This page is an edited version of the FAQ on markbyers.com (which is not currently online). Hopefully if you have some problem or a question, you can find the answer here. If your question isn't covered here you can e-mail the team.
- The Game of Wordsteal
- What is Wordsteal?
- How do you register to play?
- I'm confused by the icons on each table in the lobby. What are they for?
- How do you change options?
- Can I send private messages?
- What are the numbers after the player names in the lobby list?
- How are ratings figured out?
- Why does "Cancel" or "Quit" show by a player name in the game result?
- I heard you keep a log of all the games played. Is that true?
- What is LobbyBot and how does it work?
- Known Issues
- Troubleshooting
- (Updated: 6 September 2009) When I try to access the site I get a grey (or white) screen. What's wrong?
- I'm on a Mac. Is there anything specific I need to do?
- How do I get it working on Linux?
- I'm still having a problem. I'll do anything to get this working! Any last ideas?
- Interacting With Other Players
- Is it safe to give out my personal information to other players on this site?
- What do I do if someone insults me?
- What do I do if ignoring someone does not help?
- How do I take a screenshot?
- What should I do if I have a problem with a host in English Rated Room 1?
- Privacy
- Do you sell my personal information to 3rd party companies?
- Are IP addresses logged?
- How private are our passwords?
- How private are private messages?
- General Questions
-
[top]
- The Game of Wordsteal
- What is Wordsteal?
- How do you register to play?
- I'm confused by the icons on each table in the lobby. What are they for?
- How do you change options?
- One is on the main lobby screen, in the middle on the left. Clicking there opens a dialog window with these choices, which you can enable or disable.
- Enable Sound - enables sound for time running out, clearing, and end of game.
- New sound effects - enables knocking sound for the table captain when someone clicks to join.
- Light colour mode - this has no effect at present.
- Colourblind Mode - this has no effect at present.
- Sort Players by Rating - sorts the player list by rating instead of alphabetically.
- Enable keyboard entry - enables the ability to place tiles on the game board using the keyboard, in addition to the mouse.
- Show table setting in lobby - enables the display of icons for the game options that each captain has set.
- In addition, you can set a font style and size for chat display in the lobby and in games.
- There are also options for a game. These are found when you are the captain of a game, by clicking the Options button on the game screen. You can set the Winning Score, Time Per Turn, and whether to allow Observation, S Steals, and Clearing.
- Can I send private messages?
- Click in the player list the name you want to send a private message to, then click "Private Mode" in the dialog that opens. The next thing you type in the chat entry box will be sent as a private message to that person. It will show in yellow for you, and for the recipient. You have to click the name and choose "Private Mode" for each message to that person. If you don't do that, whatever you type will show in the lobby.
- Type the message using this format:
/w <name> <message> or /msg <name> <message>
For example: /w georgieporgie fancy a game?
Case is not important in the name. You may use just the beginning of the name, as long as you use enough letters to distinguish it from any other logged in name. There must be no space or other character before the beginning slash, or the entire thing will appear in the lobby.
- What are the numbers after the player names in the lobby list?
- How are ratings figured out?
- Why does "Cancel" or "Quit" show by a player name in the game result?
- I heard you keep a log of all the games played. Is that true?
- All the games : From first to last, in order. This may take a long time to download.
- The latest games: Showing the last game first, in reverse order.
- The latest games for a player: Showing the last game first, in reverse order. The username must be entered with the exact spelling and case.
- What is LobbyBot and how does it work?
- Known Issues
- I'm being booted from the game when options are changed.
- Troubleshooting
- When I try to access the site I get a grey (or white) screen. What's wrong?
- The new problem has shown up with Java Version 6 Update 10. If you have that update (or higher), do this:
- Click Start.
- Click Control Panel.
- Double click on Java. (If you don't see Java, look for View 32-bit Control Panel Items. Open that - Java should be in there.)
- Click Advanced tab in Java Control Panel.
- Scroll to Java Plug-in entry.
- Uncheck the check box for Enable next-generation Java Plug-in.
- Click OK to save the change.
- Close your browser (all windows), then restart it. Try logging into Wordsteal.
- The old problem - either a recent version of Java isn't installed, or it has become corrupted. One or more of these steps usually fixes it:
- Uninstall Sun Java (Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs - remove anything beginning with Java or J2SE), then go to the Sun Java download page and reinstall it.
- If you use AOL as your ISP, and you use the Internet Explorer browser supplied by AOL, you need to get IE directly from Microsoft.
- Use the Firefox browser. Many people have had success with it when Internet Explorer would not load Wordsteal completely. You can get Firefox at http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/.
- I'm on a Mac. Is there anything specific I need to do?
- How do I get it working on Linux?
- I'm still having a problem. I'll do anything to get this working! Any last ideas?
- Check for and remove viruses and spyware that might be interfering with the game.
- Disable virus checking software.
- Disable your firewall, or ensure that the ports 5555 and 5556 are open.
