2024 Completed

@Michael-Martin said
I'm sorry to disagree with you. And I mean NO disrespect towards you. You played my guys, you have a winning record I believe against them. But that is the fun part. So please don't take this the wrong way. Everyone has an opinion, this is mine.
First, Metallica did this for years. And won every year doing it. It's used as a tactic to end matches that are already ...[text shortened]... ost of us know each other on here and our abilities, so I don't think anyone would get away with it.

@Bish said
Happy New Year Michael and good luck this year. Like everything - clan leaders go in cycles, and it seems like the clan leaders now are good and able to challenge your reign a bit.

You may finish on top again in 2025 - but it will be a 12 month fight 🙂

Be well - we need you around here.

@Michael-Martin said
They don't even have the definition correct. I had challenges that went over a year and some over two years. Never again. Metallica used this as part of the blue print and it was always legal. They were not sandbagging. They were ending matches that were already won, so why wait when your opponent is dragging it out on purpose. That is a tactic to hurt the other c ...[text shortened]... ive the guy great advice on how to help him and his team and then he argues with us over our advice.

@A-Unique-Nickname said
There's no sour grapes, we've all said repeatedly that do what you have to do to win. If that's what you want then go for it. Congratulations on your 2024 win, I'm sure all the top 3/4/5 clans do the same. Myself and others in my clan think differently, sure it's annoying to have to wait for a seemingly meaningless game to end before starting a new challenge but wha ...[text shortened]... clans or who simply play at a higher level because they're concentrating more. That's the only way.

@Ghost-of-a-Duke said
Congrats on being 2024 champignons.

champignons, champignons, Olé, Olé, Olé 😀

@A-Unique-Nickname said
champignons, champignons, Olé, Olé, Olé 😀

@A-Unique-Nickname said
champignons, champignons, Olé, Olé, Olé 😀

@A-Unique-Nickname
Trevor, I don't enjoy the forums and actually do not read them anymore because, for the most part they are too argumentative and do not resolve anything, and these days my time is needed elsewhere in the real life tending to family issues. I was requested to have a look and respond here, and as a courtesy I will. I could not care less about the slings and arrows my post will probably cause, but enjoy the fodder.

I read the various posts and many of the people are falsely alluding to things that are simply not true. Possibly because they have not been doing this as long as I have or because there memories are short. For many years I was public enemy number 1. Maybe I still am to some. But let me fill you in on a few facts that everyone is missing regarding this term "snadbagging". It is misused by many, including you here Trevor.

When I first started at RHP, there were no limitations on challenges, games, or anything else. There has always been a common "rating" for all players. This "rating has been crap for many years I personally have never paid much attention to it. It has always been easy to manipulate and we have spoken to Russ for years about developing separate clan ratings from site ratings. It won't ever happen. The answer "Costs too much time and too much money to do it and this is a form of commerce for Russ.

In the beginning many players were entering tournaments specifically to lose all of the games and lower their "rating" in order to get better match ups. The sad part of this is that clan leaders were either ignorant or didn't care to do any work to make up challenges. That was their problem. THAT was sandbagging. That is STILL sandbagging.

When I took over as clan leader of Metallica, I made myself familiar with every rule. In all of my time here, I have never broken a rule, although we were charged many times, and every single time the verdict came gown that we had broken no rule. This is a fact that Russ will bear out. Everyone had to find a reason why we succeeded where others failed or couldn't keep up. Human nature I suppose.

When there was no limit on challenges, Metallica won because we played more challenges, were were a capable clan, and we won the lion's share of those challenges. At that time "gross points" determined the victor. So you can see where volume would win out over all.

The naysayers against us said we "cheated" because we "played too much". It was simply quantity over quality. Mind you we still won the overwhelming majority of our challenges, but that didn't matter we were labeled as cheaters.
So several complained that they needed to change the rules to make things fair.
Then came the first rule change to thwart Metallica....we would now convert to "net points" as the barometer to determine the champion. You would be penalized for the lost challenges that didn't bother anyone before. I said it then and still say it today....change any rule you like, modify them until your heart is content, but only start a rule change at the beginning of a year and make it equivalent to all. And so it was done.

Now this made the move to be continue to play a lot of challenges, because volume would still win out in the long run, but don't take any more silly challenges because they could now effect your "net point" scores. I modified the approach, and we started winning on "net points". They said we were cheating because no one else was winning. Mind you, were didn't win every year, we finished second a few times, but the whining still continued.

They said the sandbagging must be the reason. I laughed at that notion because I asked them what in the hell were your worried about, the ratings are so flawed they cannot be believed and I had not relied on them for years anyway. This fell on deaf ears, but it had to be the culprit. There are many clan leaders to this day that still put stock in some forms of these ratings but they are ridiculous. But here came rule change number 2 to thwart Metallica. In all challenges, ratings differences greater than 200 points would not be legal. I shook my head because you have a flawed rating system, so now this is going to make it less flawed??
Okay, we'll play....and we did....and we still won. Again, we MUST be cheating. Again, all allegations proved wrong.

