in huttball those things shoot you all over the place. but some people go over them expertly and get tossed where they want. I have found no way to know how it works.
A fanzine for the Social Gaming Platform that I work for has had a run of some interesting high profile interviews lately. The link above opens their magazine to page 134, and an interview with Richard Garriot (Lord British). He's got a new social gaming thing rolling and the article is somewhat interesting for those interested in social gaming.