Subject: Playing like a Professional Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 04:16:55 -0600 From: "Steve Vig" To: A View from the Outside A response to "Playing like a Professional" by Cathy Nicoloff By Steve Vig I agree with Cathy that it is always annoying, and sometimes upsetting, to be the victim of someone else's bad manners. While this is a problem that is occurring more frequently in America and world-wide (e.g. recent legislation in France to prohibit shouting in public places) it is not one that is easy to solve. I first played Magic a number of years ago, just after the game was first published, but I stopped for a number of years until this summer. My re-introduction to the game of Magic came with a number of surprises: cards worth over $100, "types" of tounaments, and a host of new card abilities to learn. One of the surprises I had came at the first Magic tournament I ever attended. I wasn't there to play, just to watch, have fun, and maybe learn a thing or two from the from the local gurus. I was shocked to discover that John Macenroe had switched from playing tennis to Magic! I mean this figuratively, of course. John Macenroe was world famous for his unsportsmanlike conduct, and was known to do things like throw his racket, swear at opponents and spectators, and throw temper tantrums when he lost. While there are not yet many players who are rude to that extent, I have seen enough bad behavior that playing in a tournament just doesn't seem like fun. While I have played in a couple of small booster pass and sealed deck events in the back room of our local gaming shop, I will probably never play in a regular tournament. I'm just not interested in paying $20 to be harassed when I could go downtown and get trash-talked for free at any local bar. I have a lot of fun playing Magic, but the tournament scene just turns me off. I would encourage all of you who play the tournament circuit to make sure any way you can that poor behavior doesn't become the accepted norm at all Magic events. There are a lot of people like me out here who would love to play in a fun tournament, and we won't even be upset when you beat the pants off of us in the second round. We're only going to play if it's fun, though, and you are the ones who will decide if Magic tournaments look like the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, or a group of people playing their favorite game on a Saturday afternoon. Thank you for reading my input on the subject of Magic Manners, and let me just say once again the only sentence worth repeating in my entire response: We're only going to play if it's fun.