Inside Scoop

Depending on how I got there, no-win situations tick me off. If I was purely outplayed by my opponent, then that's groovy. It sucks, but I can deal with it. If I got there because of some seriously tactical errors on my part, then I'm frustrated with myself, but I keep the game civil.

Then there are the times where you're practically a victim to fate. I've said in the past that blaming dice for a loss is counter-intuitive to becoming a better player. However, there are times when playing a game driven by random mechanics has you losing from the start of the game. And while that's the way it goes, it's also incredibly frustrating.

Often when people hit that point in their game they have a 5% chance of winning, they just "scoop," a term I heard in Magic that means you scoop up your cards and accept the loss before your opponent has legally won. While it's more common in straightforward games like Magic, where you can know your deck well enough to decide if you actually have a way to win, it's also something that happens in more complex games where the outcome is rarely actually guaranteed.

I can see the logic behind it. No one likes sitting helpless while both sides just go through the motions. It's made even worse when your opponent's growing enthusiasm is proportionate to your mounting frustration. Sitting there with a handful of expensive spells and never drawing land completely removes you from the game. You aren't playing a game, you're just watching them play a solo game.

In games like Warmachine, it's much harder to get to that point. Your opponent's win is rarely a sure thing - I'm pretty sure some of my friends' greatest wins are when they were just going through the motions, but won the game with a Hail Mary turn with a lottery-winning chance of success.

Personally, I have a hard time scooping in any game. If I'm having a bad day and a game is just piling it on, I'll agonize over scooping just to make it end and preserve my friendship with my opponent. I always want to give my opponent a good game, and I really don't want to deny them the satisfaction of winning. Sure scooping means they "won," but it steals the experience of dealing the last point of damage or pulling off a game-ending combo. Unless marking a W is the end goal (like in a league or tournament), then I personally want to see a game through to the end no matter what. The point of a friendly game is to play a friendly game, not just hit the reset button when I'm not the one winning.

That's how I used to feel, at least.

A few weeks ago we played our first night of our Magic league. My slivers deck, which I was so excited to play, did surprisingly well. I mean by its very nature it's built for synergy, while the two guys I played were still trying to make 100 individual cards work together. I could feel their frustration, even though they were pretty chill the entire time. And by the end of our second games, I was happy that they scooped just out of empathy.

If our game was close the entire time, and I had finally gotten the upper hand, I would probably feel differently. But they just couldn't get the resources they needed, and for the most part they felt like one-sided games. I was happy to see my deck to so well, but at the same time I knew they weren't enjoying themselves because they weren't getting to play.

It's made me reevaluate my thoughts on the subject. Typically I'd feel cheated in things like Warmachine or Call of Duty, where the opponent(s) just quit out and don't let me see the completion of my success. In games with so much going on, success is more dependent upon personal effort than the whims of the Greek goddess Tyche (context clues will tell you what her domain was). But in a game like Magic where chance can have a dramatically polarizing effect, I now realize that being on the winning end of bad card draws isn't much of a fair win either.

I feel like I'm all over the place, so let's play Fun with Bullet Points to better translate.

• If I've played a good, fair game with my opponent I won't quit right at the end. I did my best, but they've earned their win. I hope for the same treatment.
• If my opponent brought an army or deck that puts me at a severe disadvantage, I want to see the game through. It may be horrible on my end, but I can still try to give them a good game, or at the very least identify weaknesses in my own build. I hope for the same treatment.
• If chance has worked against me to the point where I'm 99% positive I can't win, I'll see it through to the end.
• If chance has worked against me to the point where I'm 99% positive I can't win, I'll consider scooping. If the game will end in a couple minutes, I'll let my opponent have the win. But if we both know that they've beaten me through no real effort of their own, I'm willing to come to a gentleman's scoop agreement with them so we can make better use of both our time. If my opponent feels helpless and can't even participate in the game, I'm totally fine with them choosing to scoop.

Will you scoop? Where's your line for scooping? When are you okay with your opponent scooping?

See you tomorrow!

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