Normally I don't post on such things. I don't have time. But I'm going to make time here.
This past weekend was the Ft Worth Regionals. Jason and I judged along with two new judges that worked with us. Overall, it ran rather smooth. We had a couple of minor bumps and at least one bad ruling (my fault for not thinking it through properly) and a set of outdated errata. The errata? Oh well. It could have been worse.
However, a couple of things came up that disturb me.
I have a pretty good grasp on rulings. I should. I lived and breathed them for two years. But that was also before all this nonsense started with changing the way the game was played. Of course, the more I look at it, the more I realize how little has changed. Ignition effects is nothing more than a fancy term for cost effect. If anything, it really doesn't help anything. It only causes more for players to argue with judges about. It certainly doesn't make the game any clearer.
But then we have things like Priority. I'm almost to the point of completely ignoring anything to do with priority. There is no clear statement of how it works, what kind of critters would utilize it and we're back to seeing "lists" on the judge's list concerning types of cards that will have priority. (Okay, it's actually an "Ignition List", but you get the point). I'm curious if Kevin has suddenly approved the use of "lists" now when he made such a big deal about how he didn't approve of the Priority List (that he actually approved the first time around). But I certainly have a problem with seeing threads on various forums about how it works and yet there is nothing from "da man" about and we're coming up on a year since he said it would be out in two weeks.
But neither here nor there ... we have multiple statements from Kevin saying that the only place you can get official rulings is on the official site. We have multiple statements from Kevin saying that the official judge's list isn't official. UDE needs to get things straight and talk one talk and walk a single line.
So, here's my proposition for UDE: get rid of these "Netrepâ„¢s", as a position. They did a good thing by changing them to "Rules Coordinator" and "Ruling Lead". That's a start. Make these guys intimately involved in the rulings process. Don't make them mere mouthpieces. Put them in the middle.
Either this, or do away with them and only let Kevin and Dan answer ruling questions. Period. Of course, we'll be back in the Dark Ages (which is exactly where Kevin wants us), but we'll have official answers from the official source without a middle man (or men).
It's time to expect a certain quality to the development of rulings for this game. And only through the actions of the players and judges will UDE actually do anything. It took a lot of pressure to get the majority of the resources that the players/judges have now. And 99% of that pressure and 99% of those resources came from the Netrepâ„¢ Archivist Team (that eventually became Empyre Group). As Empyre Group continues to work toward other support options (for other games, other companies), the more I'm finding out just exactly how much UDE is still operating under the Cave Man Principle compared to other companies. It's time for the people that play these games, that have to rule on these games to stand up and expect that the distributor of these games actually support them properly.
This is a bit disjointed, I admit. I have too many things on my plate, working for more for the players and community, to sit around and gripe about UDE and their incompetance. But I'm also not going to sit around and listen to players complain that Jason or I or Jeff or any other judge out there doesn't know anything about judging when the resources available from UDE suck so bad as to make these kinds of issues a constant problem. And, one will notice, that the gripes that players have about judges can always be boiled down to the same issue: lack of resources, lack or rulings, lack of support from UDE to actually make a difference in the field.
'Nuff said. I'm going back to do real work again.
bishop
This past weekend was the Ft Worth Regionals. Jason and I judged along with two new judges that worked with us. Overall, it ran rather smooth. We had a couple of minor bumps and at least one bad ruling (my fault for not thinking it through properly) and a set of outdated errata. The errata? Oh well. It could have been worse.
However, a couple of things came up that disturb me.
I have a pretty good grasp on rulings. I should. I lived and breathed them for two years. But that was also before all this nonsense started with changing the way the game was played. Of course, the more I look at it, the more I realize how little has changed. Ignition effects is nothing more than a fancy term for cost effect. If anything, it really doesn't help anything. It only causes more for players to argue with judges about. It certainly doesn't make the game any clearer.
But then we have things like Priority. I'm almost to the point of completely ignoring anything to do with priority. There is no clear statement of how it works, what kind of critters would utilize it and we're back to seeing "lists" on the judge's list concerning types of cards that will have priority. (Okay, it's actually an "Ignition List", but you get the point). I'm curious if Kevin has suddenly approved the use of "lists" now when he made such a big deal about how he didn't approve of the Priority List (that he actually approved the first time around). But I certainly have a problem with seeing threads on various forums about how it works and yet there is nothing from "da man" about and we're coming up on a year since he said it would be out in two weeks.
But neither here nor there ... we have multiple statements from Kevin saying that the only place you can get official rulings is on the official site. We have multiple statements from Kevin saying that the official judge's list isn't official. UDE needs to get things straight and talk one talk and walk a single line.
So, here's my proposition for UDE: get rid of these "Netrepâ„¢s", as a position. They did a good thing by changing them to "Rules Coordinator" and "Ruling Lead". That's a start. Make these guys intimately involved in the rulings process. Don't make them mere mouthpieces. Put them in the middle.
Either this, or do away with them and only let Kevin and Dan answer ruling questions. Period. Of course, we'll be back in the Dark Ages (which is exactly where Kevin wants us), but we'll have official answers from the official source without a middle man (or men).
It's time to expect a certain quality to the development of rulings for this game. And only through the actions of the players and judges will UDE actually do anything. It took a lot of pressure to get the majority of the resources that the players/judges have now. And 99% of that pressure and 99% of those resources came from the Netrepâ„¢ Archivist Team (that eventually became Empyre Group). As Empyre Group continues to work toward other support options (for other games, other companies), the more I'm finding out just exactly how much UDE is still operating under the Cave Man Principle compared to other companies. It's time for the people that play these games, that have to rule on these games to stand up and expect that the distributor of these games actually support them properly.
This is a bit disjointed, I admit. I have too many things on my plate, working for more for the players and community, to sit around and gripe about UDE and their incompetance. But I'm also not going to sit around and listen to players complain that Jason or I or Jeff or any other judge out there doesn't know anything about judging when the resources available from UDE suck so bad as to make these kinds of issues a constant problem. And, one will notice, that the gripes that players have about judges can always be boiled down to the same issue: lack of resources, lack or rulings, lack of support from UDE to actually make a difference in the field.
'Nuff said. I'm going back to do real work again.
bishop