- Remove any browser add-ons that you have installed that could interfere with the game.
- Remove any other software that have installed that may interfere with the game (Trillian?).
- Ensure that all software you are using is up-to-date. Keep your operating system (Windows, Mac OS X, Fedora, etc... ) fully up-to-date.
- Try a different browser. There are lots to choose from. The table shows which browsers can run WordSteal and which operating systems the browser supports. Y* means that no-one has got it working in that browser yet, but please try it anyway and let us know if it works or not. Click here for a browser compatibliity chart.
- As a last resort, reinstall your operating system to clean off anything that might be interfering. Warning: this may take a long time for some operating systems.
- Interacting With Other Players
- Is it safe to give out my personal information to other players on this site?
- What do I do if someone insults me?
- What do I do if ignoring someone does not help?
- How do I take a screenshot?
- Windows Vista:
- Windows - older versions:
- Press Alt+PrintScreen
- Go to Start->Programs->Accessories->Paint
- Press Ctrl-V
- Change the file format to PNG instead of BMP (to reduce the size).
- Save the file to your Desktop.
- Linux (Gnome):
- Press Alt+PrintScreen
- Press Save.
- Mac:
- What should I do if I have a problem with a host in English Rated Room 1?
- Post in the forum a polite and constructive suggestion for an improvement to the rules. We know the rules are not perfect, and feedback is welcome.
- Play in the unmoderated room. There are no hosts there, and there are no rules on what can and can't be said.
- Prove that you can do the hosting job better. Create your own WordSteal room, and your own set of rules. Publish these rules on the internet somewhere and get some people to join your room. I will make you a host in your room. If your room becomes popular, I will add it to the WordSteal homepage, so that other people can easily find it.
- Privacy
- Do you sell my personal information to 3rd party companies?
- Are IP addresses logged?
- How private are our passwords?
- How private are private messages?
No. Personal information, other than an email address (at your option) is never entered. The only information you need to enter to play is a username and password of your choice.
Yes. They are logged and they are available to the hosts.
Only the site owner can read passwords. Hosts cannot read your passwords.
Your private messages are logged. Players can allow hosts to read their own private messages (both sent and received). Hosts are not allowed to read private messages without the permission of one of the two players involved. Players wishing to reveal private messages, should contact a host and the hosts must make a request to the site administrator (Mark Byers) to read the private messages.
General Questions- What is the tile distribution?
- Will you keep this site running? Will it become a pay site?
- What hardware does the site run on?
- I'd like to help out. Can I donate some money to help cover your costs?
- Is there any other way I can help out?
- Do you miss a certain feature, or is an error annoying you? Let us know what one thing bothers you the most. This helps setting priorities.
- Got an idea for improving the game or the site? Let us know. Improvements and new features are added as time permits.
- Can you program in Python? You can help develop and test the server.
- Can you program in Java? There are a few bugs in the client which need fixing.
- Design a complete new Sound Theme for the client (use Java .au format).
- Have you written your own Wordox client which want to donate (including source code) for everyone to use?
- Do you want to play in another language? Please send us a list of all 2-13 letter words in that language.
- And of course... tell a friend or two about the site!
In the English rooms, the tiles are randomly selected from a set of 400 tiles. Click here to see a detailed chart.
The tile distribution is chosen by the person that helped create the room.
I don't know what will happen to the site, but my hope is to keep running as long as there are people wanting to play, and I hope I will be able to keep improving it. I do not intend to make a profit from the site. I think I can cover my bandwidth bills without requiring payment to play or filling the site with flashing adverts. I view this as a hobby, and I am willing to put a little of my own money into it just as someone who loves cars spends more on their car than most would.
Currently the site runs from a single PC (AMD Sempron 2300+) with 512 MB, and running Linux. I am using a 4Mb/sec up, 768kb/sec down ADSL internet connection. This is more than sufficient for the current load, since the game has very low bandwidth requirements. I plan to upgrade the hardware as required to keep up with the demand.
I'm not accepting any donations at the moment, but thanks for the kind offer! Be careful not to give money to people pretending to be me! If I ever set up a way to donate, I will put the info at http://markbyers.com/donate.
Sure! Email the Wordsteal Support Team for any of the following:
(Much more information about playing the game can be found in the Wordsteal Rules document.)
Wordsteal is a game similar in some respects to Scrabble. The object of play is make words from a set of seven tiles, playing off of words already on the board. Points are scored based on the number of letters in words you make, including words formed by tiles adjacent to those you actually play. There are no extra points for playing rare letters, such as Q or Z. All players play, in turn, from the same tray of tiles, which is refreshed with new letters after each turn.
Go to the registration screen. Enter a playing name and password of your choice. If you think you might forget your password, you can optionally enter your email address so it can be sent to you if necessary. There is no way to recover a password if you don't enter your email address! There is a "captcha" image on the registration screen, which is a graphic image showing 6 random letters on a grey background. You have to copy those letters exactly in order for registration to succeed. (Captcha is a common method used to prevent automated sign-ups on websites.)
