Subject: Re: Should Scouting be made legal? Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1998 17:55:15 +0900 From: Tim Wilkin To: DCIA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM The real problem with scouting is that we're ALL guilty of it! Yes, that's right. I would have no qualms with believing that every single person reading this list who has played a tournament has, at one time or another, had a little chat with a friend about one of the decks being played...while the tournament was still going. How do you stop something that is SO ingrained within the nature of the game. People cannot help but tell their friends of the great tech the faced (and died to!)...or can't help bragging about beating. I noticed with interest that judges at the Worlds did try and keep players from watching other matches but their efforts dwindled over the week. Also, spectators were not allowed within the outer boundaries of the floor area, making it harder for spectators to scout for team mates or friends. One interesting aside though....The Sideboard did have to stop up to the minute coverage of the feature matches because it was felt other competitors might have had net access to see what was being played!!! Of course they could have just stood quietly and watched without being caught for a few minutes...there were generally no penalties! This gets to the issue of scouting...how do you enforce it. Do you kick scouters out of the tourney...you'd very quickly lose a lot of people from the tournament scene. Giving warnings is next to useless because most players aren't concerned about a single warning on any given day. Personally, I don't like scouting of the form of looking over someones shoulder (and talking to friends is not much better), but really, just how do you penalise it!? Regards, Tim -- ______________________________________________ Tim Wilkin Autonomous Flight Research Aerosonde Project email: taw@vortex.shm.monash.edu.au --------------------------------- CRC for Southern Hemisphere Meteorology 3rd Floor, Building 70 Monash University Ph: 61 3 9905 9672 Clayton, VIC, 3168 Fax: 61 3 9905 9689 --------------------------------- Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre 12th Floor, 150 Lonsdale St, Melbourne, VIC, 3001 ______________________________________________