So round one is over.

[Shadowed]

Waiting on some judgments for Bracket A, Bracket B will be up in a week or so I'm guessing. Waiting for another podcast, too. But aside from that...

How do you all feel it went? Any predictions on your own score, or someone else's battle? Any fights you particularly liked? I'm primarily disappointed that one of my opponents hit computer troubles just after the start of the round; it was already shaping up to be a good fight.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I'll be speaking with Christoph hopefully within the next couple days about arranging a time to do the next podcast.

[Christoph]

I did very much like your battle, Shadowed. I was very disappointed when Synical was forced to drop out, especially since it wasn't under his control.

[Saxon]

Round One wasn't really all that spectacular. Cory and I didn't even get to fight our opponents the entire round and didn't get to finish the battle. Not really worth the investment of time to come all this way and not even draw first blood from either side.

If we succeed into getting into the next round, I expect we'll be putting up with less bullshit.

[Taskmienster]

That could be more pleasantly worded, please.

And I was more surprised by the short amount of posts in the battles, taking into account that there were 4 people (for the most part) in each one. I assumed that 3 weeks would be enough time to post a full battle with another team, but it seems that a lot of people were taking their time and the round went slow.

It'll be interesting to see the next round of fighting. I hope that it will be more exciting and more complete.

[Miehm]

It blew. I realize it was a writing contest, and not a fighting contest per se, but it's set as a fight, and we didn't even get to the "fighting" till my second or third post. That means at least 8 posts before ANYTHING happened. Pretty damn boring.

[Shadowed]

I don't see why you can't write yourself into combat by your second post. Presumably, your opponent's first post will at least end with him describing where he is on the battlefield, at which point you can get set up and launch your first attack. That pretty well forces things to get started.

But anyways, when it comes to the lack of activity, I think a lot of it comes due to the fact that the round began right around the same time as school; I think my round began one week before my first class. My partner spent the better part of a week without internet access due to moving to his school, and I'm sure the same is true of other people. But also, in every competition you'll get people who sign up, but don't really care. Hopefully, those people will be gone next round, leaving (more) people that actually want to compete.

[Saxon]

That could be more pleasantly worded, please.

No, no it really can't, Task and I'm a little shocked that you'd ask me to church up my own opinion of how our experience was. It was terrible and really not worth the three weeks we had to get things done. I'd expect our next couple of rounds if we advanced to be better, but that remains to be seen.

I would never ask anybody here to cast their opinions in a more a 'positive light' to make it look better, so don't ever tell me to be anything other than candid or truthful. That's how rifts get created in our community and people are shocked about how some members or guests have a wide range of opinions, not all of them positive, of how things are in these kinds of events. It's bullshit, Task.

[Taskmienster]

I agreed that it was a disappointment, and was less than what I had come to expect for the first round. However, calling it bullshit, or saying that the battle with another team was a waste of time is an easy way to start drawing this thread into just an attack on other teams. That is why I would request that you remain respectful in your response.

If you would like to take this to PM's that would be fine with me.

[Lord Saladin]

Round One was, for me, a little disappointing yet also a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

I was very annoyed that my original partner disappeared a week before the tournament was to start, which ruined a lot of the character concept the two of us had developed. However, it did give me the opportunity to write with someone completely new - Miehm. This gave way to a whole new, if entirely unexpected, dynamic to the fight: My character wondering where her brother was.

Miehm proved to be a darn good partner, and showed very good writing skills; which is always a good thing in tournaments like this. Though no particular team work took place either ICly or OOCly due to the nature of the IC situation, I certainly enjoyed writing with him.

Our opponents were both friendly and, once again, very good writers, and I enjoyed reading all of their posts. The OOC interaction between both our teams was refreshing to say the least - within my 'usual' community, OOC for fights generally involves e-peen twirling and baiting for arguments. So, to have a wholly friendly relationship with the opposition was nice.

Following Miehm's sentiment, I did feel a little disappointed that by the end of the bracket we had only just begun actually fighting. It did leave an unsatisfactory after-taste, but that was, in part, caused by the also previously noted lack of posts I too noticed throughout the round. If posts had been more frequent, I think the fight would have been VERY enjoyable and satisfying. A shame it didn't work out that way.

Hopefully, should we progress to the next round, this issue will be solved as the heat is picked up and people, again hopefully, feel a need to complete the fight.

Overall, Round One was a mixed bag, but generally an enjoyable one.

