Thursday, September 1, 2011

Why People Cry Foul

In the past day or so on my google reader, I have seen a couple articles (Three Color Minimum and SinSynn's Nova Rant) bemoaning the fact of people calling each other cheaters and such in tournament settings.  Apparently this year, several notable cases have come up with "big name celebrities" supposedly cheating in tournaments. 

I have to agree that it paints a bad picture of the greater community.  Basically, it makes 40k gamers appear to be a bunch of jerks.  We are either cheating to win or being jerks by calling others out as supposed cheaters. Really.... It's like people lumping perfectly decent, church going folk with crazy, fundamentalists that protest soldier funerals.  It's a really bad generalization, but it happens nonetheless.

So, what do people get so up in arms, especially about things they aren't even participating in (as mentioned in the above articles)? 

I think there are a couple of reasons.  Perhaps you will agree with me on them. 

1) People are overly defensive of their little plastic dolls.  I mean seriously, we spend copious amounts of money on these little lumps of plastic, transfer facets of our personalities into them, and use them to prove that we are superior to an opponent.  Let's face it, none one wants to be have their "baby" bashed across the table, but it happens.

2) People are self-proclaimed defenders of the 40k universe and others' perception of that universe. They literally think they are doing everyone a favor by calling someone out and playing hall monitor.  They think that this will improve the community instead of spiraling out of control into a character assassination with loads of undue pack and forth between people who really don't even know what happened.  Apparently, the internet is a place to cast aside all inhibition and act like a jerk when you want.

3) People like to stir up trouble.  This is a sad but true reality of life, not just 40k.  There are just some sad, d-bag people out there.  They stir up trouble for the pleasure of seeing people go at it.  Stupid. 

I could go on and analyze a plethora of other reasons people go crazy over perceived wrongs, but let's face it, they don't help anyone. Even further, it doesn't help for people not involved in any way, shape, form, or fashion to make a big deal either.  Honestly, in a game, the only people who have any real right to take up issue are the players and hopefully, they will act like adults (or mature teenagers) and deal with it respectfully and honestly.

In closing, I know I would better spend my time wishing for world peace, but could we have some courtesy in games and out of them?  I mean, come on. 

Other Rants:
Really?!
Who Says What's Competitive?
Warhammer Mythology: One Meta to Rule them All
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2 comments:

Natfka said...

No matter what event you are at, someone is going to cry foul.

There is always someone that does not get enough drama at home, and wants to bring it to the game table.

My suggestion is always to ignore the Drama Queens, let them drown in their own importance.

GDMNW said...

I think it would be worth at least considering whether or not any of these claims have any merit to them rather than simply making unfriendly remarks about the character and nature of the people who make these comments.

I'm sure some people are being rude and obtuse, but that doesn't excuse ignoring those who have genuine concerns to raise.

Longer lived games have developed precise systems of etiquette that govern not only how the game is played but how it is monitored and run.

I think that much of this storm has blown up from the novelty of being watched, having a ref on hand and so on.

I think this is a huge step forward for 40k, it's becoming a reputable game and that will eventually mean an independent body or bodies, formal refereeing and so on. If that means that someone needs to point out to player A that once you've moved a unit, you can't go back and adjust that units position then so be it.

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