hey community! I wrote this today, mostly to get it out of my system, but thought I'd share it for posterity. a bit longer than your average FFG forum fare, apologies in advance. cheers

Yesterday something happened to me that I’ve managed to avoid for a long time: not only did I get sucked into a bitter and painful fight on the Internet (Facebook, no less), I also started it. It ended up with my apologizing the the person I called out in public, but I don’t think it really helped, and the damage had been done. An X-wing celebratory whom I’ve known for years called me “disgusting”, and lots of people told me to chill the @#$% out.

The whole experience was eye-opening. I’ve tried for years to be a positive and responsible member of the community. What the **** happened?

Today I avoided social media for most the day, and thought about what happened. Tonight I decided to write everything down and try to make sense of it all. To try to figure out if I was wrong, right, misguided, or poorly communicating, or all of the above.

The Judge Illuminati

One of the hardest and thankless jobs in the X-wing ecosystem is that of the Tournament Organizer, or the “TO”. The TO goes the tournament, but almost never gets to play. Being a TO is a real servant leader type role: you are there to serve the players and make sure the tournament goes smoothly, but also lead the way in terms of making spot judgements on the many complex and strange rules that can occur in the game of X-Wing. It’s an incredibly unselfish role, giving up your own gaming time so others can game.

Over the course of X-wing history, six people in particular have emerged as real leaders in this space in the United States. They are lovingly called the “Judge Illuminati”:

• Sean Dorcy, who doesn’t judge much anymore but was a real trailblazer over the first half of the game
• Ron and Andrea Longhi, who’ve done of a ton of judging and marshalling in Chicago and have judged Worlds
• Brent Wong of Houston, TX, who has also judged a Worlds, many Regionals, and System Opens, and a glowingly awesome guy to boot
• Chris “Chico” Brown, author of Cryodex, who I worked with very closely in 2014/2015 to get List Juggler off the ground, and who has since emerged as a wonderful TO and volunteer
• And finally Iain Hamp, out of Arizona, who has also TO’d tons of high level volunteers, organized his community into one of the best X-Wing groups in the states, created public guidance and documentation for other TOs and Marshalls.

There are probably at least a few other people that I’m missing, but this crew is the one that I’ve always been aware of, and grateful to, for leading the TO/marshall community forward.

And the powers-that-be have noticed. This is the crew that gets brought in to judge Worlds. Brent, Chico, and Iain are the goto guys for the System Opens.

RAW versus RAI

If you talk to the the Judge Illuminati about RAW (“Rules as Written”) versus RAI (“Rules as Intended”), and which one they lean on while judging X-Wing events, they’ll tell you RAW every time. Trying to figure out intent, especially with the X-Wing rules, would drive you crazy. So instead the judges stare at the cards, read them literally, and construct a mental model to explain how something works.

Using RAW over RAI has worked for the TOs, and our community, for years. In conjunction with the FAQ, the TOs had enough tools (hopefully) to navigate the very complicated set of rules interactions featured in the game.

Until one fateful day

I write and run a website called X-Wing List Juggler. It’s going to be almost four years old this year. It collects tournament results and lists, or squads, and (along with MetaWing, which uses List Juggler’s RESTful API to present a user friendly view on the data) has become a key tool used to analyze the “meta” of the game. It also hosts and runs Vassal League, a 350+ world-wide, online X-wing league. I’ve probably put several hundred hours (and dollars) of my life into it, and that time once again into the overall X-Wing technology stack.

Last week the whole community sat up and took notice when one particular list showed up 7 times in the top 8 of a big UK regional (and 4 out of the top 4). And won another regional. And jumped right to the top of MetaWing’s list ranking overnight. The list was dubbed “Final Form” by me (taking a nod from Dee Yun at the excellent Mynock Squadron podcast). The list is a murderer’s row of upgrades cards that are at the top of the X-Wing intelligentsias’ “overpowered list”: Twin Laser Turret, Harpoon Missiles, Sabine Wren, and “rebel regen” via the K-Wing pilot Miranda. And to top it off, the community had discovered a particularly lethal new combination: the Genius astromech droid, and the new Trajectory Simulator upgrade, just recently released.

It’s a pretty brutal list, the optimal set of upgrades assembled into the optimal list: the Final Form. It can be beaten, for sure, but for players who really want to do well in a tournament, it is most probably the optimal choice.

