Personal Journal

Tulio- A Next Step

The following is the post I made at my local hobby store's webpage, in the private area (where Tulio may very well read), about my moral dilemma with Tulio.

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Since Jean died, I've decided to try to take up one of her traits,
that is, to generally be unafraid to tell someone the truth, even when
it creates a scene. With that in mind, here is a moral dilemma I face
for Saturday's 40K tournament.

I think Tulio is an ass-hat, and I don't care if he knows that I do.
I further don't care if everyone in the store knows what I think about
him. I have no respect for him as a man. This stems from the way he
conducted himself awhile back on the standard GH forums with his
insult to Woody, when Woody called Tulio to the carpet for whining
about Eldar in the thread, and refusing to adapt to the new rules.
His refusal to apologize after I said that I was offended by his
actions toward Woody is the kind of willful transgression that will
likely forever keep me from changing my mind about Tulio unless he
shows significant sincere repentance. But I think sincerity is
something he likely will learn to fake before he embraces.

As a Necron player, and a 40K player in general, I am forced to
respect his command of the game. I dread playing him in a tournament
because he plays Necrons – a force I cannot beat unless I play near
flawlessly, which I'm still learning to do. And on Saturday, there is
a 1 in 5 chance that I will have to play him. That is the system, and
I don't begrudge it.

I'm willing to concede that the likelihood of me winning against a
Necron force fielded by Tulio is slim, to the point where for the
purposes of this discussion, it should be taken as granted that I'll
bear him no special animus for defeating me.

But I bear a great deal of animus toward him for the aforementioned.
And if I do have to play him, I have some control over his points
total, through "composition/sportsmanship" scores.

If I have to play Tulio, I think I'll explain this to him: It's not
going to be any fun for me, win or lose, and I would appreciate it
most if he simply kept his mouth shut and rolled dice and got the game
over with as efficiently as practicable.

But then I get to my moral dilemma about sportsmanship.

Since Tulio violated the standards of ethical contact among the
community (the people in the thread, at a minimum,but really, all the
gamers who frequent GH), and has also refused to apologize (which is
really the greater transgression than the original), I am considering
giving him the lowest possible score for sportsmanship, since that
display and refusal to apologize for is, to me, evidence that Tulio
possesses the lowest form of sportsmanship. Since I know his past
actions, I feel I am under no obligation in Saturday's tournament to
award him a higher score in the event that he manages to fake
geniality with me in a game.

Because no one else really shares my outrage at Tulio (and I think you
should, by the way), then I am left alone to decide how to act in this
situation. As Jean would, I have to be unafraid to take a moral stand
that I believe in, even if I stand alone.

But then there is the system by which the tournaments are played,
which is internationalized, to a degree. Should I be morally
obligated to look at the tournament with blinders on to my opponents'
past misbehavior in the greater community in which we neighbors play
our games? If I do, there may still be justification for giving Tulio
a lowered score based on his individual actions Saturday. But there
may not be any such poor behavior, and if I epitomize blind justice in
the separate setting of the tournament, I would give him a higher
score in its absence.

Note that I don't bring painting up, because it's not "sportsmanship".
I would give Tulio whatever score he deserves for his painting (as I
recall it was average or above, with conversions). My desire to make
him accountable for his actions applies only to the category of
actions where it's appropriate – sportsmanship.

Perhaps the outriders can help clarify if there is any mandate by
which I am literally honor-bound.

Otherwise, it should be noted by whomever is going to conduct the
tournament this Saturday that I am considering what I am considering –
giving Tulio the lowest possible score for "sportsmanship/composition"
based on his refusal to apologize for his behavior toward Woody.

Note that if Tulio wishes to make this whole debate moot, he could
apologize to Woody on the Gamers Haven forum, so long as I got a clear
impression that he was being sincere.

Your input is eagerly awaited.
Yes, I should have been a Jesuit…

Dane
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It is never too late to be what you might have been. -- George Eliot
Courage to start and willingness to keep everlasting at it are the requisites for success. -- Alonzo Newton Benn