Riichi Mahjong in Singapore

Below are all feedback gathered from members. Some information are not shown because it has obvious disclosure of his/her identity. Some of these feedback are addressed while some are something beyond the organisers’control. Nevertheless, we hope that members can read and just take note of them. Please refrain from speculating who is it and let’s take it with a pinch of salt if you are offended by any feedback.

I share the feedback is because I would like to be transparent on what of my decisions are based on feedback and what are not.

You will read some unhappy comment on playing etiquette but please do not feel that you are being dislike by SMC. A post dedicated on behavioural etiquette will come soon. So if you have done any of the actions that some members commented, just try not to do it the next time.

As for members who dislike such bad etiquette behaviour, I would like to remind everyone I would have to be careful not to be too strict otherwise there will be complaints about it as well. I will be expecting (or hope) members to follow the etiquette guidelines as posted later but not as per the feedback below.

Thank you for everybody’s understanding and cooperation.

QNS: Do you wish SMCRM to enforce more rules on table manners/behavioral etiquette? If so, what would you like to see it enforced specifically?

No complaining about how shit hand is.
No anyhow throw tiles become Bermuda triangle.
No riichi and lag when discarding.
No shamisen.
No touch draw and decide to meld.
No silent riichi or calls.

1. May I request it to be similar as MCR. Calling of chi/pon/kan/ron/tsumo should be loud and clear. 
2. No eating of food. There is always a break in between session. 
3. No using of MP3 players, headset, loud music during the game play. This actually gives a rude and bad impression to those that are playing. (He might not even be noticing players calling)
4. Scoring should be done by the winners. (This might not be applicable) [Feng: We won't be enforcing this]
5. Shamisen? Do not pass information. Unnecessary chatting should be forbidden until the end of game. 
6. Chi/Pon/Kan. Think before any move? I have always see people touch the wall tiles and out it back just because they want to do chi/pon/kan.

Less loud talking about non relevant stuff when the game is going on, and while i know its impossible, less discussion or even 0 discussion about any hand during the session, that would make everything smoother and quieter for everyone to concentrate on the game.

Yes. It should be based on competition rules so that anyone is geared towards the required standards. For example, the calling of pon or kong, should you not able to execute out what you have called, it will consider dead hand [Feng: Penalties will be addressed in detail soon]

I am fine with the current state.

I feel that normal games time or tournament, conversations should be reduced and discussions should only be held after the game or during breaks.

QNS: Ideally, what do you wish to see/do not wish to see in the session report statistical performance table? Eg: Toohard to see/too much redundant info/short of the info I like/what kind of sorting etc.:

Good.

Don't have anything to add, don't think anything is unnecessary.

It's ok at the moment based on the latest report. We can follow jpml as reference

It's fine now. I personally only really look at the first table, but i can understand why others might want to have more stats.

I am fine with the current statistical report.

QNS: Do you wish to see a more simplified players' data for each session report and release a detailed one every month/quarterly?:

No. | Yes. Quarterly. | No. | Yes. Quarterly.| No. | Yes. Monthly. | No. | No.|
[Feng: We will go with the majority]

QNS: SMCRM is considering to lauch a monthly competitive session. Playing order is league system whereby players will always meet players of their ranking. Are you interested?:

Maybe. | Yes. I would love it. | Maybe. | Yes. I would love it. | Yes. I would love it. | Yes. I would love it. | Yes. I would love it. | Yes. I would love it. |

QNS: For the competitive session, do you wish the priority play to be decided by ranking or the usual first-come-first-serve basis?:

By ranking. | By ranking. | By first-come-first-serve | By ranking. | By ranking. | By first-come-first-serve | By ranking. | By ranking. |

QNS: Which variant rule do you prefer to play with for competitive session?:

9. Follow WRC strictly | 8. No Aka/Ura/Kan & Ippatsu & Kuitan Nashi (Added in General feedback)| 1. No Aka Dora | 1. No Aka Dora | 9. Follow WRC strictly | 9. Follow WRC strictly | 9. Follow WRC strictly | 8. No Aka/Ura/Kan & Ippatsu

[Feng: We will follow WRC in terms of game rules but not their penalties]

QNS: What changes do you wish to see in SMCRM?:
More sessions.

While I believe that majority of the people come to SMCRM to try to have fun during the weekend, I would definitely wish to see people to be more professional during the session, and be more ready to take losses instead of whining/complaining. Every game there will be a winner and losers, and personally i wish to see that even if you win you minimize your boasting and when you lose you minimize the whining/complaining on how unlucky you are. I believe that would make the game more enjoyable for everyone. If you dealt in to a big hand due to a misjudgement you definitely wouldn't want the winner to go around and tell other people how lousy the discards are. And I definitely believe all players doesn't like to hear it when you keep on complaining how you yakitori during the previous hanchan because you keep picking up a lot of terminals and stuff like that.

Given that personally as of now I think quite a number of players are not ready to have a league based competitive session since from my point of view majority of the players still treat the session as a "have fun" session and you can clearly see their mood changing throughout the game if they yakitori or deal in big hands constantly and they will give up winning or can't play at their best performance. While being yakitori or dealing into big hands are definitely frustrating I believe everyone should still be more professional and try to play at their best at all times instead of giving up, while not letting these things affect their judgement and decisions.

However if a league based system competitive session is really set-up, personally i would like to see the match between any 4 players to be more than 1 hanchan, say maybe 2 to 3 hanchans at least to decide who is the overall winner of the match. Playing riichi mahjong while skills are important, if the hands/hanchan played are too little the variance are going to be big (since luck still definitely play some part in the game) and thus the outcome are less accurate on who is a better player.

Quarterly reports are definitely helpful to help players to keep track of their statistics, however only to those people who play a certain amount of hanchans/hands say maybe 100 or 150 hands (or 10 hanchans equivalent). I believe a monthly reports would give too small a sample size for the statistics to have any value at all.

I am happy to see that the organizers are trying to make a change and I am definitely hoping to see the club to change into a more friendly competitive environment where less boasting and whining but more constructive discussion.

Feng