Rights as players.

[P_A]

This is a rather complicated area that comes up every so often, that everyone has an opinion on, but few solutions actually work. Individual rights versus public rights, or some other such grey area. I just have a couple situations that have come up in the last few weeks that you might be interested in.

Last week a person came to our league on a day scheduled for a sanctioned tournament. Normally he comes every now and then to look after his younger step-brother. He has never given out his first name, and asked that day to be called by his last name. When filling out his POP id card he added one initial for his first name, but asked not to reveal his first name. I figured he had the right not to reveal it if he so desires, and kept on with the tournament registration. While privately I wonder what he may be hiding, and his motives behind doing so, publicly I find I must realize it's none of my business. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Also, what if someone decided to go to your santioned tournament, but did not want his/her results reported to Nintendo? This would have a bearing upon your pairings, and would adversely influence people's standings, so I would have to say no to that person. But what if they were persistant, were a good customer of the store, or a friend, what would you do? Publically you may have a different policy in this regard than you would privately. This situation hasn't come up in any of my tournaments, but the possibility is always there.

[meganium45]

The privacy thing sounds a bit paranoid.

The "don't report my scores" means "I am not playing in this sanctioned event" or "pair me up with the bye every round"

You cannot do this. This would be the equivelant of having a non-player allowed to play in your events. It would mess up your scoring, mess up your pairings and mess up your standings.

I understand from time to time elite players want to test out new decks in a competitive enviornment, but they have to realize that the games all count. They can playtest outside of the main event, but once they step in to the squared circle of the tournament - all games count (they can drop after any round). To do otherwise will be to have players after the event say "I forgot to tell you, don't report my scores", and starts you down the slippery slope.

Talk to you soon.

M45

[davechri]

There's a guy down here in Florida who prefers to go by just N. But I think that Naught is such a cool sounding name! :-/

[GymLeaderPhil]

Originally Posted by davechri

There's a guy down here in Florida who prefers to go by just N. But I think that Naught is such a cool sounding name! :-/

Reauly? I never knew that Dave!
-Phil

[farbsman]

Originally Posted by procrastination_alley

Last week a person came to our league on a day scheduled for a sanctioned tournament. Normally he comes every now and then to look after his younger step-brother. He has never given out his first name, and asked that day to be called by his last name. When filling out his POP id card he added one initial for his first name, but asked not to reveal his first name. I figured he had the right not to reveal it if he so desires, and kept on with the tournament registration. While privately I wonder what he may be hiding, and his motives behind doing so, publicly I find I must realize it's none of my business. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

That one is easy, if they can't give a name, they can't play. You need a first name and a last name to play. If they can't give them, what are they hiding? They could be banned form Organized play and that may be why they didn't want to give it.

Originally Posted by procrastination_alley

Also, what if someone decided to go to your santioned tournament, but did not want his/her results reported to Nintendo? This would have a bearing upon your pairings, and would adversely influence people's standings, so I would have to say no to that person. But what if they were persistant, were a good customer of the store, or a friend, what would you do? Publically you may have a different policy in this regard than you would privately. This situation hasn't come up in any of my tournaments, but the possibility is always there.

Same thing here, if they can't give a name, they can't play. If they don't want it reported to Nintendo, (which it isn't it is reported to Pokemon USA, 2 separate companies) they must have something to hide. They could be banned form Organized play and that may be why they didn't want to give it. Rules are rules, you want to play in a tournament, give your name, if you can't, don't play. A name is a small thing to ask for all the stuff PUI gives out. Only reasons I could see anyone being afraid of giving out there name is if they are wanted by the police, are banned from PUI events, or are afraid there friends would find out (which means they must play because why else would someone log into a pokemon site).

This shouldn't be an issue, you can opt out of your name being viewed on the results.

[P_A]

I know for sure the second scenario I would not let the person play if they don't plan on having the results go back to Pokemon USA (sorry for the earlier slip. It may matter to them what they are called, but it doesn't to me). What I mostly would like an opinion on, is whether I have the right to demand the first name of a person that wants to play in a sanctioned tournament if he/she decides they would rather not give it. Does privacy extend to withholding your first name to those that you don't want to give it to, other than to police, fire, and government officials? I don't know the reasoning behind his refusal, but do I need to?

[SteveP]

Here is the US, your name is NOT protected by privacy laws. Your identity is your name. In fact, in many situations, if you refuse to identify yourself, you CAN be refused service.

Regarding POP, your ID is your identity. But, each ID has a name. If you upload a tournament and the ID doesn't match the name, POP will probably contact you. They did for me when I had an incorrect ID in one of my tournament reports.

So, if you choose to use an alias name in your TMS software for this player, and you upload the tournament report, that will probably raise a "red flag" and trigger POP to contact you about the name-ID mismatch.

[bulbasnore]

Originally Posted by farbsman

That one is easy, if they can't give a name, they can't play. You need a first name and a last name to play. If they can't give them, what are they hiding? They could be banned form Organized play and that may be why they didn't want to give it.

Well, that's a good point. However, we do have people who played last year who are REAL people but who identified themselves by whimsical pseudonyms in the rankings. Is this something different than what P_A is asking about?

I'm not talking about Naught Reull but e.g. Death Lord, who, I have it on good authority is a player who prefers not to identify him/her-self.

[mysterioustrainer]

It is required by the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use of Pokemon Organized Play that players provide what information the T.O. needs.

Basically no idenity, no service