Drop Outs.

Hey everyone,

  Playing at 'Ard Boyz this year, I saw something from multiple players, a very shocking turn of events. Before round three started, I was talking with everyone about their games, and giving what advice I could. Most of them just said "there is no hope of placing so why bother?" Talk about a major grinding of the gears, (I thought I was the Emo army...) "Why not?" I replied. "It's all about the experience, yeah you can't take the glory home today, but try something new with your list or just have fun. Just don't quit!"

  Apparently I was speaking gibberish and people did not get my point. Out of twelve people only six of us played in the final match. I seriously did not like the attitude, so who is to blame? You spend all this time, money and energy to play in 'Ard Boyz or any other event. Is it the player, do they let being low man get to them? Is it that there are a few players that are so good that they scare away the competition? Or do the Tournament Organizers fault for bad pairing or letting them leave. I don't know but I have to get to the bottom of this!

 Some events, the 11th Company Event, are stating if you don't play all your games you cannot return to another event. So does making a black list help keep people in? What if you just aren't feeling your list or if you are just having a bad day? Who knows, but they do have the event bracketed so everyone can be a winner!

   My local friendly gaming store has asked the top players to soften their list ('Ard Boyz is different). How is that fair? Penalize the good players for being too good just so people stay and play? I can see it could bring out a bigger crowd of new people, and make tournaments grow, but then where is the fun for that player? I still like brackets for everyone to play in, it just makes it fair. But it is a tournament, fair goes out the window, come to win and have fun. Keep all the pseudo-mellow drama at home and make a goal to beat that top player (I know I still am trying to beat them!). At the end of the day if you loose well, I am sorry to say you loose, do not let that hold you back! Keep working on your strategies, try new things and most important practice practice practice!

What do you think can be done to make tournaments more fun for people so they wont drop out? While keeping that edge of competition. Share your thoughts!

Deryk