MTG Salvation

I keep a much more frequently-updated blog up at my website http://www.bradleyjx.net/.

It's going to be for when I'm in Japan this fall, but right now it's basically me talking about how awesome each anime I see in succession is, followed by the occasional rant.

In June, I'll probably start talking about MTGO there as well

Well, I might as well bring some insight into here as to just who I am...

Name: J. Bradley Baker
Age: 20
Location: I go to school in Eau Claire, WI; when school is not in session, I'm usually somewhere in Madison, WI.

Other: DCI Local (L1) Judge, DCI L2 Tournament Organizer, former MTGNews, GamingETC, Londes, MTGLair, CCGDecks moderator.

About me: I grew up in Madison, WI, and I'm currently a Computer Science major (Math minor) in Eau Claire, WI. I'm a freelance programmer and website designer in my free time.

My Magic History: I was introduced to the game in elementary school through a friend giving me a couple of starter decks of Revised he got from someone. I didn't even start playing with anything else until after Urza's block, when I learned the game more completely through Boy Scouts, when I learned about the scope of the game and began to actually build decks designed around ideas, rather than what I had in front of me. I learned to draft in Onslaught block, and have pretty much switched entirely over to drafting since Mirrodin block. These days, I play draft almost exclusively, and rarely play in any event more competitive than an FNM.

My Judging/TO History: I began judging when I was at a small local store, just giving rules answers; they weren't always right, but I was learning quickly. My first sanctioned judging event was in July 2004, and I was DCI-certified as a judge in October 2004. I became a DCI Tournament organizer upon coming to Eau Claire, where there was a desire to hold sanctioned events among the local school group. Since I've been in college, most of my events have been local store events, prereleases, and a few PTQs/Champs. I am currently working on advancing to L2 as a judge. (it's at the point where people have asked why I'm not L2 yet)

Other Interests: I spend a lot of my time fiddling around with graphic design. (just random things, I like tinkering as a way to learn) I am an anime fan (unofficial 3rd largest collection on campus @ 247GB), and I spend some other parts of my free time bowling, playing various games, and just fooling around.

I just need to post some of the things that I saw today on Magic Online:

-----

4:18 : What is Hasbro's stock price today?
4:19 : There are plenty of website on which you can look that up.
4:20 : This room is reserved for Questions about MTGO only please
respect that and ask only questions pertaining toMTGO.
4:20 : I pose another question then.
4:20 : Who owns MTGO?
4:21 : We know what you are getting at, and it is bordering on disruption.
4:21 : Check the Wizards website
4:21 : What is the Wizards website?
4:22 : What is the Wizards website? Hello.
4:22 : http://www.wizards.com
4:22 : And the mtgo web site?
4:23 : same
4:23 : Driect link please.
4:23 : http://www.wizards.com
4:23 : {s}
4:23 : Where Can I report Adepts?
4:23 : I'm sure you have sufficient capability to navigate from there.
4:23 : If you have feedback for Wizards about an adept, please visit
http://wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=434
. Make sure you are logged into that system (you'll need to create an account if you
haven't already), then fill out the form and submit it.
4:24 : Clearly, asking about hasbro cannot be again the rules.
4:24 : I think i shall report this matter to your parent company.
4:24 : It is not a MTGO specific issue. That is why it is not appropriate for
this room.
4:24 : Good luck.
4:25 : Please don't mock me Adept.

...

-----

I want to share a little story that sums up my feeling on this. The first job I had was a pretty good one, working at the front counter of a bowling center I practically grew up in. One night, I was working up front on a short-handed shift, with the owner (someone I've known since I can remember) working as the shift manager, moving around and leaving me mostly to handle things in the bowling alley part of the place. We had a woman which had been there for a while come up and pay, and insist that she receive a large discount for some random thing. (iirc, she said that the table that I had cleaned right before she got there was filthy) I glanced over to the lane she was on, and just saw the food she had eaten; I calmly explained to her, translated into that "kind talk" that people demand from service workers these days, that the table was clean, and that I would not give a discount. Right around here the owner was walking around and came over, overhearing the conversation. After us about a minute, she starts getting pretty angry at us, and starts to threaten all sorts of things on us, like calling the BBB and reporting the behavior to all kinds of people; what crossed the line for us was when she started talking about being racially discriminated* against. The moment that came up, the owner stopped her, informed her that the conversation is over, and that her options at this time were to either pay the full price or for the cops to be called. She then grumpily paid and left, yelling that she'd tell everyone she knew about how "badly" she was treated.

For the next 10 minutes, the owner just asked me what I thought about it, got into his side of this, and pretty much said that as long as I worked there and acted like I did around customers like that, that I would always have a job there. That was 3 years ago, and I'm currently 300 miles away in college, but I've worked back there when I'm down there and they need another body; most of what I do there now is in August, to teach new high-school employees about all the things beyond the first-day instructions.

-----

My point with all this is that I'm a person that feels that control is one of the single-greatest qualities that anyone should have. The knowledge that the owner could stand by my methodology of handling people allowed me in the year after that to expand my knowledge and potential responsibilities at that job, and be able to do many of the jobs not necessitated by the position I was in, making me a more valuable and trusted employee from the eyes of the business.

Similarly, I feel that in the Magic Online situation, that something similar happened, but that control and constraint felt overly-strict. If I lived in a world where you, as a person of authority or assistance, could not effectively do my job, or if I could not stop someone from simply walking all over you, that isn't a world that I would enjoy living in.

Power does corrupt, but the restriction of power can cause those on the other end to be equally corrupt, for those in power can then do nothing to stop.

-----

*I would get further into this or explain it, however, my interpretation of the forum rules (one that is strict in order to allow for leeway for all moderating opinions) tells me that saying anything that would give the ethnicity of this woman may be a violation, and therefore I will not say anything on that matter.