I agree with Stany! ;/ ... ahahahahaha - ;/

Biggest fear--server crash.

Biggest fear - internets crash during a live game.

I fear experienced players much more than noobs. Sure, a newb can ruin it for everybody, but more often than not their silliness is an advantage that you can capitalize on.

A CD in a far away country

I fear only myself.

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer...

I must beer, though beer is the mind killer

The more newbies in a game the higher the probability I will win or share in a draw. But that's just me ;-)

yo dat

... I should add to that. When I win it is due to my own brilliance, but when I lose it is due to others incompetence.

@ spyman, Were you Orion2843 or whatever? He was briefly a troll/multi who took that exact same line of argument. Whenever he won it was because he was brilliant and he wouldn't shut up about it. When he lost it wasn't his fault, everyone else was too stupid to see the long term game and realize that attacking him was the wrong decision.

Anyway newbies are way worse. Have you ever seen an experienced Russia launch a full scale invasion of Germany in 1902, just because Germany bounced him in Sweden? Ever seen an experienced France open entirely against Italy. Newbies can wreak absolute havoc with more experienced players, because experienced players have come to expect certain strategies and just general approaches to the game. Newbies ruin this, because they've never even heard of these strategies or know how to play the game at all. Still it can be fun to try and cope with that kind of insanity.

Though I find in general if you can get past the first 2 years or so without the new player doing anything weird you're usually OK. The game tends to become less predictable once the openings are over anyway, no matter who is playing. It's the openings that newer players really mess with. Generally they fail to recognize the two theatres of action which develop in 1901, or they recognize the two fronts, but misidentify which they should be involved with.

Newbies, for sure. I play mostly gunboat. In my experience, a newbie neighbor always seems to drag me down in a suicide like attack that hurts himself and me and hands to game to another player.

experienced players are more predictable but the game is less fun

Unpredictability can be a strength. And surely newbies will be under your control if you have got the diplomacy right :)

I fear people who don't talk

People who don't talk generally are going to attack you, or are so incompetent that you should attack him anyway.

I fear people such as myself.
Inexperienced but not a complete noob.
I find it hard to trust somebody who has less than 5 games played as I feel it makes them unpredictable.

So I also fear noobies despite being one myself in my opinion.