Competitive Players vs Casual Players: Healing The Divide
This section is basically going to highlight my thoughts on the growing trend of hate between the outspoken opposites of our hobby: the Casual, Hobby, or "Fluffy" players and the Competitive player. This page will start off with an article by VT2, which was written for 3++ as it hits on many of the points I was going to list. Then I'll follow up with a story of how I personally perceive game as it currently stands.
After that, I'm going to put down my reasons why the hate, flaming, and name calling needs to end. It is not difficult to see that I'm competitive, but that shouldn't automatically make me a bad guy to a non-competitive player.
After that, I'm going to put down my reasons why the hate, flaming, and name calling needs to end. It is not difficult to see that I'm competitive, but that shouldn't automatically make me a bad guy to a non-competitive player.
Forumitis: "I only play for fun." -- By VT2
Oldest excuse in the book. Everybody's heard this at least once, but really, that's all it is - an excuse.
You're playing to win, but you agreed to the game because it's fun.
How does that make sense? We'll get there in a minute. First, a story.
Back in the ancient days of the early 90's, there existed a little company called Games workshop. It was a tiny, tiny company, but because it was the only company of its kind, it quickly became top dog.
Not surprisingly, really, since - you know - no competition means you'll be the only supplier and provider of whatever you're pushing. Back then, Games workshop pushed plastic men, some boardgames, basic paints, and little else. It was the dark ages of gaming, but things were simple. In the shadowy era of 1998, the world would be turned upside down, for GW had a masterplan: release a game that could spearhead tournaments, and thus lead to massive, massive revenues, new model lines, the need for players to update their armies on a cyclical basis, and more. Saying it didn't work out would be an understatement, but why didn't it work out?
At the time, Games workshop had many employees, but of the original crew, only one remains, and his is the name that will forever be remembered by nerds everywhere for past transgression. Jervis Johnson, fail-master supreme, high priest of the cult of beer and pretzel games. If Jervis was in charge of FIFA, scoring anything except ties would be punishable by death.
You see, Jervis hates winning with a burning passion. To Jervis, winning a game - let alone playing to win - is comparable to murder, and any desire to win must be purged from humanity before we'll advance as a species.
True greatness comes from forced ties, gallons of booze, and 'just having plain, old fun with yer figurines an' lil' men.' For reasons unknown, Jervis still is, and always has been, the man in charge of everything related to tournaments and competitive play. Yeah, in hindsight, that probably wasn't such a great idea. Even without hindsight it was a stupid move!
Not only did Jervis construct the tourney template we all love to hate (sports, appearance, battle), he's been a (not so) secret advocator of comp, too. Of course, GW's forced him to retract this support - officially, too. Then came the throne of skulls (tm), and - well, people weren't pleased. Note: this is happening in a day and age where competitive cardgames generate more money than the finest of the finest 'beer and pretzel' tabletop games, competitive Starcraft and Counter-strike are aired on TV in certain countries (South Korea - YouTube it), and GW's own game systems are more balanced and refined than ever before.
Not only is mister Johnson outright stupid for resisting his company's obvious attempt to capitalize on the competitive wave, but he's also rather foolish, and has zero actual victories worth anything to his credit this far in time. It's no secret I'm pushing for Abaddon's name to be changed to Jervisddon the Johnson, to mimic the real-life inspiration behind such a great, successful, inspiring, and respectable villain.
Thanks to 12+ years of Jervis governing the temple, 'playing to win' in warhams is popuarly considered cheating. Being the better list builder (read: having the better understanding of the game) is a bad thing, and don't you dare force people to follow the rules, play official missions, or use effective units. Doing any of these three things make you a WAAC jerk - the scum of the earth.
In short, winners aren't wanted by JJ or his followers, and any such individuals will be cast out into the dirt - branded WAAC, cheater, haxx, dicelord, cheesemaster, powergamer, and other colorfol, negative nicknames. This is how Jervis wants it. It's also how the people in charge of BALSCON and Adepticon want it. Why? It is relevant to their interests.
A truly good player will never enter one of these events. Should he or she chose to do so, the player must know certain specific rules - rules that have nothing whatsoever to do with the game being played. Softscores, blowjob scores, 'rate your opponents,' painting, army composition, actual comp, 'spam penalties...' The list is long, intimidating and, as we're about to see shortly, in effect worthless.
When entering a game, you are there to win. This is hard fact. Your reptile brain makes it impossible for you to not aim for a win. Does it guarantee wins? Heavens, no - but it makes it so you crave victory. This is why, after games, even people who say 'well, I play just for fun!' get pissed as all hell, even though they just threw up the 'for fun'-excuse.
See, that special part of your brain doesn't know why the game was lost or won. It can tell win and defeat apart, yes, but isn't advanced enough to know what, exactly, happened. Just that the leafblower rolled your footdat off the board in two turns.
This makes you feel bad. If it happens on a daily basis, merely mentioning the game makes you sour and cranky. 'case you didn't know, this is how your body handles repeated losses. You get very tense, and whenever warham's brought up, it's all beardy cheese WAAC DAVU falcons and thundershields on cav with ID-immunity(!!!!). Basically, the back of your brain is telling the front of your brain that it sucks ass, and needs to start producing results. It does this by attacking perceived imbalances, preferably things that have beaten you down lately, in an attempt to stimulate a creative, functional response against them ('Use transports against the tyranids, you idiot!').
