That's the article. Let's hear your thoughts on it. Mine were posted under a different name but, so you don't have to sift through all the garbage responses went:
Does anyone talk to their opponent before they start a game anymore? Or is the table all set up, everything deployed blindly and then... BLINDFOLDS OFF! LET'S PLAY!
The biggest problem plaguing wargaming is NOT LoS, it is the incessant need to win. This is a cooperative game where you should be playing WITH your opponent, not AGAINST him. Are you there to enjoy a couple hours in your chosen hobby? Are you there to have fun playing with miniatures you likely (well, unless you are one of the players on some of the recent battle reports) put alot of work into?
Then why are you wasting your time arguing about trivial things like LoS? Why weren't these issues quickly worked out before the game? Why, instead of endless bitching, arguing and time wasting, did you not simply roll off to see if it counted or not? This goes for friendly games with pals, pick up games with strangers or tournament games. Does ANYONE really follow the number one rule in the game anymore?
Line of Sight is seriously the easiest thing ever. Can you see it? Yes or no? Undecided? Ask your oponent. He can't decide? You can't come to a group conclusion? Roll off. Um. How is that difficult again?
Do we just live in a way different gaming world then the internet?
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12 comments:
The Win-At-All-Costs ethos is why I stopped advertising bell on my blog. I wouldn't recommend it to any new gamers. I check it myself as it IS good at bringing rumours of upcoming releases... if you can filter out the hysterical wailing that the end is nigh once this new release hits the shelves it can be informative.
I read that BoLS post this morning and got a little upset about it myself. BoLS has really gone down hill. I don't know where they're finding their writers anymore.
I visit BoLS if I see rumours, but that's really about it. I don't care what they have to say anymore because it's never anything worth while. This on top of a site that is full garbage advertising = FAIL!
I wrote that I agreed with the meat of the article but I have to say that your comments ring particularly true. I have to say you are right that the real problem is that people do not play with their opponents they play against them. Well said. As players we can make TLoS work if our goal is to have fun.
I also have just been reading for GW updates and the rare WM article. I gave in this one time and I got punished by finding myself sucked into troll warfare. Thanks for pulling me out.
Couldn't agree more. BoLS perpetuates the problems of this hobby. Not to mention the 'centre of the universe' attitude they've developed because people go to their site.
I stopped visiting their site a long time ago. Their clearly pro-power-gaming mentality is a cancer on the hobby.
its funny seeing someone that draws page views from BOLS complaining about their "quality."
Maybe you should quit their ring to show how principled you are?
Reading that article kinda burned my biscuit. Complaining about LoS is like scraping the bottom of the "stir up trouble" barrel. Honestly I've maybe seen one or two games where there were disputes over LoS. But this guy seems to be blowing it out of proportion simply to stir up trouble. That or he is truely playing with a group that are that big on winning that they are anal-retentive about every little rule. Either way, troll, or die hard, I don't like it.
I stopped actually reading the "artiucles" on BolS. 99% Bull-poo.
I only head over there to see which other Blogs I want to visit today.
BolS sucks, they seem to have lost all of their "See it here first"-potential. All the "news" on Bols are at least a couple of days old by the time they go up there.
Sad but true.
I don't think it's as much a hate on BoLS, but a sad state of the turn the internet has taken this beloved hobby.
The net really helped out at first to get the smaller groups out of the basements and find other players, tournaments and forums to disscuss things with people who share similar interests.
But with this surge in WAAC list building, tactical articles and such and such has caused alot of the player base to retreat back into their basements, close down their groups and keep it small.
I miss having fun at tournaments, i miss articles where tactics were along the same lines as 'play what you think looks cool'. But mostly i miss the comradery of the players as a whole.
Walls nails it on the head with his 'win at all costs' problems but the biggest thing like he says is lack of communication.
There are a few players in our local club who i will not play or only play once in awhile due to their poor attitude or general lack of communication.
Honestly, whats wrong with disscusion before a game, talkin about your army and lists. Talkin about the terraing, what it does and whats wrong with having fun?
In some ways the game board is just a representation of real life, you could never recreate the same thing onto a board without having enough room to actually play the game. Some things need to be interpreted and in doubt discussed. After all it is a game.
I want to say first off that I agree almost completely with your response post: I very much belong in the 'who cares?' / 'play for fun' / 'give your opponent the benefit of any doubt' camp.
However, I think you're blowing it out of proportion and being needlessly harsh on BoLS.
I should say that I did like the article on BoLS: I found it funny, and I agreed with the principle that true LoS is a step backwards for 40K rules.
I left a comment on the article, and said that I thought so, but I also said something along the lines of 'but I disagree that this can't be solved by house ruling'.
I think it's fine to be disappointed at GW doing things you don't like, but it's also fine to change whatever you want to, and play the game however you want to.
Going back to BoLS however, and your general point about the blog:
1. It may be big, but it is only a blog. It's the opinions of a particular bunch of people, commenting on the way they play, and the way they find enjoyment in the game. No one else has to play the same way if they don't want to (and I suspect most don't).
2. I think they're pretty open about this. More articles are written from a 'win' perspective than I myself would do, but then it's their blog. They make clear that the views of an author are that author's views. And they do constantly stress the need to have fun and be nice to your opponents.
3. They put a log of effort in to the 40K community. Sure, it's not going to be useful to everyone, but at least they care. Running their own convention (which has a themed, fun set of games as an alternative to the traditional competition) again shows the effort they make to encourage people to get involved and have fun.
4. They may not get the news the fastest, but they get it, and write it up in a way that I can catch up with quickly.
5. Their site promotes a log of other sites (and bloggers). It's how I found this blog!
6. I don't think it's fair or realistic to criticise it for being less inovative than it was a few years ago. You can only go for so long before you've posted all your good ideas. But that doesn't mean they never have anything interesting to say, and they get a lot more guest writers on.
(And I remember some of their old articles about Assassins and Inquisitor coteries - I couldn't believe the way some people would read or use the rules - so it's not like they've never been a home of competitive gaming.)
Their gaming world is different to mine (and yours, obviously), but I don't think you can fault their passion for the game, and more generally, the hobby.
Please don't take this as an attack comment on you. As I said at the beginning, I suspect my views on the hobby are closer to yours than to most BoLS commenters, but there's plenty of room on the internet for all sorts.
Oh come on guys, don't be so rough! Everyone knows that the only reason we play Warhammer is to enable our true hobby of bitching and moaning.
Sir_Lunchalot
Wow... So I'm not the only one who think BoLS has gone down hill, brought in some sub-standard writers, and sworn off it entirely...
Strange and here I thought was a lone voice in the wilderness.
I think 'Ard Boyz is a big factor, until that is de-emphasized by GW North America this crap will continue to feature prominently online.
I played in a GT the weekend that article came out, people told me about it, I still haven't read it. But I never had one argument about LoS. I mean give it to the guy or make him roll 4+ and just get on with the game...
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