I'm highlighting the main points here, since you yourself mention that D's formats should remain available. If they're to remain available, then the are the "official" formats associated with their names, and everything else is "house rules".
Clearly any ruling, errata, or format that does not come from Decipher can never truly be considered official. But ultimately "official" is just a word, and what's truly important is keeping this game playable, keeping this game fun. I view Gemp as a tremendous asset in terms of providing a way for people all over the world to keep playing this game. If Gemp did not exist, I would not be able to continue playing lotr, because there's just not that many players around here still interested. So, Gemp is a powerful force in providing an opportunity for us to keep playing.
However, this also means that Gemp itself has a lot of power in dictating HOW we can play, both in terms of limitations and in terms of possibilities. I put it to you: If Gemp ruled that, for example,
Erkenbrand's Horn was now no longer legal to play... do you really think that people would stop playing lotr on Gemp? Because that ruling isn't "official?" I sure wouldn't. I'd keep playing in any way Gemp would let me, and would probably end up being happier for it in the long run.
But once again, I'm not suggesting that Gemp stop supporting official formats. There is definitely a place for those. What I'm suggesting is that Decipher left us something that can be improved upon, and that Gemp has the power to make and enforce those improvements, with new formats that, while not "official," may prove to be more playable and more popular in the long run.
it's better to let players enjoy THEIR cards than to ban a card for other players NOT enjoying playing AGAINST it (there are exceptions, when a ban is actually necessary, but as a start, this is the general guideline),
Open is the only format that bans no cards at all, and I think you'd agree that it's not very popular, because there's just too much room for NPEs (Negative Player Experience). But I think we broadly agree: I hate banning cards, and prefer a medium that allows as many cards as possible, without being broken.
if Gemp simply decides to "kill" those cards by not supporting their formats anymore, instead playing only "House X" formats,
I don't think anyone is really suggesting that Gemp should do this. However, I would suggest that a "House X" format could ultimately prove more popular than official formats, by virtue of making the game more playable, more fun, less stale.
this would scare newer players from learning the game,
You know what scares newer players from learning the game? Seeing some schmoe play out 16 followers on the first turn using Gamling and that Horn. Or the Orc Culture
Demoralized super-swarm tactics. Or infuriating Gollum/Smeagol site manipulation. Or a number of others.
I think any kind of action without legal and valid support from D is simply not worth it, since it lacks the official support needed to be enforced,
Within Gemp, all it needs to be enforced is someone to make a notation in the programming. Presto, enforced.
I also think that the game can be officially called dead,
Agreed. No new cards, no new rulings, no new erratas, and no new official formats. The very definition of a dead game. Of course, Poker is a dead game, but people have played it for more than a century.
which won't stop us playing it, of course,
It won't stop me playing it, but it has (to a certain extent) stopped me from playing formats where abusive strategies can be used. It has driven me towards formats with more limited card pools, which if you think about it, is really no different than banning a BUNCH of cards, including the abused ones, but also including a lot of good cards that AREN'T abused. What we really need are new formats that give us all the good cards, and none of the bad ones.
but I think it's realistic at this point to just assume that D is never giving their leave for a PC to do anything,
Agreed. But it doesn't really matter. For me, Gemp is my lotr playing world. It's pretty much the only place I play anymore, and there's a bunch of other people playing there too. Gemp has all the power it needs to make and enforce any rules within that environment that it chooses to, Decipher or no Decipher. "Official" doesn't matter, what matters is that Gemp basically has the power to do what it wants.
and they're also not releasing new cards for the game, Hobbit movie or no Hobbit movie,
I previously argued against any committee-designed new cards... but you know, I'd really like to see some cards from the upcoming Hobbit movies. Certainly they shouldn't be legal for any "official" formats, but for some new (and better) Gemp formats? I think that would be great.
if we don't like a certain card because a card is oppressive, we simply don't play it.
What, the honor system? That would work if all players had honor... but let's get real: Some players like cheap strategies, and will use and abuse things if given the chance. It's just human nature. I suppose we could all just immediately concede a game whenever it's apparent we're playing against someone using one of these strategies... but that doesn't really seem right either. I think it would be better to let these strategies stand in the various formats where they are allowed, and if you play those, then you know what you're in for. BUT hey, give me a BETTER format where I can play with the vast majority of my cards and not worry about that cheap stuff, and I would much rather play that.
Creativity has a limit when the card pool is also limited, and since it won't grow again, we just have to accept that, eventually, we'll have the "perfect" version of each strategy, which will basically turn the game into "rock, paper, scisors", so if we want to spark any creativity, "side-tournaments" with "House X" formats is our best bet, provided they're SIDE tournaments, not made into the regular tournament formats.
What's the point of having tournaments if it eventually boils down to rock-paper-scissors between a half-dozen abusive strategies against which there is no reasonable defense? The tournaments *I* want to play in, are the ones in which a wide variety of deck types and strategies all have a viable opportunity to do well... and I hope that Gemp will eventually support such tournaments in new formats.
I'm not saying we shouldn't have tournaments in official formats as well... but if given the opportunity to play in a tournament where an abusive strategy couldn't be used, versus one in which it COULD be, I know which one I'd choose.
Topic: Gemp-LotR rules, format and errata committee (Read 6869 times)
