Subject: Jerks, morons, and stupidity in MTG.
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1998 21:39:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: Glenn MacEachern <glennpop@yahoo.com>
To: fkusumot@ix.netcom.com

    To start, I don't believe that there is any real problem with the
bad elements of MTG, well, there IS a problem, but it's not as extreme
as a lot of people would like to think. The unfortunate fact of the
matter is that the minority of players are rude, obnoxious, sometimes
without any knowledge of the rules, and to be honest,
counter-productive to the real reason we all play this game, to have a
good time. Winning, losing, all that really doesn't matter to the
majority of players, even in a tournament setting, they just want to
have a bit of fun. Sure, it might be the most nerve-bending kind of
fun in the world, but the thrill of the hunt, the subtle jokes made,
the excitement of the draw, getting that card you need to lock up the
game, it's a LOT of fun. But the fact is, there are some players who
argue every little thing, or deny every little fact, or steal, or
cheat, or anything else, to "Win". However, I don't think "Winning" is
what these people really want to do. They want the attention, they
want to annoy and hurt other people. This is why we see it as being a
huge problem, which it is not. There are not more of them, they are
just more vocal.

    Which brings up to the question, "What can we do about them?". The
simple fact is, that there is not much we CAN do about them. They are
there, and there will always be people like them, however, it is not
totally hopeless. What we are left with, is the fact that the majority
are simply better people than the few. We have to ignore them, not
give them what they want. To deal with them and have a sense of humor
about that. Laugh off their lame attempts to try and get us DQ'd. If
they steal a deck, or a box, refuse to play them. Tell your friends
not to play them, anything and everything you can do to remove the
problem, even if it is just a temp solution. What NOT to do is to give
up MTG, just because of the minority, remember, the majority of player
are not like that. In fact, I'd say that a lot of the players are some
of the people I've had the most fun in my life with, thus is the
dilema we have here. I think Unglued is actually a MAJOR step in the
world of casual play, I, for one, intend to bring a small cache of
cards to put in my deck when I feel like giving my games a bit of a
twist. To end, I'd just like to ask everyone to keep up the good
fight, and to keep being just good people:)

"You know that your time is coming 'round, Don't let the Bastards get
you down..."

                                   Glenn MacEachern
                                   Glennpop@yahoo.com
                                   Glenn on IRC

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