Bear in mind, these things may not necessarily be powerful, or even make sense. "Yeah, he rolled his wolfpriest and the 14 bloodclaws out of the redeemer, got in a magic moment, and CHARGED MY ELDRATAR AND ALL THREE LOLORDS! PUT SO MANY WOUNDS ON MY GUARDIANS, ALL OF IT WENT POOF! I hate bloodclaws! I HATE THEM AND THEIR OVERPOWERED BONUS ATTACKS! THEY ALWAYS ROLL STASTICALLY BETTER THAN AVERAGE, AND MY LOLORDS AREN'T POOR - I'm just unlucky!"
Chances are, you've heard something like that uttered at least once. So, what does it mean? Players like that are dealing with repetead loss, the caveman side of their brain trying its best to make their thinking brain come up with a solution - and it almost never does! Why? To beat something, you have to compete. Competing is evil, says JJ, and he's fostered this in the players for so long, the only ways out are rehab and enlightenment.
"If I don't take the lolords and Eldratar, I suddenly don't have to fear bloodclaws rapin' my line, and get more points for mobile shit, shooty shit, and bette- different shit! I can roll in my falcons, shootin' lance hate at their 'raider, laughing at the futile efforts of the 'claws to mess up my floating crib! Oh, wow..." An inner monologue like that's what made me discard Jervis' teachings, but it was over my tau, and their supposed inability to ever score a win against sisters of battle.
Eventually, we all come to this very important point - a crossroads of sorts. One sign points to 'deal with it the way humanity's always dealt with problems,' while the other says 'ebay or box away your models.' Not surprisingly, most find JJ's teachings too strong and sacred to deface, readily boxing up their precious, plastic men.
The rare few who stick to it are changed individuals (see above examples). You know this, how you used to play, and think certain things were unbeatable, 'cheese,' or 'not fit to be in a hobby game played for fun.' At the end of the day, we're all only human, and humans are very competitive. You could say it's in our blood, but that's not even half of it. Humans are made to win, no matter the cost.
It's how we operate, and approach everything. We enter games, because games are fun. Fun they may be - we're still there to win. Winning is the objective, and what you and your opponent are 'fighting' over in the first place.
Winning games. What does this mean? Games? A game, by definition, is 'a contest with rules to determine a winner.' And there's the gold, me mateys.
If we go to war, it's everything and the kitchen sink. If it's soccer or warhams, we strictly follow very basic rules, but it's still about deciding a winner and a loser. This is common knowledge, isn't it? Yes, it is. Yet, everytime someone realizes this piece of 'common knowledge,' Jervis pulls his arms off in anger.
Because we're not simple beasts, there's more to games than winning them. Remember, kids - winning is just the objective. The true meat is in the challenge. What's 'challenge?'
"It was such a tough, hardcore, superfun game, where we fought over this ruined bunker just outside my deployment, and it was the last turn, with straken, two guardsmen, swarmlord, and 30 gants left, but I was so close to getting Straken raped by the 30 gants, but then he rolled really poorly, and I WOUNDED ALL OF MY ATTACKS! GANTS WENT EXPLODEY INTO LITTLE BITS! And then he measured synapse, they were an inch too far from the swarmlord, and I RAN ALL OF THEM DOWN IN ONE MOVE!!!!!!!!"
That's challenge. It's not something you can directly measure. You have it, or you don't. Yeah, it's a very individual thing, but you know it when you see it. This is important. By definition, winning and losing get very boring if that's all you're ever gonna get (routine: win, lose, what's the difference in the long run?), but challenge is what keeps you coming back for more - weekly.
Once you find players (or a player) who can provide challenge, your game automatically starts to improve. It's a natural response to a superior foe. Beating her or him isn't enough - you must become even better, with never-before seen moves, tactics, and a bigger stack of knowledge.
This is the most fun aspect in all games, and why it feels less good to win against a babyseal, than it does losing to a pro. The pro offers you challenge, and the seal doesn't. Winning feeds your reptile brain, but it does little for the rest of your mind. The caveman in you doesn't care who you're winning against, but your higher functions feel unsatisfied, and understimulated.
So, in summary: losers are sour and sore. Winners are happy. Players who experience challenge are content, regardless of winning or losing. Now, if we take an entire group of winners that duel with challenge, and put them all in one location, Jervis tells us shit be real, the universe is gonna explode, and no one would ever find that fun.
Well, let's just say it didn't turn out as the high priest of comp and 'fun' 'hobby events' predicted.
Actually, let's look at just how it all went down, for comparison.
Drama? None.
Extremely pretty armies? Yes.
Winners fighting winners until only one remained? Yes.
A little 'everybody's a winner!'-price? No.
Any sour faces? None have been reported.
Yes, Jervis, adults who play by the rules to win make less of a mess than the manchildren you enroll in your official tourneys for 'playing for fun,' as well as those sucked up in the BALS vacuum.
The comp and JJ brigade will naturally come forth now, summoned from their ivory towers of fluffy bunnies by this perceived cry of war, but are you really going to argue with the actual definition of 'game?' No? Yeah, didn't think so, either.
I do have a fairly legit question, however. It's okay for them to whine - over and over - that winners need to play 'fluffy,' or 'soft lists,' yes? Apparently, this is a -okay - fair enough. Well, here's my question.
