A plea for the Lack of Events for "2nd Rate" "Common Folk" & The Community

Ftx makes some good points. The regular TDs of myself, dragun, and ftx are kinda at capacity for TDing. Ftx is busy running ladder league and LoTS, I'm busy with seasonal invitationals and other nonsense, and dragun is busy with his showmatches and inter-community events.

There's a handful of secondary TDs who can be drafted to help with major tournaments but I don't know if any of them have expressed interest in hosting their own events.

Lower tier 1v1 and teamgame tourneys are just lower priority for the 3 of us than what we already want to do. It's not like there are 0 events, just not a lot. In the last 6 months we've had SCTA 2v2 1 and 2, 4v4 map gen, holiday tourney, deaf archon, battle of intelligences, rainbow cup, and darkheart tourney (for semi serious and not high level tourneys).

@swkoll said in A plea for the Lack of Events for "2nd Rate" "Common Folk" & The Community:

Lower tier 1v1 and teamgame tourneys are just lower priority for the 3 of us than what we already want to do. .

I mean, right there and that is why myself and others are not happy and you do not see anyone trying. You are admitting to my fears: it is low priority for you 3.

Thanks for clarifying so I will continue to keep my stance that I should not prioritize my caring about you guys then.

@morax You are free to host your own events for the <1800 community. We need more TDs who are interested in that.

Yeah Morax host a tourney that I can win

@swkoll said in A plea for the Lack of Events for "2nd Rate" "Common Folk" & The Community:

@morax You are free to host your own events for the <1800 community. We need more TDs who are interested in that.

Yep, cause I have never hosted tourneys on behalf of others ever before or done anything for this community.

Thanks for your suggestion that I host something and be unable to participate.

And just to note one of the big reasons I really went in on SCTA showmatches is the SCTA 1&2 Tournaments. While SCTA 1 went well. Most of the teams were basically friends of mine.

And the second tournament just didn’t fire. Like if there is an interest, I’ll figure out and host another tournament. But right now? The show matches have been doing amazingly well. And while I have to navigate two communities. To get VIP’s, Casters, and more all lined up. These events ultimately are very casual. The next show match after this upcoming one next Month. I am gonna try and get a 2v2 one going.

And then Packer is gonna be making a couple more of his racing maps. So going to try and host a fun tournament with a Racing Monkeys.

Go yell at developers until they implement automated tourneys. Everyone can just join through the client and get matched according to some internally generated bracket. Automate the tournament direction process.

In addition to all the various tournaments Swkoll mentioned, isn't the League Invitational system FTX is setting up the exact solution for the issue you are raising? It is a tournament-style setting for the second/third rate players; it is based on ladder activity and not invite-only; and it, being casted on faflive, is very high visibility. In sum, it is the exact opposite of the event where Nexus/BH can come out of the woodwork and snatch up the winnings, and is designed specifically for the active "common folk".

Also, sorry, but this:

"A lot of respect to FTX for his work as of late, but if we do not see SOMETHING soon I would like to run for Player Councilor and attempt to try something different..."

seems to contradict this:

"Everyone, I do not have a lot of time these days as my job and family have taken much more of my "gaming spirit" hence why I stepped down from running the M&M council last year"

Morax is looking for tournaments at the 1500+ level, not the leagues. You're operating on a totally different definition of common folk than what he intended through the OP.

Please run for player councillor morax free us from FTx tyrannical reign

@morax said in A plea for the Lack of Events for "2nd Rate" "Common Folk" & The Community:

TMM was the one reason I wanted to keep playing to give this all a chance, but with the recent rating reset, some insanely large rating differential allowance in matchmaking, and a horrible redundancy of maps played, it got quite bad. I can barely get anyone to play without begging, and often there is no match made.

Just wanted to add that the rating reset has put me and a friend I play TMM with on the verge of quitting, if we do not manage to increase our skill level to the new rating that has been imposed on us it is probably over.

I feel like we have had this conversation before, but
If I were to grind up the ladder a little bit so I had the rating requirement...

Minimum of 500 ladder games total to ensure it is not a smurf

I think I have roughly 350 games (my stats are hidden) And i've been here since 2015

Minimum of 50 ladder games a month to ensure no manipulation is at hand

Me attempting to do this is probably impossible at 1450, where games should theoretically be easier to come across.

