Matchmaking Seasonal Prizes

Attention Commanders!

I have an exciting suggestion to elevate the competitive spirit in our beloved game, Supreme Commander Forged Alliance. As you know, our matchmaking season ranking resets every six months, providing a fresh start and new opportunities for everyone. But what if we added an extra layer of thrill to this already intense competition?

Introducing Seasonal Prizes for the Top Three Grandmasters!

To celebrate the incredible skill and dedication of our top players, i propose awarding cash prizes to those who achieve the highest ranks at the end of each season. Here’s what i was thinking:

1v1 Grandmasters:

1st Place: $50
2nd Place: $30
3rd Place: $20

2v2 Grandmasters :

1st Place: $50
2nd Place: $30
3rd Place: $20

3v3 Grandmasters :

1st Place: $50
2nd Place: $30
3rd Place: $20

4v4 Grandmasters :

1st Place: $50
2nd Place: $30
3rd Place: $20

1st Place: $50 x 4(for all branches) = 200
2nd Place: $30 x 4 (for all branches) = 120
3rd Place: $20 x 4(for all branches) = 80
Total Prize Pool: $400 per season ( We Could also Add Unique Avatars )

These prizes would not only recognize the hard work and strategic genius of our top players but also add an extra incentive to climb the ranks and dominate the battlefield. The funding for this prize pool could come from reallocating resources, such as making one less tournament and utilizing the savings to support this event. This approach ensures that the competitive scene remains vibrant and rewarding without needing additional funding.

Why This Matters
Increased Competition: Prizes will motivate more players to participate actively in the ranking system, leading to more exciting and competitive matches.
Recognition: Highlighting the achievements of the top players fosters a sense of community and respect within the game.
Motivation: Rewards provide tangible goals, encouraging players to improve their skills and strive for excellence.
Long-Term Activity Grind: Unlike a tournament, where players are highly active for just a week, this system encourages sustained engagement and long-term participation throughout the entire season.
How It Could Work:
Season Duration: The ranking season continues to reset every six months.
Eligibility: Players who reach the Grandmaster top 3 rank in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or 4v4 will be automatically eligible for the prizes.
Distribution: Prizes will be distributed at the end of each season, based on the final ranking in each matchmaking category.
Funding: By reallocating resources from one less tournament per year, we can utilize the FAF savings to support this exciting new initiative.
I believe this change could bring a new level of excitement and engagement to Supreme Commander Forged Alliance. Let's make our competitive scene even more thrilling and rewarding!

What do you think, Commanders? Are you ready to battle for glory and rewards? Share your thoughts and let’s push for this exciting new feature!

Stay strategic.

Seasons are quarterly, not twice a year. Other than that I like your suggestion. Although I can't tell whether you are being serious or not. Regardless, I'll check with the matchmaker team how they feel about it. But we as a team don't solely get to decide on leagues stuff, so might take some time to get a more definitive answer.

Excuse my excessive use of Chatgpt !(I guess that what you mean if im serious or not ?) But it helped me put my idea into more prespective but it added a lil bit to much excitement in the post , Thanks for looking into it , as for the Seasons being quarterly not twice a year , im actually not aware of the FAF founds , can we support a quarterly prize pool or does it go over our budged ?
Since it will add up to a total of 1600$ cost a year for FAF to run it. Anyway i dont want to go to much in depth in the Financial Part here , think you guys can handle that part , Fortunately, we already have a robust ranking system in place within the matchmaking framework, so implementing this change would require minimal adjustments or non at all.

I imagine FAF probably doesn't have the funds for it, but it'd be nice to see rewards for the other ranks as well, at least as an effort to attract more players to MM. Maybe even just the top 3 ranks; GM, Master, and Diamond (and maybe gold?). Just a thought. Especially since the GM rank doesn't always have any players in it at all, let alone 3 of them.

I like the idea though!

@snoog I don't think awards for the other divisions make sense. Because that would make it so that in some cases a player does not want to play or win more games in order to stay in the division he is currently nr. 1 in. Also it encourages smurf accounts or trading of accounts.

@insidiousnoob

I don't have any say on the budget either, but I'd imagine it would be a bit much yeah. I think making the seasons semi-annual makes the most sense in this case.

