07-09-2002, 09:01 AM
There appears to be a LOT of people running around thinking that they've got what it takes to host a tournament (which is bad for people like me, Dan, and Dark Masta who plan ahead...) So, I'd like to shead some light on the matter as to what you'll need to consider before hosting a tournament, if you want to do a good job with it that is...
First, when you want to host a tournament you'll need to have in mind what type of tournament (char. specific, tag, general, anything else you can think of). You should also be aware that other people are ALWAYS out there, planning on hosting a tournament, and odds are there'll be someone planning on hosting the same kind about when you do.
Also, you need to have some sort of rules set up for the fights. Will they be best of 3, 5, 1? Should people take screenshots to prove who won? Should people fight with the same character the whole time? What settings should host games be on? You get the idea...
After that you NEED to know what time your tournament will take place and how long registration will last. Registration should NEVER take longer than a week. Why? Because there'll be SO MANY people that won't show up if you don't (memories from CCF and SOF). You also need to plan when you're hosting your tournament so it's BOTH convinient for yourself AND the people in your tournament. Make sure not to make the tournament last too long, as in the case of TOC III where out of about 70+ people, less than half must have actually fought. Try not to make your tournaments last longer than a week, or people that fought in the earlier rounds won't show up later. After you do that, you ought to set a time for the fights and perhaps a prelim. I strongly advise you to NOT tell your contestants to "find each other and fight by X-day" because this only serves to double the ammount of no-shows that you'll get. In TOC II, I saw Zing79 display an amazing job of handling these problems by having the registration, fights, and whole tournament in one Saturday noon-afternoon (although, not without causing a few other problems).
After you've got all that done, you'll need to specify a timezone you're hosting it from. Don't try to figure out everyone's individual time they should show unless you're really asking for a LOT of work. And after you've gotten all that work done, you'll need to determine how your tournament is played. Will it be double/triple elimination? Will there be bracket play? Will there be a prelim. and what will the prelim. be used for? And make sure however you decide to host your tournament, that it will still not last so long as to make many people want to quit (longer than a week) as well as giving yourself enough time to set up ALL the matches.
And after you're done with all that, you'll need to ask yourself how you establish good communication with your contestants without overwhellming yourself with too many emails. Will you use PMs? Will it be strictly by email? Posting on the forum? Alerting you in the chat room? Whatever you choose, make sure it's convenient to BOTH yourself and the contestants so as to make less no-shows because they didn't recieve information. If you've got a partner/helper that you're co-hosting or is helping you host the tournament, you'll have to figure out your communication with them too.
When you finally finish planning your tournament (it takes forever to think of EVERYTHING doesn't it?). You need to know how you'll present the rules/registration. You are free to use any means, creating a thread on the forum, starting a website to hold the registration. Zing79 handled the rules better than anyone else I've seen by emailing the rules instead of posting them, thus avoiding confussion amongst people who are registering being "baffled" by the lenghty rules. Although, not without creating the problem of people constantly asking "where are the rules?"
After you do ALL that, if you're planning on having a prize you'll have to contact TMyApp about it and send him the rules, info, suggested prize, and anything else he might need reguarding your tournament.
Ok, I think I've touched on all the main points here and to summarize I'll put most everything you ought to keep in mind into their respective order of how they're usually released.
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>1. Tournament rules</span>
*What kind of tournament (tag, char. specific, etc.)
*Can people switch characters in the tournament?
*Should people take screen shots to prove who won?
*Best of 1? 3? 5?
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>2. Tournament operation</span>
*Will there be a prelim?
*How will players be eliminated? (bracket? double elim? poll play?)
*When will the tournament fight be? (1:00? 3:00? 5:00?)
*What days will there be fighting? (Monday? Tuesday?)
*Make sure there's large enough pauses between round so that you can set up further matches, disqualify, announce advances, and not so much that people will quit showing up
*What timezone will it be played in? (est., pacific, central)
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>3. Registration</span>
*How long will registration be? (shouldn't be longer than a week)
*How will registration be conducted? (posting, email, PM's, chat, etc.)
*What requirements should there be? (SN, email, etc.)
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>4. Announcement of your tournament</span>
*How will you annouce it? (thread on the forum?)
*Where will you put registration? (website, the forum, chat)
*How will you present rules? (put them with registration, email, etc.)
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>5. Contact with the members/co-hosters</span>
*How will you keep contact? (email, posting of the forum, etc.)
*Make sure it's convineint for BOTH you AND the contestants
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>6. Other misc. junk you should worry about</span>
*Is anyone else planning on hosting this same type of tournament about the same time?
*Should you make a website to support it?
*How many people do you plan to get?
