Ask a lvl 3, click to learn more! (all lvl 3s please read)

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exiledforcefreak

RIP Jacob KT 2/16/06
For the longest time I have been answering Yu-Gi-Oh questions to as many people as possible. To people who know me online, to people who have my phone number, to people who ask on the message boards (when someone else doesn't beat me to the answer), and to anyone who asks me in person. The problem with this is that there are many players who are diverted from asking questions on the message boards and from looking up the answers on www.netrep.net or www.ude.com/yugioh because lets face it, a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh players are either impatient or lazy (myself included).

For obvious reasons I have not made my phone number or my AIM name public knowledge. This is why I have launched a new "program". I have created an AIM screen name by the name of "ask a lvl 3". I invite all level three judges to contact me for the password and I invite all players to ask questions.

Before you ask a question, make sure you get one thing clear: this is NOT an official source of rulings; UDE and the official judge's list are the ONLY official source of rulings. You may ask "what good is this if I'm not getting my rules from an official source?" The answer is simple, ask a lvl 3 gets you in direct contact with a knowledgeable judge who will not only give you the answer to your question, but will also discuss and help you understand the game mechanics behind the ruling; this is the essence behind ask a level 3. I also encourage you to use "ask a lvl 3" when a question is specific enough that the answer can not be found from an official source.

As of 2:20pm (Eastern Time) 6/29/07 I am signed onto the account, but may be away. "ask a lvl 3" will go live 6:30pm 6/30/07 and will sign off 11:30pm 6/30/07. My hope is that enough level 3 judges will volunteer to participate in this project so that "Ask a lvl 3" will be signed on around the clock.

As a side note, if you purposely try to annoy and harass "ask a lvl 3" you will be put on ask a lvl 3's ignore list.

Players are still encouraged to try and find the answer themselfs through official sources before asking ask a lvl 3.

Edit: keep in mind that you may get multiple responses to your question if multiple lvl 3 judges are logged in
 
Not a bad idea but doesn't that defeat the purpose of the forums? I like reading other's questions online as I learn from them.
 
There's so many things I can say about this. But there is 1 I have to point out first.

exiledforcefreak said:
For obvious reasons I have not made my phone number or my AIM name public knowledge.
Click to expand...

Um Alex, you have your AIM name on your PUBLIC PROFILE. Just click the link to "exiledforcefreak" and look what anyone can see.

Now, the concept is pretty interesting. However, I must point out that while conceptually being a Level 3 Rules Knowledge person should indicate a greater depth of knowledge, that's not a guarentee. I know several people who might be a L1, L2, or just not even ranked at all whose game knowledge I would trust more than a few L3s that I know.

Further, I agree with SoilentG over there. You can learn by seeing other people's questions and not all questions have a simple straight forward answer (as evidenced by long debates I've seen between L3s). Also, if people have a genuine interest in learning more about the game, they should get off being "lazy" and learn the actual game play mechanics. Direct them to all the places where they can get official information. But if people do have a general question, I'd rather see them post here since that pretty much WAS the very reason why these forums were created. By in large we have a large number of knowledgable people who can handle most questions correctly.

After all... "Give a man a fish vs. teach him how to fish..."
 
I strongly doubt players will stop using the questions boards as a medium for finding the answers to their questions. There already exist many mediums with which to find answers to rulings questions, this is just one more.

Just keep in mind the following:
As other mediums offer things that ask a lvl 3 does not, Ask a lvl 3 offers 1 on 1 discussion on why a ruling is the way it is. Some people just learn better one way then they do another.
 
Ah, I see Densetsu has posted while I was in the middle of responding to soilentG.

First off, your first point:
I do in fact have my aim as public information in my public profile, but that is because COG is a community which I trust. Rarely do you ever see a flame war on COG.

A very small percentage of players know about COG, which is why I have made the same post on Pojo.

Again, this is in no way ment to discourge players from asking questions on forums or anything of the like. In fact, it is my intent that when a simple rules question is asked to "ask a lvl 3", that whoever is on at the time will simply re-direct the question to the proper location via hyper link.

Ask a lvl 3 is for player who "just doesn't get it". I had someone from COG awhile back who was asking questions on the rules forum on how to determine if a card targeted or not. She got answers from a bunch of knowledgeable judges and she just kept asking questions untill she just said "I don't get it". I ended up creating a MSN account and messaged her. I discussed how to determine if a card targets or not, gave examples, the whys and why nots, I gave example questions to see if she was following along and, most importantly, I was able to re-direct her train of thought if she mis-understood what I was saying.

It comes down to the fact that some players just learn differently then others, and that is what ask a lvl 3 is for.
 
Ok, then I have a question for the L3. I'm posting it here only because while I am interested in the 1 on 1 answer, I want feedback from other people too.

This was a scenario that arose while dueling.

Rather than use silly names like Player A and Player B, I'll pick 2 at random. Let's call them Simon and John.

