generalgrievous said:
Ok well considering I have recently discovered I have the resources to play in regionals I will come down to texas and beat most of the so called " Talented Texans". In addition I highly doubt anybody from 10- would considering playing the game after being crushed by experienced players with much better decks. So overall the movement of regionals is truely accomplishing nothing except angrying "Okies" as you like to them, If I may add I like in Oklahoma but not anything close to being born here so don't assume everything like you clearly have, wait you must be afraid of oklahomans taking away regionals, well get ready for that event you have been dreading to occur.
Wow. . .talk about delusions of grandeur.
The point of this whole exercise - holding the Regionals in conjunction with the Pokémon 10th anniversary celebration at, of all places, NASA's Space Center Houston - is, quite simply, for the growth of the game.
Pokémon, like any other Trading Card Game, like any other organization period, requires growth. If a game/organization is not growing, it is dying. This is a plain, simple, well-understood fact. In order for the game to continue thriving, you have to have new blood coming in.
I think this is an incredible opportunity for Pokémon to be introduced to perhaps HUNDREDS of new, hopefully young, players. And I live 40 minutes from the Arlington Convention Center, so it is only slightly less convenient for me than you. But it is this type of exposure that leads to new players.
Last year's Regionals was our very first exposure to the TCG. My son liked Pokémon cartoons, his grandma had bought him a theme deck, and we decided to stop in and check it out on the way to visit grandma, since it was on the way. We got to talking to Mike Cook, and he convinced us to give it a whirl, even though my son was a complete newbie, and only 5 years old. He was "crushed by experienced players with much better decks." And he had a great time. Almost a year later and he's played in tons of sanctioned tournaments, I've gotten involved, become a professor, began judging Premiere events (I'll be juding at Texas State's here in a bit). Not to mention the hundreds (it's only hundreds, dear, I swear - don't look at my PayPal account like that) of dollars we've now poured into the game. And we were a family who made a conscious decision to come to the event.
Can you imagine the exposure Pokémon's going to get from this event? From people who just happen to be there the same day? You couldn't buy that kind of advertising.
I'll grant you, it sucks for you guys personally that it is so far away, that it is going to require some sacrifice if you want to go. But as a trade off, I think the game as a whole, and you as players of that game, will gain some long-term benefit. Pokémon's only going to be around as long as it is making money. And to keep making money, it's got to keep replacing the players it's losing off the top end of the age range.
The people who made the decisions aren't afraid of being beaten by your Poké-might. They're not even going to be playing. They're the ones who are going to be staffing the event, making sure it runs smoothly, introducing hundreds of new kids to the game that they already know and love, trying to make sure it has a future.
So don't kid yourself. No one's "afraid" of the Regionals trophy heading north of the Red River. No "talented Texan" is "dreading" getting beaten by a "foreigner", be they from Oklahoma or Khazakhstan. If anything, they're afraid, and rightly so, that if they don't help the game to grow, there won't even be a game that requires a City Championship, much less a Regionals, Nationals or Worlds.
Cheers,
S.
People from Oklahoma CAN go to Houston. Its just YOU that either dont want to or cant. Sometimes, life can throw you a change up. Deal with it, like those of us in East Tennessee. Either drive or stay home.