This is a post that I wrote for the WizKids official HeroClix Judges-only Forum. I suppose not many of you will care, but I thought it came out alright, so I figured I would post it here. (You could actually apply some of what I go over here in a more general way to any rules set that is in place but not really enforced... hmm. Where's that familiar from? Perhaps there will be another article.) In case it is unclear from the beginning, the context is "The company that makes the game wants to crack down on people who are getting free stuff from the company without actually or correctly running the tournaments that are the stipulation for getting the free stuff."
Reporting Bad Judges and Venues: Lose/Lose?
As of late, WizKids seems to be trying to "clean house" and "run a tight ship." They want players to register online, probably so they can get a clearer picture of what the fan-base of tournament players looks like. There was also a recent message concerning padding of tournament attendance numbers sent out via email.
The obvious culprits will be the ones who don't run tournaments at all, but continue "running tournaments," if you know what I mean. Eight players in attendance, but whenever the guy from the next town over stops by at tournament time, the venue is closed. These are the ones that I'm not concerned about here. They are blatantly abusing the system, and no one benefits but themselves. They get not only the tournament prizes, but the Judge LEs sent out for "attendance." Hunt them down, judge them, and eliminate them. Easy enough.
But anything less blatant than this may enter a grey area. There are still obvious offenders: venues that *do* run tournaments, but over-report the number of players in attendance. Venues that run tournaments, but also report tournaments that never occurred as having happened. Venues that mis-assign Fellowship prizes, or play Unrestricted events when the event description states Constructed, or run Constructed tournaments when the event description is for a Sealed.
Punishing the Venue (and the Judge) in these cases is the way it *should* be. There are rules, and they should be followed. The problem lies in what recourse WizKids has to correct these issues. Currently, suspension of the Judge or Venue from the Approved Play program seems to be the only punishment available.
Suspending a Judge or Venue in an area with only one of either is, of course, problematic. Without a place to run tournaments in an area, sales may drop off. Players may not find other places to play. HeroClix may just die, at least in that area.
In an area with multiple Venues, there are still issues. These Venues are usually competing game/comic stores. A business rivalry would be aggravated if one of the stores lost the ability to run tournaments, while the other continued on.
In many of the cases above, the regular players at these venues don't mind these irregularities. I can't count how many posters on other web-sites that I've seen claiming that their Venue hands out 2nd place instead of Fellowship, and no one minds. The players actually attending these events aren't affected by over-reporting of attendance or events. They want a place to play, and a chance to win something.
But, since these Venues aren't following the rules, they could be (should be) shut down. This damages the local community of the game. It seems that a more reasonable punishment could be probation for the Venue/Judge. Perhaps a three month period where they have to *correctly* run and report at least one tournament per month, with no LEs sent to the Judge for attendance rewards. I don't know if having more and different means to punish really solves the problem, however.
There is no incentive for players to report their Venues. If the Venue is crooked, and the player reports them, they may lose their only chance at LEs. Even if the Venue didn't give out (all of) the LEs that it received for prize support, those players may just want a place to play. And if it were found out that a particular player reported a Venue, they may not even be welcome in the store to purchase games or comics.
I'm not saying, here, that we should reward people who turn other people in. Wanting the system to work the way it was intended, which should lead to a better overall HeroClix community, should be reward enough. But if it kills your local community in the short run, is it really worth it?
The only way I see for this to work out is to have conscientious players take a stand against their Venues. Non-confrontationally, these players should approach their local Judges and Venues and let them know that what they're doing is against WizKids Approved Play guidelines. They need to let them know that while they want to keep playing there, they also value that the events be run in the intended manner.
But if the players aren't willing to do this (or don't feel this way), then WizKids may have some hard decisions to make soon.