Why We Draft

Hai guys, Tristan here, and there’s something I’d like to talk to you all about today. It’s one of my favorite things about fandoms,  and Star Wars in particular.

So there’s this crazy thing that some of us more absurd fans go in for, drafting characters in a team and pitting them against other teams. I’m sure you’re at least familiar with the concept due to fantasy sports leagues and such, but you see, this has nothing empirical about it. It’s just all of our opinions going up against each other and trying to convince each other who’s right and drafted better. Why would we do such a silly thing? It’s all completely subjective, so there really isn’t any right or wrong answer to any of the matches. Well, I can think of a few reasons to participate in them.

First, it’s a place you can basically nerd out on something. You can show your knowledge of the topic, present it in a logical fashion, argue it, post quotes or scans of relevant information, and really just dig into something you enjoy just that much deeper than you normally would. You can read things in a focused manner, trying to draw out something that might get your participant a win. It lets you feel involved in a way that simply reading the books for enjoyment doesn’t, and it also tests your memory.

Second, it’s a way to be more passionate about something you care about. I mean really, people wouldn’t put the time and effort into five and ten page arguments if it wasn’t something that they could find it in themselves to really care about. Otherwise it’s just a waste of time and energy. I should know, I’ve put in the time and effort to write some of those arguments, and it really feels good when you see results out of it.  But there really is nothing much more passionate in a fandom than arguing or debating with another fan about the subject. Especially if you’re both convinced you’re right.

Third would be the participation. Think about it for a moment, you’re spending time talking to other people about something you love. Sure, you probably do that anyway, but in that kind of setting it’s completely expected. You can hypothesize about things that in more regular company you’d be laughed at or would garner all kinds of strange looks. That’s incredibly freeing. If I were to talk about things in that depth with, say, my girlfriend (who does like Star Wars, and reads the books) I’d get an eye roll or a sigh. In the draft? I get debate, and passionate responses.  And it’s understood that you’re even supposed to argue or debate this stuff, so no one gets mad at you for disagreeing with them. Normally anyway.

Fourth you have competition. It’s a test of your knowledge of the topic, which you really can’t get in a lot of other ways. You not only have to know enough about the subject to even want to get involved, but you have to know enough about it to put together a competitive team. This is not as easy as it might sound. By any stretch of the imagination. It took me almost five years to actually win one, and I’ve not actually come that close most of the time. For one thing you don’t necessarily know the judges, or what their opinions about things are, you have to formulate your own, and you have to know who will actually work with who and when they should be picked. So not only do you have to know the subject and characters involved, but you have to learn about how to draft in and of itself. For those with a competitive streak, this ends up being very fun. Others do it just to put together a joke team, i.e. just for the fun of the drafting process and being able to say that you “had” the character in your possession for a time.

While in some ways this really is a silly past time, it’s no more so than fantasy football or playing a video game. In some ways it’s probably more fun. At least with this you get more direct interaction with other people, which everyone needs to one degree or another, so why not get that interaction through a draft?

For those that still aren’t convinced about drafts, lemme ask you something. How many times have you said something like “Batman would totally beat Superman in a fight”? Haven’t all really serious fans said something like this at one point or another? That’s all this is basically, only putting it in a more formal setting and actually analyzing things as best we can to come to a somewhat legitimate answer instead of merely stating an opinion. We all do this kind of thing, even if it’s just in our minds. And wouldn’t you say there’s just something about being able to say “I have Mace Windu on my team.”? I’d like certainly like to think so.

In my next post we’ll be going back to the more regularly scheduled programing of my chronological read through, and looking at the overall first story arc of Dawn of the Jedi. That’d be the first five comics for those of you wanting to follow along with me. There’s a chance I might do several posts on that storyline, but we’ll just have to see what happens. If nothing else you have a flying Rancoragon to look forward to. Have fun, peace out, and enjoy.