Good lord, the vitriol...
The whole lexicon debate has reared its ugly head again, and the nastiness has come along for the ride. I think the pro-Collins side has been the calmer of the two sides this time around, though I don't really care for the "let's add the Collins 2's and 3's" proposal as it just seems silly to me. If we're going to add FY# and MAK#, why wouldn't we want to add BOOAI# and QORMA# and SOSATIE# as well? Stefan's post to NASPA-pro nails it on the head (as he is wont to do when the state of NA Scrabble is at topic).
What makes me laugh is the cries that transferring to Collins will remove all strategy and defense and board control from the game. In my view, it's another laziness argument to go with not wanting to learn the new words. Scores will be higher on average in Collins, but that doesn't mean that defense is thrown out the window. It just means that you can't live by the same TWL rules of thumb anymore, it's a new strategy to learn that goes hand in hand with learning the new words. I'm certainly not good at it yet, but I can at least appreciate that it can be done by those who know what they are doing. I played a staircase board to a tie against Polatnick last year, that finished up as a very tight defensive battle where we scrounged for points wherever we could. We both got stuck with one tile at the end, it just so happened the score finished at 470 apiece. I appreciate that the idea of Collins is scary for some, but in the end it's still Scrabble.
This other issue, that NASPA is apparently completely beholden to Hasbro and MW on the content of our word list, is pretty much bullshit in my view. Keep the OSPD for School Scrabble, that's fine since Hasbro and the NSA run that program. But Hasbro needs to be much more involved monetarily to justify dictating the words we play with under NASPA sanctioning. But again, I'm just a player with little business or marketing sense, so I'm sure I'm missing the finer details.
Bottom line, I wish we could all live under one lexicon, and I wish that lexicon were Collins since it's what everyone else plays around the world, and I flat out enjoy the game more when I'm playing Collins. That's my selfish stance. I'm OK with coexistence, and even continuing to play TWL within my region. I will support Collins whenever it's offered to a tournament I attend. Katya reminded me of this when we were at dinner during Nationals, that we're all really lucky that we have the ability to travel around the continent and play this awesome game with other like-minded people, that we have this community that transcends pretty much all boundaries and on the whole is pretty great. It's important to remember that, and not get caught up in the drama that flares up from time to time. Be passionate in where you want Scrabble to be, but don't knock down others for not being in lockstep.
*Edited to correct where Stefan had posted to in regards to the Collins 2's and 3's petition.
What makes me laugh is the cries that transferring to Collins will remove all strategy and defense and board control from the game. In my view, it's another laziness argument to go with not wanting to learn the new words. Scores will be higher on average in Collins, but that doesn't mean that defense is thrown out the window. It just means that you can't live by the same TWL rules of thumb anymore, it's a new strategy to learn that goes hand in hand with learning the new words. I'm certainly not good at it yet, but I can at least appreciate that it can be done by those who know what they are doing. I played a staircase board to a tie against Polatnick last year, that finished up as a very tight defensive battle where we scrounged for points wherever we could. We both got stuck with one tile at the end, it just so happened the score finished at 470 apiece. I appreciate that the idea of Collins is scary for some, but in the end it's still Scrabble.
This other issue, that NASPA is apparently completely beholden to Hasbro and MW on the content of our word list, is pretty much bullshit in my view. Keep the OSPD for School Scrabble, that's fine since Hasbro and the NSA run that program. But Hasbro needs to be much more involved monetarily to justify dictating the words we play with under NASPA sanctioning. But again, I'm just a player with little business or marketing sense, so I'm sure I'm missing the finer details.
Bottom line, I wish we could all live under one lexicon, and I wish that lexicon were Collins since it's what everyone else plays around the world, and I flat out enjoy the game more when I'm playing Collins. That's my selfish stance. I'm OK with coexistence, and even continuing to play TWL within my region. I will support Collins whenever it's offered to a tournament I attend. Katya reminded me of this when we were at dinner during Nationals, that we're all really lucky that we have the ability to travel around the continent and play this awesome game with other like-minded people, that we have this community that transcends pretty much all boundaries and on the whole is pretty great. It's important to remember that, and not get caught up in the drama that flares up from time to time. Be passionate in where you want Scrabble to be, but don't knock down others for not being in lockstep.
*Edited to correct where Stefan had posted to in regards to the Collins 2's and 3's petition.