I'm pretty sure I'll regret this post in about twenty years, when I'm running for presidential office, but here we go...
Let me start by saying, I made a lovely response to your first post last night. It flowed (flawlessly) from defending TILEWARS/Tim, to questioning your outrageous post. It was brilliant and it was perfect. As far as my posts go. Not a winning paper for a scholarship, but it would've knocked your socks off!
Well, I've got that post saved, perhaps for a college thesis, but it was far too argumentative and rude for my tastes. I'm making the effort (as per a discussion I had with Dean a few weeks ago) to be a bolder person, and I believe that starts with standing up to the, well, crap, that people say.
As I dissect your second reply, lets start at the worst part and end with the best...
Grand Moff Boris wrote:
I don't really want to argue about it, but this event was mismanaged, and I am not necessarily blaming you. I do think it was inappropriate for the judge of the event - any event - to play in something that conflicts. I wanted to participate in several events but wasn't able to do so because of the mass battle scheduled times.
I wrote up a few different responses to this block of text, but this portion of your post didn't deserve any of them. I hope you'll consider apologizing to Tim for this, uncalled for, paragraph...
Grand Moff Boris wrote:
Either way it went, someone got the short of the stick. There's really no defending the choices made IMO.
I wish we had a number of the people (who planned on playing in the Championship Event) that overslept, because of TILEWARS... I'm sure if those guys were to contact Past Times, they'd have a refund heading their way before the week was out!
I'm not saying it was right to start the tournament that late, or to have the rounds last that long (I'm a fan of thirty-minute rounds!), but there was nothing stopping the players from dropping at any given time. Heck, Tim said at the very start that rounds would last an hour. Its GenCon. Things run late. Games go to time. That should be the first warning if any players were hoping to play in an hour long tournament, starting at 10:01, the night before the Championship.
Grand Moff Boris wrote:
It was a tough situation, but I think its important to understand that instead of forcing people to miss their $12 ticket event (which conflicted with the run-time of another event, btw) we had people that ultimately lost $20 spent on the Championship because they mistakenly believed the event they signed up for the night before would run and finish on time as close as possible. Should they have just skipped Tile Wars and given up their $12 instead?
Again, I'm not saying starting that late was a good thing, but it was assumed that we would only have to play three rounds in the team tournament: More than enough time to play in both the Team and TILEWARS tournaments. As I said above, things run late, no matter how things are planned out. Are you saying that, on Thursday, the 200 point tournament shouldn't have been pushed back? I don't know about you, but I need to eat lunch and dinner if I want to... Well... Live.
From what I can gather, you're saying its better for fourteen people, $168.00 in tickets, to miss playing in a tournament, than for one/two people (I've only heard of your friend*), $20.00-40.00 in tickets, to miss playing in a tournament. Not saying anyone should have to miss a tournament, but people invested money in both, thinking things would run on time.
Business 101: If you cant make everyone happy, make the majority happy. Sorry, but thats the long and short of it.
Of course, it shouldn't have to come down to that, but where do you draw the line? Everyone I spoke with/played in the TILEWARS tournament was having a great time, regardless of the late-factor... Yet people dropped. What was stopping your friend after the first round finished? If I had to guess, I'd think Tim hit the nail on the head. It sounds like your friend thought he would be able to get up the next morning, played all four rounds of TILEWARS then, ultimately, failed to wake up/pull himself out of bed.
Grand Moff Boris wrote:
Actually, my friend is 14, not an adult. He also wasn't the only person to miss the Championship as a result of the late night, though. EDIT: I don't think he was angry about missing the Championship, but it doesn't matter if he was or not.
I'm seventeen years old, not considered an adult by any means. Yet, I believe I had the longest drive (well, ride, but the way my mom drives, theres no way I'm shutting my eyes!! hahaha) to/from GenCon out of anyone who played in the TileWars tournament (can anyone boast a twenty minute ride home at about 3:30am?), but I was up, semi-alert, at the convention center, had purchased two dozen doughnuts and remembered not only my miniatures and badge, but also my clothing... Thank the Lord... By 9:00am that morning.
I'm not a morning person, but (with the responsibility of getting some doughnuts to the convention center) I forced myself out of bed nearly forty minutes before I would have or should have (had those doughnuts not been for the Godfather), and pried my mom's eyes open. Is it really such a tough thing to wake up with the other one/two/three people you're rooming with and walk the five minutes to Hall F? I'm sorry your friend missed the championship, but its not Tim's, or Jim's, or TILEWARS' fault.
* Speaking of your friend, who were his roommates? A mom/dad? A few worldly-gamers? Its not like his parent(s) or fellow-gamers would have left their fourteen year old son/friend to play in the tournament without him. Chances are, he was woken up, and refused to get ready. I honestly cant see any other possibilities.
Ninja'd. Right as I was doing my final grammar/spelling check, too!! I'm too sleepy to respond to your third post, but I'll send you a PM tomorrow.
...
Blah, I've said what I need to say. I hate that my first post in this epic topic sounds like it does, but I don't remember what happened most of Thursday/Friday/Saturday, so I cant quite post a tournament report.
I'd love some of those squad lists, though ... If I had them, maybe I could fudge my way through the results ... Hmm ... I shouldn't be typing this, should I? ...