So, I have this kind of situation going on - after last big event TO in my LGS announced to players, that they should watch out for their language since there was a lot of complains and it might end badly for him (loosing space in store).
Both, TO and I, announced at events in previous week, that there should be less curses, and posted beautiful signt “No cursing!” ;) but as you can imagine, that doesn't work too well since players in my LGS hadn't any restrictions before.
My question is - do you have any similar situations at yours LGS and how you manage keeping proper language and what do you do with players that try to push your limits on that kind of behaviour?

Edited Bartłomiej Wieszok (Oct. 8, 2015 05:09:26 AM)

Is the TO the store owner? If so then I feel like he should have a hand in
determining the actions that need to happen.

My suggestion is to announce at the beginning of the event that cursing
will result in whatever action the TO is willing to back you up on. Then
follow through immediately on the first infraction of the evening. The
first time you have someone removed from the event for excessive foul
language the problem will take care of itself.

Magic players will push the boundaries, just like children and pets. You
will have to show you are serious. This might make you the unpopular
“hardass” judge. The players will get over it. Or they will leave and make
the environment profanity free.

I've had to have this conversation with players. It is awkward; but if you
present it in a business sense they might get it. One very loud F-bomb can
cost the LGS tens or hundreds of dollars from a family that walks out after
hearing it. They then will not come back. So unless the players want their
entry fees raised from a hypothetical $5.00 to $50.00 to cover the LGS's
lost revenue they need to clean up their act.


Josh McCurley
Level 2 judge
North Texas Area Captain

I find that a slightly authoritative “Language” said loudly enough gets the point across. If you find that a player isn't trying to watch their language, let the store know who and they can remove the player.

Edited Nick Rutkowski (Oct. 8, 2015 05:53:42 AM)

My shop has a big poster with 5 rules on it, rule one is “be a good sport,” rule two is “watch your language.” the players in the shop do an okay job of self-policing, but sometimes I have to remind them to watch their language. It usually not a big deal - I have a good rapport with most of our players, and the TO and staff are good about backing up and following through. The worst offenders have been asked to leave because of language before, as it discourages walk-in traffic.

A reminder should be sufficient to curb most of this type of behavior and if it continues, deal with it on a case by case basis. Remember that your store has allowed this for quite sometime and your players will need time to adjust to this new standard.

Trying to make an example out of a player is heavy handed and will make you out to be a “hardass” judge. This is definitely not the image we want for judges at any REL especially Regular REL.

I actually recommend the exact opposite approach as Josh.

Make your announcements, but realize that if players have been behaving a certain way for a while, habits are established and it will take time to turn the ship around.

Talk directly to the problem players. Making large harsh announcements to a crowd where most of the instructions aren't relevant to just makes you look like an overbearing ass for no reason.

Typically if you can phrase it as “help me out here, we wanna have a family shop” even the difficult players can be understanding. You can also recruit friends to apply gentle social pressure. And then realize that occasionally those players are going to slip up, and that's ok so long as they realize their “oops”. Don't let it slide, but don't be an ogre.

Only use the iron fist after you have used the velvet glove.

But I don't think one week is a sufficient amount of time to go Judge Dredd.

-Bryan

We have been making a similar change in our store as more and more younger players have been showing up. At first it was really difficult for some of the more insistant players to stop cussing, but I would keep saying a bit loudly whenever someone swore ‘Watch your language!’ and eventually I didn't have to say it much anymore. Usually I'm more lax about it after 10pm or so when most of the younger crowd goes home, but people know more or less to keep it down when customers come into the shop.

A big +1 to Bryan. The reason the velvet glove works best as a first
approach is that it's a cooperative approach. If you let the players know
that the policy actually benefits them and that you're on their side,
they'll be much more excited to cooperate. If the cursing puts the event at
risk, let the players know you want their help turning that situation
around.

On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 7:20 AM, Sal Cortez <
forum-21838-a600@apps.magicjudges.org> wrote:

> We have been making a similar change in our store as more and more younger
> players have been showing up. At first it was really difficult for some of
> the more insistant players to stop cussing, but I would keep saying a bit
> loudly whenever someone swore ‘Watch your language!’ and eventually I
> didn't have to say it much anymore. Usually I'm more lax about it after
> 10pm or so when most of the younger crowd goes home, but people know more
> or less to keep it down when customers come into the shop.
>
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–
*-Eric Levine*

*Event Marketing Lead*
*ChannelFireball.com <http://ChannelFireball.com>*

At our larger events, I've taken to saying something along these lines:

“There will be a lot of people flowing through the store today, and some of them will wonder what you're up to. It would be great if some of them decided to start playing this wonderful game that we all love. (I often have to stop here for applause, not kidding.) Part of helping that happen is creating an environment where these folks will feel comfortable observing. One big step towards this is keeping our language in check. Thank you.”

I first came up with this for our X-Wing Regionals (where I put in a Princess Leia and “scruffy-looking nerf-herder” reference), and it went over so well I've started incorporating it into all larger events.

Requesting help towards a common goal works so much better than admonishment.

Edit: I have no idea why there is italics part way through.
Edit: sure the bracket-I meant “start italic”. Gotcha, thanks!

Edited Gordon Lugauer (Oct. 20, 2015 01:39:46 PM)

Originally posted by Gordon Lugauer:

Edit: I have no idea why there is italics part way through.

You have to remove the -brackets from your post. They interpret a part of your text as code which means the next part should be written in italics. That is also why that part disappears