I got a bone to pick with a few of you. Not everyone, but I am pretty sure you know who you are. I am not going to name names, but I been hearing stories of certain people conspiring to make sure a tournament buddy system is in place for many events.

I am referring to colluding, it seems to be the vogue thing these days. How it works is simple. Take a tournament that uses some sort of point system to determine pairings/seeding, add a performance cutoff and/or single elimination portion. Now take friends playing friends each other making sure only certain people make into the final rounds. These players figure out the points each need to score in order to secure whatever outcome they want. They turn the results in and the judges and TOs are none the wiser.

Colluding like this is so bad on many levels. The obvious is, rigging the system, helping to select specific winners. At small events you only need a small group of friends working together. At larger events you have clubs that can do the same thing if they can get enough players close to the top ranks. It is a little harder, players have to be good, but once they make it you can just decide who wins. This is helpful also when manipulating a way to get a teammate (who is on the cusp) into the higher brackets.

It can also be used to stop other players from making further. If you don’t want someone going forward you can check their points and see if you can find a way to work other players to keep him out. If your ego is wrapped up in being the best player or part of group of players you can imagine the dangers trying to maintain those appearances. Add in things like the ITC rankings, personal grudges, rivalries, and you can see where this leads.

Colluding can also be more benign, like making up for a past event or giving a few extra points you shouldn’t have to a beaten opponent. I know personally, I have given a beaten opponent a few bonus points when I shouldn’t have. You can also make sure you don’t do “too well” so you can face weaker opponents only to “submarine” your way to the top. I have also had games where my opponent has asked for a tie, just because we were both out of the running for the major awards, but that can affect the standings of other players and future matches.

In most events it is impossible to stop players from trying these tactics, you cannot reasonably expect TOs to police this sort of thing, leaving it up to the players to do it themselves. Above all else, colluding craps on the integrity of the game and all the other tournament players who participate. It prevents worthy players from making the top brackets or tables and just simply degrading. Beyond making you look bad, it also makes teammates and friends potentially look bad as well. You are fighting over bragging rights and mostly paltry prize support?

It also makes groups look a lot like a good old boys club, creating unnecessary resentment. It makes wins look meaningless and gives easy excuses for anyone looking them. Anyway, from now on if I catch people doing it or have solid proof it happens I am going to call folks out regardless if you are friend or not. Part of this site is about illuminating the bad and changing terrible behavior and I hate to see colluding become the new cheating de jour.