I recently started playing Shiritori and am having a ton of fun with it. I find myself debating whether it's fair game to use the dictionary when thinking of words to play.
It's hard to justify calling it "cheating", given that nothing is at stake except maybe leaderboard bragging rights. But still, my instinct is to feel it's somehow wrong or against the spirit of the game.
The other consideration is educational value. Most of us are here to learn - is it better for one's Japanese proficiency to rely on recall, or more valuable to learn new words found in the dictionary? I'm starting to lean toward the latter (especially as I quickly exhaust my pool of well-known words), but I'm really not sure. Maybe it depends on your goals.
So far, my policy has been to try my best pulling things from my head first. If I'm stumped, I might open the dictionary, but avoid playing words I didn't already know.
Just curious on others' opinions here. Is there any kind of consensus on the "correct" way to play? Or do you have your own personal Shiritori code of ethics? Either way, this is a safe space. I promise not to judge or report you to the Shiritori police
I think words from the dictionary are perfectly ok. I mostly add them to my personal schedule of interesting words. Renshuu is all about learning, after all.
I don't think there's a "correct" way of playing. I can kinda tell when beginners use the dictionary, but I don't really mind. As long as they don't spam る words :D
In fact I want the games to keep moving. The bottleneck for the leaderboard isn't really "knowing enough words". I know more than enough words to play for however long I feel like. I just need to a) have enough games that move fast enough, and b) not get bored. 😁
I think it's fine to use the dictionary as long as you feel like you're learning something :)
PS: I stuck around 1-2 place for a few days (maybe a week at most) and have no idea how people play that much for months without getting bored
I can kinda tell when beginners use the dictionary, but I don't really mind. As long as they don't spam る words :D
Oof yeah I've been struggling with this one too. As a beginner, the る verbs are probably over-represented in my vocab. But I've learned to avoid them, I wouldn't wish more of those on anyone.
In my experience, after you play for a certain amount time, eventually you unconsciously make a list of random not-that-useful easy words in your mind that start with each letter, so only using words you remember really doesn't teach you anything, because you can use the same 200 or so words for years and never run out unless you play for multiple hours at once. Past beginner level the only way to really learn with shiritori is to use the dictionary imo, which most people do anyway afaik
I think it does depend on your own goals. For me it's fun and you can feel proud when you know a word I don't think I'd feel that way if I looked it up on the dictionary but if others do it it wouldn't really change my experience I guess.
There are some people who consistently play English-derived katakana words in the general kana games, on syllables where there are plenty of common, non-loan Japanese words available (Maybe they just want to practise transcribing English into katakana, I don't know, but it doesn't seem that ethical somehow.)
There are some people who consistently play English-derived katakana words in the general kana games, on syllables where there are plenty of common, non-loan Japanese words available (Maybe they just want to practise transcribing English into katakana, I don't know, but it doesn't seem that ethical somehow.)
I agree, not a big fan of playing loan words in regular kana games. Except maybe clearing a -る
Although I'm glad there are some katakana-only rounds, it's a different kind of challenge and I definitely need practice at that too.
Once I can’t think of a word to play, I’ll occasionally just type in a random combination of kana and see what it gives me. Often times I find these words pretty easy to remember and interesting, and I think it’s a good way to add a little to your vocabulary here and there
I normally try my best to use words I can think of, but often need to use the dictionary to remember exactly what that word I'm thinking of was. Like "rats, there was that 4-kanji compound that started with 季節 and referred to the migration of birds and such... there was a 遊 in it too... but how did it go?" And I guess I use a lot of English-origin words in the kana shiritori, simply because my vocabulary isn't that rich and they're all I can think of.
I had no idea people look to see who wrote what, nor that my choices could cause frustration to others. Being aware of that now, I think I'll play less, or just avoid that altogether.
And I guess I use a lot of English-origin words in the kana shiritori, simply because my vocabulary isn't that rich and they're all I can think of.
I had no idea people look to see who wrote what, nor that my choices could cause frustration to others. Being aware of that now, I think I'll play less, or just avoid that altogether.
Don't worry about it too much. The only English-origin words that catch my attention (negatively) are ～ル words and long technical terms, e.g. メタボリックシンドローム. I mostly play Japanese-origin words (90-95%), but don't expect everyone else to do the same. Honestly, if the game is stuck on ～る, I encourage you to clear it however you can :D
PS: You can always invite me to private games, I won't judge your word choices 😁
Hello everyone, I enjoy playing Shiritori because it's a fun way to practice the vocabulary I've learned. I try not to use a dictionary; it's more challenging if you only rely on the words you've memorized. The topic of what's ethical or not is very interesting. It's annoying when, in hiragana or katakana Shiritori, some users overuse words ending in る. There aren't many Japanese words that begin with る, but there are many that end with it, especially verbs. This indirectly forces you to learn words that start with る to continue playing. I've learned words like るり, るまた or ルバーブ which I consider superfluous knowledge.
Something even worse happens in kanji Shiritori. What if someone deliberately tries to "block" the game by using words ending in strange and outdated kanji? At first, it might seem funny, but after several days of seeing the same thing, it becomes annoying. Again, it forces you to look up obscure words with those outdated kanji in the dictionary to unlock the game, and I don't see how learning or becoming familiar with kanji that are no longer used is useful, since most of us focus on studying commonly used kanji. That's why I think that kind of behavior is very selfish and contrary to the interests of the Renshuu community.
All of this usually happens in games that are available to all users. The good thing is the games reset after some days; I don't usually play private shiritori because they don't reset the games and often go on too long (thousand of words) and you have to use weird words.
PS: I stuck around 1-2 place for a few days (maybe a week at most) and have no idea how people play that much for months without getting bored
I thought they weren't human. I never understood how they could stay at the top of the ranking for several years... I repeat, YEARS! I only made it to third place a couple of times and I thought the effort was absurd, it's not like you get a prize or anything.
I thought they weren't human. I thought it was some kind of joke by マイコー, who maybe set up some bots to play against each other. I never understood how they could stay at the top of the rankings for several years... I repeat, YEARS! I only made it to third place a couple of times and I thought the effort was absurd, it's not like you get a prize or anything.
The only top player I almost never see in games is @シッド, I guess they only play private games with friends or something. Assuming you have access to a bunch of private games, getting to 1-2 place isn't too difficult, but staying there for years... that's some real dedication.
@コーフォ More like first and second place suddenly dropped ~400 words, so I decided I might as well push to 1st I'll probably drop back down to 3-4 by tomorrow, since I don't feel like contesting it.
シッド at least used to be on the public games for hours every day, I'm not even sure how but it was like every other word was hers for hours straight. But she must have taken a break or something
Different people interact with the language in different ways, and ya know, some things just "click" for a person and it's the greatest thing ever! I know I've had many of those in my life - it's always nice to find one.
Hello! I play a lot shiritori and it's true that -る words are making shiritori more difficult. So I learned a lot of る- words (like ルネサンス or ルックス) I wouldn't have learn. My technic is to go to Shiritori cat and force the cat to find る- words, so I discovered a lot of words. Putting to much words ending by Ru can be seen as "mean" but it is part of the game of shiritori. When I played shiritori with japanese, they tried to always say words with the same hiragana at the end to make the next person loose XD.
"The only top player I almost never see in games is @シッド, I guess they only play private games with friends or something."
AFAIK there are so many potential shiritori players here that Renshuu sorts you into just one group (of many groups) when you join so you only ever interact with those others in your particular group. You may never interact with other accounts you see on the leader board, but it doesn't mean they're only playing in private games. (But AFAIK it also doesn't mean they're not exclusively or mainly playing private games.)
