Ever Played Against That Meta Guy?

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**House Griffith**

That's a good write up, and I appreciate your going into detail about the situation, it helps.
I also appreciate the self-awareness about your club.
Don't get me wrong, I agree that the dude is probably "that guy", even outside of playing at your club. But I could also see how the things you were saying could be construed as sarcasm/condescension from someone who's pretty serious, that you admitted you had played a few months before.

However, I do want to know, if I get stationed at JBLM again, can I join the club? I promise to leave my Xwing medals at home.

**ScootyPuffJunior**

Tamwulf wrote:
That third game- His Dash was so deathly afraid of Bobba Fett taking his Heavy Laser Cannon? that he spent the entire game as far from Bossk as he could. He "fed" me his Z-95 and A-wing in an attempt to sucker me into the middle of the map where all the obstacles/debris were. While I had no idea what he was doing with Dash, it was pretty obvious he wanted me in the obstacles/debris, and that was the one place I was NOT going to go. Never do what your opponent expects or wants, right? He took out my Hwk-290, and in the trade, I got his A-wing and Z-95. That left me with an unwounded Bossk and Kaal'to. (he lost a shield IIRC). vs. his untouched Dash. I'd agree that if he got behind me it was going to get much more difficult for Bossk, so I wasn't going to let that happen. It's all about maneuver and using fire arcs, etc. etc. I had the initiative, and with the very good arcs on the YT-666, it was just about impossible for him to get behind me and stay behind me. I think I had a good chance at Dash- all I needed to do was use Bobba Fett to take his turret, and then he would basically have no teeth. My third opponent had all the personality of a wet fish. No jokes, no comments. All communication was about the game. When I said "Wow, Dash gets to turboboost, barrel roll, gain a focus, ignore terrain, and he has a 360? That is bonkers good! What the heck am I going to do against that?!?! I've never even seen that ship before!" He takes it as I'm being sarcastic and condescending to him, when I had never seen that ship before, and I had no idea a ship in X-Wing could maneuver like that! Yet this is a common meta build, right? And it gets played a lot, so he took my compliment in a negative way. He assumed that I was sandbagging, and that I was far more experienced in X-Wing then I led on. This guy was obviously a good player judging by all the medals on his bag, so I guess he just could not stomach me playing so well? He underestimated me? He got angry and upset because he thought it should be an easy win? He didn't like the idea of an old man drinking a beer and joking with the next table over? All I got from the guy when he raised his voice and started yelling at me was that I was a -hole, and I was so frustrating to play against. So I put my beer down, apologized profusely, and said "Thank you for telling me! Now that I know that, I can change my behavior so you can enjoy this game more. This is a game of little plastic space ships. We play games to have fun. If one of us is not having fun, then we are doing something wrong. So what can I do to make this game more fun for you?" He mumbled something about not being an , then he apologized for yelling.

Do you think maybe he felt like you were being condescending because what you said sounds pretty damn condescending? Some people don't like jokes or small talk during games for whatever reasons, but that's life, isn't it? I mean, it should go without saying that if someone doesn't appear to be in a good mood or your personalities clash, try not saying gak that could come off making you sound like a sarcastic dick, whether you truly meant it to be that way or not (I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here). I'm a friendly guy, especially surrounded by nerds that all enjoy the same stuff as me, I enjoy friendly banter and will laugh off getting my best ship one-shot off the board, but I've played people that have been having a rough go of it and I know when to just keep to myself for the sake of both of us.

If how you say it went down is the truth (and who knows or really cares), his behavior was inappropriate and you knew that without starting this thread to see what some other people think about it. But let's also realize that he didn't seem to be in a joking mood, you made a condescending remark that was unwarranted, he got upset about it and showed his ass, and instead of just letting it go, you shot back with another condescending remark about "plastic spaceships" and followed it up with the patronizing, "What can I do to make this game for fun for you?'

So he didn't really tell me what I could do to make the game more fun for him, so I threw my beer away, didn't say anything besides what needed to be said about the game, quit talking to other people, and threw the game. What else should I have done? Obviously the guy was frustrated, angry, and upset. Maybe my comment about little plastic space ships made him more upset- I dunno. For anyone here that gets upset about that comment- that's what X-Wing is. It's a game of little plastic space ships. We play games to have fun, and if we are not having fun, then whats the point of playing the game? To win? Win a game of little plastic space ships? If that's fun in your book, then who am I to stand in your way? I don't know what to say to someone that takes offense to that. In the greater scheme of things, X-Wing means nothing to me. Watching my father be eaten alive by cancer over six months- that meant something. Flying on a C-17 with six flag draped coffins in the cargo hold- that meant something. Walking by the memorial of several pairs of boots, M-4s, and helmets every day in Afghanistan meant something. Watching my niece being born- that meant something. Building a house for a family in need, and meeting that family- that meant something. Listening to the stories of WWI, Korean, and Vietnam Vets at the American Legion Hall on Memorial Day meant something. So is X-Wing ever going to mean that much to me? In comparison to all the stuff I've done in my life? How can a game of little plastic space ships ever matter that much to me?

Yet it means enough to you to come here, start a thread, deliberately mislead people about what happened, and then try to take the high road. I'm sure this goes for most of us here, but X-Wing means very little to me outside of being a hobby that I enjoy. My wife, kids, job, house, bills, and pretty much everything in my life comes before X-Wing (and my other hobbies). You aren't the first person to figure that out and you certainly don't need to come to this forum to talk down to everyone like we don't understand how life works. Also, caring about X-Wing (or other games/hobbies) and caring about real life gak aren't mutually exclusive.

