On Jujitsu and Scrabble Culture
Last Tuesday I went with Jordan, my friend in Simi Valley in California, to watch him at jujitsu. He is training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and various MMA (mixed martial arts) for a tournament in Las Vegas occurring in mid-March. The experience got me thinking about some important differences between this culture and Scrabble culture.
There are several guys pointing their iPhones/iPads at whichever two fighters are in the middle, recording their every move. Encouragement and instruction is being shouted out as they are "rolling" (a term used in BJJ culture to signify 'sparring with the purpose of educating'). The video being taken is used to teach and improve the fighters' technique. The fighters are willing to be vulnerable, for others to see their strengths and weaknesses, their successes and their mistakes. People of all skill levels are rolling, and while doing so share their knowledge and experience with each other. They know that by doing this they will reinforce their own knowledge and experience in BJJ; this goes off the basic principle that assumes that one must have command over material in order to teach it.
OSC: I hear mention of the GI# very early on.
Many international Scrabble players (the Thais in particular) are okay with talking during games in progress, and with crowding around tables to watch games and kibitz. One need only witness events like the Princess Cup or King's Cup to see this in action. In contrast, at the recent Las Vegas tournament one of the Ghanian players was laughing heartily as he discussed a game with someone, only to get shushed. As I was speaking to two players and taking commentary notes at a board, the two players at the adjacent board shushed me! Also, a player who I won't directly name (but has a "colourful" surname) made obnoxious director calls numerous times in Vegas to get the room quieted. This is generally no different at club level.
I know I am not the only one who has been asked what we as an organization can do to attract more people to the tournament scene. This is my personal attempt at answering the question. I believe the question needs to be reframed, because people rarely attend tournaments without having been to a Scrabble club. In addition, Scrabble tournament culture (with respect to ideas such as the "need" for quiet in the room) is a direct product of Scrabble club culture. Therefore, it makes more sense to address club culture, since any change in club culture will gradually be reflected in tournament culture.
I think that club Scrabble, which by proxy also means tournament Scrabble, will never thrive if we continue to shut down the social element of the game. If players can't talk to each other to learn from one another, how do we expect people to improve? The average person is not willing (and some are not able) to spend countless hours staring at some combination of Zyzzyva, JumbleTime, Aerolith, Maven and Quackle. How is club useful if people can't talk about their games with one another? How can we expect people to learn to think critically if any attempts at discussion are immediately shushed? Should we really be surprised that Scrabble tournaments don't attract a lot of animated, extroverted people when our Scrabble culture frowns upon these sorts of behaviours? Should we really be surprised that a majority of the kids in school Scrabble (where discussion between partners during games is not only allowed, it's welcomed and encouraged) don't continue on to adult tournament play? In contrast, I can guarantee that at pretty much any of the closed events that xpmorgan and nagekinoki have run that there is plenty of talking, joking and discussion occurring during all of the games, and no one would argue that there have been some high-class matches played at these events.
A number of people are also against being annotated. Guess what? The best in any sport, game, you name it, are "annotated" in some form. Every major sport has matches taped, ready for review by coaches and players. These are televised in order to showcase their ability, yes, but also to attract more people to that sport. The best chess players in the world have their matches annotated in major tournaments, ready for review by themselves and countless other chess players wishing to improve. Can we really expect Scrabble to grow if we as a culture are not willing to allow people to see our racks, each move we've made and compare it to what Quackle and/or experts suggest in each position? Think about the success of Word Freak for a moment. Fatsis shared both his successes and his failures in commentary that incorporated the essence of Scrabble culture, and he did so in a compelling way. He essentially made himself human and likeable to his readers. We have to find a way to do the same.
At a tournament level, we are starting to get a few more tournaments with round-by-round commentary, but US Nationals, Canadian Nationals and Worlds are generally still the only tournaments where we can reliably expect it. Tweeting at tournaments is really only just starting to happen; the players are having to do it because directors haven't caught on to this powerful medium. The players need to continue to do so in order to create awareness, but directors also need to get on board.
We have to keep up with this generation if we want to attract younger participants. BJJ understands the culture of this generation, and incorporates it well in order to bring people in, keep them there and help them improve. We also need to embrace this if we are ever to build a vibrant tournament Scrabble culture in North America, and ultimately the world.
