Originally published at: ANR Pro Circuit Official Announcement - StimHack
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Yup.
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It’s like they’re trying to kill ANR so they can focus on some new LCG.
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Well that’s disappointing.
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Just find it interesting that ANRPC now has to potentially offer a cash prize which is something that FFG has made clear they don’t want for their games…
I understand that there may be something outside of my knowledge as to why this is FFG’s decision, just very disappointed in it.
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Your guess is as good as ours. As of right now it looks like there is either a legitimate logistical issue with allowing our events to roll out as planned, or FFG takes issue with our very existence and is trying to squeeze us out.
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I would genuinely believe (and hope) that the former is true. Fingers crossed that something can be worked out by 2016.
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I really hope they are not trying to demonize it by forcing its hand. They don’t want cash in the game, but I haven’t seen a Kim/Gagarin go for under $100.
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Man this is frustrating. I just wish they would openly communicate with us about what the troubles are, and about how they want us to proceed. So is it ok to fall back on giving out cash prizes, or are we going to get C&D letters for that? As long as they keep being so secretive and draconian, it’s really hard to keep giving them the benefit of the doubt about “logistical issues” over and over.
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This is disappointing news, especially for someone who is just coming in to the tournament scene. I never expected to be able to receive something like this myself (especially being in Australia), but I really appreciate how much the ANRPC is doing for the game.
Off the top of my head, I would not be surprised if “logistical issues” were code for “technical issues.” FFG is a subsidiary of WOTC, and their track record with any sort of technical stuff is hideous (See their websites, DND tools, MTGO). It would not phase me in the slightest if they did not have a method in place to secure earlier registration, or the ability to change details on tickets, without having to delve into the back end. Basically, they’re not willing to offer a service to a small section of the community as that would set precedent for others, and because they have no easy means of completing the task, it would create substantial work for them.
I honestly hope this is the case, since that could mean that with some small tweaks, the system could be changed such that what ANRPC are trying to do is possible. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t hold our collective breaths.
Hard to take the key’s away from the gatekeepers. Not just an African problem it seems.
FFG is not a subsidiary of WotC. They have a license of Garfield’s game from WotC. That said, neither are software companies and software/tech are most definitely not the specialty for either company.
There could be some technical reason for their refusal. The most obvious being that it’s hard/impossible with the doubtless off-the-shelf software/service they are using to manage the Worlds tournament to transfer signups.
But at the end of the day there are people there who run the tournament, who could just reserve seats regardless of what the booking software said. So, technical issues aside, sadly I would guess that this is a policy decision and I hope it is reversed.
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It’s sad that there is no real communication from FFG about all this. It seems they just want to to do their own thing and ignore the community which wants more and faster.
I’m clueless why they do not want to use the energy of their community to their and our benifit. There are several good examples of cooperation in games that let games thrive. I think of football manager, of Warmachine etc.
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Another unfortunate and unexplained policy decision 
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@MasterAir is aware. He has plans.
One could say they have technical issues, but they are setting aside seats for all Regional and National Champs, so…
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It is of course perfectly plausible, whether you agree with it or not, that they are of the opinion that the World Championship should be as open as possible. They are already reserving some seats for champions of the official tournaments, it may be that they feel that reserving even more seats for unofficial championships (whether officially, or unofficially by letting the organiser buy a ticket and trade it to the winner) the event would become more elitist than they would like, ending up being mainly for “pro” players.
If that is the case and yet there is a desire amongst a certain portion of the community for such a “pro-player” world championship, maybe that elite world championship needs to be on the unofficial circuit too?
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The only good-faith explanation that I can come up with is that their ticketing software is poor and they cannot set tickets aside and don’t trust their fans enough to let them reserve a ticket and then give it away. But even that’s kind of condescending; and as you point out, they do set aside seats for others, but maybe that’s done manually.
It could also be that whoever made this decision at FFG simply didn’t think about it very much, but that’s also pretty bad. Is there anything stopping us from buying a ticket as “Great-Lakes Circuit-Champion” or even a fake name and giving the winner that? We give that to the winner and basically dare FFG not to honor the ticket?
I have a hard time believing that they don’t want cash prizes when some of their regional venues are giving away cash prizes! I think the best course of action is to proceed as planned, invest as much as we can afford in prizes for our events, and build the tournament structure we want.
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there are also minor issues like FFG using its ticket point of sale as when its software registers attendee’s name for printing name tags, and collecting shirt sizes. not sure why the company wouldn’t find a workaround for this, though!
Seems like they should be able to handle changing someone’s name, yeah, but… yeah. Maybe their software isn’t very good?
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