Now that I live in the Ogden/Salt Lake City area there is really nothing on par with a GT/Indy GT within a reasonable drive from the area. If one was put on in Denver or Las Vegas it would be a possibility for me, GW ran one in Vegas and from what I hear it was successful. I would guess that perhaps employees got a little nuts with spending on the company cards ... so maybe that is why they pulled the plug? Maybe they didn't ultimately like the negative stigma of Vegas for one of their events as a big segment of their sales are to kids (via moms and dads wallets).
I really wish GW or a third party site (like maybe BOLS, Daka Daka) would put up a RTT listing with updated results, etc. it would be really easy for someone to put out monthly scenarios and have store owners/tourney organizers report results. Then players could get a score and even if there was just a leader board ... it would be cool. I'm sure GW or the Warstore or some other retailer out there would even host a "championship" tourney and/or give the year end winner some cool prizes, etc. GW tried this several years back but did it so poorly and half heartedly that it failed. From what I heard they put an 8 buck an hour flunky back at mail order in charge of it and the douche ran it into the ground ... go figure. You either need someone who is passionate in charge or someone who is going to get a direct benefit from it (GW themselves, The Warstore, a site that wants to increase its traffic for advertising revenue, etc.) ... also they need to have credibility. I can only hope and dream that someday such a system ... in addition to the cool indy scene some people get to enjoy ... can come to fruition.
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I'm guessing you do not know this, but GW is moving towards a new system for its GTs. 2010 will see GW offering support to people who want to organize and run an Indy GT, there will be a lot more next year then there was this year. Then, the winners of the Indy GTs and some of the people that qualified by going to several over the year and earning enough points will descend on Vegas at the end of next year for the first ever US Championship. This is how GTs are run over in Europe and it is very successful. If it works out well we could maybe see a world championship at some point down the road.
That is awesome!! However I'll temper that with saying again awesome for those who are in an area where they can partake in such things. If the Championship is in Vegas ... yet there are no qualifying events in reasonable distance from the entire Mountain West area ... what good is that and why or how should people like me be excited or care? Only people with time and money to drive or fly 800 miles or more are going to be able to participate. Also the GTs are really not for everyone ... meanwhile there is no developmental or causal outlet. If you live somewhere that has some well run locals RTTs cool ... even then ... what do your victories count for? Wouldn't it be nice if they were tracked and compared to people all over? Right now all one has is 'Ard Boyz and indy GTs ... which are mainly for hardcore competitive players. The GTs have changed tremendously from what I've heard since the last one I participated in (2004). Its like Adepticon ... its a very cliquish group of players. Even back when GTs had a little good will and less competition. If you have a field of 120 players in a five game format what you end up with are the judges choice people playing against each other at the top. From what I hear now there is another factor the club/group factor where 10 or 20 people will attend one of these events and try to get a subset of their group (usually one or two people who are deemed to have the best shot) onto the final tables by using some pretty dirty tactics like tanking all of their opponents on any discretionary scores, etc. Not to mention the new factor in GW that has really exploded since I last played in a GT ... buying painted armies ... if the scores are still significantly based on painting you'll have the people who have cash showing up with armies that are beyond even a good painter can put out. It becomes Magic the Gathering in pewter and plastic. Like I said ... all that stuff is well and good ... but I wish GW would put some effort into events that larger numbers of people can partake in. I would understand if I lived somewhere very remote and rural ... but I live in an area with over 2 million people and dozens of GW supporting hobby shops ... why can't GW work with the local retailers more and put on some regional events. Why not State Championships ... screw nationals or World Cup events ... if you don't even have state or regional (and I mean real regional ... you can't just have things for California and Arizona and call it a "Western Regional" event) events. GW had a very good tourney scene going in 3rd and 4th edition and the let the bottom drop out on it. Ever since I've heard of all these white horse to save the day events ... and thus far all I have seen are regional clubs being hooked up by GW while all the fans in areas without a Adepticon or Bel of Lost Souls type group getting hosed. I continue to wait and hope ... but I'm slowly resigning myself to the fact that its going to be local only stuff and if I want more I need to look elsewhere.
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