From: Dale Wayne Buck [mailto:buckdv@chibardun.net]
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 1:29 AM
Dear Pojo Yu-Gi-Oh staff,
I just finished reading your reviews on the sacred
beast cards and while I agree with most of the
reviews on playabilities, I also was struck at the
attitudes some of the reviewers. Yu-Gi-Oh is
supposed to be a fun past time, a challenge, a way
to test your problem solving skills and think on
your feet. However, some of your staff seem to
believe that the fun and sportsmanship that should
be present in the game comes secondary to the profit
or "$300 of stuff off of newbies/rich spoiled kids."
What is wrong with this picture? Isn't our duty as
experienced players to protect new players from such
injustices? Many of us have played since the
beginning of the game. At one point in time each one
of us has been a "newbie," but as time passed and we
got better. Many respected players seem to have
forgotten why they began playing in the first place.
It was fun.
Too many experienced players are doing just that,
pulling the big new card that has little use in the
game but is so popular because of the show and
ripping some poor kid or new player off just because
they see a great card that the new player has and
they need for a deck. Why? Most of the cards you can
just buy of the internet. Ebay sells them at half
the price of card shops and they are often in better
condition.
It is because of this attitude that I very rarely
bring my cards to tournaments and only bring my
deck. I live two hours, 130-some miles, from the
nearest tournament location. I walk in the door and
many players mistake me for a new player. They try
to pull the same thing on me. I have talked many new
players out of trades that I have seen that are
definitely not in their favor, much to the dismay of
the "experienced" player. I have also traded to my
disadvantage with many new players because I have
multiple copies of a card they need for their deck.
It is a game and as representatives of the game
shouldn't the more experienced players try to
encourage your players and foster their development
as players? If we don't, many of these new players
won't stick around. So why not trade another of your
Don's or Cyber Dragon's or something useful to these
player's instead of ripping them off. Why not help
them learn more about the game and encourage them to
do the same for others?
Play to win, but also try to teach.
Dale Buck