The clock is used to indicate the time allowed for each play, the flag shows the score to be reached, S indicates it's allowed to add S to the end of a word, the pink square tells if it's allowed to clear the board by playing on a pink square, and the person shows if observers are allowed in the game or not.
Table 5 is set for a 30 second, 50 point game. S's and clearing are not allowed, and observers will not be able to watch. Table 6 is playing 35 second turns, to 40 points. S's are not allowed, but clearing is, and observers can enter to watch the game.
There are two groups of options that can be set.
Yes. There are two methods for this.
The first number is the player's rating. The second is the table they are currently at. An (A) in the table column indicates the player is a host.
The quick answer:
All new users begin with a rating of 1600 points. When a game is won, points are added to the rating. When a game is lost, points are subtracted. The number of points won or lost depends on how close the ratings of the opponents are to each other, and whether the higher rated or the lower rated player wins the game.
Simply, but not precisely, if the ratings are within 100 points, the game winner gets 8 rating points, the loser drops 8 rating points. In two-player games, the points won always equals the points lost. If the ratings are 101-200 points different, and the higher rated player wins, the change is 7 rating points. For each additional 100 points difference in ratings, the change decreases by 1, to a minimum of 0. If the ratings are 101-200 points different, and the lower rated player wins, the change is 9 rating points. For each additional 100 points difference in ratings, the change increases by 1, to a maximum of 16.
Click here for the precise, mathematical method that is used to calculate ratings.
"Cancel" means the player chose to leave the table after the game started, but before his first turn ended. There is no point penalty for canceling out of a game.
"Quit" means the player left the table after after having at least one turn, whether a play was made or not. Quitting might occur for any number of reasons: a personality clash with someone in the game, an emergency at home (or the boss walked in at work), an intentional or unintentional disconnect from the internet, and so on. Quitting, for whatever reason, will always result in the same loss of points as would have occured had the player finished the game and lost.
Yes. All the game results, since 15 Dec 2005, are logged. As a matter of fact, you can see some different lists of game results. For Rated Room 1:
LobbyBot is a program that provides some fun and informational additions to Wordsteal. Written by Neil Larson, who created MagRobot, it is not part of the Wordsteal program itself, but runs as a user within Wordsteal. It is normally logged in as "LobbyBot," but can have other usernames. The functionality is the same, no matter what the username, however. Click here to get a detailed description of all the LobbyBot functions.
This affects new usernames and old names that have not been used in a long time. When an option in the lobby or at a game table is changed, the user is kicked from the game, and must reconnect. The best thing to do is to set your options when you first login, be booted, then reconnect. The changed options will be in effect and will hold for that session, so you can then set up games if you want. Don't change options again if you can avoid it. A curious thing about this problem is that it seems to go away sooner or later.
This could be one of two conflicts with Sun Java, one old, one new.
Thanks to WordWizzard for finding and sharing this fix.
Many people have had problems getting the game working on a Mac, but it is possible, using the Safari browser. Here is what one user says:
"I have an intermittent glitch at times which gives me a blank white page on entering a table but I've found that if I click on the bottom right corner of the page it sorts itself out (goodness knows why). Hope this is of some help to other mac users."
Use Firefox + Blackdown JRE. Everything should work perfectly.
I don't know what else the problem could be, but if you eventually get it working, please let us know how you did it. Here are some things you might wish to try that might or might not help:
This is at your own risk. If in doubt, don't do it.
First of all, do not reply to them, particularly in the lobby. This only gives them the attention they are seeking. Most players realize that the ones making insults are behaving in a childish, immature way, and they don't take it seriously. Use the Ignore feature to block their comments. (Click the name, then Ignore.) Contact a host or the Support Team if it continues over time.
Usually ignoring works if you are patient, but sometimes further action must be taken. In this case, take a screenshot and contact a host to ask where to send it. Action will only be taken if you have taken reasonable efforts to ignore the player. If no host is online you can email Wordsteal Support.
Obviously, do not send fake or modified screenshots. These can easily be detected by comparing them to the log file.
Use the built-in Snipping Tool.
The best way is to use a third-party screen capture program, such as Faststone Capture (shareware), or ScreenHunter (free). Otherwise:
Does anyone know? I don't have a Mac. Try pressing Alt+PrintScreen and see what happens...
The first thing to realise is that arguing with hosts in the lobby is very unlikely to help the situation, and you will probably end up being muted, or possibly even banned. If you wish to query the reason for a decision or discuss the issue in a polite manner, you can send an email to Wordsteal Support which is read by all hosts and the site owner. Replies are usually within 24 hours. Email that only repeats previous messages or is clearly not a valid request for discussion (e.g., it makes threats to the hosts, or it brings up irrelevant issues) may take a long time to be answered.
If you disagree with the rules of English Rated Room 1, or have a personal problem with the hosts that cannot be resolved, you still have the following choices: