What does Fly Casual mean to you?

By Teirdome, in X-Wing

See title. ;)

Since I started playing frequently in February, I can only point to two out of thirty-ish games where I didn't have fun (and that's with a 2-4 record in store championships). Honestly, it's the Fly Casual mentality that I have to thank for these great experiences. As a long time competitive PC gamer, this has been amazing to experience.

Fly Casual (condensed to three points) to me means:

  1. Even if we've been talking for the last 15 minutes, once the first round starts, always shake my opponent's hand, look them in the eye, and genuinely wish them good luck.
  2. Spaceship noises are required.
  3. I'll always let you take your action if you forgot it.

Between my two local stores, we are picking up a new player a week at the moment. I would love to share your thoughts, stories, and experiences with them.

no pants usually.

Enjoy the game and make sure your opponent does too.

It means being someone who's fun to play with/against regardless of how important the game is. While I may try a lot harder to win the World Championship then I would a friendly game with someone at the LGS. I'd try to have the same attitude in both cases.

I see it as have fun with the game...but I've sadly seen I as a way to shame people who have fun playing this game competitively. It's not often...but it does happen.

Edited by Silver leader

Fly Casual was a great idea that has been usurped by the militant casual. Competing in a friendly way is something I like to do.

Sadly, the "Fly Casual" banner has become a rallying point for the militant casual, who is just as bad as any person who takes competing too far. What the "Fly Casual" banner has been used to justify in terms of sloppy play and name calling is so far from the original idea, that I no longer care about the "Fly Casual" banner.

Enjoy the game and make sure your opponent does too.

Pretty much my attitude when it comes to X-Wing. In fact, when I got my movement templates from Litko, I paid the extra $5 to have "Fly Casual" engraved on them.

Casual-Friday.jpg

It's an attitude thing. The guy who came second in the US GenCon National was flying casual, the guy in the first of the Worlds streams last year was flying casual. I'd describe it as not being too competitive, which is not the same thing as trying to win. Trying to win does not mean you're not flying casual, and you don't need to let your opponent cheat to fly casual either. It's not a hard defined thing.

I could say it a lot of different ways, but it simplifies to the Golden Rule: act like somebody you'd want to invite back to play again.

ETA: as TIE Pilot says, Fly Casual is quite distinct from not playing to win. I won't go into it, but to draw a martial arts analogy: your objective in a sparring match should never be to hurt your partner, but if you're not trying to defeat your partner then you're being deeply disrespectful.

Edited by Vorpal Sword

I tend to be a very competitive player, but in my core I'm basically a pretty nice guy. When I play someone outside of a tournament, I let them do take backs, and even change their moves. I laugh and generally have a good time playing this game. When I'm in a tournament, I'm more strict about the rules, but I'm not a ****. I still want both of us to have fun, but I'm not going to let people take back moves or do actions that they have forgotten. If I forget one of my actions, I'm not going to ask for it, because that was my fault. If I make a bone headed mistake, I laugh about it. Unfortunately I've started to see more shaming of people in the name of Fly Casually and I don't like that. That's not what Doug had in mind when he started it.

I think Vorpal Sums it up perfectly with "act like somebody you'd want to invite back to play again."

It's an attitude thing. The guy who came second in the US GenCon National was flying casual, the guy in the first of the Worlds streams last year was flying casual. I'd describe it as not being too competitive, which is not the same thing as trying to win. Trying to win does not mean you're not flying casual, and you don't need to let your opponent cheat to fly casual either. It's not a hard defined thing.

The GenCon game is the biggest example, right? You "may" perform a free cloak action with ACD, and he forgets. It might have only been 1 shot against the uncloaked Phantom, but with the championship on the line, it's a big deal.

It's an attitude thing. The guy who came second in the US GenCon National was flying casual, the guy in the first of the Worlds streams last year was flying casual. I'd describe it as not being too competitive, which is not the same thing as trying to win. Trying to win does not mean you're not flying casual, and you don't need to let your opponent cheat to fly casual either. It's not a hard defined thing.

Yeah, Jeff Berling's play in the National Championship match is the perfect example. His opponent (who ended up winning) forgot to put down his cloak token (or mention it) from ACD. And later in the round, he was like "oh (*&@#..." and Jeff was like "no biggie, we both knew you recloaked" and allowed him to place the token.