I agree that creativity in tournaments is lacking. There is no hype, the promotion for tournaments is a joke most of the time, most of the community lack viewer etiquette and RUIN the experience for other people mid stream. etc etc.

Changing the rating bracket doesnt solve this in my opinion. At the end of the day, two people show up and stream a ladder game and someone gets money in the end. There is no continuting narrative, no reason to choose a side or otherwise really be involved. We can go on forever about this.

Having a new PC doesn't change this either, you can host a tournament whenever you want. If you want to play in one, I would just dump that responsibility on FtX by giving him the hosting duty. FtX might be 5'2, but a role like PC should not focus on one issue or it will burn FAF in the end.

What has happened to our TD pool? Do they simply no longer care about the game?

I am a TD and I typically don't have the timezone for FAF. That's why I help out in other areas like the LOTS promotion stuff you saw last year.

You are/were? also a TD.

@biass said in [A plea for the Lack of Events for "2nd Rate"

I am a TD and I typically don't have the timezone for FAF. That's why I help out in other areas like the LOTS promotion stuff you saw last year.

To be a TD you need to have hosted a tournament in the past year, sorry bud

Edit: I have been informed biass hosts mapping tournaments, but sadly I am too wide to go into the mapping goblin dungeon to notice them.

@archsimkat said in A plea for the Lack of Events for "2nd Rate" "Common Folk" & The Community:

In addition to all the various tournaments Swkoll mentioned, isn't the League Invitational system FTX is setting up the exact solution for the issue you are raising? It is a tournament-style setting for the second/third rate players; it is based on ladder activity and not invite-only; and it, being casted on faflive, is very high visibility. In sum, it is the exact opposite of the event where Nexus/BH can come out of the woodwork and snatch up the winnings, and is designed specifically for the active "common folk".

Also, sorry, but this:

"A lot of respect to FTX for his work as of late, but if we do not see SOMETHING soon I would like to run for Player Councilor and attempt to try something different..."

seems to contradict this:

"Everyone, I do not have a lot of time these days as my job and family have taken much more of my "gaming spirit" hence why I stepped down from running the M&M council last year"

As FTX stated: no.

For the "available time" thing, it does, but I don't think I would spend as much time as he making decisions. I stand by my point that resetting the TMM rating was one of the worst and most damaging decisions thus far. We all make mistakes, so I do not singlehandedly hold it against him, but I would never in a million years think this is the right move. If you tried to do this with ladder rating people would be outraged. I think a far more simple: give new players a bit of an easier incoming experience is better than what was done by taking away the rating buildup from EVERYONE.

@biass said in A plea for the Lack of Events for "2nd Rate" "Common Folk" & The Community:

I feel like we have had this conversation before, but
If I were to grind up the ladder a little bit so I had the rating requirement...

Minimum of 500 ladder games total to ensure it is not a smurf

I think I have roughly 350 games (my stats are hidden) And i've been here since 2015

Minimum of 50 ladder games a month to ensure no manipulation is at hand

Me attempting to do this is probably impossible at 1450, where games should theoretically be easier to come across.

---

I agree that creativity in tournaments is lacking. There is no hype, the promotion for tournaments is a joke most of the time, most of the community lack viewer etiquette and RUIN the experience for other people mid stream. etc etc.

Changing the rating bracket doesnt solve this in my opinion. At the end of the day, two people show up and stream a ladder game and someone gets money in the end. There is no continuting narrative, no reason to choose a side or otherwise really be involved. We can go on forever about this.

Having a new PC doesn't change this either, you can host a tournament whenever you want. If you want to play in one, I would just dump that responsibility on FtX by giving him the hosting duty. FtX might be 5'2, but a role like PC should not focus on one issue or it will burn FAF in the end.

What has happened to our TD pool? Do they simply no longer care about the game?

I am a TD and I typically don't have the timezone for FAF. That's why I help out in other areas like the LOTS promotion stuff you saw last year.

You are/were? also a TD.

Biass, I hear you on that. I never really asked but assume you would play more if your timezone did not have so little people to play.