And it didn’t just freak out the players and podcasters. It must have freaked out FFG as well, because two days ago Kyle D, FFG employee and Marshall of the FFG HQ Regional coming up, announced that the combination of Genius and Trajectory Simulator would not be allowed for their tournament. (The Mynock’s guess is that they didn’t want the top 16 tables of that tournament to be all, or mostly, one list?) To make matters more interesting, the reasoning given for banning the combo seemed tenuous, and not at all consistent with RAW. And finally, no guidance was given on whether or not the rest of the Marshalls and TOs should use this ruling for their Regionals (there are about thirty coming up in the next four months).

Mushroom Management

FFG’s normal style of dealing with things like this is to mushroom manage it (keep the community in the dark for as long as possible, and feed it bullsh*t). The FAQ process itself is tortuously long -- apparently because of LFL approvals, but only FFG knows why -- so on one hand it was refreshing to actually get some guidance here.

On the other hand, it was a pretty terrible thing to do to the judge/marshall community. They were given quite the devil’s dilemma. Either:

• Go along with a unofficial, non-FAQ ruling that didn’t make any sense at all from a RAW perspective, and risk pissing off a big chunk of the community that had gotten used to a consistent and successful RAW approach, or
• Not go with the ruling, and risk pissing off a big chunk of the community that did not want to spend the next 4-6 months playing (or being beaten) by the the same freakish list over and over again.

Going through the debates on the forums and Reddit and Facebook, it is pretty clear that no-one was going to be happy with any decision the Illuminati Judges made. They had been completely hung up to dry and forced into the bad guy role by FFG. And they had to make the call on this, because the System Opens are coming up.

Krayts on Top

After talking to Chris Allen about the situation, we decided that the least we could do was create a spreadsheet that tracked which big events were going with which ruleset, so players would know what to expect (or plan which events they would go to based on how excited they were about fighting Final Form over and over again). So I created it, from the Scum and Villainy Podcast shared google drive.

It became immediately clear that it wasn’t going to be clear. The Indianapolis Regional guys immediately announced that they were going to follow FFG HQ’s lead. So did Vancouver, and then New York. The Maryland Regional put it to player vote, and the vote went 80-5 to go with the FFG HQ rules. Anchorage, Montreal, and Colorado were going to go RAW.

And the System Open team hadn’t announced yet what they were going to do.

Heavy is the Head that Wears The Crown

This was my take on it: FFG HQ had thrown all of us a lifeline. Maybe they felt bad about subjecting us to Jumpmaster **** for almost two years, or maybe they didn’t want to be embarrassed in their own Regional by having their own Frankenstein trashing the place, or maybe they felt like the issue needed to be fixed quickly without waiting for the 4-6 month FAQ process. Ok, so the explanation didn’t make much sense according to RAW, but did it have to? Chewbacca is Han’s lost twin brother, so Genius and Trajectory Simulator don’t work together. Got it. I like RAW, but I like a healthy meta and a happy community more, and if it is good enough for FFG HQ, then (I felt) it should be good enough for everyone.

So around 8 pm last night -- after the S&V team had published its own hard edge take on the situation -- I realized a few things. One, it was going to be super annoying if I had to make code changes to List Juggler to track multiple rulesets going around for multiple regionals. Two, this was going to drive a huge wedge into our nice little community. Three, maybe there is a way out of this mess. What if I could convince the Illuminati Judges to go with the FFG HQ Ruling? They whole judging/marshall community looks up to those guys -- they’d certainly earned the leadership role -- probably 90% of of the judges/marshalls would fall in line if the Illuminati Judges. Problem solved, right?

All I had to do was convince Iain (the natural leader of the group, as far as I could tell) to “do the right thing”, and the crisis would be averted. Maybe … maybe … the community could make lemonade from FFG’s hang-’em-out-to-dry solution to the problem and actually make things better.

So I chatted him up on Facebook that night.

I didn’t do a great job presenting the above idea. He said that until official word from FFG was received, he (and all the System Open Marshalls) felt they had to go with RAW. I told him that this was a chance for them to take a leadership position, to do the right thing, to unite the community. That he personally could fix this situation. He disagreed, saying it would just make the situation worse. That it would set a horrible precedent. I pushed too hard, and when he unequivocally told me to stop, I told him that I was going to hold him publicly accountable for what happened after this -- that he would wear it.