Why can't all you losers learn how to win instead, so we'll both feel challenged?
You're playing to win, but you agreed to the game because it's fun.
How does that make sense? We'll get there in a minute. First, a story.
Back in the ancient days of the early 90's, there existed a little company called Games workshop. It was a tiny, tiny company, but because it was the only company of its kind, it quickly became top dog.
Not surprisingly, really, since - you know - no competition means you'll be the only supplier and provider of whatever you're pushing. Back then, Games workshop pushed plastic men, some boardgames, basic paints, and little else. It was the dark ages of gaming, but things were simple. In the shadowy era of 1998, the world would be turned upside down, for GW had a masterplan: release a game that could spearhead tournaments, and thus lead to massive, massive revenues, new model lines, the need for players to update their armies on a cyclical basis, and more. Saying it didn't work out would be an understatement, but why didn't it work out?
At the time, Games workshop had many employees, but of the original crew, only one remains, and his is the name that will forever be remembered by nerds everywhere for past transgression. Jervis Johnson, fail-master supreme, high priest of the cult of beer and pretzel games. If Jervis was in charge of FIFA, scoring anything except ties would be punishable by death.
You see, Jervis hates winning with a burning passion. To Jervis, winning a game - let alone playing to win - is comparable to murder, and any desire to win must be purged from humanity before we'll advance as a species.
True greatness comes from forced ties, gallons of booze, and 'just having plain, old fun with yer figurines an' lil' men.' For reasons unknown, Jervis still is, and always has been, the man in charge of everything related to tournaments and competitive play. Yeah, in hindsight, that probably wasn't such a great idea. Even without hindsight it was a stupid move!
Not only did Jervis construct the tourney template we all love to hate (sports, appearance, battle), he's been a (not so) secret advocator of comp, too. Of course, GW's forced him to retract this support - officially, too. Then came the throne of skulls (tm), and - well, people weren't pleased. Note: this is happening in a day and age where competitive cardgames generate more money than the finest of the finest 'beer and pretzel' tabletop games, competitive Starcraft and Counter-strike are aired on TV in certain countries (South Korea - YouTube it), and GW's own game systems are more balanced and refined than ever before.
Not only is mister Johnson outright stupid for resisting his company's obvious attempt to capitalize on the competitive wave, but he's also rather foolish, and has zero actual victories worth anything to his credit this far in time. It's no secret I'm pushing for Abaddon's name to be changed to Jervisddon the Johnson, to mimic the real-life inspiration behind such a great, successful, inspiring, and respectable villain.
Thanks to 12+ years of Jervis governing the temple, 'playing to win' in warhams is popuarly considered cheating. Being the better list builder (read: having the better understanding of the game) is a bad thing, and don't you dare force people to follow the rules, play official missions, or use effective units. Doing any of these three things make you a WAAC jerk - the scum of the earth.
In short, winners aren't wanted by JJ or his followers, and any such individuals will be cast out into the dirt - branded WAAC, cheater, haxx, dicelord, cheesemaster, powergamer, and other colorfol, negative nicknames. This is how Jervis wants it. It's also how the people in charge of BALSCON and Adepticon want it. Why? It is relevant to their interests.
A truly good player will never enter one of these events. Should he or she chose to do so, the player must know certain specific rules - rules that have nothing whatsoever to do with the game being played. Softscores, blowjob scores, 'rate your opponents,' painting, army composition, actual comp, 'spam penalties...' The list is long, intimidating and, as we're about to see shortly, in effect worthless.
When entering a game, you are there to win. This is hard fact. Your reptile brain makes it impossible for you to not aim for a win. Does it guarantee wins? Heavens, no - but it makes it so you crave victory. This is why, after games, even people who say 'well, I play just for fun!' get pissed as all hell, even though they just threw up the 'for fun'-excuse.
See, that special part of your brain doesn't know why the game was lost or won. It can tell win and defeat apart, yes, but isn't advanced enough to know what, exactly, happened. Just that the leafblower rolled your footdat off the board in two turns.
This makes you feel bad. If it happens on a daily basis, merely mentioning the game makes you sour and cranky. 'case you didn't know, this is how your body handles repeated losses. You get very tense, and whenever warham's brought up, it's all beardy cheese WAAC DAVU falcons and thundershields on cav with ID-immunity(!!!!). Basically, the back of your brain is telling the front of your brain that it sucks ass, and needs to start producing results. It does this by attacking perceived imbalances, preferably things that have beaten you down lately, in an attempt to stimulate a creative, functional response against them ('Use transports against the tyranids, you idiot!').
Bear in mind, these things may not necessarily be powerful, or even make sense. "Yeah, he rolled his wolfpriest and the 14 bloodclaws out of the redeemer, got in a magic moment, and CHARGED MY ELDRATAR AND ALL THREE LOLORDS! PUT SO MANY WOUNDS ON MY GUARDIANS, ALL OF IT WENT POOF! I hate bloodclaws! I HATE THEM AND THEIR OVERPOWERED BONUS ATTACKS! THEY ALWAYS ROLL STASTICALLY BETTER THAN AVERAGE, AND MY LOLORDS AREN'T POOR - I'm just unlucky!"
