Hello all,
I was just thinking about this season and what it has meant to me as a player and as a storeowner. I have several things I would like to see at least mentioned in the meeting concerning organized play for next year. I was one of the few people that were able to play while seeing things from the judging side as well. I also had a VERY different perspective of Pokemon organized play as compared to various other TCG’s.
In the following article I would like to address some of my observations. Of course I would also like to see what many of you feel PUI can do to better the OP for next year. Please do not be selfish and give suggestions that will only be good for you. We need constructive ideas that are going to benefit the community as a whole. Please understand that I did not write this to address anything outside of the United States. I do not understand the way things are run there and would not be willing to offer suggestions for you.
Again, this is the FIRST time to my recollection that any feedback has been given to PUI from the players PRIOR to organizing the following year. I am confident that they will read this and take all logical requests into consideration.
First I will start as a PLAYER….
I attended 1 city, 2 states, and 0 regionals. This is by far my WORST year as a player. Let me explain why I chose to attend so few events. After attending Hawaii last year and reading the tournament structure for 07’-08’ I made an immediate decision to put my fate of the 08’ season in the grinder. I did not want to have to stress myself out over rankings and have the fear of losing points in EVERY MATCH for the year. This game is first and foremost…. FUN!!! I felt that worrying about my points all year would keep me from obtaining my goal of having FUN. People, I want you to know…. I have been having a GREAT time with this game this year. Building decks and helping many people along the way has been great. No stress about who or what deck I am playing. Just able to go and actually ENJOY my hobby. I have however seen MANY, MANY people taking the fear of losing to an all-new level. I will not get into specifics but they were obviously NOT enjoying themselves. This was a sad state of affairs for me.
Next I would like to offer my observations as a judge….
I hosted 2 prereleases, 1 city, and countless weekend drafts. I will also be hosting 1 other event as well as a battle road soon. I love my casual weekend events. It reminds me of the days when everyone actually cared about how well others are doing in this game. The competition level is still high, but the randomness makes for some fun times. I actually had a 9 year old win a 14-player draft with all teenagers on the same day I taught him how to play. It was INCREDIBLE!!! Sportsmanship at its finest. We still tease the older kids about losing to a YOUNG GUN. Fun stuff indeed. Now on the other hand, I judged my city championship, and witnessed 2 state championships judged. CUT THROAT STUFF for sure… I was ashamed at watching some of the players bicker an complain about every little thing in hopes of gaining an advantage over their opponent. I seen cheating in the 11-14, parents coaching kids, 15+ trying to manipulate rules to get a game losses for their opponents. Just outright terrible things. It really reminded me of YU-GI-OH. Another sad day for me.
Lastly I would like for people to see the struggles of storeowners concerning the game….
The biggest issue I feel Pokemon has in comparison to the other games is LAG TIME between events. Lets take a look at the calendar from 1 locations point of view. We will start with Sept. 1, as it’s the beginning of the year for Pokemon. These are rough estimates of a typical event year.
Sept-Nov….. 1 battle road. In a 3 month span
Nov….. Possible Pre-release
Dec-Feb….. 1 City Championship
Feb….. Possible Pre-release
Mar- May… no major events being held in store locations. (states and Regions being limited to 1-2 days)
May…..Possible Pre-release
May-June…. 1 battle road
June-Aug….. no major events being held in store locations.
Aug…...Possible Pre-release
As you can see… Unless you are a MAJOR organizer, there is a serious gap between February and potentially November. It is hard to keep a game growing with only a league and possible pre releases every 3 months. For the little stores trying to grow the game, they are seemingly dangling the golden carrot in front of the players and then sending them elsewhere to play. Seems kind of crazy for storeowners to entice people to a game that they can’t support more frequently to reap the benefits of their hard work. Getting people to like new games is extremely difficult process. There are hundreds of games out there to choose from. Strong competitive play needs to be easily available to players to keep interest high. If we continue to limit opportunities to play, the players will surely leave.
I would like to propose a few things that could possibly take our BELOVED game back to the days when EVERYONE was having fun first….
1) Listen to the players…. We love this game and only want to see it strive for many years to come. Open up an official forum or some way for us to offer up suggestions that would be viewed by PUI directly. This way we can see that people are hearing what is being said. Open discussions are good for the game and can grow the relationships between OP and the players. As of right now we are counting on Judges or the Gym to try and get some ideas thru to be heard. All major companies have a means of listening to their customer base, I would just like to see some suggestions addressed by PUI, whether it be good or bad, and Why. I know that a direct email can be sent, but then PUI will get hundreds of repeat suggestions. No need to take away too much time from them, they do have a game to run. Just thinking how successful we all were in creating the rules for team play back in the Wizards days. It all started in an open forum.
