Casual Players UNITE!

What, no posts in like 2 years, now 2 posts in a day, something has definitely gone askew in the universe!

Again, over at Strictly Average a post about bully's, sportsmanship (found here.. http://strictlyaverage.blogspot.com/2010/04/compare-and-contrast-2-competative.html) and 2 examples of each brought up a question I had for myself, seeing how I am the casual player... Should casual players play in competitive tournaments?  I say yes, but then again I believe in an atmosphere of competitive camaraderie, whereas allot of the people it seems only want to play the meta lists, the so called power gamers of miniature gaming.  And while many will clearly state, if its in the rules or codex's its legal.  Of course it is, and I for one am NOT calling cheese, ill play against any list fully accepting the fact that I have a good chance of losing. 

I don't play nearly enough to encounter the different situations that many of us find ourselves in both in and out of games play.  Those that play lots obviously have a much greater chance of being in a situation, dealing with it good or bad but learning what to do next time.  Plus you throw on top of that the player that plays more or has been playing longer, probably... again probably knows the rules inside and out better, not to mention a greater overall knowledge base of the other codices.  My response to Brent's post was this...

"Valid points all around, and yes I believe you are your own best advocate for righting the wrongs brought down upon you but... its also easy to fall victim to bullying if your not as versed in the 40k rules universe. I know I know, the answer is know the rules better but there are casual players that are quite sound in tactics and list building that may not know the rules as thourghly as many of the vets. So while yes I believe you should stand up for yourself, if you dont know better what are you supposed to do? Or is the trounament scene just not meant for casual players?"

Which brings me back to my original question... should casual players be playing in tournaments?  I say yes, even if we get our collective butts handed to us, its a slow building up process.  If you play long enough, even if not all the time, you will run into lots and lots of learning situations that will hopefully teach you and help you in the long run.

Late!