Things like that, and giving your opponent the benefit of the doubt when you're unsure if he cleared the rock or not, and allowing him to move all of his PS1 academies and then drop Focus tokens on all of them (!!! the first 6 missed their opportunity to take an action!).

Fly casual = Play like you want to make a friend. At least to me.

Vorpal going all Mr Miyagi on us. Haha. I like it though!

Fly Casual (condensed to three points) to me means:

  1. Even if we've been talking for the last 15 minutes, once the first round starts, always shake my opponent's hand, look them in the eye, and genuinely wish them good luck.
  2. Spaceship noises are required.
  3. I'll always let you take your action if you forgot it.

I think that last one shows what I think is Fly Casual the best. This is even in tournaments.

Fly Casual should never be used as an excuse to play sloppy or fix something you did wrong. Flying Casual also means living with your mistakes and not being a poor sport when someone won't let you fix something.

Edited by VanorDM

Fly Casual (condensed to three points) to me means:

  1. Even if we've been talking for the last 15 minutes, once the first round starts, always shake my opponent's hand, look them in the eye, and genuinely wish them good luck.
  2. Spaceship noises are required.
  3. I'll always let you take your action if you forgot it.

I think that last one shows what I think is Fly Casual the best. This is even in tournaments.

To be fair, I'm not going to let my opponent barrel roll their Academy after I move my Blue or even revealed my dial. But I would let them take a focus.

Edited by Teirdome

Vorpal going all Mr Miyagi on us. Haha. I like it though!

At first I thought this was a reference to the golden rule and I was thinking "Pretty sure that was Jesus." Then I reread the post and saw the martial arts stuff...

Fly Casual (condensed to three points) to me means:

  1. Even if we've been talking for the last 15 minutes, once the first round starts, always shake my opponent's hand, look them in the eye, and genuinely wish them good luck.
  2. Spaceship noises are required.
  3. I'll always let you take your action if you forgot it.

I think that last one shows what I think is Fly Casual the best. This is even in tournaments.

Letting people take their actions really depends on the situation. If the intent is clear, and they just forgot, or they were interrupted for some reason, then sure. If the game state has moved on, and letting them go back would have affected my choices, like boosting or barrel rolling, then I'm not going to let them take it back. If they ask me for a take back after I've done other moves, they have put my in a tough spot. If I say "No" then I come off as a Jerk, and if I say "Yes" then I've sort of screwed myself, and they aren't learning from their mistakes.

I just sum it up as: "Don't be a jerk."

Vorpal going all Mr Miyagi on us. Haha. I like it though!

At first I thought this was a reference to the golden rule and I was thinking "Pretty sure that was Jesus." Then I reread the post and saw the martial arts stuff...

I would have left it at the Golden Rule, and maybe should have. But I have seen a lot of people lately using Fly Casual as a way to shame competitive players, and that's not how it was ever supposed to work. Among other things, you're not much of an ambassador for the game if you run someone out of your group for being "too competitive".

what does "fly casual" mean?

fly-casual.jpg

Don't be a **** when you lose.

Flying casual should be introspective; something that we use to moderate and regulate our own behavior.

The moment we start trying to decide if the label applies to others it becomes something ugly -- an attack, or a judgment, or a competition, or an attempt to coerce behavior, or something else similarly unpleasant.

When framed like this, it's much less important that we all agree on exactly what it means.

Don't be a **** when you lose.

isn't that post-flying?

for my more serious answer (though I feel that image captures the gist of the thread :P) "fly casual" in my local area translates to being forgiving of accidents and not being anal. Bases may get nudged, dice may be cocked, ******* B-wings cling to other ships like lost puppies in search for a home, things happen. While we strive to be as precise as possible to ensure the best gameplay experience we can, we won't leap at each others' throats when mistakes occur and we're very accommodating to newer players.

and thank god too, because I would've gotten some serious **** from less reasonable people. Most of the ships I really love flying and more accident prone than most (I already covered the B-wing). The most recent trend is my Star Viper on the colder nights, because those stupid wings just love snagging on my sweater.

So yeah, don't be anal; be forgiving. At least until store champs. All bets are ******* off there :P

Edited by ficklegreendice