Chances are, you've heard something like that uttered at least once. So, what does it mean? Players like that are dealing with repetead loss, the caveman side of their brain trying its best to make their thinking brain come up with a solution - and it almost never does! Why? To beat something, you have to compete. Competing is evil, says JJ, and he's fostered this in the players for so long, the only ways out are rehab and enlightenment.
"If I don't take the lolords and Eldratar, I suddenly don't have to fear bloodclaws rapin' my line, and get more points for mobile shit, shooty shit, and bette- different shit! I can roll in my falcons, shootin' lance hate at their 'raider, laughing at the futile efforts of the 'claws to mess up my floating crib! Oh, wow..." An inner monologue like that's what made me discard Jervis' teachings, but it was over my tau, and their supposed inability to ever score a win against sisters of battle.
Eventually, we all come to this very important point - a crossroads of sorts. One sign points to 'deal with it the way humanity's always dealt with problems,' while the other says 'ebay or box away your models.' Not surprisingly, most find JJ's teachings too strong and sacred to deface, readily boxing up their precious, plastic men.
The rare few who stick to it are changed individuals (see above examples). You know this, how you used to play, and think certain things were unbeatable, 'cheese,' or 'not fit to be in a hobby game played for fun.' At the end of the day, we're all only human, and humans are very competitive. You could say it's in our blood, but that's not even half of it. Humans are made to win, no matter the cost.
It's how we operate, and approach everything. We enter games, because games are fun. Fun they may be - we're still there to win. Winning is the objective, and what you and your opponent are 'fighting' over in the first place.
Winning games. What does this mean? Games? A game, by definition, is 'a contest with rules to determine a winner.' And there's the gold, me mateys.
If we go to war, it's everything and the kitchen sink. If it's soccer or warhams, we strictly follow very basic rules, but it's still about deciding a winner and a loser. This is common knowledge, isn't it? Yes, it is. Yet, everytime someone realizes this piece of 'common knowledge,' Jervis pulls his arms off in anger.
Because we're not simple beasts, there's more to games than winning them. Remember, kids - winning is just the objective. The true meat is in the challenge. What's 'challenge?'
"It was such a tough, hardcore, superfun game, where we fought over this ruined bunker just outside my deployment, and it was the last turn, with straken, two guardsmen, swarmlord, and 30 gants left, but I was so close to getting Straken raped by the 30 gants, but then he rolled really poorly, and I WOUNDED ALL OF MY ATTACKS! GANTS WENT EXPLODEY INTO LITTLE BITS! And then he measured synapse, they were an inch too far from the swarmlord, and I RAN ALL OF THEM DOWN IN ONE MOVE!!!!!!!!"
That's challenge. It's not something you can directly measure. You have it, or you don't. Yeah, it's a very individual thing, but you know it when you see it. This is important. By definition, winning and losing get very boring if that's all you're ever gonna get (routine: win, lose, what's the difference in the long run?), but challenge is what keeps you coming back for more - weekly.
Once you find players (or a player) who can provide challenge, your game automatically starts to improve. It's a natural response to a superior foe. Beating her or him isn't enough - you must become even better, with never-before seen moves, tactics, and a bigger stack of knowledge.
This is the most fun aspect in all games, and why it feels less good to win against a babyseal, than it does losing to a pro. The pro offers you challenge, and the seal doesn't. Winning feeds your reptile brain, but it does little for the rest of your mind. The caveman in you doesn't care who you're winning against, but your higher functions feel unsatisfied, and understimulated.
So, in summary: losers are sour and sore. Winners are happy. Players who experience challenge are content, regardless of winning or losing. Now, if we take an entire group of winners that duel with challenge, and put them all in one location, Jervis tells us shit be real, the universe is gonna explode, and no one would ever find that fun.
Well, let's just say it didn't turn out as the high priest of comp and 'fun' 'hobby events' predicted.
Actually, let's look at just how it all went down, for comparison.
Drama? None.
Extremely pretty armies? Yes.
Winners fighting winners until only one remained? Yes.
A little 'everybody's a winner!'-price? No.
Any sour faces? None have been reported.
Yes, Jervis, adults who play by the rules to win make less of a mess than the manchildren you enroll in your official tourneys for 'playing for fun,' as well as those sucked up in the BALS vacuum.
The comp and JJ brigade will naturally come forth now, summoned from their ivory towers of fluffy bunnies by this perceived cry of war, but are you really going to argue with the actual definition of 'game?' No? Yeah, didn't think so, either.
I do have a fairly legit question, however. It's okay for them to whine - over and over - that winners need to play 'fluffy,' or 'soft lists,' yes? Apparently, this is a -okay - fair enough. Well, here's my question.
Why can't all you losers learn how to win instead, so we'll both feel challenged?
The Story of Little Johnny -- By Marshal Laeroth
Little Johnny randomly goes into a store with his parents, which happens to carry Games Workshop products on the shelves. He's looking for something to pick up that will pass the time and fortunately for him, this local store is holding a 40k tournament. "What are all these people doing here?" he wonders. Wandering over, he sees a mixture of beautifully painted miniatures and not painted ones. He thinks the non-painted ones look cool too, but what he really likes is the painted ones. So he asked a couple of questions to some of the players standing around the tables. They patiently explain to him that they are in a tournament called "'Ard Boys" to find out who is the best general in the country. Little Johnny is a teenager, so obviously cannot travel too much to attend these tournaments, but he's intrigued now. Being a veteran player of "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2", he loves to compete and the feeling of being the best. And even if he's not, playing a good game against excellent opponents is extremely exciting.
