Champions at Worlds

By KineticOperator, in X-Wing

Posted at

For those who do not know, Doug Kinney (Hothie) is planning to take some time off. Here is my post in response, copied from the TC site.

Doug,
Better than being a champion, you have been a good man. Having someone such as yourself, who showed class and strove to exemplify the decency that has come to be the "Fly Casual" campaign is priceless.
Worlds this year was marked by Jonathan Gomes showing more class than any young man should be required to do, by stepping away and accepting his 17th seed despite having every right to demand some sort of opportunity to play for 16th. For those unfamiliar, he was tied in W/L, and both tiebreakers for 16th, and did not get it for no other reason than his name came later when alphabetized. When it was explained to him that it would cause the rest of the field to start their first top 16 game after midnight if he played for his spot, he shook hands and told them to play on without him rather than cause that trouble. I was standing 3 feet behind him, and his nearly tearful face told me he was bowing out not because he did not care about competing, but that he cared about being a good man more.
Then Dustin Poskochil found an error in his favor on his scoresheet that had put him in the Top 16. He told FFG about it, but because it had been a very early error they stated they could not really go back and correct it (he was credited with a full win when he had a modified win). He told them a second time when they didn't seem to do anything. After the official posting of the corrected list, he went to them a third time to tell them there was an error. Finally, when he discovered what had happened to Jonathan, he went to them a fourth time and they finally accepted what he was insisting on and replaced him with Jonathan.
This sort of thing is impossible for me to imagine in other tournament scenes. I have not even begun to describe the friendly atmosphere of every game I was a part of, the camaraderie, the decency and sportsmanship that was shown everywhere I saw throughout the weekend. I am absolutely certain that Doug deserves a great deal of credit for this. All winners set an example. Doug had the character, and the willingness, to set a great example of the decency and good sportsmanship that has come to exemplify X-Wing. As a result, we now have a community that is not only fun to play, but is populated with the type of people that make our world better whether in or out of gaming.
Job well done, Doug, and thank you. Take some time, and when you come back you can enjoy the fruits of your efforts by playing games with people we can all be glad to know. Including, especially, yourself.
- Aaron Bonar

Edited by KineticOperator
Posted at

Thanks for alerting the forums here about this.

Doug, if you read this, know that you are still my X-Wing idol and that I agree whole-heartedly with Aaron that you are largely responsible for setting such a positive tone in the X-Wing community.

Posted at

Awesome story, and I agree Doug helped set the bar high for sportsmanship, and for keeping the priorities of life straight. It's a game and "Fly Casual" means have FUN and be a good sport above all. It's a game also means that you need to put real life and relationships first!

PS. When I say "Awesome story," I mean the way the participants handled it, not that it was awesome that FFG bungled the scoring. Still, FFG seems to have put on a mostly good event, and there are human errors in any tournament. So again, double bravos for people that were not only good sports when they lost fair and square, but also when they lost unfairly.

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What is the TC site?

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What is the TC site?

Team Covenant.

Posted at

Wow, I was there and didn't realize this happened. Great sportsmanship amongst the X-wing players, I was unaware of the fly casual campaign before worlds as I was mostly on the reddit board but it sets an awesome standard for players of all games around the world.

Good on Jonathan for putting the other players before himself

Good on Dustin for his perseverance in correcting the error

Good on Doug for promoting great sportsmanship in the community

and Thanks Aaron for sharing, as I'm not frequently on the Team Covenant and would of probably missed this.

Edited by MatchstickMan740
Posted at

I agree, that Doug has in more than one way helped this community become something much better then it could of been. I'm sure Doug would say that it wasn't all him, and to be fair it wasn't.

But as a World Champ, and the driving force behind the Fly Casual campaign. He'd done a lot as a spokesman and top player to help guide this community to where it is. But each and every one of us is responsible for doing our part to keep the community on that path, and to as Hothie says to “Fly Casual”

I for one greatly appreciate how friendly we tend to be. I don't know if it's because many of us are Star Wars fans first and gamers second or what. But I do know that compared to other gaming communities we're what a gaming community should be, and that unlike some other games, the higher up you get in the competition level, the better it seems to be.

I also think major props should go out to Jonathan and Dustin for the part they played in being such a great example what good sportsmanship is.

Edited by VanorDM
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Thank you for telling this story, KO. The character shown by both Dustin and jonathan are examples of the greatness of this community.

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Hey Hothie, you stopped over during my first match, with Froggies, and were talking to him and I didn't realize it was you until you'd walked away and I thought to ask "oh hey, who was that?" Now I really wish I'd gotten the chance to introduce myself and shake your hand. The community will be a bit less without having you around, but I hope it helps you mend some fences away from the game.