It was a **** thing to say, but I was pissed. Maybe I’m crazy to think that the community would rally behind the Illuminati Judges if they went with FFG HQ, and it is pretty stupid to think that they would just abandon RAW on a crazy gamble.

Besides, even if they could have changed it, is it really their job to do it? Especially after being hung up to dry so badly by FFG? After cooling down, a day later, I’m not so sure. Going back and reading what he wrote, his position is totally reasonable, especially given that he and his crew worked for years getting their platform in place.

On Leadership
But the next morning I had the “Hold my Beer” moment. I’d heard through the grapevine that the System Open team had decided to go with RAW. So I did what I said I was going to do: I went onto Facebook and wrote: “Breaking News: System Open is going with RAW. I tried to convince @IainHamp, but he didn’t think it was his job to take a leadership position on this.” (Or something very close to that -- I’ve since edited the post with an apology to Iain.)

Pissed off response was swift. “You’re increasing toxicity” (true). “That’s completely out of context” (true). “You’re disgusting and your podcast is a mess.” (Partially true?)

I edited the response to this: “EDIT: removing the negative language in the original post below. While I do feel a leadership opportunity was missed, that's not on @Iain Hamp. Iain, I apologize for that - you have alway been a real force for good in this community, and I know that you are doing what you think is right!”

You’ll note that I left a line in there about thinking that a leadership opportunity was missed. This prompted the following response from a community member:

“First, leaving the missed leadership thing in there is still a direct attack and fermenting a toxic community. He is simply following the rules. You should attack FFG, not Iain.

Iain doesn’t deserve to be attacked on this. He’s acted consistently with his values in a **** situation. And there was no guarantee that the all the various Regionals would have toppled into the FFG HQ Ruling had the Illuminati Judges pushed the System Open that way.

So going with RAW was a leadership move, based on real values and years of positively reinforced experience. But was it the right leadership move? If it is four months from now, and half the regionals have gone one way, and half the other, and everyone is still fighting about it, and we don’t have a FAQ, and our community is flooded with salt, I will have to look back and think that this move -- going with RAW -- was a key moment in the timeline, a real missed opportunity.

On the other hand, I’ve already heard a rumor that FFG is going to announce something on Monday about this. So it is entirely possible that by sticking to his guns, Iain’s called FFG’s bluff and has forced them to get off their asses and actually take the real leadership role -- the role they should have been taking all along, instead of passing the buck to the community. And, having written these words, this is actually the scenario I really hope plays out.

And so I’m going to say it once more: hey Iain, I’m sorry for saying what I did. Had I been in your shoes, I would have gone with the FFG HQ ruling, but then, I’d never actually be in your shoes, because I’m too selfish to actually put in the miles and miles of volunteer TO and marshalling work like you. I haven’t earned right to make that call -- but you, and Chico, and Brent, have.

Thank you for standing up for what you believe in.

I'm a newish player (started last january), but I'm super torn on this issue. I'd prefer this interaction to not exist, but you really can't have judges ruling that things don't work just because they are unpopular. I'm ok with the ffg regional ruling (I'll be there) because there was advanced notice. But it does set a terrible precedence. I've played a lot of other games competitively, and I've never seen anything like this.

Thanks, btw, for all that you do for the community.

Thank you for posting this Sozin. I wish FFG had a fraction of this transparency.

I understand the temptation to use a seemingly obvious band-aid solution to fix a glaring problem. I can see that the genius/trag sim combo needs to go asap to preserve the game. But I respect the TOs who are rejecting half-measures and forcing FFG to take responsibility for this mess instead of accepting a system where TOs are now supposed to abandon the objectivity of RAW and implement their own backdoor FAQs to make up for FFG's colossal failure to communicate with its community.

I love X-Wing. I like playing competitivley, and taking my fun seriously.

But dude. There comes a time when you have to realize it is Just A Game. This drama is far worse than any superlist shenanigans.

The saddest part of all this, is that I used to say that the X-Wing community is better than (I'm not going to name names here. You can guess a couple, I'm sure)

I can't say that anymore.

