbh, well, maybe not ONLY you, but you are definently in the minority that thinks that. 
Hello Billiardatron,
I play for the love of the game. I've been playing a looonnnggg time. If you every see me on please invite. I'm not a runner I will play 20 games with you if you like. I'm not a bad shot just not consistant lol. I agree to everything you posted. I haven't been on here as long as you but I am an old school player. Thanks for the post I enjoyed reading it.
Lighterwhisperer

@Wanted You Know, thanks man! I agree, old time will never return.

@clubaid, you say "wall of text" twice, like it's a bad thing, but then you reply with a wall of text of your own. :) I guess you haven't been around many forums, but generally, forums exist for discussion purposes. Do you prefer the thousands of 1 sentence-zero substance topics that already exist, complaining about things without giving any reasoning for it? 

That being said, i respect the fact that you put the effort to reply with a good post, even though i don't agree with most of it.

The simplicity and challenge of an online pool game are two completely different things. I said FOD is challenging, but it's not complex at all, it's very simple learn how to play, the hard thing is to improve your game faster than the average person.

I'm 100% sure that there's no pool fan, (and by fan i mean person who loves playing real life pool), who would prefer play one of those boring childish pool games with helpers and pointers over FOD. That's just not happening! FOD is as close to real pool on PC as possible, there's nothing else like it out there. Show it to any pool enthusiast and they'll be hooked... especially during the pandemic. And speaking of the pandemic... that's the other thing that scares me. If the state of FOOD pool is so tragic now, during the pandemic, i don't want to think about how bad it'll get when things get back to normal.

I'm myself am not a big chatter in FOD games. I prefer quite a chat during games, buck in the day Sayin Hi and GG at the start and end of a game was like a standard thing, that why now i find it a bit rude when you say "hi gl" followed by no response. Don't you think? Every FOD know what those words mean, even non-english speakers.

I never said it's my business why people with 10k games play terribly. I just expressed my disappointment that FOD has a large percent of such players, as before they were still a lot (even more than now) and yet, they were a minority because there were so much better and cooler players than them, who treated the game and the opponent with respect. That's all... If someone wants to be a noob and never learn a thing, even after 20k games, be my guest... I'm still gonna wonder and questing this person's  brains and sanity though, because what i'm allowed to think about such players and how they affect the quality of FOD is still MY business!

I agree with you, when someone achieves a new personal record in rating it's perfectly normal to take a break and sit on it for awhile... but NOT in the room posing in front of everybody and just taking space. That's a load of bull... you ain't going to impress anyone by doing that, you're just going to come of as an idiot, who is scared of playing an losing some points with ZERO value. No it's not a sport, it's just an online game... but it's a competitive one, so being scared of playing and just posing there taking space that can be filled with someone with more balls, is not going to make people admire you for your 300 rating, you'll just come of as pathetic. And let me get this straight, i don't mind when someone takes a break for like 10-20 minutes... i'm having problems with people who pose there for hours without playing. Today there's not many players so room #1 in 8-Ball is the only one that is full, so having people sitting there and wasting the space, preventing you from entering, can be annoying.
At first, seeing this huge wall of text, I thought I wasn't going to reply, but here we are. 

To answer your first question about where all the players went. You actually answered it in the wall of text you wrote.. "basic" people are what makes up most of the world, being what people call the "norm", in just about everything. FOD pool is hard compared to other sites, where as you said, you have indicators and such = basic people. When talking about bringing players here, away from such games as brings us back to the same thing, that people are basic, they want the easy and simplistic ways, being that of music and such. To give you an example.. The Dj Marshmello once said that he took just under a few hours to make a song, and it became the most popular song ever for him, at the time = simplicity is what people wants. 

When we talk about the stuff you write about people not saying "Hi", "Good luck" and such.. I dont, and will Never see why this can be a problem for people, even for those who wont answer those who type it.. Cause why can it be a problem? Everyone is their own boss, and if people dont want to talk with you... they dont want to talk without you, lol. I personally prefer NOT to talk at all, but I will, in most cases respond those who talk to me. The people running on you has an easy fix, subscribe, and choose how many frames you want to play each person. It's the same option people have when moving, it's an option you have, same as people have the option to leave, for whatever reason they may have.

Talking about the toxicity, there's no denying that some people are extremely salty, especially if you are better than they are. But at the same time we need to accept that this is a sport, and most people want to win. So stuff typed in the chat should never be taken personally, unless it is Made personal. 
When you talk about the stupidity amongst players, and how they play.. like.. I see what you are saying, not having progressed after 10k games etc. etc. But again, why is this a subject you need to bring up?. It's like the same situation with the "Hi" and "Gl" situation, meaning it's none of your business, whether people talk or not, or how they play the game.. it is what it is, accept it.

Talking about the 'posers' stuff. 
Many people on this site, including myself(until recently) spends are big amount of time on this site everyday, and if I had to go make dinner, or whatever it may be, I would afk/dont disturb, until im done and can get back to eating. It also looks like you haven't heard of the word 'pressure' before, because it exists in this sport. To some, getting 250 Is a big achievement, especially if you think about it's a person who have played here for years, and never gotten higher than that. So sitting on it for just a bit, is understandable, wouldn't you say?.



Lastly, about your missing password. Find a mod and message them, recovering your old account wont take long. They did the same for me back in the day.
Hello mate! Very good text u wrote. Sadly fod is died now.. i would like to play vs a lot of good players from the past but it is not possible.