I remember my days playing H***C*** and one of the great aspects of playing in tournaments was the chance to win something for being a good sport. The concept involved all the players choosing someone they had played during the course of the tournament as a good sport. (Yes, sometimes the winner was the top vote getter and then the second highest vote got the award.) It certainly softened the blow of losing and definitely affected how the diehards played. As I've just started in the past few months, I'm not aware if any attempt was made to make this part of the tournament scene.

I bring this up because I heard one person at a store I play at say he disliked playing new players. Another guy I played had 3 scouts and a Mist Hunter (150 point game) and was pretty clear about not wanting to "coach" me. During the game, he rolled before I could declare Target Lock rerolls. There was a point when he was doing manuevers and my ship got bumped as well as an asteroid and when it was all settled, my straight movement took me across the tip of the asteroid. I argued that I set up that manuever with a clear feel for avoiding the rock but he insisted I take the damage roll.

I'm not sure a sportsmanship reward would change that particular player but it could encourage new players to engage in tournaments for a possible prize beyond the participant reward.

Your thoughts?

As much as I enjoy Sportsmanship Awards (I have a collection of them from multiple systems)... They are always fraught with controversy in the games that include them, and they further break up the "casual" vs "competitive" crowds. They add a divisive element to those games, or exacerbate one that already exists - as it does in X-Wing, no matter how you try to ignore it.

Sounds nice to me, but I'd have thought that was for individual tournaments to implement, not FFG.

That should probably be handled by local tournament organizers.

At the first big tournament I ever went to, I got utterly creamed. It was later announced that I'd won a $10 movie gift certificate because an opponent had "reported me" for the sportsmanship award that I wasn't aware of. He'd been lamenting that he'd forgotten to use all the FCS on his B-Wings (back when those were a thing) and I told him that using them was obviously his intent, since there'd be no real reason not to, and I let him have 'em.

Even though I got clobbered in the tournament, it was still a pretty positive experience.

Sounds nice to me, but I'd have thought that was for individual tournaments to implement, not FFG.

All FFG needs to do is put something in prize support or even do something for stores to encourage local flavor to supporting sportsmanship. It has to start at the top.

Oh sure let's all get participation trophy's too.

Eventually guys like you describe will run new players out and they can circle jerk with all 3 players that are left. Competition brings out the best and worst in people. I think there is no good system for this, they tried something like this at work for giving kudos the receiver got a $5 gift card, it ended up abused by schemers and genuine people didn't want to be bothered by the effort. I am not a fan of participation awards so I may be biased but to me 2nd place on down is just a list of people who didn't win.

"If you're not first you're last", Ricky Bobby

Why should people who lose at games be given prizes?

Stop sucking. Not everyone gets a trophy.

Sounds nice to me, but I'd have thought that was for individual tournaments to implement, not FFG.

All FFG needs to do is put something in prize support or even do something for stores to encourage local flavor to supporting sportsmanship. It has to start at the top.

FFG don't need to don anything though, the tournament organisers can provide their own prize if they want to?

Sportsmanship is a touchy subject. If scores are handled incorrectly, they can become a way to punish an opponent you didn't like or who beat you (sore loser much?) and really mess things up. I've seen it done as a score in addition to the game score, where you would choose from 0 to 3 points to award on sportsmanship, and that factored into tournament score. Never worked out well.

If you want to encourage good sportsmanship, it would probably work best as a check box on the results sheet - check if you felt your opponent was a particularly good sport or extremely fun to play against. It assumes everyone is generally going to be a good sport and give a chance to call out those who went above and beyond while preventing sore losers from using it for revenge. At the end, the player with the most checks (votes) could get the award.

Why should people who lose at games be given prizes?

Stop sucking. Not everyone gets a trophy.

He explained why quite clearly - to encourage nice behaviour. If that doesn't interest you, don't try to win it.

It's a good instinct, but when we're talking about FFG mandated prizes that someone is responsible for assigning, you're asking for trouble when you make the winning criteria something as subjective as "sportsmanship".

Ultimately, you'll need to take matters into your own hands if you want a local community of players who aren't toolbags. I lucked out; all my local guys are genuinely friendly and encouraging. Welcoming new players is in the mission statement on our Facebook page, and having a good time is priority number one.

You probably need to ask yourself what you can do to help grow and encourage such a community in your area, rather than asking FFG to help encourage it for you. Wish you lots of luck, though.

Way too easy to abuse. I think most people would write down there friends and if you beat them there would be no way they'd vote for you.

Why should people who lose at games be given prizes?

Stop sucking. Not everyone gets a trophy.

Because building a healthy, thriving, and fun gaming scene may be more important than winning a tournament?

Why should people who lose at games be given prizes?

Stop sucking. Not everyone gets a trophy.