@sozin I'm proud of you. You are a sensible man after all and sometimes emotion gets the better of us. Now if you could only convince the rest of the x-wing celebrities (krayts and the rest of s&v) to have some sense you could be the saviour of x-wing!

A post like this shows a **** of a lot of good grace, well done for writing it. The fact remains though that your initial impulse was the right one. The TOs and Judges refusing to follow the game designers lead are flat-out wrong. I dont understand the mindset of people who can't see that. It's disappointing that the issue is dividing the community, and hopefully it can get resolved sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, it's up to players and local communities to set an example. Those with the means to do so should choose not to attend tournaments who are ruling it wrong and allowing Genius and TS to work together, and make it clear to store owners and TOs that that is why you're choosing not to go. Refuse to play against it in more casual settings. Make it clear to those that choose to cheat (and we all know it's cheating in all but the most technical sense at this point) that it's not acceptable. We can't completely eliminate it at higher level events, but we can shame people enough to largely stamp this out everywhere else if we decide to do so.

I don't understand why FFG is getting a free pass / shrug from all of the people shaming the TOs and the community.

Why not direct all this public shaming at the people who actually have the power to change the rules? Or better yet, their bosses?

How on earth did FFG miss the interaction in the first place? I mean, there's a set number of cards TS can work with...

As a player, I'm happy with either ruling, even if it's inconsistent between events so long as it's made clear significantly prior to individual events. The list is broke either way, so it's pretty irrelevant to the meta of the event.

18 minutes ago, Tvboy said:

I don't understand why FFG is getting a free pass / shrug from all of the people shaming the TOs and the community.

Why not direct all this public shaming at the people who actually have the power to change the rules? Or better yet, their bosses?

We have been doing that for **** rules and unclear cards for a really long time. What did it get us?

Responses like: "FFG Forums are full of whining", or just the general lack of communication we have now.

I think we understand that the flaw is not with the TO-s, but at least we can get them to react. FFG (seemingly) doesn't give a crap.

25 minutes ago, Tvboy said:

I don't understand why FFG is getting a free pass / shrug from all of the people shaming the TOs and the community.

Why not direct all this public shaming at the people who actually have the power to change the rules? Or better yet, their bosses?

Because FFG acted on this with lightning speed, by their standards. Within a week or two of this interaction becoming a problem they told us it didn't work. The people who are ignoring that ruling are the problem now. FFG have done their part, as much as they can within the constraints they are acting under.

Sozin,

I am a big fan of your work on the scum and villainy podcast and working on list juggler. I have read a number of you posts here and generally agree with a lot of what you say.

I do believe you were wrong on this though. Don't get me wrong I prefer RAI to RAW on this, but its not the judge Illuminati's job within the community to change the rules (even when they are causing issues like this), thats FFG's job. Yes they are respected leaders of the rules community, but that's because they are good at what they do, and people trust them to interpret RAW. If they were to rule in favour of RAI it would harm that and could hurt their position in the community.

I respect the way you have acknowledged your error and hope that you can patch things up with the judges. We all make mistakes, particularly when we feel passionate about a topic.

A few quick comments (this is the aforementioned Iain):

- Thank you for the apology. People have strong and varying opinions on this subject, and I very much understand them all. What was directed at me personally was a bit of a shock and upsetting (and I am grateful we are moving past it), but setting that aside, the actual position (a desire to see RAI used for this) is one I may not have the luxury of agreeing with as a marshal, but is one I emotionally understand and certainly don’t fault those who desire it.

- On the bright side, I think the actual rules outcome we desire is almost universally the same. We just (marshal badge on) need to hear it officially from FFG. I understand people believe we sort of kind of already have heard it from them. I disagree with that assessment, but I understand the position.

- List Juggler is an amazing community asset and I am grateful as **** for it. Hopeful for a future “Shirt Juggler” enhancement so we can learn which Star Wars/X-Wing Community tee shirts are topping the meta.

Apology accepted, Captain Needa.

Really, now ... as worked up as everyone is about this tempest in a teacup, everyone could stand to step back, take a few deep breaths, realize that we're arguing about rules for making pew-pew noises with plastic spaceships, acknowledge that it will take some time to blow over, and then go out and have some fun with the parts of the game we enjoy and just ignore for a time what we don't.

I appreciate @sozin being big enough to publicly acknowledge stepping over the line, letting emotions get the best of him, and doing something he regrets. The rest of us can hopefully learn something from it.

