DoC 4 - Septemeber 17th/24th

Voa

(In case anyone was wondering about the title; not I'm not miscounting: there were 2 Hype of the Two Worlds (MvC + BB tournament) and 2 of Dan's DoC's before the one I ran, so the numbering makes sense )
(And also, I am aware I'm skipping this month. I'll explain that in a bit.)

Alright, seeing as how a lot of people really enjoyed the DoC we had gone by, I'm (oh god) considering organising the next one for either the 17th or the 24th of September. While I am well aware this skips out this month, I was thinking of making the tournament bi-monthly; This will give me (or whoever decides to take over/help) more time to organise things between tournaments, as well as preemptively book the exchange for a lot longer (seeing as there's only about a 4 hour space in any of the Saturday bookings for the exchange this month, and after trying to run a 6 hour event on Saturday...yeah, a 4 hour one is not happening). I'll leave the poll up till Sunday to let people decide which suits everyone better. (I know it's a little short notice, but I want to be able to take a big bite out of the day we book to make things smoother.)

Coming away from the DoC on Saturday I'm going to implement a few things and see how they work out...
1. Less games or More time/set-ups; the biggest thing I've taken away from the DoC was that I was way too ambitious with the number of games I was trying to run. I hadn't counted on 30 man double elim brackets, and the fact that we ended the tournament in the XGC, canceled a tournament and ran one short was testament to this. So the choice is clear; run a smaller tournament or get more time and setups. I would prefer not to shirk from a challenge, so the bi-monthly nature of the tournament will lend itself to getting more time (running from say, 9 till 7 (tournaments beginning at like 10 or 10.30)), as we'll be able to book the Exchange a month ahead of time, and also leads me to my next point...
2.Incentives for monitor/console bringers; we drastically needed more setups. As such, I aim to make it worth the while of those who are willing to bring monitors and consoles. Those who bring monitors will have their entry fees halved. Those who bring consoles with DLC for the games to be played will have reduced entry as well. Anyone bringing both a full set of DLC and a monitor will enter for free. Now, to stop tons of people bringing redundant Xboxs/PS3s to this, once people volunteer themselves to bring consoles and monitors, I will pick those who will bring them. I will base my judgment on how certain the person who volunteers is to come for the entire day. Those I pick will be trusted members of the community and will be lent various copies of the games to be played to be updated on their systems (so if, say, Joe has a PS3 but no MK9, and is willing to bring his PS3, he will be lent a copy of MK9 to update his PS3, which he will return. This will mean his console will be updated and ready for the tournament.) For games with extended DLC (such as BB), people bringing memory sticks with their profiles on them for Xbox will also be granted reduced entry.
3. Fewer tournaments running simultaneously. It was originally planned to only have the SFAE Teams running at the same time as all other tournaments. This (as anyone who was there knows) didn't turn out to be the case at all... As such, I will organise so that there will be a maximum of 2 games being played at once, each with a 2-3 hour time limit. I will also have more people helping me run the tournaments, with full lists of the brackets. I'll get them to stand out in some way so people will be able to tell them how their matches went and who their next opponent is. (Want to take this moment to give a massive shoutout to Goody2Shoes, 7nationsoldier, and G2S's boyfriend for doing all this on the day. Big props.)

I know I'm forgetting some things to help me run this smoother...so I welcome any and all constructive criticism. I know Doom had a lot to say on this, and I was a bit frazzled so I don't think I took it all in. I'm sure a lot of other people will have things to say, and I'd like to hear them all.

Also, regarding games, that will come up in another thread, once this is booked and all.

Speed Boat

I'll be home by then Voa if you want help.

I have a setup also. I voted for sooner, but I've been fg deprived for nearly 3 months.

Owwmykneecap

Criticism wise I'd say this:

Have one game running on all the setups for as long as possible.

Don't introduce game 2 until the end stages of game 1
i.e. phase game 2 in once game 1 hits say the semi final stage.