After asking a few more questions and noticing everyone generally having a great time, he goes to some people standing around and ask them if they know how to start the game. Little does Johnny know, these are players that were eliminated in the 'Ard Boys 1st round. Of course, they direct him to a shelf containing the Warhammer 40k product. They explain that the game is somewhat expensive, but once you have your army, you never have to buy anything else again. See, Johnny has a lot of video games and frequently purchases new ones. He decides that he'll stop doing that for a while, so he can have an army that he'll never get tired of. He seems most interested in starting an Eldar army, as he loves Lord of the Rings and these guys are essentially space elves. He's not sure if he can afford too many of them, but the models are really nice. The players helping Johnny out (we'll called them Team Bunnies) direct him to the Assault on Black Reach box set, saying that it contains huge amounts of miniatures for both the Orcs and Space Marines. They explain that the Space Marines are the most common army, but generally have the best stat lines and are the easiest to use.
"What about the Eldar?" Johnny asks. Team Bunny explain that the Eldar are one of the best armies there is right now. They had read online that lots of people are using something called "Footdar", which are extremely hard to kill. This excites Johnny immensely and he starts grabbing things. After Team Bunny settles him down a bit, grab the codex, and explain that he needs an HQ and two Troops units first. Johnny decides on his units, picks up his paints and brushes, and leaves the store.
Fast forward about 6 months. During this time, at Team Bunny's direction, Johnny visited the websites where he could find information on the Footdar army lists. He made the appropriate purchases, slapped what he considered an excellent paint scheme (bright pinks and the such), and crafted his army. Because only had limited funds in which to make these purchases (he used 6 months worth of allowance/money from part-time job to do it), he only bought what the online list had in it. He proudly goes back to the LGS, notices one of the players in Team Bunny, and is told that open gaming is held on Thursday nights. Excellent! That Thursday, he walks in with his army, proudly takes them out of the case and puts them on a table to display. Now little Johnny isn't even close to the best of painters and his paint scheme would make most players cringe, but he's proud of his work and you can visibly notice him beaming.
"What the heck are those?" someone asks. "Those look awful."
"I was thinking the same thing," said another. "I'm pretty sure they are Eldar, but they don't look like any Eldar I know."
This onslaught starts to discourage Johnny, making him think he did a poor job picking the colors for his army. "Whatever. I like them," Johnny thinks to himself. During the building phase, he was busy reading the rules and familiarizing himself with the game. He asks if someone would be willing to play him. A player volunteers (we'll call him Local Tough Guy), and Johnny excited introduces himself, mentioning that this would be his first time playing. Several players smile, but he thinks nothing of it. Unfortunately for Johnny, Local Tough Guy had built himself a reputation for "Clubbing Baby Seals". LTG pulls out a mechanized IG army (because he has several armies), and they roll for missions/deployment zones. They discover that LTG gets the first turn and they deploy. Johnny, unfamiliar with the intricacies of the IG and tactics in general, he deploys poorly and lines his army up in his zone. Needless to say, the battle lasts just two turns and all little Johnny was able to do was move two units forward. The rest of his time was devoted towards taking his models off the board. Local Tough Guy is very pleased with himself and he says to his buddies that that was almost a record for shortest game.
Johnny is visibly disturbed and quietly packs up his stuff, and goes home. But not before finding out that in 2 months, they would be a large tournament taking place at the store. Dejected, he tries to decide what to do. Johnny was led to assume by Team Bunny that his army was one of the best possible, and he didn't even get to use it! Johnny had spent what little money he had on an army that was not good at all. There was a new game coming out for XBOX 360 that he wanted, so he considers Ebaying his army. However, being a competitive player, he decides to find out what he did wrong and tries to get better. But this decision was tough. He googles Eldar tactics and army lists. To his "amazement", he discovers that the army he purchased is not very good for competitive play. After briefly getting discouraged once more, he finds some resolve and goes to a forum for advice.
He posts up what he has in a thread and it immediately starts a rage war. The first initial responses in the thread were positive, saying that his army was very close to being good and only small changes were needed to take his Footdar list into a "real" competitive list. Johnny ignores these, as his previous research said otherwise. The next batch of posters immediately attack Johnny's list and paint job, calling the list bad and the paint job "unfluffy". Being unfamiliar with terms such as fluff, he didn't know how to respond and it made him want to quit again. Fortunately, amid the attacks, criticisms, and arguments going on in his thread, there are a couple of players who are respectfully giving him advice (we'll call them The Respectful Competitive Players). He tries to ignore all of the other stuff, but being a kid, its starting to affect him. Still, he takes the advice he received from The Respectful Competitive Players and studies the information he received from them. He starts to understand what he did, the problems facing the Eldar, and also does research on the other codices so he knows what he's going up against. The Respectful Competitive Players suggested a possible army list for him to use, but being skeptical of list advice after his first incident, he does some more research. Apparently this type of army is the one that does the best in the current edition, so he crafts a list very similar to the one TRCP suggested. Unfortunately, this requires a significant monetary investment to acquire. He goes to his parents and convinces them to take an advance on his birthday gifts. He purchases what he needs and paints/repaints his entire army to a scheme found in the codex that he liked. Just in time for the tournament!