Now the factions who wanted to stop Metallica came up with a different tack to stop the juggernaut. They were going to "limit the number of challenges you could have concurrently to three". This would slow down the volume so certainly that would even the playing field, right? You would think so and everyone was singing "ding dong the witch is dead". This change was going to prove to be the one that bit them in the butt, even though they could see it. Once again, we didn't care what rules we played by, as long as everyone had to play by the same rules. And so we played.....and we still won.....and they couldn't understand how were did it....we must be cheating. Nope, still no cheating, but we did have toi re-think the script to make things work. This is where many of you are making your mistake and calling it sandbagging. Since you were limited to 3 concurrent challenges, it makes zero sense to continue a challenge where the outcome is already decided, won or lost. NOTHING changes. But, it allows the start of a new challenge it is place. Now the argument ensues the reason is sandbagging....but that is not even close. Remember, we already decried paragraphs ago that the rating system was flawed and the ratings are useless in the format we are forced to use them, so what is getting changed??? NOTHING. Now there was also gamesmanship from the backside. Teams with a losing challenge would stall moving or draw out the challenges to block the inevitable from happening. You call that fair? Rubbish, we chose to remove that option from them by resigning games that did not matter, thereby ending the challenge, and moving on. Very legal and within the rules that the naysayers created anyway.

So you see, all of these changes were designed to stop what we were doing. However, the limitations were equal across the board and they couldn't close the gap. You want to know why? Because they were not willing to put in the work required to beat us. Michael speaks of my blueprint, which is high praise, but to his credit, he didn't try to re-invent the wheel, he tried to build a better automobile. If you want to win you have to do the work, you have to be able to negotiate, and you have to perform. It is that simple. If you are too lazy to do the work...you will not win. If you are not able to negotiate, you will not win. If you don't perform and win challenges, you will not win. It is that simple.

There are a few other "tactics" or "strategies" that I employ in my approach that are more calculating, but those are less obvious than the ones Michael alludes to in the "blueprint".

Now, there are clan leaders to this day that blinding follow the ratings. There are some that contrive their own ideas for laying out a challenge. There are some, like me, that place no stock in the ratings, but have knowledge of the relative strength of players and just realize that sometimes you just have to wait to the 200 point range to be in line before you can challenge them. There are a few clan leaders who won't even entertain a challenge from us. So be it. There are many that do and I have to work with each clan leader in within parameters they have established they want to use, and I have to see where they coincide with a challenge that is workable. We still get a fair amount of challenges. Many are issued to us and many we initiate. There is back and forth in all.

Now as I am getting older and closer to stepping away from this (you may recall, I was retired as clan leader when Mghrn55 took over the reigns. When he became ill and ultimately passed away, I picked up the clan lead once again.
Over the years I grew weary and bored of all of the cheating accusations and the BS of having to defend our position all the time. Now some choose to ignore the accomplishments altogether, which is fine. They are still history, but we have been there and done that. We are still around, still playing the game, for a while longer anyway.

So, that is the real story of what happened and why it happened and why we are where we are. You can blame me, you can ignore me, you can believe me or not. Your choice, In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter. Family matters and I have several more important things to deal with these days. But I will leave you with this one thought "I would rather work by butt off, try as hard as I could to win, within the rules, and leave it on the table...win or lose, than to sit back like a coward and run from a challenge and then gripe because they are unwilling to work or were afraid to even try".

I offer my congratulations to Breaking Bad for winning last season. Unfortunately, I was unable to devote much time to this last season to make it more interesting for them. I am not saying we would have won or not, but it would have been a bit tougher on them.

Life is short guys.....and getting shorter every day. Enjoy life while you can and pay attention to what matters. This is a game, nothing more. One I have enjoyed playing for years, but that interest is waning, especially when it comes to sniping and finger pointing.

Not sure how many will read this diatribe, but it is a factual report of what really happened, and why we are here today.

@A-Unique-Nickname said
There's no sour grapes, we've all said repeatedly that do what you have to do to win. If that's what you want then go for it. Congratulations on your 2024 win, I'm sure all the top 3/4/5 clans do the same. Myself and others in my clan think differently, sure it's annoying to have to wait for a seemingly meaningless game to end before starting a new challenge but wha ...[text shortened]... clans or who simply play at a higher level because they're concentrating more. That's the only way.

@shortcircuit said
@A-Unique-Nickname
Trevor, I don't enjoy the forums and actually do not read them anymore because, for the most part they are too argumentative and do not resolve anything, and these days my time is needed elsewhere in the real life tending to family issues. I was requested to have a look and respond here, and as a courtesy I will. I could not care less about the slings ...[text shortened]... l read this diatribe, but it is a factual report of what really happened, and why we are here today.

@Very-Rusty said
Ghost,
Holding up a game is a form of unfair play and you know it. I don't know why you are trying to defend it, because you are making yourself look silly in many people's eyes. You Sir, are being VERY DISRESPECTFUL trying to defend those action of people holding up games so another challenge can not be started.

I am not missing a thing, I know you love tw ...[text shortened]... spect from people, trust me when I tell that as I talk to and know many people on this Site.

-VR

@moonbus said
There is no such thing as “holding up a game,” within the agreed-upon time limits. That is why there are time limits.

@shortcircuit said
@A-Unique-Nickname
Trevor, I don't enjoy the forums and actually do not read them anymore because, for the most part they are too argumentative and do not resolve anything, and these days my time is needed elsewhere in the real life tending to family issues. I was requested to have a look and respond here, and as a courtesy I will. I could not care less about the slings ...[text shortened]... l read this diatribe, but it is a factual report of what really happened, and why we are here today.

@shortcircuit

I would just like to point out here that resigning playable games not only artificially deflates the rating of the player who resigned, but also artificially inflates the other player's rating--regardless of intent.