Originally Posted by
Erik Setzer
No idea what else PW said, but I did catch above the quoted, "Who cares about tournaments?"
Well, a LOT of people do. And it's all thanks to Games Workshop.
I know the young'uns won't remember (and the trolls will ignore history), but GW promoted major tournaments with the Grand Tournaments originally. Demand for them grew, GW couldn't be in all the places people wanted them, independent tourneys popped up to fill that void (titled "IndyGTs", an homage to GW's tournaments), and eventually GW felt it was fine to save money and let the community run the circuit.
They also created the Rogue Trader Tournament system, named for the title they gave to independent retailers at the time (Rogue Traders), and meant to give a set of rules and scenarios (quite fun ones, too!) for running tournaments for local players. It was a popular system, and is the reason the local crowd, who aren't uber-competitive sorts, became so interested in tournaments.
You can't promote that kind of thing and spread it across the gaming community and then decide it was a bad idea and you want to put it back in a box and throw everyone under the bus for enjoying something you pushed... but that's what GW tried to do, and that's what the trolls love to run with. It wasn't until 'Ard Boyz that tournaments got bad, but most of us understood the problem with 'Ard Boyz.
Do a tournament like the original GTs or RTTs, and I think the anti-tournament people would like it. You weren't just judged on winning, you were also scored on painting, army comp, and sportsmanship. The tournaments promoted being a good player, bringing an army that wasn't built to stomp someone's face, being a nice person, and painting and modeling skills: a true celebration of the hobby.
Instead, we now have people considering "tournament" to be a dirty word because GW screwed up the 'Ard Boyz mess and it's a crutch to insult players rather than admit that even outside tournaments there are issues with game balance that not even "being a nice guy" can clear up.