And having one person in charge of each setup would also be good.

Xinkai

if somebody brings their profile and dlc on a stick it wont work. Needs to connect to xbl to read the dlc liscence. That said, I'll bring my 360, games and I ordered a disc based AE so I'll bring that too.

Games I'd recommend;

BBCS2
MK
MVC3
AE Teams (This was a great idea and very fun)
3sOE

Lucky dip game, Garou, KoF, Maybe something like Windjammers or Gem fighter.

90 Mins Per Tournament, one game running on all set-ups, No games introduced until Semi-Finals, so we could record all semi's on one screen.

UberPrinny_Baal

I recently moved apartments and live in the city now, so it's way easier for me to attend events than it used to be.

I can bring my sexy red Xbox again Voa with the full Marvel3 DLC stuff.

I don't own MK9, so I'd like to borrow that from someone to get the update. Also just so that we can have MK running on Xbox at all (Was I the only person completely unable to get dual-modded sticks running on the PS3 in the far corner? Both mine and Doom's were "Unrecognised USB device").

I'll probably pick up 3SOE when that comes out (August right?)

Sairus

Xinkai wrote: »

if somebody brings their profile and dlc on a stick it wont work. Needs to connect to xbl to read the dlc liscence.

This.
DLC will only work offline on the console it was originally downloaded on.

Also, hopefully I'll be up to kick some heads in in Marvel.

Monkeyto

If I'm here I'll happily run brackets for any games, my main gripe was having to run to the same person every 15 minutes trying to find out if I had a match yet or not, to the point where I just said **** it and jumped out of everything non SF related.

Otherwise it was fun!

Voa

Monkeyto wrote: »

If I'm here I'll happily run brackets for any games, my main gripe was having to run to the same person every 15 minutes trying to find out if I had a match yet or not, to the point where I just said **** it and jumped out of everything non SF related.

Otherwise it was fun!

Yeah, I'm sorry it came to that . With any luck, I'll be able to have a couple people designated as volunteers to help me run the brackets smoother; people who will be standing by and will have a sheet of all matches to be played for the next 2/3 rounds, so you can talk to them instead of running to the corner and find out the brackets in full.

Xinkai wrote: »

Lucky dip game, Garou, KoF, Maybe something like Windjammers or Gem fighter.

90 Mins Per Tournament, one game running on all set-ups, No games introduced until Semi-Finals, so we could record all semi's on one screen.

I'd love to do the lucky-dip fighter (single elim fun tournament), but until I book the exchange and see our time limit, it's all a pipe dream...
As for 90 mintues per tourney, even that's a little optimistic; 90 minutes for a 32 man double elim might be cutting it close... (it's close to 60 matches total after all..)

Owwmykneecap wrote: »

Criticism wise I'd say this:

Have one game running on all the setups for as long as possible.

Don't introduce game 2 until the end stages of game 1
i.e. phase game 2 in once game 1 hits say the semi final stage.

And having one person in charge of each setup would also be good.

I was gonna schedule things a little differently; 2 games at once, BUT those games are all that will be played during a 2 1/2 - 3 hour period. And the setups will all be functioning and running those as they begin. I'll also try to ensure a lack of overlap for some of the games, such as 3SOE on while T6 is on, SSFAE Teams on while BB is on, MvC3 while MK9 is on and so on.

Nutrient

I have some recommendations for future tourneys

People seem to agree with them and overall some are just common sense and make life easier and less Stressful as it should be for everyone.

1.Put the bracket listings for each game on the wall!

