About judging your own kids, I agree with Rainbowgym.
When I've judged the last qualifier in London, my daughter was playing in 11-14. We've agreed, MTM and myself, that I would judge the 10-. In Rainham I've refused to judge the top 8 my daughter was playing. I would never give an advantage to my daughter or a player I know better than his opponent, but I think it prevents the other players/parents to suspect anything and believe that the judge is not fair.
But if there is no other option (local tournament for example), I've always judged my daughter without any problem.
I believe we have less problems with 'parents judges' than with 'parents spectators'
Now about judges and knowledge of the game ...
Sorry guys, but how can someone be judge and have no, or only little, knowledge of the game ?
Would you imagine a sporting event with a referee who doesn't know the rules of the game ?
Let's be serious. Respect your players and have a good judge at your tournaments.
No problem at your local events as you'll probably judge them yourself, but each tournament, and each player, deserves a good judge.
Let's imagine your kid who has bought cards, prepared and test his deck for hours and days. He loves the game and he'll finally play a main event. Your kid is so excited about the tournament, it's such a great day for him. PUI and/or the distributor has told so many times that this CC (or prerelease, ...) is a big event and a special day for all the players !
And all that can be ruined because of a judge who takes a bad decision because he doesn't know the rules ?
Knowing the Floor rules does not necessarely include a knowledge of the cards and games mechanics. So the head judge has no obligation to know the specific rules of the game too !
If Pokemon is THAT now, if it's the only thing we can offer to our players, and if 'appropriate' does not mean that the judges must know the rules in PUI's eyes, I prefer to stop now and tell my players to play another game. :nonono:
We ask the players to respect the opponent, to respect the judge, to respect everybody when they go to a tournament. The less that a TO (private or company) and a judge can do is to respect the players too.
If PUI/distributors can't do that, they'd better forget being involved in any kind of 'premiere event' and let the people who know what they do run their own local tournaments.
When I've judged the last qualifier in London, my daughter was playing in 11-14. We've agreed, MTM and myself, that I would judge the 10-. In Rainham I've refused to judge the top 8 my daughter was playing. I would never give an advantage to my daughter or a player I know better than his opponent, but I think it prevents the other players/parents to suspect anything and believe that the judge is not fair.
But if there is no other option (local tournament for example), I've always judged my daughter without any problem.
I believe we have less problems with 'parents judges' than with 'parents spectators'
Now about judges and knowledge of the game ...
Sorry guys, but how can someone be judge and have no, or only little, knowledge of the game ?
Would you imagine a sporting event with a referee who doesn't know the rules of the game ?
Let's be serious. Respect your players and have a good judge at your tournaments.
No problem at your local events as you'll probably judge them yourself, but each tournament, and each player, deserves a good judge.
Let's imagine your kid who has bought cards, prepared and test his deck for hours and days. He loves the game and he'll finally play a main event. Your kid is so excited about the tournament, it's such a great day for him. PUI and/or the distributor has told so many times that this CC (or prerelease, ...) is a big event and a special day for all the players !
And all that can be ruined because of a judge who takes a bad decision because he doesn't know the rules ?
Knowing the Floor rules does not necessarely include a knowledge of the cards and games mechanics. So the head judge has no obligation to know the specific rules of the game too !
If Pokemon is THAT now, if it's the only thing we can offer to our players, and if 'appropriate' does not mean that the judges must know the rules in PUI's eyes, I prefer to stop now and tell my players to play another game. :nonono:
We ask the players to respect the opponent, to respect the judge, to respect everybody when they go to a tournament. The less that a TO (private or company) and a judge can do is to respect the players too.
If PUI/distributors can't do that, they'd better forget being involved in any kind of 'premiere event' and let the people who know what they do run their own local tournaments.