Well, there you have it. Some of the things you should keep in mind when hosting a tournament (even though I probably left out over half the junk that can/will go wrong.) Maybe I've been successful in scaring some people away from the topic :biggrin:
But if you still want to host a tournament, just remember it will be a trip through hell :biggrin:
First, when you want to host a tournament you'll need to have in mind what type of tournament (char. specific, tag, general, anything else you can think of). You should also be aware that other people are ALWAYS out there, planning on hosting a tournament, and odds are there'll be someone planning on hosting the same kind about when you do.
Also, you need to have some sort of rules set up for the fights. Will they be best of 3, 5, 1? Should people take screenshots to prove who won? Should people fight with the same character the whole time? What settings should host games be on? You get the idea...
After that you NEED to know what time your tournament will take place and how long registration will last. Registration should NEVER take longer than a week. Why? Because there'll be SO MANY people that won't show up if you don't (memories from CCF and SOF). You also need to plan when you're hosting your tournament so it's BOTH convinient for yourself AND the people in your tournament. Make sure not to make the tournament last too long, as in the case of TOC III where out of about 70+ people, less than half must have actually fought. Try not to make your tournaments last longer than a week, or people that fought in the earlier rounds won't show up later. After you do that, you ought to set a time for the fights and perhaps a prelim. I strongly advise you to NOT tell your contestants to "find each other and fight by X-day" because this only serves to double the ammount of no-shows that you'll get. In TOC II, I saw Zing79 display an amazing job of handling these problems by having the registration, fights, and whole tournament in one Saturday noon-afternoon (although, not without causing a few other problems).
After you've got all that done, you'll need to specify a timezone you're hosting it from. Don't try to figure out everyone's individual time they should show unless you're really asking for a LOT of work. And after you've gotten all that work done, you'll need to determine how your tournament is played. Will it be double/triple elimination? Will there be bracket play? Will there be a prelim. and what will the prelim. be used for? And make sure however you decide to host your tournament, that it will still not last so long as to make many people want to quit (longer than a week) as well as giving yourself enough time to set up ALL the matches.
And after you're done with all that, you'll need to ask yourself how you establish good communication with your contestants without overwhellming yourself with too many emails. Will you use PMs? Will it be strictly by email? Posting on the forum? Alerting you in the chat room? Whatever you choose, make sure it's convenient to BOTH yourself and the contestants so as to make less no-shows because they didn't recieve information. If you've got a partner/helper that you're co-hosting or is helping you host the tournament, you'll have to figure out your communication with them too.
When you finally finish planning your tournament (it takes forever to think of EVERYTHING doesn't it?). You need to know how you'll present the rules/registration. You are free to use any means, creating a thread on the forum, starting a website to hold the registration. Zing79 handled the rules better than anyone else I've seen by emailing the rules instead of posting them, thus avoiding confussion amongst people who are registering being "baffled" by the lenghty rules. Although, not without creating the problem of people constantly asking "where are the rules?"
After you do ALL that, if you're planning on having a prize you'll have to contact TMyApp about it and send him the rules, info, suggested prize, and anything else he might need reguarding your tournament.
Ok, I think I've touched on all the main points here and to summarize I'll put most everything you ought to keep in mind into their respective order of how they're usually released.
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>1. Tournament rules</span>
*What kind of tournament (tag, char. specific, etc.)
*Can people switch characters in the tournament?
*Should people take screen shots to prove who won?
*Best of 1? 3? 5?
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>2. Tournament operation</span>
*Will there be a prelim?
*How will players be eliminated? (bracket? double elim? poll play?)
*When will the tournament fight be? (1:00? 3:00? 5:00?)
*What days will there be fighting? (Monday? Tuesday?)
*Make sure there's large enough pauses between round so that you can set up further matches, disqualify, announce advances, and not so much that people will quit showing up
*What timezone will it be played in? (est., pacific, central)
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>3. Registration</span>
*How long will registration be? (shouldn't be longer than a week)
*How will registration be conducted? (posting, email, PM's, chat, etc.)
*What requirements should there be? (SN, email, etc.)
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>4. Announcement of your tournament</span>
*How will you annouce it? (thread on the forum?)
*Where will you put registration? (website, the forum, chat)
*How will you present rules? (put them with registration, email, etc.)
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>5. Contact with the members/co-hosters</span>
*How will you keep contact? (email, posting of the forum, etc.)
*Make sure it's convineint for BOTH you AND the contestants
<span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>6. Other misc. junk you should worry about</span>
*Is anyone else planning on hosting this same type of tournament about the same time?
*Should you make a website to support it?
*How many people do you plan to get?
Well, there you have it. Some of the things you should keep in mind when hosting a tournament (even though I probably left out over half the junk that can/will go wrong.) Maybe I've been successful in scaring some people away from the topic :biggrin:
But if you still want to host a tournament, just remember it will be a trip through hell :biggrin: