It seems that the current trend in 40K and WFB tournaments is to run them over a two day period. When it comes to these two day events, there is a heavy stigma placed on anyone that drops out on the second day unless it’s for a grave emergency. It seems that the expectation is that if someone is not having fun, they should suffer thru the remainder of the event for the betterment of the majority. This seems to go against the ultimate goal of the hobby which is to have fun.
When it comes to this view, I believe it is driven by a few things. The first belief is that there is always the concern that someone dropping from an event will result in an odd number of players. While this is a strong possibility, any good TO has to plan for this to happen regardless of when during the event it does happen. I have seen folks drop out because their wives have gone into labor. I have seen guys drop because they got too drunk during the prior round and could not continue. My point is whether it is by choice or fate, you never know when your event is going to have an odd pairing.
Another concern that I have seen reflected is that it places a burden on the TO when it comes to score keeping. I can only speak for myself, but on the very rare occasions I have had someone drop, dealing with it had a very minimal effect. The only way I can imagine the dropping of a player would have a huge effect is if the scoring system was overly complex or the TO was disorganized.
Again, the ultimate goal of this hobby is to have fun. If someone finds themselves not having fun, they should have the right to state such and walk away without reprisal. We wouldn’t think poorly of someone who walked out of a movie they weren’t enjoying. Should this leisurely activity be any different?
I see and agree with your point. This is a hobby and its something we all do for fun, so when the fun stops we should look elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I would hope that the person choosing to leave because the tournament is so un-fun would take the time to talk to the tourney organizer first. I have seen tournaments where competitors have walked on day 2 without saying a word. This leaves the TO no way to rectify or even understand what the problem was.
By the same token, I would hope that the TO, when faced with someone having that bad of a time, would do everything in their power to fix the situation that drove the decision to leave.
@Nix - I agree that a player that elects to leave a tournament should be courteous and let the TO know they are leaving and why. Just walking out is not an acceptable practice in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to TO fixing the problem, it sounds like a nice idea, but not something that can easily be done. If a person is "upset" because they have lost their first couple games and realize they are out of contention, there is nothing the TO can do that isn't unfair to other players.