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NFL 2007   Table of Contents   Player Interview

Evolution; a process of gradual, peaceful, progressive change or development. How does TTA fit in with that definition? This site has been around for over five years, and it seems that the site is forever changing. Whether it be the players that filter in and out, the clans that are formed, diminished, or revived, the legends that are made, or the tournaments that are won, something new is always going on. So, what makes TTA different now from three, four, or even five years ago? There isn't any definite answer to that question, but, there are some arguments that can be made to support the bigger picture as to how things have changed.

The thought occurred to me that the skill of TTA as a whole has drastically changed over time. How did it change? Good question. I found six representatives of the community who have been around the site since it's beginning. I then asked them to give their top 10 players of all time on TTA in no particular order. The results have been broken down into inactive and active members. The active players who received the most votes were then interviewed regarding the past and present players of TTA.

This article revolves around skill of players and the site as a whole, past and present. You hear that and you think to yourself, "Great, this guy is going to talk about how we need to use every last second of our games in order to better ourselves as players." While that doesn't hurt, that will not be discussed any more than just mentioned. I will take a more in-depth approach on how players have developed as a whole on the site, including opinions expressed by talented and knowledgeable players of today's generation. Here are the results of the poll taken and of the interviews with Seto, Delial, and Soujiro.

Inactive - Docevil(6), Nimloth(6), Karmazin(5), Blackbolt(5), Lionheart(5), Unfixable(3), Slawio(3), Bity(2), Aurora(2), Spike_Spiegel(1), Uziel(1), Ziddy(1)

Active - Seto(4), Kamikaze(4), Soujiro(4), Delial(3), Grat(1), Mette(1), Kaus Debonair(1), Seif(1), Brenn(1)

What are your general thoughts on the skill of TTA's players from the past compared to now?

Seto: Well, to be honest, most players these days are too concerned about milestones and rares and such. With the introduction of the ranking system that I don't agree with (no offense), people have become more about getting rank points through laming than improving themselves. It's so difficult to get a game these days, assuming I'm not playing level 5 S/P/PW/C with 6663s. There's no motivation to play to get better, which gives no competition to any of the more established players, though there are some good up-and-coming players. So, the skill of TTA as a whole has gotten worse and worse. In the past, you'd see a lot of people testing hands, or asking players that were better than them to play, just so they'd learn.

Delial: It seems like the older players were more willing to try new things, experiment if you will, whereas now they just pick something and stick with it. Be it laming, or a hand that can dominate when done right, there isn't a whole lot of variety floating around, I'm guilty of it, too. Back when the sites were relatively new, they kind of had to experiment to get anywhere. Now that it has been around awhile, people are getting set in their ways. There isn't really much creativity floating through. Older hands would have a more varied set of cards (in my experience, again not knocking anyone). Now, many of them tend to be 3, sometimes 4 of the same number combination and a filler card, if that makes sense.

Soujiro: General thoughts? The average level has gone down. Either from people quitting or people just not playing as much as they used to. Plus there are quite a few newer people coming in.

What makes a player great?

Seto: Well, you can't really label a player as great until they've won something big, tbh. They've got to be able to think long and hard, adapt to different rulesets, and create hands that are very difficult to play against.

Delial: Most people would say skill, but I find personality has a lot to do with it as well and how you conduct yourself. It's a community, in a lot of cases we see each other every day. You could be the best person ever to play, but with a horrible attitude, you aren't going to get very far.

Soujiro: A friendly personality with good sportsmanship ...and it probably helps to be able to count. I think that's more important than skill. But as far as skill goes, knowledge of the game is really all you can do. Preparing for things ahead of time with a strong hand helps, too. Though, my hand making skills were always pretty weak. Practice, practice, practice.

What do you think about player diversity as far as game variety goes?

Seto: People don't have any variety in what games they play, which is why a lot of the people with good stats and stuff don't go very far in tournaments, because they get those wins through the same rules over and over. Every major tournament has the same people being looked at as potential winners.

Delial: Another one I'm guilty of as well. People are tending to just put up games expecting people will take them, not bothering to take others and try new sets.

Soujiro: Overall, people can't diversify themselves well at all in my opinion, especially when it comes to having to play closed/open. Most tournaments are open, but most players are closed...I'll never figure out how that makes sense. I think a lot of people have their own few rulesets that they play and for the most part won't venture out of it.

