I'm always hesitant to post in these threads because I don't want people to see the GGA in front of my name and just say "well he's 16 bits boy, so he's just blindly following, there is no substance here". All of the opinions I express are my own, not parroting 16 Bit.
First, I'd like to say I think Hippos post is very well written, and it's obvious that he has put a lot of thought into this and isn't just snap reacting to something. TYM needs more of that. Also, I would like to say that I'm glad this post is still open. I had some concerns when I saw it based on previous experience, that this thread would be closed. Thank you TYM for letting us discuss this.
Final Round 2013 was the first tournament I ever went to. Because of that, Final Round will always hold special meaning for me. When 2014 came, it was the tournament I was most excited for. My experience at 2014 however, was a different story. I'm not going to rehash the details, I laid them all out in Legions thread post Final Round. Summary for context: I was unhappy with the tournament.
Fast forward to now, months later, and the fallout ends up with two players being banned. Now I'm a reasonable man, and I understand that a TO is well within their right to disallow anyone they want from attending. I am concerned for how this will affect tournaments moving forward.
Revolver made a very good point. How often in this community does this scenario happen.
Player X gets top 8 at a major
Player Y says "doesn't matter, not all the comp was there."
This happens daily. Now this is essentially being forced on any tournament run by these TOs. The prestige of doing well at these tournaments is weakened.
I feel bad for the east coast players. As far as I can tell, their tournaments are cheapened because instead of taking criticism, the TOs chose to just swat away the detractors. That sounds like a business I personally do not want to spend my money with.
I think it's a shame for us as a community that we are deprived of two of our bigger personalities and talents in competition, over what basically amounts to grown men not being able to take criticism over a job they did.
Homelee also used a good analogy, and I think it's very accurate. If I'm unhappy with my service somewhere, I express that. I don't get banned from a restaurant for letting them now their service was sub par. And make no mistake, these tournaments are a business, and the players are the customers.
I respect that TOs have a right to allow or disallow players at their tournaments. But in this case, I vehemently disagree with it because of the reasons the ban was laid down. I personally can't spend any of my hard earned money with a business that operates this way. Without change, I will not attend any tournament affiliated with any of the parties in question.
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