Theft at Gencon 2011

[dontbiteitholmes]

What happened to Kenta? What did he/they get stolen, in particular?

-Matt

I believe it was a foiled out UW Stoneforge deck. From what he told us I think he was sideboarding between games and someone stole his deck off the table when he turned his attention for a couple seconds. I think he quoted the damage at between $2000-$3000. If he won the match he was in top 8, but since his deck got stolen he auto lost. I could have missed some of the details of his story though I actually have a little trouble understanding him sometimes, his accent is pretty thick.

Also from ManaDrain Thread on GenCon Theft

Hello All,

I would like everyone to know the seriousness of theft at Gen Con, and other major events, is being addressed. Some of it has already been put into place at larger events, such as Grand Prix, and some will be new for Gen Con. Some we will discuss on open forums such as this, some we will keep to ourselves to see if it helps.

There is no question theft is a major issue. It is a significant issue at every event, large and small - especially when we are dealing with items that can be liquidated in short order - most of which are unidentifiable - and which are worth a great deal of money.

As we get closer to Gen Con we will update this site - and others - with information for people about what we are doing about helping make your "stuff" safer. We will also be offering information and suggestions about what you can personally do to help safeguard your items. While we do want to help - and we are going to be doing much more to help - ultimately we cannot be responsible for your items, just as Gen Con cannot, nor Wizards. There are actions we can take to make theft more difficult, and there is information we can share to help you safeguard your belongings - but the biggest suggestion is for people to figure out a plan before they walk in the door. What can you do to make sure your bag and cards leave with you?

There will be more space between tables and chairs this year - which we believe is the first great step.

Also, know this - if you come to Gen Con for Legacy and Vintage Championships, be prepared to deal with additional security measures. We will NOT be disclosing information about this until Gen Con as we believe it will help in the process.

We do appreciate the comments here, and on other forums. If you have anything you would like to share about your concerns, or suggestions, please email me directly at alan@pastimes.net

We do hope to see everyone there. I hope that anyone who has had second thoughts about going to Gen Con reconsiders and buys their badge - it is going to be an amazing weekend with some great new twists and turns for everyone - including a great new addition - the Gen Con Championship!

Again, thank you for the feedback - keep it coming. We will do our best to address your concerns as best we can - both online and off.

Sincerely,

Alan Hochman
President
Pastimes
www.pastimes.net

*please note that Pastimes Incorporated is a contractor for Wizards of the Coast and no comment made here is a statement for Wizards of the Coast.

[AriLax]

A more accurate account of the Kenta story :

Round N-2 at Legacy Champs is starting with Kenta and his opponent at x-1. Winner draws into top 8. He sits down, opponent sits down, they pull out their deck boxes. He is playing WU Stoneblade, which to my knowledge wasn't pimped out.

Head Judge makes and announcement, Kenta turns his head to listen. Turns back, deck is gone. No deck = loses match.

I don't know exactly what happened after that re: cameras, but I do know that he got refunded for the event.... in GenCon tickets.

[nedleeds]

Hopefully a combination of help from the organizer and increased vigilance and rage from the participants will hold the thieving hordes at bay.

[Esper3k]

Hopefully a combination of help from the organizer and increased vigilance and rage from the participants will hold the thieving hordes at bay.

Yeah, I'm pretty certain any thieves that get caught are going to be subject to a savage assbeating.

[dontbiteitholmes]

A more accurate account of the Kenta story :

Round N-2 at Legacy Champs is starting with Kenta and his opponent at x-1. Winner draws into top 8. He sits down, opponent sits down, they pull out their deck boxes. He is playing WU Stoneblade, which to my knowledge wasn't pimped out.

Head Judge makes and announcement, Kenta turns his head to listen. Turns back, deck is gone. No deck = loses match.

I don't know exactly what happened after that re: cameras, but I do know that he got refunded for the event.... in GenCon tickets.

I seem to remember him listing off some of the cards in the deck and most of the chase rares being foil, but again he has a thick accent and I can't always follow what he's saying.

Yeah, I'm pretty certain any thieves that get caught are going to be subject to a savage assbeating.

Can we just cut out the tough guy bullshit before we even start and focus on real solutions instead of acting like adult children?

[CorpT]

Hopefully a combination of help from the organizer and increased vigilance and rage from the participants will hold the thieving hordes at bay.

Have you dealt with Pastimes before? I'm guessing their idea of added security is to be sure to remind people that there are thieves out there twice instead of once. Severely skeptical of Pastimes doing this any better.

