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.