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REVERB GAMERS 2012, #25: If you game enough, you’re bound to run into someone being an ass. What’s the most asinine thing someone’s done in a game with you? How did you react? Did that experience change the way you game? (Courtesy of Atlas Games. Visit them at www.atlas-games.com)
I run a lot of games at conventions, so there are lots of possibilities to choose from here, but there is one that kind of stands out. It happened during a game at Origins the year we released the first edition of M-Force. I think I mentioned Mad Bombers in the last post, but probably need to explain what I mean. Mad Bomber is our name for the (incredibly common) type of gamer who always plays characters who are demolitions experts and who attempt to blow things up at the slightest provocation. The Mad Bomber in this particular game was even worse than usual. At one point (fairly early in the game), he blew up another character’s car for no apparent reason. In broad daylight. On a busy city street, right outside of the M-Force office. In plain view of the car’s owner. Then he hung around. Leighton Connor was playing the guy whose car got blown up, so he did what any normal person would do in that situation: he called the police and they arrested the Mad Bomber. The player hung around for maybe an hour before he figured out that his character was, in fact, going to spend several years in prison.
I don’t think the experience really changed the way I game, but it was the first time I got to test my theory that if one person’s ruining a convention game, it’s best to just get rid of them. It’s usually best to endure players who are just garden variety annoying (especially if you’re demoing a game, since you don’t want to alienate a potential customer). But if someone is actually disrupting the game, get rid of them. It’s better to piss off one person than to have a whole table full of people take away a bad impression of your game due to the actions of a lone moron.