Elitest club... I guess you could say that. The club was started because the founders got tired of dealing with kids at the local game store, and dealing with the overbearing and condescending owner. It's a "closed" club because we have a beer fridge, and if there was ever an underage drinking incident, the club would be closed and someone would be getting into a lot of trouble. We also live in a college town, and there has been issues and incidents with some of the college students in the club. We welcome any adult over 18 to come and play, but we want to make sure they are a right "fit" for us. We just want a place to get away from family/work/whatever for a bit, play some games, and have fun. I can see how people would think that's elitist, but it works for us.

We downplay the accomplishments of many of the members because many of the members are very accomplished. What do you say to someone that brags about their painting skills when you have club members who are Golden Daemon winners? How do you react to someone that says "I'm a play tester for such and such game" when most of the club is a play tester for some game or another? We've had people walk into the club and try to throw their weight around before, name dropping, or showing off awards or whatever. I guess it turns them off when we just smile or laugh at them. If that's the definition of elitist, then I guess we are.

I guess I failed to articulate in a meaningful way how I felt about the entire situation. You guys pointing out about the club as being a bunch of elitist D-bags- I never thought of it that way or looked at it from that perspective, but yeah, I can see that now. I hope I shed some light on why we are like that, but it does give me and the officers something to ponder that I will bring up at our next meeting.

I don't really know what to say other than good for you and your buddies. You don't like it when "outsiders" feel like they're accomplished or proud of themselves so you come to the X-Wing forum to tell everyone how accomplished your little game club is.

That makes sense.

If the club decides to have another tournament, or I decide to attend a tournament somewhere else, I'll put a little more time and effort into the rules and FAQ, and "brush up" on the latest meta lists. I do feel a little intimidated and put out by the fact that the expectation of tournament play is so much higher then casual play. It just seems like an awful lot of time, effort, and work to play a game- not unlike 40K with the never ending paint que and poor rules. Hey! At least X-Wing has that going for it- clear, concise rules. And I don't have to paint anything unless I want to! Even if I've only played a handful of games compared to many here, I've never gotten into a rules dispute like I have in 40K. LOL

Understanding the rules is pretty much the basics of playing any game competitively. Like I've already said, knowing the intricacies of every single card isn't something most people have and even the best of us need to be reminded how how less used cards or new pilots work.

**Dave-c**

Yea, I can see even a casual gamer being annoyed by the things you said. Maybe next time you should consider your tact and phrasing.

Something more like "Wow, that's a really strong build! That's going to be tough to beat! " will come off as a compliment instead of a complaint. But then again it did sound like you wanted to complain so maybe you did exactly as you meant. You don't sound like someone I would want to play with. You don't know the rules, you complain about how strong something is, and you seem stand offish. Those are all classic TFG traits.

I'm not trying to be rude to you, I'm trying to let you know how you appear to others so that you may recognize it and correct yourself the next time you begin to act that way.

**TheWaspinator**

And yeah, looking over that again makes you sound REALLY tone deaf. If a guy isn't in a joking mood and you keep trying to force the conversation like that, of course you're going to annoy him.

**Azreal13**

He didn't like the idea of an old man drinking a beer and joking with the next table over?

Just this would get my hackles up.

Professionally, one of my biggest red button issues with any of my staff would be if they didn't give a customer their full attention for the period of time they spent serving them, which in some cases could be for just a few seconds. It is discourteous and disrespectful, it sends the message that something else is more important than them and you can't be bothered to give them your full attention, even if only for a minute.

I carry a similar attitude when playing a game in an environment where there are other people. In a social setting I try and strike a balance, people at my club do want, sometimes need, to speak to me as I'm a keyholder and treasurer, and it is my one opportunity a week to catch up with some friends, but I try not to get too heavily into discussion while playing, for similar reasons - it says that I'm more interested in other people than my opponent, or it may even send the message that they're not posing enough of a challenge to me to actually keep me engaged in the game. Neither of which is a good message to send, I'm sure you'd agree.

If it were a more competitive setting, I'd find it even more discourteous if my opponent was paying more attention to what other people were doing than they were to me, especially if they didn't really seem to know what the feth was going on with my list or have a sound grasp of up to date rules.

**Compel**

The thing is, to some people X-Wing is legitimately "srs bizness." There are a lot of "touring" X-Wing players that will turn up at the fairest hint of a sniff of a tournament.

And even though it is very tempting (I know I can feel the same way at times), it's best not to get riled up about it.

It's not because they're basement dwelling losers or some other perjorative. They just see the game in a different light. - Something closer to an actual sport. You'll see the same thing in ccgs too.

So yeah, it can be rubbish to get clobbered by someone who is way out of your league... but, that's kinda the thing. It is the literal definition of that. For all intents and purposes, it is someone who *should* be in the premier league hanging out in the equivalent of a amateur pub league.

If X-Wing gets even more popular than it already is, it might end up needing to be something that FFG need to consider more than just having "nationals" and "store championships."

If it continues to be a "thing" that a lot of people at the store have issues with, it may be worth bringing it up with your runners to consider doing multiple events, one only advertised in store with "house" prizes and another one that's more official as part of FFGs system.

The good news is, if you're going to Gencon to play. They're going to be operating under a Swiss system where after the initial game or two players will be matched with similar skills. So wise case scenario be up against a player WAY better than you in the first round, then afterwards you'll be placed more around your niche and probably with more like-minded players.