Hey everyone. Adam, from TFG Radio, here with a little bit of etiquette for your 40K tournaments!
It is well established that I have played in a lot of tournaments over the years. I try to play all my games, no matter my win-loss record at that time. There have been occasions when I had to leave the tournament, for one reason or another, but in each case I make sure to let the person, or people, running the event know. I do this as a courtesy to help the tournament organizer better prepare for the rest of the day and it bothers me when people drop from an event without letting the people running it know.
Don’t get me wrong, I completely understand when a person has to drop, whether its a local RTT or even a grand tournament. Things happen beyond our control and we need to deal with them. I also understand that the game can feel frustrating at times and you may just need a little time off of the game to kind of cool down and maybe re-evaluate your army list. Maybe you just want to beat the traffic back home since you have a long drive ahead of you and your not in the running for any prizes. Whatever the reason, you should still let the tournament organizer know that you are leaving or dropping. If at all possible, and preferable, you want to do it right after your game and before the next pairings are made. This helps the tournament organizer to adjust the pairings before the next round starts and make any corrections before people start playing. This also helps people’s image of you as a tournament player.
For some, dropping from a tournament seems like no big deal. I mean it’s easy for the tournament organizer to push a button and “poof” the new pairings are done, right? Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. If you don’t inform the organizer and just bail, it will take some time for people to realize it. In most tournaments, there is a wait period if an opponent doesn’t show up. This time is wasted just waiting for someone who isn’t going to show up when the organizer could be using that time to find an opponent for that player or, better yet, could have already repaired the round. This effect is even more pronounced when it is a grand tournament and a player decides not to come back for day 2 but doesn’t tell anyone right away. Pairings are usually done later that night on day 1, so that players can prepare for their opponent overnight. It really throws a lot of players off when repairings have to be done the next morning.
The other side effect of ghosting from a tournament is the reputation you garner if you have a habit of doing it. Organizers, and many players, see you as unreliable and almost like something they have to factor into how they run their event if they know you are attending. Although it’s not the worst type of reputation to have, it can still be something that people will talk about when your name comes up.
So try to be a bit more considerate to the event, and community, and just let the organizers know if you intend to drop from an event you are attending. I can tell you enough how appreciative some organizers will be for it.
That’s all for this week, I hope you enjoyed the read. Let me know your thoughts, and if you have any stories from any events you attended, in the comments section. Don’t forget to visit our Facebook, Twitch, and Patreon pages to stay up to date on what we’re up to and when episodes drop!
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