Comments on: Examining the Judge Foil Changes

By: Bla

Bla — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 14:14:55 +0000

@ Charles: As much as I think judges should be fairly compensated, getting paid might not solve the problem. I judge GPs in Europe, and having to call my country’s tax office and going ‘Hello, I, citizen of country A have done some work in country B and C paid for by companies from countries D and E. How do I file this on my tax returns?’ will result in a headache for me. Now just imagine the organizer, who has to call their tax office and tell them ‘I, business in country A, have paid some people from countries B, C, D, E, F and G to work for me in country H.’

Having foils as compensation was nice because it’s like receiving money without actually receiving money in the fiscal sense of the word. I personally would not want to get real pay for judging because of all the paperwork involved.

By: Krond

Krond — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 14:17:33 +0000

I very much agree with your point about the ‘socially-awkward judge.’ I’ve been doing competitive Magic for a long time, and I’ve interacted a ton of judges.

Sometimes you get a judge who is very soft spoken, explains things clearly, knows everything about how to handle the particular call, and does a superb job. No, ‘Hi, how are you doing,’ no making lame jokes. I actually prefer judges like this. They did a great job, but you know that they probably aren’t going out for a drink or four after the GP with 12 other judges.

Then other times you get the loud guy who you know is a judge just for the sake of being called a judge. They want to feel powerful in some way, they want judge foils, they make sure everyone at their store knows they just got certed at the last GP. Loud, obnoxious, but they do have a bunch of friends.

I’m OK with giving this system a trial for (think, maybe 6-12 months), but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it get substantially changed, or straight up reverted in the future.

By: Charles Fey

Charles Fey — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 13:21:50 +0000

This is about legal issues more than anything else IMO. I’m surprised the existing Judge program lasted as long as it did. Similar forms of informal compensation for “volunteer” work resulted in class-action lawsuits; for example the Ultima Online volunteer class-action. There are also tax implications for this compensation that haven’t been explored and would likely result in a Very Bad Time for judges.

Judges are doing a job and should be paid to do that job. That pay ought to be formal and defined. If that means TO’s need to pay their judges, so be it – and the players will bear the cost.