This past weekend, several Arch Alliance members and I went up to Chicago for the System Open at Adepticon. It was my first time at Adepticon, and my first time ever at a System Open event. There were over 250 people playing in the System Open, which made it the largest X-Wing event I had ever been to by about 100 people. It was a blast. I played a bunch of games, and lost almost all of them. They were all very close, and all a lot of fun. They were all fun, that is, but one. And that one was potentially the most negative play experience I’ve ever had at a tournament.

Every game I played but one was against a list that I would consider to be a meta staple. Rebel Beef in the form of Matt Cary’s Murray Hyperspace Trial winning list that he calls “Kentucky Beef”, Yions, Resistance A-Wings galore, high initiative T-65’s with a Leia carrying Millennium Falcon, etc. I didn’t do well at all because I messed up more than my opponents did. I think every game I played was winnable, but I didn’t play well enough to make it happen. Such is life. I know where I screwed up, and I’ll endeavor not to make those mistakes in the future.

My win-to-loss ratio over the weekend was way below my expectations. But that wasn’t the major detractor from my enjoyment of the event. I saw primarily meta staples, but that too wasn’t what killed my fun. Many times in the X-Wing community there is talk about how this list or that list is a “negative play experience” (NPE) for this reason or that (TIE Phantoms are the current culprit), but what killed my good times was one game against one particular opponent. While he was playing a meta list, I have no issue with that. I chose (probably incorrectly) not to bring a meta staple myself, but simply because I chose not to play something that has already been proven, that absolutely does not give me the right to judge or revile someone who makes probably the more sensible choice and does bring a proven list. None of this was the issue – it was his attitude.

He was at the convention to play in another game, had a day free, and decided to play in the Hyperspace Qualifier. Nothing wrong with that at all, lots of people do the same. He presented himself as someone who didn’t have much experience with X-Wing. He hadn’t come prepared to play X-Wing, and had borrowed most of the list he was playing. But he didn’t have a few of the upgrade cards for his list. When he explained his situation, I said I didn’t really care about the upgrade cards. The points added up correctly, so no problem there as far as I was concerned. As we started playing, he then explained that he was missing some pivotal tokens and said he was going to have to use different tokens as substitutes for the ones he was missing. I carry extra cardboard tokens with me at tournaments, so I gave him some of my extras and told him to feel free to keep them. He commented on how wonderful the X-Wing community was and how much of a joy it was to play games with such easy-going and friendly people.

He then proceeded to aggressively hold me to the highest standard of play I’ve ever been held to, while simultaneously refusing to use cards or tokens to indicate the status of his T-65’s S-foils, and seemingly arbitrarily declaring whether they were open or closed based on the greatest benefit to himself at that particular moment. The mood of the game swung hard and fast from casual acceptance to aggressively competitive. I was completely taken aback and unsure of how to handle myself. I have never been accused of being a sloppy player, but now the slightest misstep was being immediately and harshly judged. I was rattled and pretty quickly I made a mistake that eventually cost me the game. This was the ultimate negative play experience.

I got frustrated enough during the course of that game that I seriously considered calling a judge to point out the missing upgrade cards from his list. But I didn’t want to feel that petty. That’s not what I went to Chicago for. I went to see friends, play a bunch of fun games, and test myself against some of the best players the Midwest has to offer.

I had initially planned on playing out all six games no matter what my record, but after the experience of that game, I had lost the desire to continue. I packed up my stuff, waited for the next pairings, conceded to my opponent (the very friendly Tommy Adams, of the Stay on Target podcast, who was a pleasure to meet), then went and dropped from the tournament.

Later in the day, I observed the end of one of Mr. NPE’s games. I watched as his new opponent got more and more frustrated. It got to the point that bystanders started commenting on his new opponent’s bad attitude. But I understood. I knew exactly where he was coming from. And I imagine the four other people he played through the course of the six round day knew the feeling too. What amazes me about this community is that not one of his opponents, evidently, ever called a judge about his technically illegal list. No one sank to the level he was playing at. It felt like he was abusing the good-natured “Fly Casual” attitude that most X-Wing players have, while maintaining a “win at all costs” mantra for himself. The disparity was palpable.

As I was driving back home, discussing the weekend as we all do, I realized that my perception of the weekend had been skewed by that one event. Overall, the System Open was a great time, but that one experience with that one opponent had tainted the good feeling and turned it slightly sour. So I decided that I needed to take the time to say this: If you are at a high level event and you want to play a pristine game, go for it. Just don’t ever try to hold your opponent to a standard of play that you are incapable or unwilling to attain yourself. And don’t get so focused on winning at playing with plastic space ships that you are willing to ruin someone’s day with your bad attitude just to get ahead.

Almost everyone I’ve met through playing X-Wing has been fantastic. Enough so that I think I would still go to events just to hang out with them even if I no longer wanted to play X-Wing. But it only takes one person to put a negative spin on the experience. Don’t be that person. Don’t be an NPE. The excellent people in this community are a large part of what makes traveling to play this game so worthwhile. Take the time to enjoy the experience and the challenge of the game, and remember that more than the relative power level of the list you bring, more than the extreme variance swings of dice, more than any other single factor, the attitudes of the two people playing the game will determine how fun or how miserable the game experience is.

To all my other opponents from this past weekend, it was a real pleasure playing you, and to those I lost to (which was most of you) thanks for making that process as fun and enjoyable as possible.

Congrats to Arch Alliance’s Mr. Joe Dumey for making top 8 in the System Open and getting his World’s invite.

If you are in the St. Louis area or coming to visit, reach out to Arch Alliance X-Wing on Facebook to find out where we are playing on any given night.

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