Johnny does very well, winning two games and losing one (by a significant margin). Still, he's extremely pleased with himself and happy that he found an army to his liking that works! He had seen a thing called Battle Reports on his Eldar forum, so he decides to do his own. In the thread, he asks for advice for improvement so that he can get better. What does he receive? Comments about how his paint job could use improvement and that it was barely up to the 3 color requirements. Johnny did the best he could with the time he had, and he didn't think they were too bad. Eldar players also started commenting about other things. No where was constructive criticism or advice about what to better, what he got was that he was a "WAAC" gamer. That his list was power gaming, cheesy, and bad. He was called the scum of the hobby, that it was players like him that sucked the fun out of the game.
30 minutes after reading these comments, you could find Johnny's Eldar army on Ebay.
After asking a few more questions and noticing everyone generally having a great time, he goes to some people standing around and ask them if they know how to start the game. Little does Johnny know, these are players that were eliminated in the 'Ard Boys 1st round. Of course, they direct him to a shelf containing the Warhammer 40k product. They explain that the game is somewhat expensive, but once you have your army, you never have to buy anything else again. See, Johnny has a lot of video games and frequently purchases new ones. He decides that he'll stop doing that for a while, so he can have an army that he'll never get tired of. He seems most interested in starting an Eldar army, as he loves Lord of the Rings and these guys are essentially space elves. He's not sure if he can afford too many of them, but the models are really nice. The players helping Johnny out (we'll called them Team Bunnies) direct him to the Assault on Black Reach box set, saying that it contains huge amounts of miniatures for both the Orcs and Space Marines. They explain that the Space Marines are the most common army, but generally have the best stat lines and are the easiest to use.
"What about the Eldar?" Johnny asks. Team Bunny explain that the Eldar are one of the best armies there is right now. They had read online that lots of people are using something called "Footdar", which are extremely hard to kill. This excites Johnny immensely and he starts grabbing things. After Team Bunny settles him down a bit, grab the codex, and explain that he needs an HQ and two Troops units first. Johnny decides on his units, picks up his paints and brushes, and leaves the store.
Fast forward about 6 months. During this time, at Team Bunny's direction, Johnny visited the websites where he could find information on the Footdar army lists. He made the appropriate purchases, slapped what he considered an excellent paint scheme (bright pinks and the such), and crafted his army. Because only had limited funds in which to make these purchases (he used 6 months worth of allowance/money from part-time job to do it), he only bought what the online list had in it. He proudly goes back to the LGS, notices one of the players in Team Bunny, and is told that open gaming is held on Thursday nights. Excellent! That Thursday, he walks in with his army, proudly takes them out of the case and puts them on a table to display. Now little Johnny isn't even close to the best of painters and his paint scheme would make most players cringe, but he's proud of his work and you can visibly notice him beaming.
"What the heck are those?" someone asks. "Those look awful."
"I was thinking the same thing," said another. "I'm pretty sure they are Eldar, but they don't look like any Eldar I know."
This onslaught starts to discourage Johnny, making him think he did a poor job picking the colors for his army. "Whatever. I like them," Johnny thinks to himself. During the building phase, he was busy reading the rules and familiarizing himself with the game. He asks if someone would be willing to play him. A player volunteers (we'll call him Local Tough Guy), and Johnny excited introduces himself, mentioning that this would be his first time playing. Several players smile, but he thinks nothing of it. Unfortunately for Johnny, Local Tough Guy had built himself a reputation for "Clubbing Baby Seals". LTG pulls out a mechanized IG army (because he has several armies), and they roll for missions/deployment zones. They discover that LTG gets the first turn and they deploy. Johnny, unfamiliar with the intricacies of the IG and tactics in general, he deploys poorly and lines his army up in his zone. Needless to say, the battle lasts just two turns and all little Johnny was able to do was move two units forward. The rest of his time was devoted towards taking his models off the board. Local Tough Guy is very pleased with himself and he says to his buddies that that was almost a record for shortest game.
Johnny is visibly disturbed and quietly packs up his stuff, and goes home. But not before finding out that in 2 months, they would be a large tournament taking place at the store. Dejected, he tries to decide what to do. Johnny was led to assume by Team Bunny that his army was one of the best possible, and he didn't even get to use it! Johnny had spent what little money he had on an army that was not good at all. There was a new game coming out for XBOX 360 that he wanted, so he considers Ebaying his army. However, being a competitive player, he decides to find out what he did wrong and tries to get better. But this decision was tough. He googles Eldar tactics and army lists. To his "amazement", he discovers that the army he purchased is not very good for competitive play. After briefly getting discouraged once more, he finds some resolve and goes to a forum for advice.