Simon was running a DDT style deck. During his turn he summoned Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, used the effect, and flipped up Monster Gate which was sent to the Graveyard.

John, on his turn Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and then proceeded to flip up Royal Oppression (since obviously he wanted to get Cyber Dragon to the field). After abusing Diamond Dude for some damage, he ended his turn.

Simon, on his next Main Phase 1, went to resolve Monster Gate. John in turn payed 800 for Royal Oppression to negate the effect of Monster Gate.

The question is if this is a legal play and please explain why.
 
You know, that is kind of a nice option. I know there were several times in my early days where my arch nemesis (brother in law) and I were dueling and would run into a hairy issue on the spot. Having an L3 available to answer the question fast is most helpful.

I'd take it a step further, and I'd offer some research/potential services available. The "live web chat" support type things are starting to become quite popular. I'm sure you've seen it on one site or another. You go for help and a little icon says somebody is immediately available. It fires up a built in chat session and you can talk to them right then and there.

I could see something like that working for this type of concept. It wouldn't require the end user to have a specific IM client AND you could have multiple judges logged in at once to help thwart a "sudden surge" in questions. And, in the unlikely event, a judge goes postal, you can simply drop their account instead of having everybody change the password.

This is something I think the judge check program could have really picked up on. Too bad that kinda fell through. I just looked and I have two free systems to install on my web server: Help Center Live and Crafty Syntax Live Help.

Just another angle to throw out there for ya...

As for your question densetsu....I would say you can use Oppression because Oppressions negates the special summoning and the effect thaht caused it, so it doesn't have to be chained to the activation of the card.
 
densetsu_x said:
Ok, then I have a question for the L3. I'm posting it here only because while I am interested in the 1 on 1 answer, I want feedback from other people too.

This was a scenario that arose while dueling.

Rather than use silly names like Player A and Player B, I'll pick 2 at random. Let's call them Simon and John.

Simon was running a DDT style deck. During his turn he summoned Destiny Hero - Diamond Dude, used the effect, and flipped up Monster Gate which was sent to the Graveyard.

John, on his turn Special Summoned Cyber Dragon and then proceeded to flip up Royal Oppression (since obviously he wanted to get Cyber Dragon to the field). After abusing Diamond Dude for some damage, he ended his turn.

Simon, on his next Main Phase 1, went to resolve Monster Gate. John in turn payed 800 for Royal Oppression to negate the effect of Monster Gate.

The question is if this is a legal play and please explain why.
Click to expand...

I might be wrong, probably am, but I would have to say, no, he can't use Royal Oppression. Royal Oppression states:

"Pay 800 life points. Negate the special summon of a monster(s) and the effect that special summoned the monster(s), and destroy both."

I am noting the 'And" portion. Since you can't negate Monster Gate, I am going to say this is an "All or nothing" effect.
 
The AND part was just to reference what it could be used against. You can use it against Cyber Dragon (a monster special summoning itself) as well as you could against Monster Reborn (an effect that would special summon a monster).
 
exiledforcefreak said:
<SNIP>

Just keep in mind the following:
As other mediums offer things that ask a lvl 3 does not, Ask a lvl 3 offers 1 on 1 discussion on why a ruling is the way it is. Some people just learn better one way then they do another.
Click to expand...

True, I learn by example and not by simply reading the rule book. Also, Dillie-O makes a good point about needing an answer fast. (Although how he got past his work DNS blockage, I'll never know :D )
 
densetsu_x said:
The AND part was just to reference what it could be used against. You can use it against Cyber Dragon (a monster special summoning itself) as well as you could against Monster Reborn (an effect that would special summon a monster).
Click to expand...

Course that's one of the reasons I'm here. To learn.
 
The problem I see in this is no different than the problem I constantly see on most Forums. While we are not Official Creators of Rulings, we are often regarded as more "right than wrong", while we have some individuals that can end up being quoted word for word on what they say (even though they could potentially be wrong), simply based on reputation.

Having something that has no "designation" (unless the person chooses to reveal themselves) as to who is responding to you can either lead to all of us looking like the best thing since slice cheese, or the worst thing since the creation of the XFL.

We are already a pretty big group of Level 3's here at COG, and there is rarely a moment where at least one or two are present. I just don't see a need to create a "Hotline".
 
You bring up a good point. But lets just see how it pans out. As for the concerns regarding people no longer using the forums... not a single person has yet to use Ask a lvl 3.

second, as of now myself and one other level 3 are the only people monitoring questions.

third, untill further notice the only garenteed time someone will be available to answer questions will be on saturdays from 6pm-11:30pm. The other judge and myself will be on whenever possible to answer questions.
 
Maybe it would be better to use an e-mail address since 1 small window on Saturday Nights (cause really, we all know people will be sitting at home waiting to talk YGO on a Saturday Night) isn't exactly what one would call "convenient".

Plus if you are going to do it, you should list which L3s are involved. And btw, you never answered my question.
 
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