Interlude: How to save the tournament scene
July 16th 2010 01:21
If I may divert from the usual style of topic for a moment, I’d like to talk briefly about tournaments. Y’know, those things I swore off a few months ago and am always telling people not to rate so highly. But the fact is, tournaments aren’t a terrible idea per se, as long as you can find a way to avoid the excessive competitiveness and excessive timewasting that occur with the way they are currently run.
The way things are now, sanctioned tournaments are an open invitation to overbearing competitive behavior because the prize support is disproportionate to the entry fee. As if this doesn’t make them unattractive to enough people, they can also take an entire day because you have to wait for everyone to finish before you start the next round – and some people either play more slowly naturally, or do so deliberately as a tactic. (I told you a lot of tournament players are obnoxious.)
Fortunately, I believe that a model for a better tournament structure already exists. At recent pre-releases, there has been a side event called Open Dueling. Participants play matches on their own time, and move on to another opponent whenever they are done and someone else is free. This means that some people might take longer than 45 minutes per match, but others might take less. Prize support exists, but is significantly lower than for conventional tournaments, and is almost independent of how many matches you won or lost.
At first glance, modifying Open Dueling to be the main style of tournament play might seem counterintuitive, as it is similar to the way many people play casually at home. Why even have tournaments if people aren’t going to play any differently? I don’t know – why don’t you ask people who play chess, bridge, or poker (for Monopoly money or Tic Tacs) in casual tournaments? Ask them whether they enjoy being exposed to a slightly different range of people and experiences, in a non-threatening atmosphere. This idea for Magic is not fully refined, but it is a start; and the current tournament structure and environment is untenable for the hobbyists who make up the majority of Magic’s fan base.
If you liked this idea about tournament reform, or if you have your own, contact the DCI. Contact them early and often. It’s the only way they’ll learn.
The way things are now, sanctioned tournaments are an open invitation to overbearing competitive behavior because the prize support is disproportionate to the entry fee. As if this doesn’t make them unattractive to enough people, they can also take an entire day because you have to wait for everyone to finish before you start the next round – and some people either play more slowly naturally, or do so deliberately as a tactic. (I told you a lot of tournament players are obnoxious.)
Fortunately, I believe that a model for a better tournament structure already exists. At recent pre-releases, there has been a side event called Open Dueling. Participants play matches on their own time, and move on to another opponent whenever they are done and someone else is free. This means that some people might take longer than 45 minutes per match, but others might take less. Prize support exists, but is significantly lower than for conventional tournaments, and is almost independent of how many matches you won or lost.
At first glance, modifying Open Dueling to be the main style of tournament play might seem counterintuitive, as it is similar to the way many people play casually at home. Why even have tournaments if people aren’t going to play any differently? I don’t know – why don’t you ask people who play chess, bridge, or poker (for Monopoly money or Tic Tacs) in casual tournaments? Ask them whether they enjoy being exposed to a slightly different range of people and experiences, in a non-threatening atmosphere. This idea for Magic is not fully refined, but it is a start; and the current tournament structure and environment is untenable for the hobbyists who make up the majority of Magic’s fan base.
If you liked this idea about tournament reform, or if you have your own, contact the DCI. Contact them early and often. It’s the only way they’ll learn.
And in the next post, I promise I’ll talk about art and stuff.
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