@questioneer:
Chess clocks- I don’t think you understand.
Q, I really think that you might be the one that doesn’t understand.
Let me explain this to you in the simplest form I know how. For starters, yes, we have discussed this and if I recall, it has been awhile, but in length regarding the use of chess clock timers.
And I would appreciate if you could stop continually beating down the idea that “GEN CON” players are set in their ways.
When was the last time you have been at GEN CON. And could you please state for me the last time I changed or implemented a rule for game play at GEN CON or Origins based on what the people that come and play want? Just throw out any one rule. Be specific.
I thought so.
So, Dave, to answer your question and more specifically about game clocks. I will NOT say they don’t work nor have I ever said we can’t use them or even considered using them. They are actually a very good idea BUT only in a controlled setting where everyone knows ahead of time they will be used and agrees that they will be used. That is problem number one and what Q and some of the other very talented AA players on this forum fail to understand.
Problem two. I run events and tournaments for AA board games. When one comes to a CON, as you did back in LA, I have to provide an event for anyone and anybody that wants to come and play. Then I have to make sure that anyone that wants to play, can understand, fairly easily, under what circumstances we play. And in almost every case, I have to keep the game as close to the base OTB game as possible.
When it comes to tournaments, and since I have been doing this 19 years now, we used to just let players play until a time when we knew we had to have each game stop in order to get the whole tournament in the time frame allotted.
If a game was not finished, and/or a winner was not determined, we had to judicate games. And back then, we came up with rules based on who might be ahead and who most likely would win at the time in which the game needed to end. Mind you, this was all with the old Classic 2nd Ed. game. What then happened was players didn’t agree with the judges decisions and I had enough of judicating. So, I went to Larry and we came up with the VC bonuses system we currently have. So, I am curious why Q doesn’t complain to Larry about that one, instead of bashing only me over it…?
Ok, beside the point. But what I am trying to say is that for most if not all events that we are running now, I can’t ask people to bring clocks. And what happens if someone shows up and doesn’t have one but still wants to play? Do I tell him sorry, you can’t because you don’t have a clock. And then what happens if we don’t have enough clocks for everyone. Is, Q going to supply us with the short fall…
Then there is the issue of, if we used the clocks, it is not part of the game, and sure enough some players will be versed at playing with clocks while others, may never have played with them, and would spend more time trying to figure out how to use them during game play, they would end up wasting the time the clocks were suppose to save.
With that being said, I don’t believe that just because we don’t play with chess clocks at this time, doesn’t mean that we have not considered them or that they might not work, it is just under the circumstances by which the games are played, does not fit into the equation.
So, I could see game clocks being used for a Masters Events were players, were ahead of time told they would be used and, the event was by invitation only.
But until Larry/WotC, starts putting clocks in the game boxes for the base tournaments, I just don’t see it happening.
So, Q can say what he wants, but I think that is a fairly sound reason for not using them up to this point. And logical one to boot…
Peace,
Gregory J. Smorey
Axis & Allies Tournament Director/GM - GEN CON/Origins/Spring Gathering