I like how you write this and your sig says fly casual

I like how you write this and your sig says fly casual

You must be new here. That's a mockery. PGS has a certain amount of disdain for "fly casual".

Good times? Good times.

Fly casuals dead brah, the Roanoke 8 killed it off.

It sounds like a great idea because no one wants to play with a jerk. I don't think people should be punished for being jerks, but if you want to encourage a friendly atmosphere why not reward someone who stands out?

It's not a lame participation award, and it shouldn't be something crazy valuable.

I can't stress that enough. It should not be something that is so crazy valuable important that people start trying to game the system and it turns into a popularity contest. Remember the Father's Day cards? They're nice, but nothing that anyone was going to go crazy trying to get. Keep it simple, just an added touch or "buff" to the friendly environment.

Fly casuals dead brah, the Roanoke 8 killed it off.

And the elimination of IDs killed that.

Why should people who lose at games be given prizes?

Stop sucking. Not everyone gets a trophy.

Some of us also don't care about trophies. As I've noted a few times on these boards, alt art cards or acrylic templates aren't such a big deal as to be a d*ck over them. That said, given your admissions all over the boards to playing whatever is the go-to meta list (Palp Aces, U-boats, etc), I don't think you have any room to tell anyone how much they "suck" simply because they don't win.

Who earns more respect? The person who flies the same dominant list as everyone else and places well, or the person who uses a little imagination to create their own list and plays it well, even if they lose?

I don't think participation trophies are the way to go, but I think it bears notation that comments like yours represent the kind of attitude that can easily shrink the competitive base of this game, simply because you seem to price yourself in being rude and condescending to anyone who doesn't share your WAAC mentality. If the demeanor you present on these boards is also how you present yourself in real games, I would find a game with you more aggravating than fun, which defeats the point of any GAME.

Now, as I refuse to be part of a flame war, I'll excuse myself from the discussion. I've made my point and see no need to take it any further.

Why should people who lose at games be given prizes?

Stop sucking. Not everyone gets a trophy.

To avoid comments like these?

Sportsmanship is a touchy subject. If scores are handled incorrectly, they can become a way to punish an opponent you didn't like or who beat you (sore loser much?) and really mess things up. I've seen it done as a score in addition to the game score, where you would choose from 0 to 3 points to award on sportsmanship, and that factored into tournament score. Never worked out well.

If you want to encourage good sportsmanship, it would probably work best as a check box on the results sheet - check if you felt your opponent was a particularly good sport or extremely fun to play against. It assumes everyone is generally going to be a good sport and give a chance to call out those who went above and beyond while preventing sore losers from using it for revenge. At the end, the player with the most checks (votes) could get the award.

The best strategy would be to always give your opponent a zero. They're all just competing with you, why give them any points? Maybe enough people will be stupid enough to give you the most points?

People will also use these in order to discriminate. I'm sure as hell not giving any filthy Super Dash players a 3.

There are certain players that will power game anything. Me and a friend started doing it for Dixit (his wife was PISSED), look at that dive in the last meter of that race at the Olympics. I played 3 out of 6 Swiss rounds at a regionals and made top 16. Once I was playing Uno with a friend that insisted on some dumb house rule that had reverse cards stacking their multipliers and I saved up a bunch of them and hit her with 16 or 32 cards. She was mad because she didn't think wild cards counted for this. I was insistent on this and she was angry almost to the point of tears and I kept on going because she was being unreasonable and it was funny.

I used to be a friend with someone, and we'd play Smash Brothers together (specifically the Gamecube version). He would constantly berate me for using the C-Stick and spamming certain moves over and over. On Gamecube controllers there are two analog sticks, the second one is yellow and called the C-Stick. Instead of having to do a simple button and first analog stick combination to do your powerful moves, one could simply flick the C-Stick and do them that way. One day I decided to do it continually, make a point of doing it, and started egging my friend on. So he jumped me and his mom had to pull us apart haha.

I have zero respect for fly casuals, you all share this attitude and it's funny to watch you get huffy.

Rule 1: Sportsmanship isn't to be used to adjust the standings of the actual event. It's not a tie breaker or used in any way to cut to the top 8 or anything like that... ever.

Once we're on the same page there, we can drop a lot of baggage people have with the idea, but its still difficult to implement without it creating the kind of negative situation that its designed to reduce. The best I've seen is a system where each player votes for their favorite opponent when they turn in their sheet and give the prize accordingly. It's fairly meaningless at that point, but its relatively non-contentious.

Way too easy to abuse. I think most people would write down there friends and if you beat them there would be no way they'd vote for you.

Wow, you must have a low opinion of "most people". I hope it's not justified.

Way too easy to abuse. I think most people would write down there friends and if you beat them there would be no way they'd vote for you.

Wow, you must have a low opinion of "most people". I hope it's not justified.

It is, humanity is selfish by nature it's a survival trait.