[dakkon]

I hope at the minimum, Pastimes will enforce and restrict tables for tournament players only, and that you have to leave the area when your match is over. Having zero spectators hovering around you will greatly reduce chances of shenanigans. I'm sure most people will be diligent of their backpacks but having your deck taken by a passerby during a match is much more frightening.

[hyperchord24]

Theives will have had one more year to get smarter and bolder.

[cdr]

Have you dealt with Pastimes before? I'm guessing their idea of added security is to be sure to remind people that there are thieves out there twice instead of once. Severely skeptical of Pastimes doing this any better.

This is probably accurate, unfortunately. Most TOs do not want to take one iota of responsibility for preventing theft - it's much easier to blame the players for having their stuff stolen.

[Esper3k]

Can we just cut out the tough guy bullshit before we even start and focus on real solutions instead of acting like adult children?

Please, with how the community as a whole feels about this issue, you want to try and talk crap to people in support of the community? -That- is your idea of being mature?

If someone catches a thief and is a little overzealous in taking them down, I am certainly not going to say anything negative about it.

[Mark Sun]

I hope at the minimum, Pastimes will enforce and restrict tables for tournament players only, and that you have to leave the area when your match is over. Having zero spectators hovering around you will greatly reduce chances of shenanigans. I'm sure most people will be diligent of their backpacks but having your deck taken by a passerby during a match is much more frightening.

If we get this, I would be incredibly excited. Even the wristbands (which are more hectic at Gen Con, admittedly) system that SCG used was okay.

[TheElvishPiper]

If we get this, I would be incredibly excited. Even the wristbands (which are more hectic at Gen Con, admittedly) system that SCG used was okay.

I agree!

[Esper3k]

0 spectators that aren't in the tournament would be nice. I'd also be surprised if they didn't have some sort of security camera setup this year as well.

[HokusSchmokus]

If someone catches a thief and is a little overzealous in taking them down, I am certainly not going to say anything negative about it.

Being overzealous("effective" is a much better word:P) is NOT the same as giving them a savage ass-beating, as you called it.
If someone does that, he/she could be into a lot more trouble then the thief, be aware of that.



GenCon should look at BoM. There was a security group there. It was a small group, but they did a pretty good job of showing presence and enforcing the no-spectator-rule at the playing tables(which really should be done at GenCon)

Exspecially since they host the so-called Vintage World Championship(which is a bit offending, but that's another story)

[nedleeds]

Everyone stop pulling out the ePeen. It's a magic tourney not a UFC fight.

[dontbiteitholmes]

Everyone stop pulling out the ePeen. It's a magic tourney not a UFC fight.

This.

Please, with how the community as a whole feels about this issue, you want to try and talk crap to people in support of the community? -That- is your idea of being mature?

If someone catches a thief and is a little overzealous in taking them down, I am certainly not going to say anything negative about it.

If someone catches a thief I'm all for doing whatever it takes within reason to stop them from getting away.

The problem is when people come on the forums and start getting aggro before anything happens that's just dumb. If someone catches a thief and they give up, beating them is not the answer, it's just another problem. We shouldn't be encouraging people to attack thieves, it's just that simple. If you see a thief do what it takes to stop them from escaping, yell thief, chase them and tackle them if they run, block their path of escape, if they try to fight you because you catch them by all means use reasonable force to keep them there until others arrive to help, they could be holding thousands of dollars worth of someone elses gear and you would want them to do the same for you. Whatever you do don't hurt someone unless they are fighting to get away, it's always possible that you have a case of mistaken identity.

[Richard Cheese]

I'm pretty sure you'd be the hero of the day if you managed to tackle a thief at a large Magic event. That said, at that point delivering an unprovoked beating is just going to make you seem all fight club creepy.

Really though we're focusing on the wrong issues here. Gencon doesn't suck because it's a thieves' bazaar. Gencon sucks because it's in Indianapolis and it's run by Pastimes. People should have been boycotting that shit for years already, so maybe there's a silver lining to the 5-finger discount cloud.

[Esper3k]

Being overzealous("effective" is a much better word:P) is NOT the same as giving them a savage ass-beating, as you called it.
If someone does that, he/she could be into a lot more trouble then the thief, be aware of that.

Certainly someone assaulting someone puts themselves at legal risk. I'm also not saying that someone SHOULD do it.

However, given the current feelings of the community on this, I'm saying that I wouldn't be surprised if someone did go nuts, but I also can't honestly say that I would blame them for it either.

[Koby]

gencon doesn't suck because it's a thieves' bazaar. Gencon sucks because it's in indianapolis and it's run by pastimes.

qft