Grand Moff Boris wrote:
I think its a lot of unncessary work.
We could use DCI and do our own events (ie qualifiers, regional tournaments, etc.), and then let them worry about the Championship.
Despite everything, I still think the solution to this is cooperation not competition. We start butting heads with them and you think they're difficult to deal with now - just watch. Right now, we still have allies in the company. I don't want to alienate them, or force them into a position where they can't support us.
I completely agree with Boris. (Cue fireworks spectacular!)
The way DCI handles SWM is, at times, mindbending. But given how little it actually matters at the local level and how easy it is to just report into their system and ignore the downsides I really don't see a need to something akin to boycotting it.
Would a big fan organized tourney be cool? Yes, but barring some rule-craziness I don't think anyone intends, you could still do this and report it into the DCI system.
Would a better ranking system be cool? Yes, but you can report into this system
in addition to reporting into DCI.
Would it be nice to be able to immediately alter the equivalent of the DCI Floor Rules? Yes, but if your local venue is affected that significantly by the FR, just fix it yourself and keep quiet about it. (While I can't advocate it officially on WotC's board, if you have a local problem with a map or something else similarly minor and it's univerally agreed upon by your local players just quietly ignore the rule and make it fun. The ratings part is meaningless anyway and the DCI floor rules are ignored so much through ignorance anyway that a small house rule or two that helps your local environment just isn't something to worry about. I think what they've shared about WPN finally indicates that WotC has purchased a clue about this situation and it's not likely to be an issue down the road even if you've got some local noisemakers.)
EDIT: I was so excited agree with Boris that I guess I guess I jumped the gun by not reading the rest of the thread first. It appears your already moving toward what I said above.