Why I am giving up on BBO

[pilowsky]

That likely was nothing to do with the perceived distance and everything to do with all the possible places to go for a day trip, why Birmingham?

 

I was in London, I caught the train to Brum to have coffee and a chat with a friend for an hour then came back to where I.was staying. I think I know what you're getting at. I grew up in Sheffield.

Did you see that film "Welcome to the sticks"? The guy is travelling North to a new job (in France this time). The traffic Cop lets him off for driving too slowly on the Freeway.

[Chas_P]

 

Now we play in a virtual club game the same night, and afterward we get together on Zoom.

 

A couple of weeks ago one of them mentioned that the restaurant we were going to now has patio dining. But since we're already at home when we're playing the game, it's more convenient to just hop on a Zoom call, rather than get dressed to go out.

 

To each his own. But I don't want to live the rest of my life in a bubble. I'm in awe of the technology but I do miss the roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd.

[pilowsky]

Several of the players in my regular weekly club game used to do that.

 

Now we play in a virtual club game the same night, and afterward we get together on Zoom.

 

A couple of weeks ago one of them mentioned that the restaurant we were going to now has patio dining. But since we're already at home when we're playing the game, it's more convenient to just hop on a Zoom call, rather than get dressed to go out.

 

In some ways, the Forum has also become a surrogate pub...

Although, the image of barmar playing undressed is a bit of a worry.

[blackshoe]

Heh. I was just thinking that if memory serves, this forum was intended for general discussion of the game, while discussion of "things bbo" has another place. It seems the era of 'only online' bridge has blurred the distinction even more than it was in 'the old days'. B-)

[pescetom]

Heh. I was just thinking that if memory serves, this forum was intended for general discussion of the game, while discussion of "things bbo" has another place. It seems the era of 'only online' bridge has blurred the distinction even more than it was in 'the old days'. B-)

 

The management could easily move this thread if they were equally alert.

But give them credit for not closing it in the first place.

[thepossum]

I have been actively involved in online bridge for close to 30 years now.

 

I was an early member of OKBridge. I loved playing there I made friends and acquaintances that I still know to this day. However, round about the year 2K, Matt Clegg lost interest in OKB. He stopped adding new features and functions and treated OKB as a cash cow.

 

Luckily, about that same time, Fred Gitelman came on the scene and release Bridge Base Online. BBO was a classic disruptor. Its tech wasn’t as good as what OKB had to offer, however, it had a business model that was dramatically different and was able to support a much lower price point. Equally significant, you had a management team that was directly engaging with the user base and working to improve the product.

 

BBO quickly captured an enormous part of OKB’s user base and was able to extend its platform to include large numbers of end users that OKB could never really support. And for 15+ years life was good. However, all good things come to an end.

 

In the case of BBO, this was the decision to merge with FunBridge (which is owned by the HLD Investment Group). I don’t begrudge Fred, Uday, and their long term investors in cashing out. This was (obviously) great for them. However, this decision is screwing over their long term user base. HLD needs to recoup their investment. And in turn, this means much more focus on maximizing profits. And, as we’re all discovering, a profit maximizing monopolist has a whole bunch of opportunities to maximize their profits.

 

1. The cost to play in fee based tournaments has been jacked up multiple times

2. Today, BBO has announced that they are going to start charging tournament directors for the privilege of directing free games on the BBO platform

 

For me, this last decision is the straw that is break (this) camel’s back.

 

Over the years I have spent hundreds of dollars each year on BBO bucks, not because I particularly value playing against their bots (and certainly not because I care about BBO masterpoints) Rather, I wanted to give back and help support a platform that I once valued.

 

No more. At the most basic level, I don’t think that it is possible to reconcile the competing interest of the HLD investment and the BBO user base. And, the way’s in which BBO’s management is trying to monetize that base are so ham handed and so antithetical to the way in which the BBO community was built that I can not in good conscious support them going forward.

 

Equally significant, BBO has always struggled with technical debt. However, over time this seems to be getting worse and worse. It’s been years since BBO has been able to release any new functionality. Rather, all of their development effort seems devoted to producing worse and worse versions of their user interface for new platforms. From the sounds of things, the back-end is a nightmare, as evidence by all the problems that BBO experiencing trying to handle demand spikes from the COVID-19 crisis.

 

All and all, its seeming like a good time to bid adieu to BBO.

 

I’m going to spend my time looking for a better platform to play on and spend my dollars supporting the Bridge Hack-a-thon.

 

I’m sure that BBO will do fine without me. After all, it has all sorts refugees from ACBL clubs waiting to be shorn. With this said and done, I’ll simply note that OKB once had a dominant position in the online bridge market place. OKB lost this position because BBO offered a superior business model. And what BBO management is doing right now is emulating what killed OKB.

 

Hoping this is only a tenporary feeling. Will miss you on here. I'm a relative newcomer on here although I keep wondering about an old Bridge site I knew from many years ago, pre-web. My memory isnt good.

 

I keep looking around for alternatives too.

 

I really enjoy many aspects of BBO but the lack of options over the system is the main limitation for me. I had been hoping the merge with FunBridge could actually give more system options via BBO interface etc

 

Without wanting to turn every post and every issue into my regular rant against the world. There is something terribly controlling about this world that goes beyond pure business and commerce. Without wanting to sound too paranoid, it does seem we are constantly being forced into situations that make it easier for some to collect and connect information about us, and harder and harder for us to have alternative choices. Maybe I'm just old fashioned

 

Also, it seems that, although in some ways many still benefit more broadly from the economic growth and benefits, and I am fully supportive of those who create getting a bigger share of the pie, I also feel there are some who never get any rewards for what they create and some with immense power who maybe are cashing in too much. There seem to be two real options in this world if you are in any form of creative business (big or especially small). That is either to continue to allow yourself to be squeezed or if you are lucky enough to have enough power to go with your self-respect to opt out of industries altogether.

 

Sorry this isnt about me (the thread), it just seemed relevant. I will miss you on here

 

PS I never studied it and don't know much but somebody once wrote about the destructive and creative forces of capital

[thepossum]

+1 to everything you wrote. I too await the next disruptor; whether it arises from the Hack-a-thon or elsewhere.

 

As for the chances of such a disruptor succeeding, I think the chess world saw Lichess burst onto the scene and grab a huge market share. And best of all, despite being completely free to play (https://lichess.org/features), Lichess continues to succeed and grow.

 

I am very curious about this whole disruption thing, who is behind it - whether all are beneficial or some are and some totally exploitative and destructive. Some with massive power and very little cost/risk are able to undercut and attack anything they like. I have seen too many good industries/businesses being squeezed - often along with that has gone quality and choice IMO. Some of the "disruptors" seem to me to be nothing better than cashed up parasites who have used their massive power to suck whole industries, cities and countries dry. Some of those forces/interests even use issues like sustainability as an argument to support what they are doing, when if anyone actually analysed the effects they may be making things worse.

 

See my above comment though - maybe its inevitable and a cycle of change. Would be terrible if everything became so concetrated it could never be changed agaain though