Grand Prix Portland: Competitive Gaming

I've played in quite a few Magic tournaments, and consider myself a pretty skilled player. I have a solid rating, consistently do well at local FNMs, and have won a number of 50+ player events. However, until this weekend, I had never really tested my skills at a competitive level. Grand Prix Portland had 1371 players in the main event and $30,000 in cash prizes, so it definitely qualifies.

It was a long and varied experience, but in the end I came to two conclusions:

1) I am skilled enough that if I want, I could play Magic at a competitive level.

2) I don't want that.

I love playing Magic, and would have no objection to putting in the time and effort it would take to get my game to a professional level. And winning money by playing a game you enjoy is awesome. But I learned that I don't like sitting down to a game with the knowledge that I've got hundreds of dollars on the line. Some people may like the thrill of competition that offers, but for me it makes the game feel too much like work.

I'm glad I tried it and pleased with how well I did. I considere making day two alone quite an accomplishment for my first serious tournament, and I finished 75th after going in 3-0 my first draft pod. (I would have made Top 64 for $200 if my friend and I had gotten the math right and drawn our final round.) But at the end of both days I was tired and only staying in for the chance at money, which is not what I want my gaming to be.

The GP had some other fun stuff going on that I would have liked to see more of - we had quite a few high profile Magic artists and Richard Garfield himself. (Another friend from Willamette got to draft with Garfield's kids, which is a pretty awesome brag.) There are infinite people there to play or trade with, and the various dealers present some unique opportunities for buying/selling cards. Playing for the big money was a fun thing to try, but in the future I think I'll be the guy who takes my 1950+ rating over to the casual tables for EDH and cubing.

Scrubs and Playing for Fun

My post "Playing to Win versus Playing for Fun" is probably the worst article on this blog. It's a subject I have strong feelings about, but they can be difficult to articulate. I'm going to take another crack at the subject, focusing on a different aspect of the issue.

Today my roommate was playing Storm of the Imperial Sanctum (a DOTA-ish game on Starcraft 2) and an opponent called him a "scrub" for choosing a character rather than playing on random, as the opponent had. I can only dream that one day that person will learn the irony of their words.

The term "scrub" refers to someone who tries to impose their view of the "right" way to play on other people. A scrub is someone who considers any tactic that can defeat them to be "unfair," or even, bizarrely, "noobish." They can be found in all walks of casual and professional gaming, whether they're complaining about grabs, rushes, combos, or builds.

Obviously, if you're playing to win (at a tournament or the like), scrubs should simply be ignored. The difficulties arise when people are playing for fun and have strong preferences in how they enjoy a game.

TV Tropes says, in its infinite wisdom:

"What ultimately makes the Scrub undesirable isn't the rulesetting; it is the attitude. What distinguishes the Scrub from someone who is simply trying to make their game fun without having to invest hugely into skill progression is that the Scrub believes that his way is the only proper way to play the game."

Wanting to play a game a certain way at your kitchen table should not automatically be considered scrubbish. There's a big difference between "Don't play character X because he's cheap," and "I don't enjoy playing against character X." The latter should be respectfully considered. The former should be ignored, or ideally retrained into the latter. This is not to say that any whim of your friends should be taken as law.

Obviously, different people within a group will often have different expectations and desires, but this is true in all areas of life. If you can decide where your group wants to go for dinner, hopefully you can figure out how they prefer to game.