TerminalHope
New Member
Dear Pokemon Organized Play, players, and other members of the community:
Recently, Regional Championships for the Pokemon TCG were announced for the UK. The Scottish Regional – which was promised to be held at Edinburgh Pokemon League by former OP organizer Ian Fotheringham – has been scheduled to be held at Kerd & Cosplay in Glasgow. Unfortunately, Kerd & Cosplay has almost no experience running Pokemon events; was a deactivated League until VERY recently; has had a history of complaints about a child-unfriendly atmosphere; has nobody with Judging experience on staff; and has been antagonistic towards other Leagues in Scotland.
This is our introduction to Gordian Knot Games, the new organization in charge of Pokemon Organized Play in the UK. To say we in Scotland aren’t impressed is a vast understatement.
To have such an important event be dealt with so poorly, without considering the wishes of the player-base and capabilities of the venue, is astonishing, and to have our concerns, as players and organizers essentially ignored by Organized Play is massively disheartening. If this is representative of the way OP will be run by Gordian Knot, especially the seeming favouritism given to venues that otherwise benefit Gordian Knot financially, then I am genuinely concerned for the future of Organized Play in the UK. I have spent the last two years trying to help grow OP in Scotland, only to have this completely crush my enthusiasm.
I know that many players would listen if I advised against attending the Regional. But this is not the fault of the players, and they should not be punished or miss out on events due to the incompetence of the organizers. But I know for a fact that many Scottish Judges have no interest in helping with the event, and see it as quite a harsh betrayal of the established Leagues that work so hard for the players.
Alienating the existing organizers of Pokemon in Scotland will simply kill the game here. Something must be done to fix this situation you’ve caused, and soon.
Incidentally, I’ve attempted to deal with this situation through discussing it with Gordian Knot and POP – in POP’s case by submitting a support ticket as suggested by Dave Schwimmer. No response has been forthcoming – which is no surprise, as no action have been taken on any of my four currently “Work In Progress” tickets hoping to deal with serious technical difficulties with the Pokemon website, so I don’t see why a personal plea to a single person’s sense of reason would yield any better results.
I believe it’s in the best interest of the community then to let them know what is going on, that they might try to effect change in the way things are being handled.
John Gregory
Edinburgh Pokemon League
Recently, Regional Championships for the Pokemon TCG were announced for the UK. The Scottish Regional – which was promised to be held at Edinburgh Pokemon League by former OP organizer Ian Fotheringham – has been scheduled to be held at Kerd & Cosplay in Glasgow. Unfortunately, Kerd & Cosplay has almost no experience running Pokemon events; was a deactivated League until VERY recently; has had a history of complaints about a child-unfriendly atmosphere; has nobody with Judging experience on staff; and has been antagonistic towards other Leagues in Scotland.
This is our introduction to Gordian Knot Games, the new organization in charge of Pokemon Organized Play in the UK. To say we in Scotland aren’t impressed is a vast understatement.
To have such an important event be dealt with so poorly, without considering the wishes of the player-base and capabilities of the venue, is astonishing, and to have our concerns, as players and organizers essentially ignored by Organized Play is massively disheartening. If this is representative of the way OP will be run by Gordian Knot, especially the seeming favouritism given to venues that otherwise benefit Gordian Knot financially, then I am genuinely concerned for the future of Organized Play in the UK. I have spent the last two years trying to help grow OP in Scotland, only to have this completely crush my enthusiasm.
I know that many players would listen if I advised against attending the Regional. But this is not the fault of the players, and they should not be punished or miss out on events due to the incompetence of the organizers. But I know for a fact that many Scottish Judges have no interest in helping with the event, and see it as quite a harsh betrayal of the established Leagues that work so hard for the players.
Alienating the existing organizers of Pokemon in Scotland will simply kill the game here. Something must be done to fix this situation you’ve caused, and soon.
Incidentally, I’ve attempted to deal with this situation through discussing it with Gordian Knot and POP – in POP’s case by submitting a support ticket as suggested by Dave Schwimmer. No response has been forthcoming – which is no surprise, as no action have been taken on any of my four currently “Work In Progress” tickets hoping to deal with serious technical difficulties with the Pokemon website, so I don’t see why a personal plea to a single person’s sense of reason would yield any better results.
I believe it’s in the best interest of the community then to let them know what is going on, that they might try to effect change in the way things are being handled.
John Gregory
Edinburgh Pokemon League