State of the V:EKN - October 2013

Hello Gines (and all),

my quick thoughts about the topics mentioned:

Video demos

Sounds OK, though I doubt grasping the concepts of the game alone is really one of the major issues in getting new players aboard.

I personally think that asking people to come and join a game where they need to invest a large amount of money into buying cards no longer sold is more the issue.

Obviously, this might vary by location.

Overall, yes, something which I would support.

Translations

I supported the translation of the rules into German language years ago, and kept the work upodated whenever a new rulebook was printed (LSJ supported me in that).

I was never convinced that this was foudn helpful by anybody - no feedback ever came from anybody outside of the translation team.
Thus, I stopped this activity after a while.

Having said this, I am sure some versions of the earlier German language rules will probably be out there (I do have my copies), and could serve as basis fora new German version.

World Ranking incentives

I do not like this idea at all.

As far as I see, a large number of tournaments are not being rated at all.
Before starting to throw prizes of whatever nature at Top X players, we need to make sure that the Ranking system is indeed used.

I always report my events, even if I am not personally interested in the Ranking system since years, after White Wolf destroyed it.

What is another point that I do not like is that only the Top X plyers (the "usual suspects") are supposed to get rewards.

This, for me, is the same issue as only the finalist in events getting the good prize support - the additional boosters go to the guys who play for years, and probably alraedy have a big card collection. All paid for, via entrance fees (that cover the expenses for prize support) from the pockets of the not-so-strong players.

Therefore, I try to make sure that players are also being rewarded for joining at all in the first place: Trying to give prize support to everybody, holding random prize drawings amongst all participants, etc.

Shouldn't we reward players for attending official events, instead of giving additional stuff to players who already got additional stuff?


Standardization of European Championship applications

Makes sense to me. Of course, I do work as Process Analyst in a major IT company, and standardized request forms are part of my daily life... B-)

VEKN sets

Absolutely!

The release of "Danse Macabre" was a major event for me, rejuvenating my perception of the game (and removing some of my pessimism created by the "Stalling" of the POD discussions).
Yes, I would have liked to see POD materialize - but I do want new cards even more, even if they are "just" PDF.

Please keep them coming.

Judges’ Guide

Very good idea!

Rules Test for Players

Also very much seconded.

I do have the habit to re-read on the rules, and the rulings, before each major vent that I do organize, and every year find new suprises... after almost 20 years!
Some kind of playful quiz might really be fun, and helpful.

Better communication

This for me is key, and the lack of regular communication was the most annyoing issue I had with the VEKN in th past (although that has improved over the last months).
Please keep the news coming!

Best regards,

Hardy Range

fredsct wrote:

It rewards attendance at tournaments, which is obviously a good thing if you're promoting the game but a bad thing if you're trying to be fair to all the players who live in all the far-flung outlying places who cannot reasonably attend many tournaments or large tournaments.

I suggest that instead of trying to penalize people who are currently active, try to build up your player base and organize more tournaments.

Also, like, Gines said, reporting the tournaments might b e, erm, a novel idea...

I admit that theres no fix for some things. Brad Cashdollar won a tourney in Atlanta with an Ezmerelda free states rant deck, but he never submitted the list.

Jay Kristoff had a laptop with ALL the archons for a lng span of time die before he submitted them. Hexeventually salvaged and reported them.

I dont propose that we have a problem holding tournaments, for all i know the best player in the world lives in a shack in antartica with only penguins to play with. But the frequency skews things. As i said, id be unhappy if the same theory was used back when my local seen boomed with more tournaments than casual games, simetimes making 7 tournaments a month with >12 people at all of them, averaging just shy of 20 each.
But, several things need to volster playerbases. And im thinking more award trophy than packs for prizes. Or rickstock/bik76 credit.

Damnans wrote:

As you say, the definition of "reasonable" may vary. For example, in Spain only 20 out of 241 players have participated in more than 8 tournaments since the 13th of October, 2012. Those 20 are approximately the players who sometimes travel around to play.

I'm confused why this statistic matters. Of course, in any population of players, some will be serious tournament players and others only casual and occasional participants for lots of reasons, no matter where you are or what your situation. The critical point here is that to acheive the same score requires completely different levels of effort, depending on where in the world one lives.

Damnans wrote:

fredsct wrote:

You are kidding yourself to frame the problems with American ratings as "reporting problems".

With the current rating system, US events were regularly reported in the White Wolf era, and therefore there were some US players in the top 10.

Again, I am confused why this matters. Sure, at one time there may well have been areas in the United States where plenty of tournaments were held and reported - and at the exact same time, there were other areas in the United States and elsewhere in the world that didn't. The ranking system was just as inanely unfair 5 or 10 years ago - you just couldn't tell from looking at list of the very top tier of American players.

Fred

Lönkka wrote:

fredsct wrote:

It rewards attendance at tournaments, which is obviously a good thing if you're promoting the game but a bad thing if you're trying to be fair to all the players who live in all the far-flung outlying places who cannot reasonably attend many tournaments or large tournaments.

I suggest that instead of trying to penalize people who are currently active, try to build up your player base and organize more tournaments.

Where on Earth did you get the idea that I was trying to penalize people who are currently active? People who are currently active have an interest in not supporting an arbitrary, bad format for running a continental tournament and passing out prizes, support for which is likely to be seen as a kind of an "old boys network", not worth participating in or associating with.

Fred