He posts up what he has in a thread and it immediately starts a rage war. The first initial responses in the thread were positive, saying that his army was very close to being good and only small changes were needed to take his Footdar list into a "real" competitive list. Johnny ignores these, as his previous research said otherwise. The next batch of posters immediately attack Johnny's list and paint job, calling the list bad and the paint job "unfluffy". Being unfamiliar with terms such as fluff, he didn't know how to respond and it made him want to quit again. Fortunately, amid the attacks, criticisms, and arguments going on in his thread, there are a couple of players who are respectfully giving him advice (we'll call them The Respectful Competitive Players). He tries to ignore all of the other stuff, but being a kid, its starting to affect him. Still, he takes the advice he received from The Respectful Competitive Players and studies the information he received from them. He starts to understand what he did, the problems facing the Eldar, and also does research on the other codices so he knows what he's going up against. The Respectful Competitive Players suggested a possible army list for him to use, but being skeptical of list advice after his first incident, he does some more research. Apparently this type of army is the one that does the best in the current edition, so he crafts a list very similar to the one TRCP suggested. Unfortunately, this requires a significant monetary investment to acquire. He goes to his parents and convinces them to take an advance on his birthday gifts. He purchases what he needs and paints/repaints his entire army to a scheme found in the codex that he liked. Just in time for the tournament!
Johnny does very well, winning two games and losing one (by a significant margin). Still, he's extremely pleased with himself and happy that he found an army to his liking that works! He had seen a thing called Battle Reports on his Eldar forum, so he decides to do his own. In the thread, he asks for advice for improvement so that he can get better. What does he receive? Comments about how his paint job could use improvement and that it was barely up to the 3 color requirements. Johnny did the best he could with the time he had, and he didn't think they were too bad. Eldar players also started commenting about other things. No where was constructive criticism or advice about what to better, what he got was that he was a "WAAC" gamer. That his list was power gaming, cheesy, and bad. He was called the scum of the hobby, that it was players like him that sucked the fun out of the game.
30 minutes after reading these comments, you could find Johnny's Eldar army on Ebay.
So what now? How do we fix it?
As VT2 pointed out, Warhammer 40k is many things. But if you strip all of that away, down to the very core, the game is about winning. About you putting your models on the board across from mine, and beating the crap out of each other. How does this prevent you from enjoying the game? What is stopping you from grabbing a case of beer and a pizza?
It is a flawed argument indeed to say that a player isn't trying to win, no matter their motivations for playing the game are. No one plays to lose. It is the reason why some players get extremely defensive and angry when they lose or have their lists critiqued. Anyone that plays this game is ultimately competitive, albeit at different levels.
The perceived "Tournaments Have Ruined 40K" notion only does one thing: smash and divide the community. It is not a very good attitude to have. That derisive mindset that is the true culprit, in my opinion, for ruining the game. Throwing hand grenades at this problem isn't going to make it go away. It just blows the problem into a bunch of little problems. But on that same token, I don't think sugar coating the problem is going to make it taste any better either. We have to find a happy medium, one that won't be found until the hate dissipates from both sides.
Neither "side" (I loathe that there are two sides) should be right or wrong, as there is no definitive way to play the game. Yes, there have been a few "bad apples" for either position, but those players are the ones who stick out in people's minds and are what shape the stereotypes of 40k. It saddens me that if you play 40k, you are lumped together with one side or the other. Often, you get stereotyped by players from the other side before you've even had the chance to play those players.
Is there not a way for both sides to co-exist without the bickering? I think there is, but it needs to begin with the omission of negative articles that attacks the other side of the fence. While those types of articles exist, players will continually join one side or the other, and become life-long enemies to the other side of the hobby. The same with players from either side. Until those players can learn to say: "Hey. That guy likes to compete in tournaments and uses lists for that type of play. I don't care for that, but he's still a good guy." or "I know that player's army isn't very good, but it looks amazing on the battlefield and would be very fun to play with.", we'll never heal this divide.
It comes down to sportsmanship. This is a key factor in the enjoyment of games of all types for players. It isn't something that can or should be scored. Sportsmanship needs to be required, without a doubt. But sportsmanship does not have to mean playing sub-par army lists against an opponent so that they have fun. It isn't your responsibility to ensure this because, as we mentioned, everyone is playing to win.
Just because a player ensures you are following the rules properly, brings a tournament list to play you, or brings out tactics you'd not normally see against most average opponents, it doesn't make them a "Win At All Costs" player. The same goes for casual players. There is nothing wrong with bringing a beautifully painted army that follows the codex fluff to the table. It just might not perform as well as you would like in battle. And that is ok. Both types of games are completely fine, neither should be construed as to destroying the game. The community as a whole needs to find a way to include both sides of the hobby, or else the game will die. Events such as the Nova Open are the beginning; forging a path into the unknown. A place where both sides will be satisfied.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not arguing that competitive players are better, that casual (hobby) players are bad or vice versa. Quite the opposite. I'm just trying to show that we need to drop the "those guys kill the game" attitude, because frankly, it isn't true. I was a hobby player for a very long time, and it wasn't until the middle of 4th Edition that I actively started playing competitively. So I have plenty of experience from both points of view. I've seen how players are treated on both sides of the line, and neither side is exactly "angelic" in the slightest. Both sides have their vices and their strengths, that are beneficial to the game as a whole. But if you marginalize one side or the other, you risk driving off that part of the hobby and then where does that bring you? Games Workshop going out of business, the game no longer supported, no more fun new toys to play with and paint, or places to play competitively. That is bad in my opinion. Guess who else this would hurt? The people who make a living off the hobby. For example: Without competitive players to commission such work, professional painters (many of which are casual players) have no business. That means a LOT of people are out of jobs.