[Flames of Hyperion]

I would first like to state that I thoroughly enjoyed my first-round experience. I haven't battled in earnest (okay, figuratively, but hey ^^) ever since my previous haunt closed down, and it's certainly been good to get the old competitive juices flowing again. Not to mention that I've remembered just how much I like RPing with Yuka ^^.

That said, what is the opinion of everybody here about post turnover time? Considering the difficulties of different timezones, the intrusion of real life jobs and studies, and the time necessary to formulate battleplans and rough drafts, I do think that a minimum of two days are necessary... and even this is between teammates used to roleplaying with one another and willing to work together towards a common storyline. This means that a round of posting - four posts - will take a week at least, which no doubt in turn was responsible for the unfinished storylines of many of the Round 1 battles. I understand and respect the desire of the judges to enforce a strict time limit, and am more than willing to blame myself for more than my fair share of delays; I would just like to learn from this and attempt not to repeat the same mistakes.

I daresay that there are many ways around this. For example, I think that agreeing a general synopsis with your opponents beforehand could greatly speed up the battle. Certain amounts of bunnying should be permitted - within reason, of course - and there are not a few writing techniques that would be of great use here, the main thing being not to rehash previous posts and to build on what has already happened.

I would be really interested to hear what other people have to say on this subject. I think that by discussing this in the open, we can make Round 2 an even more enjoyable experience for all involved.

[Shadowed]

A synopsis would be bad. I write each post as it comes; having to follow even a general outline would be harder, because you have to conform to a preset script, even if it is basic. I prefer organic writing. As for time between posts, I wrote my first post in three hours, second post in an hour or two, third one in an hour (Though I didn't get home to start it until 10 hours or so after my opponent posted). I know that some people take more time to post, but two days?

So, yes, it does somewhat limit threads to only reaching 3-4 rounds, but I think that loosening up the posting orders would help that. I mean, if you're in the middle of an attack and don't want to come back the next day to find the other three have done two posts each, say so and keep it a bit stricter. But there are a lot of scenarios where you could even have two people trading off posts (Such as when they're off on their own, and the other two are doing their own thing). So, really, just talk it over with your partner and see if you can work it out that way.

But besides that, I still think we'll see a lot more posts in the second and third rounds.

[Jericho]

(EDIT: Ninja'd! Post @ Flames)

I agree, I was feeling rather rushed. The general trend seemed to be that it took me about two days to put together a post that was up to snuff.

But you're right, orchestration can help with that. In cases where we expected delays (like at the opening of our thread, when I got stranded in wifiless wastes without warning), we tried to contact our opponents and establish the gist of what was going on so they could start working ahead.

On a case-by-case basis, I've also found it helpful to agree between teams to a free-edit rule, granting general approval for typo and style edits, so long as they don't alter a post's plot or harm continuity. For me at least, that means I can post quicker, knowing that later I can go back and touch up problem spots, rather than trying to have everything perfect before I post and let the thread continue.

Although, it seems the judges anticipated some of this 2 days/post = 4 posts/week = 12 posts/round, which was the minimum.

[Dissinger]

When I write fights one of the first things I do is go straight to the other writer and ask them if there is anything they need to accomplish in the fight. Once we both have our goals out there we write the fight with these "spots" planned out ahead, how we get to these spots is another story entirely, but making sure these actions happen, makes the fight at least entertaining for each person.

So yes, script your fights, but don't script the whole thing. Think of it like a World Wrestling Entertainment match, they have places in the fight they need to get to, so they work to getting there, then they move from "spot" to "spot" and try to make it believable. Since the emphasis is on writing a good story, working with your opponent to an extent is going to only boost both teams scores, its in HOW you write that you distinguish yourself from your opponent.

[Shadowed]

So, do we have an ETA on judgments?

[Isis Ixidar]

Eeeh'. I established a storyline going in because I felt it was boring for people to just meet eachother in an abandoned steel mill and beat the tar out of eachother. Thats all fine and dandy for an episode of Dragon Ball Z, but after ten years of RP the idea of a random throw down in a wide open space starts to become a little stale.

The storyline itself wasn't meant to be so dominant in the thread, more like something nonsensical to just get the ball rolling. But by the fourth post it became clear that our opponents weren't looking for a fight as hard as they liked to claim, instead they were just running around like chickens with their heads cut off filling up post space and waiting for us to make the first move against them. So me and Masika just decided to continue what we were doing and if they wanted to fight us they would have to actually you know... fight us. Unfortunatley that never really happened, instead we got elevators falling with no explanation.

