there seems to be a disconnect between the older and newer players. some of the time this is due to the older players being douchenozzles and otf outlawing the newer players from finishing in their deserved place. but some of the time, this is due to the newer players not understanding the climate change when entering higher tables, and not understanding why older players play the way they do... this usually leads to newer players accusing of pga, older players reacting in arrogant manners, and helps maintain the divide between the 'elite' and 'noob' classes, which is detrimental to the game.

so i propose you simulate and record some sample games that are for 0 points, but played among highly competitive top-table players. give them a reward of some sort, say a contributor icon, for donating their time to help out. that way, they wont just goof off during the simulation.

once the starts have been randomly assigned, before any player can move, make each of the 7 volunteers write down their initial thoughts on what their initial strategy will be and why. continue this throughout the game. the players should keep a running journal basically. there would be a private side to it, such as them noting that they believe blue will connect west, which should free up their connect north, and hopefully after a decent build, they will offer either red or yellow a truce, etc, etc... and a public side, aka the chatbox.

so, basically, before every single players every single turn, every other player will have to check-off saying, "okay, im done writing down my private notes". then the player can make their turn. then before the next player can make their turn, every player must check off again. i realize this will take a very long time to simulate, especially if you have verbose players (think: me). but in the end, you would have a handful of simulated games that everyone could observe exactly why the players are acting like they are.

if this is programmable to simulate, i would be very interested in watching the final product: a playthrough, where each time you click on the map, one turn gets replayed, and you can see what is chatted about in the chatbox. at the same time, you could scroll over the map, and depending which color your mouse is over, that persons private journal of thoughts is displayed to you so you can understand how they are adapting their strategy as the game unfolds.

Ryan, you think this is too code-intensive?... and k-community, would you be interested in watching these playthroughs?

i mean, i could be way off here. like i normally am.