Do you think respect has been lost for the "more established" players?

Seto: Yes, simply because a lot of them are moving on with there lives, or growing uninterested because all that's around are a bunch of lamers who care about milestones and rank points.

Delial: Not really. If people didn't respect them, they wouldn't still be topping polls like that.

Soujiro: As far as skill goes, probably. I don't really see 'oh no, he's entering' as much as I think I used to. There are the occasional complaints about Delial, but other than that I don't really see it. I think people just don't care as much as they used to. It's all really about card collecting anyway, so it doesn't make that big of a difference one way or another. Of course, maybe that's just because people are so fearful of me they can't put it into words. :p

Inactive members received 40 votes with 12 different players, and active members received 20 votes with 9 different players, any comments on that?

Seto: Just gives evidence to my opinion that the older generation was better than now, I guess. Or that most of the "all-time best" have already moved on.

Delial: Well, yes, I think it's fitting, although a more even keel would've been nice to see, 10-10 maybe, but then again it's personal opinion. Kind of a double edged sword really. You can't really expect to make a list like that without getting a fair number of those who put the game on the map in the first place. Then you'll get those that are keeping the game going, the list is going to vary from person to person on which side is more important

Soujiro: Yeah, the better players really are smarter, they left and moved on with their lives. I also think that just helps to support my opinion about the general skill level of TTA going down as a whole. As you lose competition, you won't need to do as well. You'll deteriorate yourself just because of that.

There were a couple major themes that seemed to be the main supportive reasoning for many of the answers. The main one being that the skill level of the site has gone down. I don't take this as a negative view toward today's generation of players, however, but simply marking this as a transition point where many of the players are in that middle area between newer and experienced, leaving room for improvement and growth. Much of the older and more experienced generation of the site have moved on in their lives, due to various reasons. Some left due to life changing events, which generally happens during a 5 year span. For others, the general interest has diminished, causing them to wither away. Many come back for the occasional game or tournament. But, for the most part, they don't play as much as they once did. When the more skilled players aren't playing as much, this affects the skill of the rest of the site. Competition goes down, and the amount of veteran players who were once teachers for others decrease. The more you play, the better you get; everyone knows that. But what seems to be something that sticks in my mind as a theme of the past, and not of the present, is that you get better also with who you play. How your skill as a player develops can be highly attributed to how much you win, and more specifically, how you win. I would venture to say you can also learn a great deal by losing, though. It's good to understand different strategies, for two reasons. So that you can be better prepared for the next time a similar strategy is used, and also, so that you can use that yourself. Part of developing yourself as a player involves variety in how you play. If you always play on spot five after someone starts in a corner, people will catch on and make their first move based on you playing on spot five, making it easier for them to set you up for the rest of the game.

Something else also stressed a lot in the interviews was game variety. This is something that can also be attributed to the overall skill of today's generation of TTA's players going down. A large portion of the site plays the same ruleset all the time. You will very often see the same names with the same rulesets, which seems to be a complaint of much of the site now. And with that comes the complaint of players "laming" with the same hand consisting of 4-5 cards with the same value. The only players who really play different rulesets are the ones who challenge other's games. Kudos to them. With game variety comes experience. It was mentioned that you never see players with great stats getting very far in tournaments. Look at the TTA Shrine and you will see that this is true. Game variety is attributed to this comment. If a player is only playing level 5 S P PW, when they go and play a level 2 S P C game, it's like relearning the game.

So, what now? Well, you've heard comments and opinions from a few skilled veterans of the site on what they think about today's generation compared to the past. Maybe you don't think playing the same exact ruleset every game is a bad thing, and I'm not saying it is. But I do encourage people to challenge themselves to step outside of their comfort zone as far as what games you play, and who they play. Try playing open if you play closed and vice versa, play different rules, different levels. Playing a variety of games also helps the general interest of the game stay alive. This site has been going for 5 years, with online tripletriad going for about 9 years. Playing the same ruleset gets old after awhile, and players who have been around a long time are an important aspect of our site and its environment. Soon enough, the newer generation will become part of the experienced veteran group of players. I do realize much of this seems very unrealistic and naive, as far as change goes, but I believe it's important to express common beliefs from the site's members, as these are all things everyone has heard in a less formal approach, such as a simple conversation in chat. We hold TTA's future in our hands, let's make something of it and keep the tradition of this great game going as long as possible.