As far as post number? When you tell people that you're having a competition based on who writes the best they're going to take at least two days to post, what with editing everything to make it look nice and pretty. Then that bastardly thing called real life pops up making things take longer, the fact that there's four people posting in a thread all having to wait for eachother and none of them able to control the others actions.

I'm not saying that there are people who can't function well under that kind of situation. A lot of teams managed to reach two pages, but for the most part I can't see one month being enough for a full fight. Maybe in a place like Gaia where writing doesn't matter and you're lucky to squeeze a paragraph out of the person, but not Althanas.

[Wings of Endymion]

((Waking up in the wee hours for the win!))

@Shadowed - I do see your point, I really do. But for somebody with a sixty to eighty hour study week and twenty hours of work on top of that, even that single hour of uninterrupted concentration to sculpt, create, and refine a post can be extremely difficult to find. And I highly doubt I'm the only one juggling both full-time study and the need to earn a living. I think that your point about communication being key is absolutely spot-on, but here time-zones come marching in, and when PMs are your only sure-fire means of contacting your partner, things tend to slow down a lot more.

@Jericho - I think you're right with the formula, and the fact that judges anticipated it. What I'm starting to think of now is how to condense a meaningful battle to within those limits. Ideally, of course, we'd have more posts as well, but by (for example) feeding off each other's introductions and agreeing premises and a framework beforehand, I do think that it's possible.

@Dissinger - I like your analogy ^^. It's more of what I meant by a synopsis or framework - apologies for the confusion if any - and I do think that it helps a lot. I've never been much of a WWE fan, I leave that to my brother, but I always did appreciate how they managed to keep the storylines semi-believable in tandem with the entertainment.

@Isis - Would we have it any other way? If it was a choice between a well-crafted, well-written incomplete thread and a poorly-put-together but complete attempt at a full battle, I think I'd rather read the first and try to guess how the authors intended it to end up. Again, though, your words bring up the issue of communication between teams, and the fact that we probably want more of it next round to at least help with the issues you've identified ^^.

((And now back to bed to catch on a couple of hours of shuteye before work!))

[Saxon]

Again, though, your words bring up the issue of communication between teams, and the fact that we probably want more of it next round to at least help with the issues you've identified.

That's all fine and good when you have both sides that want to talk to each other about this shit. I tried to get in touch with these two to ask questions and plan a couple times during the round. I got shut down or berated or told off every time. Perhaps my approach wasn't great nor my tact, and I know we didn't get along because of things said from both sides but communication is a two way street. If Isis had a problem with my posts, especially about the 'elevator', and didn't get it (which was a clear invitation to fucking fight me for once) then she should've came to me and asked so we could've worked together instead of ending it with some pointless story that had no place in the battle in the first place, passing the buck to us, and blaming us for their ignorance.

It got to the point during our round where Cory and I just looked at each other and said we weren't going to even bother to ask these two anything because all we got was fucking flak. I honestly don't know how people can preach that we can all work together when one side clearly has said in bold print "Fuck you." from day one. For three weeks our hands were basically tied, so I guess you could call both team's posts during the round like the three blind mice trying to find each other in a circle jerk--it just didn't work.

Speaking of which, when're the judgments coming so we can get this all settled with?

EDIT:

But, Isis was right about one thing, three weeks wasn't long enough to get this done. I would also like to point out that we perhaps need to get rid of the minimum number of posts needed to reach a judgment. It isn't efficient because people work at their own speeds and occasionally you get people who are trapped in a match like we were where both sides clearly didn't know what the fuck was going on or just didn't care.

Instead of a posting minimum or even a deadline, perhaps there could be another way to settle these battles without actually have them drag on ad nauseum. Maybe we can get it so the round doesn't end until all battles are completed? This raises the question of what needs to be done about the battles that clearly won't finish or how much time is really needed for a full, fair round when all circumstances are taken into consideration. But what needs to be weighed more heavily? The people who actually are trying to finish their matches all the way or the people who've abandoned it completely?

This issue has some merit.

[Christoph]

Come on, let's remain civil. We all know what's expected by now. If anyone has issues with their opponents, settle it in private.

In regards to the time limit: Three weeks is actually longer than has been allowed in most past tournaments. Keeping the deadline open-ended is a sure-fire way of ensuring that the tournament never ends.