Hello Snoog , there could be a way to make it work i think since we just threw 600$ away on the 1000 Seton Tourney Again which was hosted on January and this has way more reach for all players to grind rank over the time and more potential to spend FAF funds more reasonable i think , either way you could make small adjustments either to the seasons per year or to the prizes ( if we go any lower then my first example i dont think it will attract to much attention )

@stormlantern

Yea those are definitely possibilities. I think diminishing rewards would help, less money for each successive lower rank. But of course people will go to wild lengths for small rewards.

I just suggested it since honestly there isn't much movement in the GM sphere and it'd probably just be the same players over and over again getting the rewards.

The most important thing is to reward both activity and skill. You can't allow the highest rated dude to play 5 games and then just stop playing and sit on their rating awaiting their reward.

Hey tagada im quite sure there is another feature in matchmaking rating system called “Score” which helps separating the ranks there , but it only goes to 10 so i dont know after that how it differs who gets what rank we’d have to look into that

Pretty sure it goes past 10

Example you tagada u might get grandmaster rank right after u unlocked ur rank which u have to play like 10 games or so and then TO climbe in the grandmaster ranks youd have to play games to get score which helps u move the ranks up there bcz of this its becomes competitive who gets top 3.

@insidiousnoob

Ive talked with the relevant people to see if a thing like this could be implemented. In the end there was not enough support for this.

Mainly because people don't want to make the leaderboards into an event with prizes, because it is argued this would make it more an event than a leaderboard. Also, it is argued that this proposal would not increase overall participation in the matchmakers. So yeah, looks like something like this is not feasable atm.

Sad

What had more support in that discussion was to revive the concept of the old league months where playing a lot of games was rewarded. That was received well by the players at the time and improved the matchmaker activity.

Hey Storm and everyone,

I wanted to thank the leadership team and everyone involved for taking the time to consider the idea of introducing seasonal prizes for the top Grandmasters in our matchmaking system.

I completely understand the concerns that were raised, though I do wish I could have been part of that discussion. While I know I don’t have an official role in FAF, I believe that being able to engage directly might have allowed me to better explain my perspective or even understand the concerns more clearly.

I’m still having a bit of trouble seeing where the idea of "turning the leaderboard into an event" might be bad or how it wouldn’t increase overall participation, but I respect the decision made. It would have been great to explore these points further, but I appreciate the thoughtful consideration given to the proposal.

If there’s ever an opportunity to revisit this idea , I’d love to be a part of that conversation.

I appreciate your empathy here. And admittedly I share your confusion somewhat. As for including you in the discussion, that is a valid point which I hadn't considered outside of the short discussion here on the forum. To be fair, you could have told me you wanted to be included in these discussions beforehand..

Yes maybe i could have mention it but since my post explained it well enough of how this could increase the overall participation in tmm and now someone is saying that it wont confuses me , i would have not though that this would be the main issue.

Interestingly, games like CS: GO and others have successfully implemented similar systems, using leaderboards with prize incentives to keep players engaged over longer periods. These systems haven’t detracted from the competitive nature of the leaderboards but rather have enhanced player commitment and overall activity.

Perhaps we could consider a trial run, like a 3-month season, to test the impact of introducing seasonal prizes. This would give us valuable insights into whether it increases participation and engagement without making any permanent changes right away and let the facts speak then.

I’d like to listen Again The major points of this suggestion and the potential benefits of introducing seasonal prizes :

Increased Matchmaking Activity: By offering prizes and recognition, we would encourage players to participate more actively in Matchmaking, rather than sticking to repetitive maps like Setons or GAP. This shift would lead to a more diverse and strategic gameplay experience that truly reflects what FAF is meant to be—competitive Matchmaking across different maps and team sizes (1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4) with random teammates and opponents.

Long-Term Engagement: The idea promotes a sustained activity grind, as players would need to consistently play and track their rankings to stay in a good position. This would likely lead to a surge in activity, especially in the final month of the season as players try to secure or improve their standings for a shot at the prizes.

Increased Strategic Diversity: This system could encourage players to explore different formats and strategies beyond the usual meta, as they aim to secure top spots in various categories. The possibility of one player dominating multiple categories adds an exciting competitive edge.

Fair Opportunity for All: While 1v1 might be tougher due to the established skill gap, the other categories (2v2, 3v3, 4v4) offer more accessible paths to the top for players of different skill levels, especially with enough dedication and strategic play.

This approach could significantly enrich our community by making Matchmaking the central focus, aligning with the core competitive nature of FAF.