Admin: Game Players Network and WARS TCG history

2026-09-28T22:26:23Z

Game Players Network and WARS TCG history

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{| class="wikitable expansion-infobox"
! colspan="2" | Game Players Network
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | [[File:GPN-Star-Wars-banner.jpg|260px]]
|-
! Type
| Community website
|-
! Publisher
| Scott Gaeta
|-
! Card editor
| Tim McKnight
|-
! SWCCG years
| 2001–c. 2005
|-
! URL
| gameplayersnetwork.com
|}

'''Game Players Network''' (GPN) was a volunteer community site that, in the years around Decipher's loss of the ''Star Wars'' license, hosted Star Wars CCG decklists, tournament reports, strategy, interviews, and official [[Players Committee]] announcements. Decipher pointed remaining SWCCG support at GPN's news pages and PC forum after 31 December 2001.<ref name="decipher2002">[https://web.archive.org/web/20030111000000id_/http://www.decipher.com/starwars/index.html Star Wars CCG], decipher.com (Wayback, 11 January 2003)</ref>

The live domain is gone. The working copy of the Star Wars desk is the Wayback capture of [https://web.archive.org/web/20041009222615/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/games.asp?gm=starwars games.asp?gm=starwars] (9 October 2004).<ref name="gpnhome">[https://web.archive.org/web/20041009222615/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/games.asp?gm=starwars Star Wars home], gameplayersnetwork.com (Wayback, 9 October 2004)</ref>

== What it was ==

Scott Gaeta described GPN as a place for "the most useful and up to date information" on favorite games, with volunteers contributing articles, reviews, and interviews. Members were asked to post decks, join discussion, and leave constructive reviews. The About page listed Gaeta as editor and publisher, Tim McKnight as card-game editor, and separate editors for RPG, miniatures, and board games.<ref name="about">[https://web.archive.org/web/20041011081657/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/about/default.asp About GPN], gameplayersnetwork.com (Wayback, 11 October 2004)</ref>

The Star Wars section sat under Card Games. Its left rail was:

* '''Decks''' — Standard, Theme/Fun, Scenario
* '''Tournament Reports'''
* '''Strategy Articles'''
* '''Discussion''' (forums)
* '''Features Archives'''
* '''News Archives'''

A member center, club/group locator, and a two-rule house policy (no bad language; no flaming) sat on every page.<ref name="gpnhome" />

== Official PC channel ==

When Decipher stopped publishing Star Wars CCG, Young Jedi, and Jedi Knights, the company's Star Wars home page told players that tournament, rules, and gameplay support now came from the volunteer Players Committee "through Game Players Network's news pages and the Player's Committee forum."<ref name="decipher2002" />

Warren Holland's 25 January 2002 Players' Committee letter likewise noted GPN assistance with communications and prize shipping after 30 April 2002.<ref name="pc1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20020611042314/http://decipher.com/starwars/playerscommittee1.html The Star Wars Players' Committee], decipher.com (Wayback, 11 June 2002)</ref> GPN's own news desk carried that handoff the same week: on 25 January 2002 Gaeta posted that Holland had named the six core Advocates and that GPN's offer to support the committee had been accepted.<ref name="news">[https://web.archive.org/web/20041012153722/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/news.asp?gm=starwars News Archives], gameplayersnetwork.com (Wayback, 12 October 2004)</ref>

The former PC oval logo later printed in GPN's ''rulesupdate.pdf'' is the "GPN era" mark on [[History of the Players Committee]].<ref name="gpnlogo">[https://web.archive.org/web/20060212114753/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/starwars/rulesupdate.pdf rulesupdate.pdf], gameplayersnetwork.com (Wayback, 12 February 2006)</ref>

== PC announcements and interviews ==

GPN was not only a fan board. The Features and News archives carried bylined PC copy and Advocate interviews. Dated items on the 2004 captures include:<ref name="features">[https://web.archive.org/web/20041011214355/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/features.asp?gm=starwars Features Archives], gameplayersnetwork.com (Wayback, 11 October 2004)</ref><ref name="news" />