Plus, you know, Darth Vader quote FTW!

@sozin, regardless the readers stance, that is a standup post, mad props.

I agree wholeheartedly, RAI is logical and quite good for the game short-term; RAW is simply playing it safe and putting its money in for the game, long-term. Getting decisions from a multi-layered corporate structure is akin to moving a container ship in port; it cannot be piloted by the small tug, but it can be gently pushed, greatly increasing its turn radius as its labourus engines move at their consistent tepid near-dock pace. Frustrating this is to be sure. But perhaps you, Chris and Iain gave real legs to the conflict in your minority aggressive stances and interests; thus, in turn, gave the hulking ship that small, controlled push it needs.

...my money’s on that.

X-Wing Judge/TO Illuminati? What ridiculous madness is that? Fake news.

Seriously though, making a call that even i don't like was not easy. I'm sure we'll have a definitive answer eventually and i hope this chaos has pushed it to be a bit faster. I'm sure they're not happy of the mess they've made.

Sozin,

Firstly, I want to say how much I your passion and dedication to this game we love...

Secondly, I equally applaud you for your willingness to publicly humiliate yourself in pursuit of "doing the right thing"...

Unfortunately, this entire thing... that judgments from FFG have to be weighed against Rules as Written... is even an issue (or at least, such a BIG issue...) just showcases for me a bigger problem. That problem, IMO, is the power-creep that has taken over this game, which I directly attribute to several factors...

1. Customer demand for new products at a rate that challenges FFG when it comes to producing the best product in pursuit of the best game...

2. FFG's willingness/need to commercialize on that consumer demand at the expense of play-testing (to eliminate power-creep and the need for FAQs that explain, correct and often contradict the Rules as Written...

3. The continued over-emphasis on tournaments and tournament-style play. Each wave that comes out seems to push the game further into its own self-justified world "X-Wing: the Game" and further away from a way to experience Star Wars. To me, the game has become a victim of its own success, and we (the dedicated fan base /consumers) are just as much at fault as FFG.

I used to enjoy tournaments as much as I did casual play, Epic, etc... But every day and in every way, my desire to be part of that scene has been beaten out of me. It saddens me a bit, that I no longer enjoy that aspect of the came, but I guess we all reap what we sew.

We all make mistakes and all mistakes are made on the website called bookface.

Iain is a cool dude.

Sozin is a cool dude.

It's often all too easy to become over-passionate about something.

It's a sign of maturity to recognise that - even if after the fact.

It's depth of character that shows through when you apologise if your excesses have caused harm.

5 hours ago, Tvboy said:

I don't understand why FFG is getting a free pass / shrug from all of the people shaming the TOs and the community.

Why not direct all this public shaming at the people who actually have the power to change the rules? Or better yet, their bosses?

Because being an ******* doesn't get better by changing the target.

I applaud the OP for his public apology, and must reiterate that

IT'S. A. GAME.

And it's a beautiful game that sooooooooooooo many people play without all the meta angst.

6 hours ago, Koing907 said:

I love X-Wing. I like playing competitivley, and taking my fun seriously.

But dude. There comes a time when you have to realize it is Just A Game. This drama is far worse than any superlist shenanigans.

The saddest part of all this, is that I used to say that the X-Wing community is better than (I'm not going to name names here. You can guess a couple, I'm sure)

I can't say that anymore.

^^^^THIS

1 hour ago, Chris Maes said:

1. Customer demand for new products at a rate that challenges FFG when it comes to producing the best product in pursuit of the best game...

2. FFG's willingness/need to commercialize on that consumer demand at the expense of play-testing (to eliminate power-creep and the need for FAQs that explain, correct and often contradict the Rules as Written...

3. The continued over-emphasis on tournaments and tournament-style play. Each wave that comes out seems to push the game further into its own self-justified world "X-Wing: the Game" and further away from a way to experience Star Wars. To me, the game has become a victim of its own success, and we (the dedicated fan base /consumers) are just as much at fault as FFG.

1 and 2 can be easily solved while avoiding 3 by focusing on the narrative of X-Wing for a year or two. There is a plethora of Star Wars flavor that can be added to the game (Blue Squadron X-Wings, Phoenix Squadron A-Wings, Hera in an A-Wing and X-Wing, Scythe Squadron, etc. etc. etc.) that would not be hard to playtest because it does not push the envelope but could inject some desperately needed Star Wars into the game.