Please add your thoughts to this; that includes comments, criticism, all that jazz.
There are several guys pointing their iPhones/iPads at whichever two fighters are in the middle, recording their every move. Encouragement and instruction is being shouted out as they are "rolling" (a term used in BJJ culture to signify 'sparring with the purpose of educating'). The video being taken is used to teach and improve the fighters' technique. The fighters are willing to be vulnerable, for others to see their strengths and weaknesses, their successes and their mistakes. People of all skill levels are rolling, and while doing so share their knowledge and experience with each other. They know that by doing this they will reinforce their own knowledge and experience in BJJ; this goes off the basic principle that assumes that one must have command over material in order to teach it.
OSC: I hear mention of the GI# very early on.
Many international Scrabble players (the Thais in particular) are okay with talking during games in progress, and with crowding around tables to watch games and kibitz. One need only witness events like the Princess Cup or King's Cup to see this in action. In contrast, at the recent Las Vegas tournament one of the Ghanian players was laughing heartily as he discussed a game with someone, only to get shushed. As I was speaking to two players and taking commentary notes at a board, the two players at the adjacent board shushed me! Also, a player who I won't directly name (but has a "colourful" surname) made obnoxious director calls numerous times in Vegas to get the room quieted. This is generally no different at club level.
I know I am not the only one who has been asked what we as an organization can do to attract more people to the tournament scene. This is my personal attempt at answering the question. I believe the question needs to be reframed, because people rarely attend tournaments without having been to a Scrabble club. In addition, Scrabble tournament culture (with respect to ideas such as the "need" for quiet in the room) is a direct product of Scrabble club culture. Therefore, it makes more sense to address club culture, since any change in club culture will gradually be reflected in tournament culture.
I think that club Scrabble, which by proxy also means tournament Scrabble, will never thrive if we continue to shut down the social element of the game. If players can't talk to each other to learn from one another, how do we expect people to improve? The average person is not willing (and some are not able) to spend countless hours staring at some combination of Zyzzyva, JumbleTime, Aerolith, Maven and Quackle. How is club useful if people can't talk about their games with one another? How can we expect people to learn to think critically if any attempts at discussion are immediately shushed? Should we really be surprised that Scrabble tournaments don't attract a lot of animated, extroverted people when our Scrabble culture frowns upon these sorts of behaviours? Should we really be surprised that a majority of the kids in school Scrabble (where discussion between partners during games is not only allowed, it's welcomed and encouraged) don't continue on to adult tournament play? In contrast, I can guarantee that at pretty much any of the closed events that xpmorgan and nagekinoki have run that there is plenty of talking, joking and discussion occurring during all of the games, and no one would argue that there have been some high-class matches played at these events.
A number of people are also against being annotated. Guess what? The best in any sport, game, you name it, are "annotated" in some form. Every major sport has matches taped, ready for review by coaches and players. These are televised in order to showcase their ability, yes, but also to attract more people to that sport. The best chess players in the world have their matches annotated in major tournaments, ready for review by themselves and countless other chess players wishing to improve. Can we really expect Scrabble to grow if we as a culture are not willing to allow people to see our racks, each move we've made and compare it to what Quackle and/or experts suggest in each position? Think about the success of Word Freak for a moment. Fatsis shared both his successes and his failures in commentary that incorporated the essence of Scrabble culture, and he did so in a compelling way. He essentially made himself human and likeable to his readers. We have to find a way to do the same.
At a tournament level, we are starting to get a few more tournaments with round-by-round commentary, but US Nationals, Canadian Nationals and Worlds are generally still the only tournaments where we can reliably expect it. Tweeting at tournaments is really only just starting to happen; the players are having to do it because directors haven't caught on to this powerful medium. The players need to continue to do so in order to create awareness, but directors also need to get on board.
We have to keep up with this generation if we want to attract younger participants. BJJ understands the culture of this generation, and incorporates it well in order to bring people in, keep them there and help them improve. We also need to embrace this if we are ever to build a vibrant tournament Scrabble culture in North America, and ultimately the world.
Please add your thoughts to this; that includes comments, criticism, all that jazz.