Okay, I gave some example numbers on ladder game requirement, and I want to reference the last known "amateur 2v2" event Apofenas hosted, where later it was realized two, very frustrating individuals created smurf accounts to ruin the experience. You can call me a "smurf blamer" all you want, but there are plenty of recorded incidents causing mayhem. This would really need to be thought out and clear so it is avoided.

For folks like yourself, may a lowered amount of games is nice, and an account with as much history as yours would be easy to pass into invitation.

100% agree the promotion council needs to get addressed as I think it is a bit lacking. Anihilnine did state he would work out the details of the news front page, then move on as he is a busy guy with family and working on his own game, so again another case of someone in the council not really doing their job responsibly.

Last point, though, biass, have you played ANY ladder games in the past year or so? I can hardly believe you cannot get less than a few matches a week. I see Electrician and some other Oceania folks playing plenty, so what gives?

I demoralized biass he just doesn’t have it in him anymore.

@morax said in A plea for the Lack of Events for "2nd Rate" "Common Folk" & The Community:

Last point, though, biass, have you played ANY ladder games in the past year or so? I can hardly believe you cannot get less than a few matches a week. I see Electrician and some other Oceania folks playing plenty, so what gives?

Last time I really felt a desire to improve at the game, I got put against Archsimkat (+500 rating)
I then searched for roughly 6 hours straight, to get Archsimkat again.

It's possible to get it done if I really wanted to put time in (and inverted my work schedule) but I rather just play some global games when my friends are playing and focus on other stuff. Don't think I am obligated to play the game even if I am a councilor though, Refreshing my knowlege on the balance doesnt help me resolve IP law, or cover for AFK councilors.

To be honest the only issue I see is that there is a lack of TD's. It's not like Ftx is opposed to events cattering to not tip top level players. After all he is hosting LoTS and the ladder league tourneys now, one event for top 10 and the other for 1.8k+. The other tourneys we have are hosted mainly by Swkoll who is an individual generous enough to spend both his money and a LOT of time to get some high level tourneys going and it's much appreciated but you can't hold it up against him that he is hosting tourneys for high ranked play and not mid-high, it's his decision. Then again, there was holiday tourney which was quite a success with a lot of sign ups and the tourney itself was promoted and covered so the infrastructure, even if it's not the best, is there, equally for mid and high level tourneys. The problem is that there aren't enough people wanting to host tourneys. I don't see how changing PC would even change that, what would happen? You would host them instead of LoTS/ladder league tourney? Why not do it now? Well, of course you want to participate in them, that's perfectly understandable. So the only solution it seems is to get more TD's to host more tourneys, mostly lower rated ones since we already have LoTS, and Swkoll's Invitationals for high level play. So that's where you should focus your attention instead of complaining that Ftx doesn't host more tourneys for mid and lower rated players

I look at this way: There is a lack of TDs because people either do not want to work on FAF events or they are not willing to work with FTX

This is similar to there being VERY little people on the moderation team while Gorton was around because he himself was an awful moderator. Now that Gieb is in place - a much better manager - there are plenty of mods joining.

The real answer? I do not know, but i for one did not really enjoy hosting LoTS Group last year because the system was overly-complex and frustratingly long. The events tend to still go on way way too long and it makes the job of sitting around waiting forever unappealing to others who basically get a "thanks for hosting" and that is all.

I left the "ladder team" recently for similar reasons in that the debates on what map is good or bad was endless, often with FTX or arch shooting down any suggestions because they want "evidence." Arch nor FTX has any mapping knowledge and has to outsource it to biass or Jip to evaluate, so it gets rather cumbersome to take orders from people who hardly do it themselves.

I think it is great that FTX takes polls on opinions of this material, but in the end there are not really enough people with experience to make that valid. In the REAL world data sources are scrutinized for this kind of conclusions, and it makes me less than willing to actually work for someone who practices it.

Yes, it may not be very easy to TD for LoTS but there are very FEW restrictions on hosting your own tourneys for mid - low rated players. Nothing is stopping you or anyone else to organize such events and changing PC won't do anything. The truth is that there are just very few mid rated players that are passionate enough with FAF AND tourneys that they are willing to host tourneys for that segment of players.