[Shadowed]

Reference to the Tournament of Legends. That went on for something like an average of 2 1/2 to 3 months per round when you included judging, appeals, and the other random crap that got thrown in. I'd rather have a shorter fight and let this tournament end in less than 15 months, please.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

If you want to finish your battles for the sake of finishing your battles, I would suggest asking the powers at be to keep your thread open and move it to the Garden of Secrets or something after the scores have been laid down.

Although, I should probably ask said powers if such a thing would be possible.

That way, you can take your time and post at your own discretion.

I may not have had a good first round, but the time limit is there for a reason.

You have to keep in mind that there is such a thing as real life. It happens. It gets in the way sometimes. I can't think of a single person who has this tournament as their top priority. Deal with it. The waaaaaahmbulance can only carry so many passengers at once, you know.

[Miehm]

I would first like to state that I thoroughly enjoyed my first-round experience. I haven't battled in earnest (okay, figuratively, but hey ^^) ever since my previous haunt closed down, and it's certainly been good to get the old competitive juices flowing again. Not to mention that I've remembered just how much I like RPing with Yuka ^^.

That said, what is the opinion of everybody here about post turnover time? Considering the difficulties of different timezones, the intrusion of real life jobs and studies, and the time necessary to formulate battleplans and rough drafts, I do think that a minimum of two days are necessary... and even this is between teammates used to roleplaying with one another and willing to work together towards a common storyline. This means that a round of posting - four posts - will take a week at least, which no doubt in turn was responsible for the unfinished storylines of many of the Round 1 battles. I understand and respect the desire of the judges to enforce a strict time limit, and am more than willing to blame myself for more than my fair share of delays; I would just like to learn from this and attempt not to repeat the same mistakes.

I daresay that there are many ways around this. For example, I think that agreeing a general synopsis with your opponents beforehand could greatly speed up the battle. Certain amounts of bunnying should be permitted - within reason, of course - and there are not a few writing techniques that would be of great use here, the main thing being not to rehash previous posts and to build on what has already happened.

I would be really interested to hear what other people have to say on this subject. I think that by discussing this in the open, we can make Round 2 an even more enjoyable experience for all involved.

Two days is a frankly ridiculous turnaround. I may have some slight advantage because I get to think about these things all day at work, but by the time I read my opponents post in the morning(assuming they have one up) and get a full day of work in, my post is almost entirely written when I get home. All I have to do is type it.

It really felt like there was no urgency to this round. I know there was a period of perhaps four days where my wireless was down that I couldn't post, but nothing really happened while I was gone either. It wasn't a waste of time, but the fact that the fight ended long before it was over left me feeling like I'd been led on. Our opponents were great writers, but I think maybe they planned just a little too hard from the start on how they wanted to fight. As others have mentioned, there was some small bit of pussyfooting around, but it was understandable given the characters, so I can't complain, even if I would rather have been pummeling away at them with my knives rather than talking to them.

[Kupo!]

Even so, Round one may have tanked a bit, but in all honesty 3 weeks to finish a battle is a fair amount of time. I agree that it needs the 3 week cap because:

A: Create a sense of urgency to get the job done.

B: Weed out all those who really didn't want to be in the ToC anyway.

C: Prevent the rounds from going on until the cows come home.

Personally, at this point we all know when the deadlines are for the next round, so obviously we would know what to expect next round. ALl those who didn't want to really be here are for the most part gone. Those teams that actually wanted to be here are still here, so let's all just chill and wait for round two.

Compared to mose tournaments I have been to this is actually one of the better organized events. So just because we all are bummed we didn't get to smash the shit out of those before us doesn't mean the end of the world.

As for a writing contest VS fighting contest. Ya, it happens to be we are writing out these fights, and some people are looking for a bit more than just "Throg takes club and smashes it over Jon's head, Jon's head bleeds massive blood out of every oraffice. Jon takes sword and cuts off Throg's head."

Some people, like myself, don't always enjoy the "Hey, look people. Let's just randomly beat the shit out of them and cause a tremendous amount of collatoral damage." Instead they like to have a few lines to make the fight more memorable and actually stick to the characters.

Let's all face it, Round one was a bit disheartening, and imagine how bad the people wanted it to be succesful feel. People not posting is nobodies fault but the people who didn't post, and to get mad about effectivly does nothing but make you negative and turn you off to everything else.

And wasting three weeks? Nobody forced anybody to write, nobody demanded that you HAD to do this, so IMHO nobody waisted their time.

Round two is bound to be better guys. So just get comfy and prepare yourselves.

