so I went to a magic tourny today... Anyways, I was witness to a player throw his opponents dice across the room, and I was wondering if anyone knew of a Local game store that have had incidents of anger/bad sportsmanship, and how they dealt with them. I've convinced the store owner to try some type of gamer rehabilitation program, but I was unaware of any in existence. Ive worked with a volunteer organization that has helped with similar problems. This is not the first incident with the angry player.

The player base behind this game store is rather large, so these type of incidents happen often, which is why I am posing this question to the community so I can get in contact with a game store that is doing this sort of thing...

Well one thing is to keep strict rules in house about incidents like that. Any regular business would have had the manager walk over and ask the person to leave. You can't hand out freebies to gamers and give them leeway they don't get elsewhere. That store isn't their home, and it should be respected along with everyone in there.

I'd just straight up ban that guy from the store. He needs some physiological help if he gets that angry over things made of plastic and cardboard.

Agreed. Ban the guy from the store and send him to anger management. His problem doesn't lie specifically in gaming.

it's been my experience that Adults who still throw tantrums are more or less the least likely to respond well to suggestions that they get help overcoming their longstanding failure to grow out of childish behavior managing their response to being disappointed. The sort of self control that receives this sort of advice is patently lacking in those who haven't grown up yet learned how to live civilly in peaceful societies.

Send him to a nursery so the younglings can teach him some manners

I'd just straight up ban that guy from the store. He needs some physiological help if he gets that angry over things made of plastic and cardboard.

Psychological I think you mean?

And you obviously haven't played Diplomacy. 8-).

In this case, stop him from playing until he's had a long hard conversation with the store owner.

Code of Conduct on the wall. Breach of code means you're asked to leave.

As a teacher, I have my students define the rules and punishments for when rules are broken. They cannot complain about it being unfair as they developed the rules/consequences. I'd say it's a democratic classroom but any adult can see that the students are 'guided' to develop the specific rules and consequences. Oh, look, they're exactly the same as last year's too.

Maybe this is something you could consider. Having regular players contribute to the code of conduct and determining appropriate penalties.

so I went to a magic tourny today... Anyways, I was witness to a player throw his opponents dice across the room, and I was wondering if anyone knew of a Local game store that have had incidents of anger/bad sportsmanship, and how they dealt with them. I've convinced the store owner to try some type of gamer rehabilitation program, but I was unaware of any in existence. Ive worked with a volunteer organization that has helped with similar problems. This is not the first incident with the angry player.

The player base behind this game store is rather large, so these type of incidents happen often, which is why I am posing this question to the community so I can get in contact with a game store that is doing this sort of thing...

So... something about nerds (this was part of a conversation I had with the owner of an FLGS):

We tend to be pretty rules-based. We're systematic. As a rule.

We tend to need the sort of explicit social training that most people get just by being members of society. This isn't true of all nerds, but I think it's more true of nerds than in society at large.

And we compound this issue by declaring acceptable the sort of gross behavior that is _unacceptable_ elsewhere. Too many of us see ourselves in that behavior.

So: how to fix it.

I agree with many of the above people saying that it may not actually be possible. Or, at least not without a lot more coercion than you are probably in a position to have.

I think I'd suggest that a sort of timeout system be implemented. Like a yellow card in soccer*. And I'd do everything possible to make sure that the players know a) why they are being punished and b) that they will be welcomed back to the community when their timeout is over. I'd also call out instances of good behavior. It's far too easy to be patronizing when you do this.

Yes, I'd find better words than "time out".

This sounds a lot like how one might train a child- and it is- because it's the sort of training that a lot of nerds simply _do not get_.

I think I'd even stress the "community" aspect of it. I'd stress it _hard_. That's the key that helps explain what a general violation is. Being a sore loser is bad. Being an obnoxious winner is in many ways _worse_.

I also do wonder about Asperger's and associated issues. Our community has a fairly high incidence of that as well, and I think it might call for specialized tools. Behavior issues _can_ be mitigated and overcome. Empathy _can_ be taught. But someone needs to actually make the effort to do this. And people have to be willing to learn. It's an uphill struggle.

*America won the last World Cup. It's "soccer" until the next one.