[Walddk]

cardsharp, on Aug 25 2010, 08:59 PM, said:

Phil, on Aug 25 2010, 05:15 PM, said:

If I were a player, a lot of typing would tell me that there was something interesting about a hand instead of a position where a claim is imminent.

Either that or a lot of chat about the latest goal that Italy have conceded, and how the Italians are reacting to that news.

In my experience watching vugraph it is rare for the operator to be talking about the play of the hand. They sometimes discuss the bidding, more often they are apologising for not seeing an alert, and frequently they are relating the state of the players and any table chat.

I don't think the players learn much from lots of typing.

I can only speak for myself, but as a player on vugraph I wouldn't even notice if a naked woman walked through the room (does it happen?). I am totally focused on the play, also when dummy, so as far as I am concerned, the operator can type all s/he likes.

Roland

[JanM]

Phil, on Aug 25 2010, 09:15 AM, said:

Jan, I always wonder when a VG operator is actively commenting about the play.

If I were a player, a lot of typing would tell me that there was something interesting about a hand instead of a position where a claim is imminent.

You'd be wrong to draw that conclusion most of the time. Usually when I'm typing a lot it's because there's a problem at another table, or I'm answering questions from spectators ("why do they allow undos" may be the strangest one, but there are many many others). In fact, I think it's more a sign that the hand may be interesting if my keyboard is quiet because I'm looking at the hand instead of doing one of the many other things I do when there's a moment free

[JanM]

I forgot to answer the question about how do you become a Vugraph operator. I completely agree with Nick that familiarity with reasonably high level bridge and with how BBO works are valuable assets if you hope to be a good operator. In fact, I think that familiarity with BBO is probably necessary.

We're always looking for Vugraph operators at the ACBL NABCs & the USBF Team Trials. If you're going to be "on site" for one of them and are interested in being an operator, please just send me an email (marteljan at gmail dot com) and I'll add you to my "Vugraph operators" email list. If you're already familiar with BBO, I can almost certainly teach you the things you need to know to be an operator in about 15 minutes before you do it (I once "trained" a new operator on my cell phone while waiting to board an airplane - luckily he was a very bright & computer literate person and did fine).

In my opinion, the most important quality for a Vugraph operator to have is "unflappableness" - things will go wrong during a broadcast, sometimes they'll be minor things (for instance the person who commented that he had tried ctrl-C for chat only to discover it was claim; there is a way to recover from that by the way - you can start the board over again by clicking on "redeal" and entering the board number); sometimes the internet connection will fail; always there will be some hands where the players play faster than you can type. The important thing is not to become frazzled when that happens, but to try to carry on so that you get as much reported as possible. I have a 1-page instruction sheet that I tape to the Vugraph tables when I am organizing a Vugraph broadcast - the operators who take a moment to look at "what to do if you get disconnected" will get back on and linked to the other table after a disconnect. The operators who either panic or think they know what to do will often end up not linked to the other table.

Being a Vugraph operator is great fun, and a lot of work. Try it! By the way, the WBF needs operators for Philadelphia - if you are interested in being a Vugraph operator there, email me and I'll make sure your name gets to the right people.

[MBV53]

I like this topic! in future I wish to become operator and commentator whenever I am not directing the Tournaments.
my email id- muppallabala@yahoo.com
MBVSubrahmanyam
India.

[mrdct]

It is interesting to read about players looking at the operator's computer screen at the end of the match to check the score. In Australia this practice is explicitly prohibited under Regulation 23.9.

For operators a really important thing to get proficient with is the somewhat counter-intuitive match setup feature of "B" for Both being for single table coverage and "O" for Open being for dual table coverage.

[FrancesHinden]

mrdct, on Aug 28 2010, 07:40 AM, said:

It is interesting to read about players looking at the operator's computer screen at the end of the match to check the score. In Australia this practice is explicitly prohibited under Regulation 23.9.

I sometimes try not to do it because it's a bit hard on teammates, who generally don't like it if you know the result and they don't - but it's very hard to resist, so I usually peek if I know the other table is still in play and otherwise I'll have to wait.

It's odd that it's specifically prohibited: why?

[peachy]

FrancesHinden, on Aug 30 2010, 05:34 AM, said:

mrdct, on Aug 28 2010, 07:40 AM, said:

It is interesting to read about players looking at the operator's computer screen at the end of the match to check the score.  In Australia this practice is explicitly prohibited under Regulation 23.9.

I sometimes try not to do it because it's a bit hard on teammates, who generally don't like it if you know the result and they don't - but it's very hard to resist, so I usually peek if I know the other table is still in play and otherwise I'll have to wait.

It's odd that it's specifically prohibited: why?

I would imagine it is sometimes hard to control body language when looking at the results on screen and if it is within sight from the table still in play, it could provide UI one way or another. As said, I am guessing. But even without this guess, I favor it being prohibited.

[JanM]

I'll second Frances - why would you prohibit this? in the "old days" before Vugraph, I know of lots of instances where a player or kibitzer would come out of the second room to finish with the scores from all of the previous boards to give the players who had finished (a player of course could only do this on the last board if s/he happened to be dummy). Of course if the two tables were in the same room without visual separating there could be a problem, but we try to avoid that anyway.

[mrdct]

If there is an onsite presentation or anybody with a data-enabled phone in the non-quarantined area the players can easily get the match score that way.

The rationale for the prohibition on players looking at the operator's screen is mainly directed at conditioning players to always enter and leave the playing area in a manner such that they can't get a glimpse of the operator's screen which is obviously more of a problem at the beginning or midway through a session but we may as well get the players in the habit of not looking at the operator's screen at all. It might also help avoid the situation of a player jumping up to look at the operator's screen when he erroneously thinks he's just played the last board of the segment but in fact has an extra board or two play due to the boards coming out of order or a fouled board.

I also think it's discourteous to teammates to ascertain the match score before the actual score-up and as npc I would at the very least strongly discourage my players from that practice.