Ethnography

Ethnography

October 12, 2014

The Wheels of Fate are Turning. Rebel 1. Action!

The toy store is filled with more people than there normally is. This means the store is hotter than it usually is. The heat is also due to the lack of air conditioning in the toy store. The guys at the store are in a heroclix tournament for one of the possible last times. The fear that the toy store will close soon prompts them to have as much fun as they can within the store before their sanctuary is gone. There are 8 guys and myself in the store. The guys are Star Lord, Mr. Piccolo, Van Winkle, Loud Mouth, Psycho, Zoidberg, New Guy, and Cam. Psycho, Zoidberg, and Cam are people who have been here at the store before, but this is their first time they have come since I have started my field work. New Guy is obviously a new guy that just started coming in to play Dungeons and Dragons. He decided to give heroclix a try, so that is why he is here.

The tournament structure is very casual. They do not do anything that a “real” tournament would do. In normal tournaments, people can only use pieces from Marvel and DC. Star Lord was the one who came up with the idea to do an indie pieces game. These would include Yu-Gi-Oh, Gears of War, Halo, Assassins Creed, and other sets that are not in the Marvel and DC universe. Star Lords logic behind this would be that people do not normally use these pieces, but they spend money on them so the pieces should be used at least once.

Mostly all of the guys built a fun team for them to use since this was not supposed to be a serious tournament. There is a prize that Star Lord picked up from a different store. The only person who did do something really competitive for the tournament was Loud Mouth. Star Lord, Mr. Piccolo, and Cam called him out on it and said he should have just built a fun team. Loud Mouth ignores them and continues to use his competitive team.

For the first round of the tournament, the guys decided who they were going to play. Through the game play it is obvious to see that the guys just want to play for fun. They play for a little bit and then start talking about their usual subjects. Finally the first round of the tournament ends with Star Lord, Loud Mouth, Cam, and Psycho won their games. For the second round Star Lord played Cam and Loud Mouth played Psycho. The game play was pretty much the same as the first round. The winners of the second round were Star Lord and Loud Mouth. Loud Mouth said he did not want to play Star Lord because he knew he would lose. Star Lord said he shouldn’t win the prize because he was the one who provided it. Star Lord gave the prize the Loud Mouth because Loud Mouth really wanted it and Star Lord is a nice guy. I have also noticed that Star Lord is an exceptional player, but he has no desire to win every tournament. He is more focused on having fun. I have heard stories about how Star Lord will try and win (and usually succeed) if the prize is something he wants.


After the tournament, the guys said they were hungry. They decided to go to restaurant because it is something they would do all the time when there were more people coming to the toy store. Van Winkle and New Guy leave before everyone heads over to restaurant. While at the restaurant, the guys just talk about memories that they have made at the store. While there is a lot of laughter, there is an air of sadness that floats around them. This could possibly be one of the last times that they are able to all be in the same place at the same time. Everyone has different lives that lead them to somewhere else. But for now, the guys do not focus on the sadness. They focus on the good memories that the toy store has brought them. They focus on the friendships the toy store has allowed them to form. They focus on happiness. 

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