2) Open up more days for major events. This will help on MANY fronts. It will give the players many opportunities to play at a high level, while learning the skills it takes to compete at an event like Nats and worlds. It will also open up more opportunities for Judges to sharpen the tools they need to have prior to major events. In both examples, repetition will bring perfection and experience. Lastly, store owners would LOVE to see a game with such strong OP to show up in their venues more often. I will use PUI’s theory on switching judges at major events and their viability of the ranking system as the basis for my argument. SPREADING THE WEALTH IS A GOOD THING FOR THE GAME!!! That seems to be the reason rankings are still in place, as well as, seeing different faces judging at major events. I guess you won’t know till you try.
3) ELIMINATE PLAYER RANKINGS!!! I am sure if you took a vote from players and judges alike, this system has long run its course. It has taken the fun from nearly every major event I have attended in the past 2 years. I would like to thank PUI for trying to implement new and exciting ways to grow the game and make it more competitive, this however has been a bust. I will use simple sports as examples here. In any sports playoffs, you are rewarded for being the best team for that particular day. This is how it has been and should continue to be. If a player wins a REGIONAL… They should get an invite. PERIOD. Regionals are MAJOR events and should have prizes to reflect that. I am not saying to give the winner a paid trip. Simply an invite. This would drastically increase attendance at multiple events. It’s the “any given day” scenario, sure sometimes the “Best Player” per se, may not win the event, but they had an equal opportunity to do so.
4) Hold more MAJOR events throughout the course of the year…. Yu-Gi-Oh holds Regionals monthly and Shonen Jumps Quarterly. The Regionals travel within the region it is designed to cover. This way 12 local stores per year will be able to hold a major event that could possibly send one of his locals to their World Championship. I would like for PUI to rethink the structure they have determined to be the best for the game. The lag between major events is a serious drawback to this game and could at least have another look. I guess I really didn’t notice it till now how far apart major events are if you cant attend Nats or Worlds.
5) Consider a training process for all Judges to pass thru at Nats or Worlds. This is the time when you have the most satuated amount of Judges from the country. Arriving 1 day early to teach them some things would be so beneficial to the players and overall consistancy of the game. This would also justify your reasoning to rotate judges at all major events. It could really make a significant impact on the quality of judging and overall fun of the game.
I think this is long enough, I have rambled on too long. I will continue to add things as I remember them. I will not argue any points but am really looking forward to responses from players, Judges and PUI, as it is after all, for the good of our game.
Jimmy
I was just thinking about this season and what it has meant to me as a player and as a storeowner. I have several things I would like to see at least mentioned in the meeting concerning organized play for next year. I was one of the few people that were able to play while seeing things from the judging side as well. I also had a VERY different perspective of Pokemon organized play as compared to various other TCG’s.
In the following article I would like to address some of my observations. Of course I would also like to see what many of you feel PUI can do to better the OP for next year. Please do not be selfish and give suggestions that will only be good for you. We need constructive ideas that are going to benefit the community as a whole. Please understand that I did not write this to address anything outside of the United States. I do not understand the way things are run there and would not be willing to offer suggestions for you.
Again, this is the FIRST time to my recollection that any feedback has been given to PUI from the players PRIOR to organizing the following year. I am confident that they will read this and take all logical requests into consideration.
First I will start as a PLAYER….
I attended 1 city, 2 states, and 0 regionals. This is by far my WORST year as a player. Let me explain why I chose to attend so few events. After attending Hawaii last year and reading the tournament structure for 07’-08’ I made an immediate decision to put my fate of the 08’ season in the grinder. I did not want to have to stress myself out over rankings and have the fear of losing points in EVERY MATCH for the year. This game is first and foremost…. FUN!!! I felt that worrying about my points all year would keep me from obtaining my goal of having FUN. People, I want you to know…. I have been having a GREAT time with this game this year. Building decks and helping many people along the way has been great. No stress about who or what deck I am playing. Just able to go and actually ENJOY my hobby. I have however seen MANY, MANY people taking the fear of losing to an all-new level. I will not get into specifics but they were obviously NOT enjoying themselves. This was a sad state of affairs for me.
Next I would like to offer my observations as a judge….
I hosted 2 prereleases, 1 city, and countless weekend drafts. I will also be hosting 1 other event as well as a battle road soon. I love my casual weekend events. It reminds me of the days when everyone actually cared about how well others are doing in this game. The competition level is still high, but the randomness makes for some fun times. I actually had a 9 year old win a 14-player draft with all teenagers on the same day I taught him how to play. It was INCREDIBLE!!! Sportsmanship at its finest. We still tease the older kids about losing to a YOUNG GUN. Fun stuff indeed. Now on the other hand, I judged my city championship, and witnessed 2 state championships judged. CUT THROAT STUFF for sure… I was ashamed at watching some of the players bicker an complain about every little thing in hopes of gaining an advantage over their opponent. I seen cheating in the 11-14, parents coaching kids, 15+ trying to manipulate rules to get a game losses for their opponents. Just outright terrible things. It really reminded me of YU-GI-OH. Another sad day for me.