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Date !! Item !! By
|-
| 25 January 2002 || Players Committee members announced; GPN support accepted || Scott Gaeta
|-
| 4 February 2002 || PC Summit report (Norfolk, 2–3 February) || [[Michael Girard]]
|-
| 8 February 2002 || Road to Worlds details || Michael Girard
|-
| 11 February 2002 || DecipherCon Worlds purse announced as $10,000 || Michael Girard
|-
| 12 February 2002 || Virtual Set #1 targeted for 4 March || Michael Girard
|-
| 19 February 2002 || First virtual-card spoilers || [[Doug Taylor]]
|-
| 4 March 2002 || Virtual Card Set #1 released || Josh Radke / mobius013
|-
| 19 April 2002 || Interview with Doug Taylor (Gameplay Design) || Duane Bruun
|-
| 29 April 2002 || Decipher's million-dollar product gift to the PC || (wire)
|-
| 14 May 2002 || Interview with [[Eric Olson]] (Gameplay Design) || Duane Bruun
|-
| 30 May 2002 || Virtual Card Set #2 || Players Committee
|-
| 28 June 2002 || Rules update 6.28.02 || Players Committee
|-
| 21 September 2002 || Virtual Card Set #3 || Players Committee
|-
| 15–17 October 2002 || Official PC rulings (Colo Claw Fish and related) || [[Greg Anderson]] / PC
|-
| 25 October 2002 || [[Andrew Howard]] named Tournament Advocate || PC
|-
| 5 November 2002 || Official PC site opens at swccgpc.com || beefcake
|-
| 13 November 2002 || Interview with Andrew Howard (Tournaments) || Duane Bruun
|-
| 6 December 2002 || Classic format winter contest || PC
|-
| 16 March 2004 || GAMA retailer summit: Decipher bringing the SWCCG mechanic back in a fall game || Tim McKnight
|}

The last row is the public hint of [[WARS TCG]]: McKnight reported from GAMA that Decipher was "bringing back the Star Wars CCG mechanic" in a game that fall, without naming a license.<ref name="news" />

Other Features pieces on the same archive are player-facing rather than PC-official: Duane Bruun's language primer ("TLOSWCCG"), a Justin Pakes interview on Theed Palace, and Michael Raveling on deployment.<ref name="features" />

== Decklists ==

The deck desk was a rated, user-submitted catalog. The October 2004 home page listed a rolling "Top Decks in the Last 30 Days." Captures of `decks.asp?gm=starwars` show sixty-plus listing pages from late 2001 through 2005, with titles already using the era's slang (WYS, QMC, MKOS, TDIGWATT, Hidden Base, ISB Operations).<ref name="decks2005">[https://web.archive.org/web/20050327114018/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/decks.asp?gm=starwars&ord=&pg=1 Star Wars Decks], gameplayersnetwork.com (Wayback, 27 March 2005)</ref> Categories split Standard, Theme/Fun, and Scenario. Each row had a date, title, short blurb, and author handle.

This wiki's championship lists are a later, more precise layer (printed GEMP titles). GPN is the early-PC public pile: thousands of community decks with comments, not Worlds sheets.

== After GPN ==

By November 2002 the committee had its own site at swccgpc.com. GPN still carried PC news into 2004, then the trail thins. The PC later moved to starwarsccg.org (announced 10 June 2009).<ref name="domain2009">[https://web.archive.org/web/20090706102740/http://www.starwarsccg.org/news/news.php?id=69 New Domain and Server], starwarsccg.org (Wayback, 6 July 2009)</ref> gameplayersnetwork.com is preserved on the Wayback Machine; cite those captures rather than the dead live host.

== See also ==

* [[History of the Players Committee]]
* [[Players Committee]] · [[Players Committee advocates]]
* [[Virtual Sets (2002-2009)]]
* [[WARS TCG]]
* [[Tournaments]]
* [[Decipher and the Star Wars CCG Lucasfilm license]]

== Sources ==

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041009222615/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/games.asp?gm=starwars Star Wars home] (Wayback, 9 October 2004)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041011081657/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/about/default.asp About GPN] (Wayback, 11 October 2004)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041011214355/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/features.asp?gm=starwars Features Archives] (Wayback, 11 October 2004)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041012153722/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/news.asp?gm=starwars News Archives] (Wayback, 12 October 2004)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050327114018/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/decks.asp?gm=starwars&ord=&pg=1 Deck listing] (Wayback, 27 March 2005)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030111000000id_/http://www.decipher.com/starwars/index.html Decipher Star Wars home] (Wayback, 11 January 2003)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020611042314/http://decipher.com/starwars/playerscommittee1.html Players' Committee announcement] (Wayback)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060212114753/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/starwars/rulesupdate.pdf GPN rulesupdate.pdf] (Wayback, 12 February 2006)

{{#if:1|<nowiki />
<h2>References</h2>
<references />}}

[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Organizations]]
[[Category:Players Committee]]
[[Category:Websites]]

Game Players Network - Revision history

Admin: Game Players Network and WARS TCG history