I [along with others] got tired of chasing or looking for the organizers just to know when my match was starting, just put the bracket listings on the wall

Somewhere focal to the tourney, then, everyone will know when it starts and where they are and the organizers will have less problems to worry about

2.Set up casual consoles away from tournament games [If consoles are available]

Spectating games I noticed that people were participating in casual games while the tourneys were on and were ask to get off the consoles and allow the tourney to continue[This is problematic]

This is also a bummer and a bit of delay, when happening frequently, this can back up a tourney into having it running later then scheduled [plus been in the way makes you feel like a dick inadvertently]

So i suggest [if we can have people bring in "casual" consoles or w/e] set them up away from the tourney consoles and place signs in each area saying "casual games" in one and "tournament games" in the other

It's all about clarification and signs to make this run smoothly!!

3.People need to mind my language, chill to f**k out!

If somebody bitches and complains and starts been belligerent making people uncomfortable, stressing others out then they need to take a breather and relax

Just for notice, this is directed at everybody [including myself:)]

This can make people perform inadequately and cause tension all round

A few people got too salty about games and you know what?
**** happens, no use in crying about it,

Something I was always told growing up was,

"Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results"
Hope that helps

That is all I have to recommend for the time being.

Apologies for the fu**ton of text

wtfbenson

Sairus wrote: »

Also, hopefully I'll be up to kick some heads in in Marvel.

Me too! I was sad I couldn't make the last one as I've been dying to get some more face to face matches.

UberPrinny_Baal

Nutrient wrote: »

1.Put the bracket listings for each game on the wall!

Simple as it sounds, this is actually slightly harder than it first appears.

I might come across silly here, but I think this is a pretty good example how small and "completely obvious" suggestions require a bit more work and planning than you might first think. If you want to do this, you need to bring several large sheets of paper, or many small pieces of paper, a way of affixing them together, something to write on them with and a way of attaching them to wall.
You also need to have enough wall to hold all the sheets.

So to pull this off, someone is going to need to take a trip to a stationary store, spend money and either transport this stuff every DoC, or store it somewhere.

Personally I find double elimination tournaments confusing to do on paper, since you have to manage who is in winners and losers, and where someone goes when they lose. Laptops are way better at managing this.

Alternate solution: Connect the laptop to the projector so everyone can see it (disconnect it for Finals if needed), and situate the bracket person near the stage, which is a lot more central.

Owwmykneecap

Even better solution:

Create pre printed brackets the night before

each spot is numbered, telling you were the loser should go in the consolation division.

If possible use a small pa system to announce brackets, if not, i'll hop up on stage and shout them out.

Voa

Prinny took the words right out of my mouth. I don't know if there is a projector in the Exchange, if there was, I would have made use of it. The BB brackets, I could actually run on paper (16 man allows such technology) but the others were all 30 man + ones. Not gonna happen on a sheet of A4.

bush

Do it on challonge like dreddy did. It was great being able to check the bracket on my phone whenever I wanted.

Voa

bush wrote: »

Do it on challonge like dreddy did. It was great being able to check the bracket on my phone whenever I wanted.

I have no idea how it works...However! The extra month means I have plenty of time to test it out and get used to it before the next DoC, so happy days there

Nutrient

It's quite doable

If there is for example 32 people entering

Then cut them in half and have 2 groups of 16 competing till one from each group compete[Thats if we were consstricted by A4 pages]

Clearly I haven't fully thought this true but surely there is a better means then what we have currently

There are bigger sheets then A4 too, A3, A2?

Which each are like 40c each if not less

We can work something out in the future I guess as it is a touchy topic

Nutrient

Well if you guys need help setting stuff up prior give us a shout

Monkeyto

Voa wrote: »

I have no idea how it works...However! The extra month means I have plenty of time to test it out and get used to it before the next DoC, so happy days there

I would certainly +1 this. I use it in work sometimes too. Runs like a dream. Only thing is that you need consistent (but basic) internet connections on the day. If you can avail of that, then Challonge is perfect.

Doctor DooM

A small word of warning in all the challonge love- it crashed when I was using it, and when I reloaded it had frozen, not allowing me to insert new entries, meaning I had to go to manual.

