Subject: How I would clean up the Pro Tour Date: Sat, 1 Aug 1998 00:53:56 +0100 From: Cid To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com Frank, in response to Andrea's post, the following :-) > In the past, I was told to use actual examples of cheating, judging problems > etc. that I experienced in my years as a Pro Tour judge. As a result, and keep > this in mind when you read below, I riddled the longer post with actual > incidents that have frustrated me when judging a Pro Tour. I put names > down for clarity sake and not to hang any one Pro Tour player, judge, or > organizer. However, I would suggest that this is one of the biggest problems on the net today. Generally speaking people are unable to lodge a complaint or discuss any issue without dropping names. Whilst this may seem innocent enough, in some cases otherwise honest players are being tarnished on a public forum. This happened recently in the UK, when a known player was accused of cheating publicly. In this instance the accusation was unfounded, and to make matters worse, the said player was not able to defend himself at that time as he did not have net access. Whether, true or not, I feel that it is time that players stopped naming individuals in such posts. > Is there cheating at the Pro Tour level? The recent number of discussions on > the subject point to the answer being a firm "yes". Since most players > believe there is some form of cheating at the Pro Tours, discussions usually > segue into what people can do about it. I don't think anyone knows for sure if > cheating is rampant or isolated; "big cheats" (such as hiding key cards on > your person or drawing extra cards or playing extra lands) or "little cheats" > (not telling an opponent he forgot to draw); is it limited to PT veterans only, > or does each new PT player bring his or her cheating methods to the Tour? I'd agree with Paul B here, there is no such thing as a big cheat and a little cheat, only cheating. The severity of the offense is measured in the penalty, but the fact remains that it is cheating. Many players justify the 'little cheats' in their own head as unethical and not really cheating, but you can bet your bottom dollar that if such activities were perpetrated against them they'd be screaming blue murder for the cheating Bar-Stewart to be ejected. > I've seen various proposals on how to clean up the PT. They range from the > ridiculously unrealistic (a judge at every table) to the unfeasible (video > monitoring). I've yet to see one that is possible and inexpensive. Do you > know a realistic, feasible, and easily implementable system for the Pro Tour? > If so, post it to the Dojo with the subject line: "How I would clean up the Pro > Tour". I would love to see some good suggestions. OK onto some serious stuff :-) I don't believe that the idea of a Judge at every table is so ridiculous. The problem here is scale. I would agree that a 300 player PT cannot have 150 Judges watching matches, clearly uneconomic. However, does the PT need to be so large in itself. Think a moment. After the first day, generally half or more players are knocked out. So why bother with them in the first place. Most professional sports weed out most of the competitors before the main tournament. Thus I would suggest that either PTQ have their number of places dropped to one per qualifier (which would half the attendance in the main event) or that their are two levels of PTQ, the first on a local level (such as is now) and then regional qualifiers. If we can get the main participants down to 64-96 players the prize distibution can be altered and a Judge per table becomes a more viable option. Hell, even a Judge per 2 tables (stratgically sat) would make cheating more difficult. Many players may find the idea of reducing the size of the main event not to their liking, but there is nothing stopping the running of additional events that do not have the incentive (cash) to cheat in the same way that thousands of dollars does. The runners up could then win trips to the event and participate in the side events. After all most players will end up doing that anyway. How to deal with those caught cheating. First off, scrap intent. No other sport in the world looks at a foul and wonders if it was intentional. If a player is caught performing some action or in a situation which is against the rules, DQ them. No notification, no warning (that should be for such things as announcing a spell before mana is in the pool at the Pro level), kick their cheating asses out. I'm of the mind that anyone caught cheating and Q from such an event should then be interviewed by the Head Judge or a Level IV or V and if they think that the offense was delibrate they should be banned from PT play for 6 months or the rest of the season. Now cheating is not only a little more difficult, but it will cost dearly. Another suggestion has to be a hierachy of Judges at the event, The division Head Judge/Not Head Judge leaves to many responsibilities on one set of shoulders. A set up which has a Head Judge, Section Head's and Section Judges would seem more sensible, and would take some weight of the Head's shoulders. Finally, compensate the Judges. I don't mean thousands, but out of the hundred's of thousands of dollars that goes into the PT, surely some can be put aside for paying Judges. Even if $10,000 was top sliced of the prize pool, the effect would be much improved and the prizes would not suffer vastly. When I suggest paying Judges, I mean those Judges who have been asked to help, no those who volunteer on the day (who could be compensated in the usual product way). The Judges the DCI asks to Judge would have some form of contract (making them answerable to the Head Judge, as an employee type person) which bound them to so much work for an agreed rate of pay. Lets take a look at numbers, rates of pay for a 64 and a 96 player PT assuming $10,000 has been topsliced or put asside to pay for Judging Staff. Judge per Table Judge per 2 Tables 64 96 64 96 No of Judges Head Judge 1 1 1 1 Section Judge 2 3 2 3 (32 Players) Floor Judges 4 6 4 6 Table Judges 32 48 16 24 Total 39 58 23 34 Rate of Pay for full event - Head Judge ($800), Section Judge ($400), Floor Judge ($160), Table Judge ($120). Head Judge $800 $800 $800 $800 Section Judge $800 $1200 $800 $1200 (32 Players) Floor Judges $640 $960 $640 $960 Table Judges $3840 $5760 $1920 $2880 Total $6080 $8720 $4160 $5840 Left ($10k) $3920 $1280 $5840 $4160 This could be used to pay side event Judges at Floor Judge Rate, allowing for an additional number of judges. Additional 24 8 36 26 I would suggest that having professional, paid judges who are on a contract to the DCI for the duration of the event, in addition to a far stricter regiem for penalising players who are caught 'cheating' and a smaller number of players in the main event will cut down on the incidents and give a much greater credance to the entire Pro Tour and Magic as a serious sport. John "Cid" Milner DCI Certified Level III Judge