All the TD shirts should say “Play better” on the back. Then when someone’s pissed about a ruling you can just turn around and walk away.
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I tend to agree on the swearing front… I’ve never been at a tournament and seen someone go really over the top with cursing to where I would think it would be a problem, but then I’m a notorious potty mouth so I would never be bothered. I also would never swear at another player, I just curse at myself quite a lot, and the game every now and again. I’ve been out of line once or twice when I forgot there were younger folks around, and felt bad, but I’ve also never been warned so I’m probably more aware of it then others are. Encouraging folks to have some awareness of who is around them should be enough here, but then seeing some of the stories of bad behaviour make it abundantly clear that some people, no matter what they’re told, can’t seem to handle themselves.
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Complete with a tiny notebook to keep track of who’s gotten what cards already. Haha
As a side note, own up to the behavior if you’re called out by a TD. I’ve heard so many justifications from players after being inappropriate. Being a scorekeeper at tourneys, there is a lot of grumbling that I hear and of course the “oh. I didn’t do what they said I did, they exaggerated it” explanations. Knowing the TD’s in most of the situations, I don’t think they are going to “lie” to make themselves look better. I mean, it’s not like any of them get paid a huge salary to do this. 
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Personal accountability?
I’m…I’m not ready 
1 Like
Frankenstein reference? 
I think what’s a bigger issue here than swearing are direct insults to other players, AKA trash talking. I don’t know how prevalent trash talking is in pinball, as I haven’t been to many major events or league events (as I have no nearby leagues), but I’ve heard my fair share of trash talking in other competitions. It’s annoying when it goes unchecked, especially because some of these people are so bent on demotivational speech that they will find some loophole to continue doing it (most commonly indirectly insulting about their opponents to their friends while doing it loudly enough to be heard by the victim). I stopped getting emotionally bothered by it long ago, but I personally find it incredibly annoying, still, because it’s disrespectful. I would say they’re the people without enough skill to win without destabilizing their opponents mentally, but in some of these competitions, a few of them are actually pretty good at what they do, and they trash talk on top of it all.
It happens to referees in organized sports. It’ll happen to pinball tournament officials. It’s part of human nature to defend oneself if one feels threatened. Doesn’t mean it’s the correct thing to do, nor is it acceptable behavior, but it is an instinctual thing.
This is why I have soft slip-on shoes. If something goes horribly wrong, I’ll pull one off and either flick it or aim for the machine’s leg. The softness of the shoe prevents unnecessary damage and makes for an amusing show/makes me realize I’m being an idiot.
Also, while the occasional swear should be allowed (we’re humans and make mistakes), there should be a line drawn for threatening or copious amounts of swearing for sure.
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Personally, the level of anger coming out of someone is what really bothers me more than just “swearing”. A swear of exasperation as you’re walking away is one thing(usually even funny), but people who get so worked up/angry that it has a marked effect on the mood of everyone around them just isn’t cool, and severely affects my enjoyment of the event. Of course, this is something that’s hard to have rules around, but I know there was at least one person guilty of this at Pinburgh, I think I saw mention of it either in this thread or another.
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Man, did anybody see this one guy at Pinburgh who would was kicking the trashcans? He would grab the lid so the thing wouldn’t tip over after a bunch of kicks. Definitely the most out of line thing I saw. And I could not watch it and not speculate about how enraged this guy might get about something more important than pinball…
Mostly I was able to use any bad attitudes to get psyched up about my ball. Like “If he’s in a bad mood now I’m about to ruin his damn day!”
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I did something new at my most recent tournament. I had a quick talk about how I encouraged everyone to be respectful, helpful, and considerate. I said be respectful of other players and their space. If you want to watch them play and maybe pick up on how they are getting certain scores, great. But don’t hover, don’t talk to them while playing Etc. I encouraged everyone to be helpful especially the senior players. I encouraged them to answer questions and help the others learn the games in between balls or after the game to help the newer players. And with regards to be considerate I urged everyone to excuse themselves if they need to blow off some steam, but please do not freak out in front of the group as it really makes others feel uncomfortable and newer players aren’t going to want to come back if they see stuff like that.
It seemed to go over well and we had a great tournament.
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Side trophy given for the most creative use of language resulting in a personal conduct warning?
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My personal favorite:
“F*%K YOU IN YER’ F#@K’N OUTHOLE!”
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Had incident with a drunk player in round 7 of the second day at Pinburgh. Had a ruling being made on an EM malfunction and his group was on our bank and next to play the game. Butted in to let us know that we needed to hurry up as their group was ready, TD actually pushed him away from our conversation so we could get our ruling.
Drunk guy left for a while but came back and continued to be an ass the rest of the round, sucked the wind out of everyone playing and was a shitty way to spend the last round of Pinburgh.
Not sure my point other than to complain about the drunk guy I was annoyed by at Pinburgh, carry on.
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Sounds like a good time to bring back the TD.
Imo, visible intoxication should = ejection.
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Yeah, that’s not cool. Public drunkenness is grounds for ejection in the rules, by the way.
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