This is the lead in to the "double losers final" incident and the reason I don't run tournaments

K.O.Kiki

Please please PLEASE:

Can we get some A3/A2-sized posters with Double-Elimination brackets printed on them, that we can just write on and stick them on the walls?
This would make running things easier than having to constantly run over to the laptop on the far side of the room.

Also, all bags/unused gear should be put on the stage area (near the locker room) to ensure the safety of belongings.

Speed Boat

Or perhaps in the locker room. If possible.

Ramza

Give all your gear to chunkis he'll look after them :pac:

Voa

The ayes have it for the 17th; we're squeezed in between two things again...but we've a 13.00 - 21:00 slot this time(hopefully), so more time to muck about. I'll start planning the timing for tournaments once we've established what we'll be playing, but I'm currently sitting on MvC3, SF3, SSFAE teams, BB, MK9. Any thoughts on those? Next thread I put up on this will probably be a week or 2 away, and will involve games to be played plus what setups people can bring.
We'll run BB quick as the first tournament to test all the setups and whathaveyou, and then settle in to 2 tournaments running. I'll think about this some more, get some feed back from people, and we should be alright.

Speed Boat

The 17th?

Good stuff voa!

I'm gonna be training up for marvel!

Fergus_

I shall be in attendance! o/

ladnopoka

Fergus_ wrote: »

I shall be in attendance! o/

u already found a partner for ssf4 ae?

Goody2shoes15

New Note 4

ll defo lend a hand again Voa, i actually enjoy doing all the secretary work, believe it or not! And i probably won't be playing in any tournaments so i can focus on that job all day.

I have no problem taking charge of doing up bracket sheets the night before, but Voa is right, for 30+ brackets the computer just does the job so much better. Projector would be best and having a few people shouting out matches is best, but it shouldn't be a huge hassle for people who know they're supposed to be playing a match to come and check who they're up against next. It makes life a lot easier for organisers if players take on the responsibility of seeking out their next opponent themselves rather than waiting to be told to play. I think we should have a seperate laptop set up for taking entries, or even just do that on hard copy, and then have someone more centrally located in the room in charge of sorting brackets.

Still one of the major problems we had with the last tourney, and what cause a lot of hold up with the day, was that some people, mainly non-regulars, were not in the exchange all day and were not available to play their matches, which held up chunks of the bracket. People should be informed that if they enter a tournament and they are still in contention they need to be available to play their next game.

Sorry for all the text!!
G2S

Konata

Be back to my recording duties whatever date this is on

Dreddybajs

Goody2shoes15 wrote: »

It makes life a lot easier for organisers if players take on the responsibility of seeking out their next opponent themselves rather than waiting to be told to play.

Yeah obviously it makes life easier on the organisers if they don't have to organise things :pac:

Doctor DooM

Goody2shoes15 wrote: »

New Note 4

ll defo lend a hand again Voa, i actually enjoy doing all the secretary work, believe it or not! And i probably won't be playing in any tournaments so i can focus on that job all day.

...
Sorry for all the text!!
G2S

Konata wrote: »

Be back to my recording duties whatever date this is on

I like the way teh wimmins, as it were, are doing all our work for us these days


Long may it continue!

1man3letters

hi,
i know it was said that another thread will be made for the games but i just wanted to throw my 2cents in about something as pretty new to all this
(never even been to a casual)

that there be mvc teams or sf teams at tournies
hows about puttin mk9 tag in with mk9?

also my second thing and i really dont want this to sound like im bein a ass or disrespectful because that is 100% not my attention
i know this mainly a sf community and that alot of people new to mk
but....
would you consider gettin a diff commentary team for the mk recordings,
someone who knows the game, like id hear alot off "maybe im talking crap i dont know" and a fair bit of untrue info bein said ie. all wakeup hav inviceable frames while there are only a handfull that are the rest are ex wakeups

would help people new to the game also just think it would reflect on the game better and makes think look/sound a bit more proper
if you would consider this but have no one id be more than happy to do it;)