Subject: continued debate on cheating
Date: Wed, 15 Jul 1998 03:04:26 EDT
From: Rbaskinger@aol.com
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

hi Frank,

this whole thread about cheating has been very interesting and many valid
points have come up as a result. I think the Dojo has done a great service to
all Magic players by allowing this debate to happen here and perhaps something
good will come of it. the exchange of ideas and opinions is one of the
strengths of your site and you should be commended for running an excellent
resource for everyone and creating a forum for discussion.

i read a number of the posts concerning the "incident" at Nationals. i truly
hope that the DCI and WotC realize how serious of a matter this is. regardless
of who cheated or didn't cheat, any sort of unsportsmanlike behavior is going
to result in lessening the legitimacy of Magic as an intellectual sport that
the masses accept. most folks view the game as a geek-intensive pursuit and
generally haven't heard of it or pay it no mind. with this prevailing
attitude, Magic can ill-afford anymore black-eyes to it's Pro Tour or
sanctioned tournament structures. unless the DCI takes strong action to
prevent any other "incidents" and strictly enforces the penalties than perhaps
the best thing to do is to end the Pro Tours altogether. at least we wouldn't
have to endure this cycle of cheating and collusion and other unsportsmanlike
activities every couple of months when another big tourney comes along. but i
digress...

i think the proverbial ball is in WotC's court. they can either keep the
status quo or give the DCI some legs to stand on. of course, if we players,
whether pro tour or arena or sealed or just plain casual, fail to be heard
than we can only blame ourselves when the next controversy happens. take a few
moments to stop that top-secret deck-tech and let the powers that be know how
you feel. don't complain when the next problems arises and just stop...tell
them again. try it, you might get the response you're looking for.

thanks for reading this, it's nothing special ;)

emails welcome, no flames please. thank you

rob