Games Workshop cannot survive without the casual players. It also cannot survive without the competitive players. The huge loss of players from 2003 to 2009 and the resulting loss of revenue shows just how much of an impact losing one side of the hobby creates. Creating a community where both are accepted, with the understanding that others will have a different viewpoint on the game, is paramount to the continuation of our hobby. Anything else is pretty much segregation of players; the stereotypes and hate people fling around nowadays can easily be compared to the extreme racism/sexism of 20th Century America.
Without the casual gamers, there would be no fulfilling background and intriguing storylines. These are the players that caused the game to evolve into what it is now. Its what often brings people into the game. But those players need an outlet for their competitiveness. Its human nature to want to compete against their fellows. Without the competitive player, there is no one to produce such an environment to direct these energies. Because, let's face it: Very few people want to spend all their time painting and modeling. They want people to see their work and most want to beat face with the army they likely spent hundreds of hours working on. Two sides of a coin, both equally needed. Its time we get over our hate and start working towards fixing the wrong's in the community.
It is a flawed argument indeed to say that a player isn't trying to win, no matter their motivations for playing the game are. No one plays to lose. It is the reason why some players get extremely defensive and angry when they lose or have their lists critiqued. Anyone that plays this game is ultimately competitive, albeit at different levels.
The perceived "Tournaments Have Ruined 40K" notion only does one thing: smash and divide the community. It is not a very good attitude to have. That derisive mindset that is the true culprit, in my opinion, for ruining the game. Throwing hand grenades at this problem isn't going to make it go away. It just blows the problem into a bunch of little problems. But on that same token, I don't think sugar coating the problem is going to make it taste any better either. We have to find a happy medium, one that won't be found until the hate dissipates from both sides.
Neither "side" (I loathe that there are two sides) should be right or wrong, as there is no definitive way to play the game. Yes, there have been a few "bad apples" for either position, but those players are the ones who stick out in people's minds and are what shape the stereotypes of 40k. It saddens me that if you play 40k, you are lumped together with one side or the other. Often, you get stereotyped by players from the other side before you've even had the chance to play those players.
Is there not a way for both sides to co-exist without the bickering? I think there is, but it needs to begin with the omission of negative articles that attacks the other side of the fence. While those types of articles exist, players will continually join one side or the other, and become life-long enemies to the other side of the hobby. The same with players from either side. Until those players can learn to say: "Hey. That guy likes to compete in tournaments and uses lists for that type of play. I don't care for that, but he's still a good guy." or "I know that player's army isn't very good, but it looks amazing on the battlefield and would be very fun to play with.", we'll never heal this divide.
It comes down to sportsmanship. This is a key factor in the enjoyment of games of all types for players. It isn't something that can or should be scored. Sportsmanship needs to be required, without a doubt. But sportsmanship does not have to mean playing sub-par army lists against an opponent so that they have fun. It isn't your responsibility to ensure this because, as we mentioned, everyone is playing to win.
Just because a player ensures you are following the rules properly, brings a tournament list to play you, or brings out tactics you'd not normally see against most average opponents, it doesn't make them a "Win At All Costs" player. The same goes for casual players. There is nothing wrong with bringing a beautifully painted army that follows the codex fluff to the table. It just might not perform as well as you would like in battle. And that is ok. Both types of games are completely fine, neither should be construed as to destroying the game. The community as a whole needs to find a way to include both sides of the hobby, or else the game will die. Events such as the Nova Open are the beginning; forging a path into the unknown. A place where both sides will be satisfied.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not arguing that competitive players are better, that casual (hobby) players are bad or vice versa. Quite the opposite. I'm just trying to show that we need to drop the "those guys kill the game" attitude, because frankly, it isn't true. I was a hobby player for a very long time, and it wasn't until the middle of 4th Edition that I actively started playing competitively. So I have plenty of experience from both points of view. I've seen how players are treated on both sides of the line, and neither side is exactly "angelic" in the slightest. Both sides have their vices and their strengths, that are beneficial to the game as a whole. But if you marginalize one side or the other, you risk driving off that part of the hobby and then where does that bring you? Games Workshop going out of business, the game no longer supported, no more fun new toys to play with and paint, or places to play competitively. That is bad in my opinion. Guess who else this would hurt? The people who make a living off the hobby. For example: Without competitive players to commission such work, professional painters (many of which are casual players) have no business. That means a LOT of people are out of jobs.
Games Workshop cannot survive without the casual players. It also cannot survive without the competitive players. The huge loss of players from 2003 to 2009 and the resulting loss of revenue shows just how much of an impact losing one side of the hobby creates. Creating a community where both are accepted, with the understanding that others will have a different viewpoint on the game, is paramount to the continuation of our hobby. Anything else is pretty much segregation of players; the stereotypes and hate people fling around nowadays can easily be compared to the extreme racism/sexism of 20th Century America.
Without the casual gamers, there would be no fulfilling background and intriguing storylines. These are the players that caused the game to evolve into what it is now. Its what often brings people into the game. But those players need an outlet for their competitiveness. Its human nature to want to compete against their fellows. Without the competitive player, there is no one to produce such an environment to direct these energies. Because, let's face it: Very few people want to spend all their time painting and modeling. They want people to see their work and most want to beat face with the army they likely spent hundreds of hours working on. Two sides of a coin, both equally needed. Its time we get over our hate and start working towards fixing the wrong's in the community.