Players would buy it because they love Star Wars. FFG could get their releases. And they could avoid The Dark Side of tournament-first design.

@sozin I can understand your desire for order and acknowledging that your approach was wrong is a big thing to admit to yourself and to the community openly. Having this kind of discourse is part of this great game showing its age and growth over the years and the community doing its best to adapt. To admit having taken the wrong approach and then attempting to make amends publicly is why this community is still a great gaming community. To err is human; to never admit a mistake is some next level Sith crap.

The need to follow the correct wording of the rules (RAW), and apply them correctly, increases with the higher tier of playing. The top tier sets the bar on a ruling and then everyone else usually follows that. Keeping rules consistent, even if they are bad for the game, are actually a good thing. It stops the random decision making that can disrupt and upend any organized tournament structure. Any T.O. that makes their own ruling based on how they feel is at risk of being personally blamed for that ruling. However, if a judge rules RAW, then it is the rule that is to be blamed, and can be petitioned to be changed.

RAW is how we need to interpret cards and RAI is the designers intent that didn't come across in the right way, and that does happen. This game has grown to have so many pilot abilities and upgrade cards now that it is now extremely difficult to see how all these parts interact in the subset when trying to evaluate against the whole.

6 hours ago, MacchuWA said:

A post like this shows a **** of a lot of good grace, well done for writing it. The fact remains though that your initial impulse was the right one. The TOs and Judges refusing to follow the game designers lead are flat-out wrong. I dont understand the mindset of people who can't see that. It's disappointing that the issue is dividing the community, and hopefully it can get resolved sooner rather than later.

1. RAW, the interaction works. The terms on the cards are clear and easy to understand. Which is why everybody was using it that way.

2. The designers haven't said anything. The resistance is to playing a game of Rules Telephone over rumors that may or may not be true.

3. I think RAI is better for the meta than RAW, but I don't think this is the way to go about getting it implemented. If an individual TO will sack up and ban the interaction until a FAQ drops, I can respect that. Saying it's because X designer said something to someone and someone else says so is shady and confusing for the community.

7 hours ago, Koing907 said:

I love X-Wing. I like playing competitivley, and taking my fun seriously.

But dude. There comes a time when you have to realize it is Just A Game. This drama is far worse than any superlist shenanigans.

The saddest part of all this, is that I used to say that the X-Wing community is better than (I'm not going to name names here. You can guess a couple, I'm sure)

I can't say that anymore.

Re: "Just A Game": when you combine community, sunk financial cost, time investment, family points spent, and other factors (for me, for example, a lot of software written), it sort of becomes ... something a little more, I guess?

I've played a lot of chess in my life -- travelled for it, played Gary Kasparov once (lost), made enough one year to claim it on my taxes, won a youth state championship, have big library of books, do tactics puzzles every day on chess.com, made friends all over the world because of it, got mad when Deep Blue beat Gary ... and while chess technically, is, just a game, for me its way more than that. It's part of who I am now. And while it sounds dorky and cheesy, I have some of that with X-Wing as well. Not as much as with chess, but some.

57 minutes ago, sozin said:

Re: "Just A Game": when you combine community, sunk financial cost, time investment, family points spent, and other factors (for me, for example, a lot of software written), it sort of becomes ... something a little more, I guess?

I've played a lot of chess in my life -- travelled for it, played Gary Kasparov once (lost), made enough one year to claim it on my taxes, won a youth state championship, have big library of books, do tactics puzzles every day on chess.com, made friends all over the world because of it, got mad when Deep Blue beat Gary ... and while chess technically, is, just a game, for me its way more than that. It's part of who I am now. And while it sounds dorky and cheesy, I have some of that with X-Wing as well. Not as much as with chess, but some.

Exactly, this is the way I feel about Star Wars in general, as well as my main hobby of role-playing.

These aren't *just* things, games, movies or books... these are the things that, in essence, give meaning to our toil on this little blue speck in the vast emptiness of space. We put love, passion and effort into our hobbies, of course we are passionate about them. And there is nothing dorky about that.

Passion is not something many people can feel for *things*, but I believe those who can, are richer for it.