What Games Workshop can learn from the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (hint: FIX BROKEN RULES!)
The more I involve myself in roller derby, the more I realize that 40K and derby aren’t all that different.
For one, each has an overall metagame. And regional metagames. Bouts in Alberta WILL look very different from those in Quebec, for example. Strategies and playstyles differ from league to league, and team to team. For example, RDRDA’s Nightshades, for example are a team of amazing blockers who can control the pace of the game, whereas Med Hat’s Gas City Rollers are a team of fast as hell jammers.
And in roller derby, just like 40K, people who want to win are constantly trying to break the game.
Take, for instance, the “no start”. It’s the derby equivalent of the slow play stall tactic douches use during tournaments, or leafblower lists.
Observe:
Yes, that was 2 minutes of standing around. The jam went on without the jammers getting whistled on (which happens with the last gal in the pack crosses the pivot line – a whole 30 feet from where the jammers start.
How does this relate to anything GW? I mean other than the obvious bootie-short wearing, of course.
Well, the WFTDA rules make slow playing legal, because the rules don’t explicitly say that these girls can’t stand around for 2 minutes. Same goes for the crappy stuff that’s ok in the 40K ruleset (core and codexes put together).
I’ve been playing Warhammer 40K since 2003. I came into the game during 3rd Edition (with trial assault rules). That’s almost 8 years. 40K is currently in it’s 5th edition.So, rounding up (given that GW is hinting at 6th Ed. 40K next year) and that Rogue Trader (or perhaps ROUGE Trader) launched in 1987, it would mean that GW released a new edition every 4 years.
WFTDA (the Women’s Flat track Derby Association) has been writing rules since 2006. The current rule set of the WFTDA rules (which is the VAST majority of flat track roller derby bouts are played with) is according to WFTDA, “the fifth full revision of the WFTDA rules since the organization developed the first shared rules for the sport of women’s flat track roller derby in 2005.” Quick math, that’s a full revision every year and a bit.
These derby no-starts have come to a head and as such, WFTDA is forced to review their ruleset and amend it for the sake of the game.
Are there broken elements of the 40K? Absolutely.
Is GW willing to fix it? Sure – in 4 years and a bit. But also in fixing they’ll create a whole new slew of problems.
This is why the ETC can get away with making their stupid silly rules and why tournament organizers like myself have to resort to making up players’ packs which have a page and a half (or more!) dedicated to writing what goes and what doesn’t go in trying to make this game actually fun.
I’m not asking for a perfect game in either derby or 40K.
I’m asking for a RESPONSIVE game – iterations are better than editions.
If WFTDA leaves the hole open for no-start jams, audiences will stop watching derby. Games Workshop might delude themselves into believing they manufacture and sell models, but the fact of the matter is that if their game sucks, nobody will buy the models.
The no-start jam thing has already been “solved” by kneeling starts. Which the Philly team in the video failed to execute. They were behind, Gotham was ahead. Gotham wanted to delay the starts of the jam so as to eat the clock (and rest their skaters?).
Philly should’ve started the jam on a knee so as to cause there to be no pack in existence when the pack whistle blew, which releases the jammers right away.
Of course, WFTDA is likely to fix *that* in the upcoming rules release as well. If I knew their plans for rules changes, I couldn’t discuss them yet. I’d imagine you’ll be pleased.
Here’s the thing though. With every new rule set folks take some time to figure out how to take advantage of holes they find in it. Some of the current rules issues have been there since 2006, but only recently has someone found a way to use it to their advantage. Sometimes the fix to one problem creates another.
There’s folks who preach the gospel of short/sweet rule sets (usually based on the ersatz derby of old). Those sorts of rule sets might work fine for them. In the tiny little niche of leagues doing that. Perhaps BECAUSE there’s a tiny niche of leagues using those rules?
WFTDA’s rules have grown in length and complexity over the years primarily because JUST ABOUT EVERYONE USES THEM. They don’t just have to be understandable, they have to be explicit to the point where two referees who’ve never met or discussed the rules would call the same situation in the same way. Back when the rules were nine pages long, there was a fair bit of leeway for refs to call it how they felt. And gaping holes you could drive a truck through.
Suggestion, try to come up with a way to ban “slow derby” without requiring refs with speedometers or someone counting laps or times the pack takes to go a particular distance. The old rules for fake derby banned stopping or skating backwards (as do the rules for modern legit banked track derby).
The thing is, today’s banked track skaters want to win the game (instead of it being about promoting a match race or getting the fans to cheer/boo). So they do “the banked track shuffle.” The take tiny skating strides that have them moving at a terribly slow pace. Different rule set, same type of thing going on. And as more interleague BT derby happens, their rules get longer and more complex by necessity.
Sorry for writing War and Peace here.
Oh yeah, Steve Jackson Games took 10+ years to sorta get Ogre balanced properly. Folks had fun playing it even if their side wouldn’t likely win. Which doesn’t tie into your post so well, but I love the story.