People always come up to me and say "It sure must be nice to get all your cards for free." While it might be true that getting two boxes of the expansion is cool, I don't keep them for myself, I use them to run subsidized sealed deck tourneys and being an ambassador can tire you when how you mediate the personality conflicts among players is more important than enjoying the game.  The gig is not all it's cracked up to be.

I started off as an ambassador back in 1999. Calgary's previous ambassador resigned over his complaints about print run disclosure--I want to point out that as he is more of a collector than I am, I fundamentally disagree with him on that point, I care about the gameplay and not about collectability.

However, his departure from active TDing left a void in the STCCG community of Calgary. Tournaments were scarce and the game went into a bit of a hiatus. Acting on the advice of Allen Gould and other local players I took up the reins.

The first few months went wonderfully. People, excited about the return of STCCG, came in droves. On March 3, 2000 (Marcus Sheppard's Birthday), I held a tournament
with 22 attendees (still a local record for non-championship turnout.)

As the novelty wore off, cracks started to appear. Turnouts started to suffer. I became more and more convinced that the game was in trouble. Many people in the area blamed Decipher for the problems; the new prize support, the players said that the foils wouldn't attract players to the game. I had a bit of a crisis of confidence; what if they were right? I asked myself. I searched for ways to make the game vibrant in my area.

The answer was community. Tournaments aren't about winning, they are a chance to sit around, play a couple of games, see some interesting plays, and hang out with intelligent like-minded people.

Somewhere along the line that had been lost. Star Trek the Customizable Card game is at present the second oldest surviving CCG (after Magic the Gathering) I often attribute this longevity to the fact that from day one, STCCG has had a community. Kathy McCracken
and Evan Lorenz; David Bowling and Ken Tufts; Todd Soper and William Springer; Helge Blohmer and Allen Gould, early in the game's history, over the internet and via road trip, STCCG people were building a community.

STCCG falls apart when it is all about the game, and not about the people; it isn't Decipher's fault when people move away, get out of touch, when they start turning chatrooms into exclusive clubs and player styles become armed camps, friendship becomes rivalry and winning becomes everything.

I started organizing league play, Wednesday night trivia down at the Pub, going out for fun after a tourney, and playing Settlers of Catan with the gang down at the Sentry Box. I feel that Ruling Britannia exemplifies this attitude towards the game; people get together, they have fun, they enjoy being part of the CCG community.

I traveled the world, meeting the community elsewhere. I was greeted with hospitality by Ian Taylor, and by Todd Soper, and by Ken Tuffts, and Lee Sneathen. I drank in the bars of Mornington Crescent and bought silver underwear on Younge street. I played  Starfarers of Catan in a small Walthamstow flat and hit on a Cuban waitress on Commercial Ave. None of this would have worked, or been fun, or worth my time if it weren't for the community. It wouldn't have been the same without the guy who came in middle of the pack, didn't win much, but was a great conversationalist and did a mean impersonation of Hannibal Lector. It wouldn't be anything without the people.

As I began applying my social theory of STCCG management, attendance stabilized, old players came back to the game.

I had 12 people out for Olapalooza 2002, they came from Red Deer and Edmonton and sat in a bar on 37th street, kareokeing "Everyone is Free to Wear Sunscreen" and having a blast. This is what STCCG is about to me.

The basic point of the article is that I love being an ambassador; I love the game, I like Decipher and the STCCG players across the globe are some of my best friends. Don't be an ambassador for the cards, or to get close to the big D; it will never be worth it if you aren't in it for community.

Do it for the community and for the love of the game.