Please note the following before you read any further: - My undergraduate degree in an agriculture-related filed; do not e-mail me that pesticides are going to ruin the earth. - I love and mis Seinfeld just as much as anyone; do not e-mail me to extol the virtues of Seinfeld. Do not e-mail me with the names of people who *you* can think of who have never posted a complaint on the BBS.
We are a society of complainers. When it's warm we want it cooler, and when it's cooler we want it warmer. We argue that the government should stay out of our lives, but also demand that the government take care of us in times of need. We demand picture-perfect fruits and vegetables in the supermarket, but howl at the very suggestion that pesticides and chemicals were used to produce them. For years, the top-rated show in our nation, Seinfeld was based on characters who did little other than stand around and complain. The morning after the show aired, faithful viewers stood around the coffee pots in their offices and lunchrooms in their schools and rehashed the very same complaints. What does this have to do with SW:CCG? Well, I'll tell you.
Keeping with the societal theme of complaining, the SW:CCG community is characterized by an astounding ability to complain. I'm not suggesting that it's all we do, but a significant portion of our time is spend belly-aching. SW:CCG players complain when there are no new products introduced within a given period of time, and they complain when too many are released. There is no end to the complaining about how long it takes for new products to reach stores. When a product finally comes out, there is no end to the complaining about what is wrong with the product. In fact, as the EPP mains have demonstrated, SW:CCG players even complain BEFORE they have any real knowledge about the product at all. We complain that strategies are too strong. We complain that they aren't strong enough. We complain about the number of cards in a pack, the pictures on the card, the lore, the game text, the color of the wrappers, and the details of every character, weapon, and starship. We complain when we see the same old strategies over and over again, yet we declare many of the most innovative uses of cards to be "cheese." We also complain about one another. We gripe when players are too easy to beat, but are equally unhappy when they are too tough. We are annoyed when a player is strict about the rules, but are also dissatisfied when an opponent is lax about the rules. We complain about each other's sportsmanship, style of play, Web pages, and posts on the BBS. The truth of the matter is that we LOVE to moan and groan about virtually every aspect of the game.
Just take a look at a typical day on the Decipher Discussion BBS. There are literally dozens of complaints posted by everyone from the grizzled veteran to the greenest newbie. At the moment, I can't think of single person on the BBS who has never posted a complaint. The following are a few real examples that I copied from the BBS.
I hate SW:CCG. (txt) ... complainer #1 ... [7/30/98 01:00]
I am mad and disappointed...txt ... complainer #2 ... [7/30/98 11:53]
anyone else notice the lack of good sw:ccg web pages of late? (txt) ...
complainer #3 ... [7/30/98 13:54]
am i the only person who has a problem with luke being a matching pilot
for red 5???? ...txt)...complainer #4...[7/30/98 12:52]
What did everyone get in thier Second Anthologies? I got crap (txt) ...
could have been anyone ... [7/30/98 12:34]
Grumble_grumble_grumble_stupid_keyboard_grumble_grumble_grumble ...
wanna_post_to_listserv_ ...guess who that was...[7/30/97]
Ok, which one of you punk BBS monitors deleted my posts to Statman (txt)
... complainer #5 ... [8/ 3/98 11:02]
Of all things to complain about you chose this??!! Puh-lease! (txt) ...
complainer #5 ... [8/ 3/98 11:36]
Even Decipher, the very maker of our game posts complaints - although many of those are actually about us (ex. Landy's recent post with the subject heading "Complaints. Please Read" -- oooooo,oooooo, please let me be the first to read that one).
As a graduate of a relatively prestigious research institution (Go
Gators!!), I have learned a thing or two about data collection. So, in my
quest for data, I conducted an informal and statistically invalid, but
informative study of the top three complains in three categories voiced by
regulars on the BBS. Here are the results.
Question 1 - What are your top three complaints about the SW:CCG?
Question 2 - What are your top three complaints about Decipher?
Question 3 - What are your top three complaints about other SW:CCG players
It almost seems as if our collective need to complain -- to air our discontent and get things off our chests -- is a significant factor in what holds us together as a community. We're a collective a whiners. Compalining isn't necessarily a bad thing about this SW:CCG community (in moderation)- it's a release of frustration that I believe to be important in stress maintainence.
So although this has been an article primarily about complaining, I actually have a very positive thought toleave you with. What's interesting is that the characteristic that by far over-shadows our complaining is our willingness and desire to help one another through advice, answers to questions, and trades.
* Queen Jawa spends her free time complaining about inserts and Imperial Decree.
Queen Jawa