Lastly I would like for people to see the struggles of storeowners concerning the game….
The biggest issue I feel Pokemon has in comparison to the other games is LAG TIME between events. Lets take a look at the calendar from 1 locations point of view. We will start with Sept. 1, as it’s the beginning of the year for Pokemon. These are rough estimates of a typical event year.
Sept-Nov….. 1 battle road. In a 3 month span
Nov….. Possible Pre-release
Dec-Feb….. 1 City Championship
Feb….. Possible Pre-release
Mar- May… no major events being held in store locations. (states and Regions being limited to 1-2 days)
May…..Possible Pre-release
May-June…. 1 battle road
June-Aug….. no major events being held in store locations.
Aug…...Possible Pre-release
As you can see… Unless you are a MAJOR organizer, there is a serious gap between February and potentially November. It is hard to keep a game growing with only a league and possible pre releases every 3 months. For the little stores trying to grow the game, they are seemingly dangling the golden carrot in front of the players and then sending them elsewhere to play. Seems kind of crazy for storeowners to entice people to a game that they can’t support more frequently to reap the benefits of their hard work. Getting people to like new games is extremely difficult process. There are hundreds of games out there to choose from. Strong competitive play needs to be easily available to players to keep interest high. If we continue to limit opportunities to play, the players will surely leave.
I would like to propose a few things that could possibly take our BELOVED game back to the days when EVERYONE was having fun first….
1) Listen to the players…. We love this game and only want to see it strive for many years to come. Open up an official forum or some way for us to offer up suggestions that would be viewed by PUI directly. This way we can see that people are hearing what is being said. Open discussions are good for the game and can grow the relationships between OP and the players. As of right now we are counting on Judges or the Gym to try and get some ideas thru to be heard. All major companies have a means of listening to their customer base, I would just like to see some suggestions addressed by PUI, whether it be good or bad, and Why. I know that a direct email can be sent, but then PUI will get hundreds of repeat suggestions. No need to take away too much time from them, they do have a game to run. Just thinking how successful we all were in creating the rules for team play back in the Wizards days. It all started in an open forum.
2) Open up more days for major events. This will help on MANY fronts. It will give the players many opportunities to play at a high level, while learning the skills it takes to compete at an event like Nats and worlds. It will also open up more opportunities for Judges to sharpen the tools they need to have prior to major events. In both examples, repetition will bring perfection and experience. Lastly, store owners would LOVE to see a game with such strong OP to show up in their venues more often. I will use PUI’s theory on switching judges at major events and their viability of the ranking system as the basis for my argument. SPREADING THE WEALTH IS A GOOD THING FOR THE GAME!!! That seems to be the reason rankings are still in place, as well as, seeing different faces judging at major events. I guess you won’t know till you try.
3) ELIMINATE PLAYER RANKINGS!!! I am sure if you took a vote from players and judges alike, this system has long run its course. It has taken the fun from nearly every major event I have attended in the past 2 years. I would like to thank PUI for trying to implement new and exciting ways to grow the game and make it more competitive, this however has been a bust. I will use simple sports as examples here. In any sports playoffs, you are rewarded for being the best team for that particular day. This is how it has been and should continue to be. If a player wins a REGIONAL… They should get an invite. PERIOD. Regionals are MAJOR events and should have prizes to reflect that. I am not saying to give the winner a paid trip. Simply an invite. This would drastically increase attendance at multiple events. It’s the “any given day” scenario, sure sometimes the “Best Player” per se, may not win the event, but they had an equal opportunity to do so.
4) Hold more MAJOR events throughout the course of the year…. Yu-Gi-Oh holds Regionals monthly and Shonen Jumps Quarterly. The Regionals travel within the region it is designed to cover. This way 12 local stores per year will be able to hold a major event that could possibly send one of his locals to their World Championship. I would like for PUI to rethink the structure they have determined to be the best for the game. The lag between major events is a serious drawback to this game and could at least have another look. I guess I really didn’t notice it till now how far apart major events are if you cant attend Nats or Worlds.
5) Consider a training process for all Judges to pass thru at Nats or Worlds. This is the time when you have the most satuated amount of Judges from the country. Arriving 1 day early to teach them some things would be so beneficial to the players and overall consistancy of the game. This would also justify your reasoning to rotate judges at all major events. It could really make a significant impact on the quality of judging and overall fun of the game.
I think this is long enough, I have rambled on too long. I will continue to add things as I remember them. I will not argue any points but am really looking forward to responses from players, Judges and PUI, as it is after all, for the good of our game.
Jimmy
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