The Magic Judge Code of Conduct was unveiled today, and the response has been generally public. Im thankful for that; it was the culmination of a lot of work over a long period of time by a lot of people. There is a minority of people that have raised a concern that I think is worth addressing. Their concern largely boils down to the following question: Why do we need a document to tell judges to treat others with respect? Were judges, we should be above that sort of thing! Heres my personal answer to this question: I dont believe we need to tell judges not to steal or cheat or disrespect others. The vast majority of judges will never get into trouble in this way. Thats not what the Code of Conduct is for. The Code of Conduct achieves the following objectives: 1) It gives people a way to report issues. Yes, many judges know they can report issues to their RC. But what if youre a new judge and dont know what an RC is? What if the judge youre having issues with IS your RC? What if youre a player? 2) It forces the judge program to establish a set of policies for dealing with issues before they come up, and then it forces the Judge Program to educate its leaders on those policies. If we decide ahead of time how the whole process is handled, everyone gets fair and equal treatment. 3) It helps us draw boundaries and set expectations. No Magic Judge expects to be able to punch a player and get away with it. But how many judges expected that it would reflect on them as a judge if they show up to a tournament get into trouble, or if they acted out while wearing the judge shirt on Facebook? The point of the Code of Conduct isnt to tell judges dont lie, cheat or steal. Its the Judge Program codifying how to deal with it when people inevitably break the rules so everyone can be treated fairly, and its letting judges know exactly what is expected of them so no one feels ambushed.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 07:07:31 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015