[Shadowed]

Well, in terms of 'making it more memorable' my opponents actually tried to communicate with me and my team. But seeing as how they don't speak any of the languages outside of their own homes, I kept up the IC realism of them not having the slightest idea what was said to them. Honuse Relaiyent's motivation is pretty basic; kill everyone in sight, and if any of them died worthily, send them to Valhalla. It's entirely out of his character to actually converse with anyone but an opponent that proves himself to be of equal strength.

[Kupo!]

I agree, not everyone is going to have an easy time. I fought Slayer of the Rot, a guy who saw my character as nothing more than a giant snack? But he was willing to work with out team, a team he wouldn't have given the time to piss on IC'ly, and give us some form of skeleton theme for the debotchery of our souls as we get chased and eaten alive. (Let's face it, a moogle doesn't have much...)

Fight's can be memorable, even if the Character's don't have ways to communicate. But Having your sword blocked or watching an opponent get up from one of your best attacks should be universal for "This person's a badass..." and open up some form of dialouge while fighting.

These are fights, yes, but just because your guy is a brash person doesn't mean you can't also insult people as you parry blows or gain the upper hand. Anybody can write "Bob stabbed Steve, steve is bleeding." But it's another thing to write out bob getting the parry, making a knock off about Steve's mother and job statis on weekends behind olive garden, and then get it back full circle when Steve gains the upper hand again.

Checks and balances, give and take people. Ego's make very short rounds.

[Flames of Hyperion]

@Saxon - I agree, communication is a two-way thing. There's little you can do when the other side is unwilling to talk to you. That said, we have to try, right?

@Miehm - Is two days really that ridiculous? I know that at any one time I'll be juggling at least two or three separate projects on top of my job, so two days is certainly the best I can do... and that's actually almost pushing it. I hope I don't sound like a child when I say I sacrificed a few hours of sleep for this, because I certainly enjoyed doing so. I agree that there was a certain lack of urgency about the round, although I attribute that more to people finding their feet and getting used to things rather than anything else. I also feel for the people who tried to get a good story in but failed, for one reason or another.

***

As stated previously, I concur on the need for a time limit, and I think that it's part of the duty of the participants to attempt to create a story within those constraints. Which is why I brought up the matter, to attempt to discuss how to do this ^^. After all, at the end of things, this is about writing, isn't it?

Perhaps we should make it standard that if you don't post for a certain amount of time in a thread without an appropriate reason, your partner has to bunny you or you forfeit your place in the order? I know I'm just tossing out random ideas here, and that it should be up to the individual teams to standardise this at the beginning of their battle (or for the remaining members to work this out amongst themselves according to the situation), but it may help to reduce the lack of posting in certain threads.

In any case, whether I'm in it or not, I'll be looking forward to Round 2.

EDIT:


Checks and balances, give and take people. Egos make very short rounds.

Well said ^^/

[Shadowed]

There are still exceptions to that. I've had my best attacks completely nullified through my opponent's complete misunderstanding of what I just did. And with a character like Honuse, who has literally spent the last half a millennium killing things, you have to expect a bit of experience. Aside from the fact that in Norse culture, respect comes from dying well.

Edit:

I get your point, though. To me, a memorable battle comes from someone finding innovative ways to fight. For example, I use a lot of electricity - throwing your sword into a nearby dirt wall to ground it, while running around and stabbing me with a knife would be my idea of good tactics, thus a good fight.

[Atle]

Simply put, I rather enjoyed my first round.

If Team Awesome continues on I would dearly like to fight either Silas Gesse or Honuse.

That's all.

[Miehm]

In one day I try to make at least two posts. Now, I'm going to come out and be honest. My posts are nowhere near as good as yours, which is ok by me, because sometimes reading something that long on the internet makes my brain hurt. I haven't managed to post much at all(barring here) the last few days for one reason or another.

Two days to write one post seems almost criminal to me. I might post again for some of my threads tonight, assuming I can find my coke can and remain awake with sweet sweet caffeine. Not to sound like I'm belittling your time constraints(they are after all your own, and your average post looks better than all but my most inspired work), but on top of my job I have two battles, the tourney if we advance, three or four quests, and I'm trying to start something in the Salvar FQ as another account. Right now. I owe two replies and am waiting on 4ish(?) more before I can post again. I actually have time in the mornings to get bored while cruising Althanas because my posts are all up to date. That bugs me just a tiny bit.

Also, every time I see your characters name, I picture a Swedish Guitarist. Just to throw that out there. He's very good at it....

[Flames of Hyperion]

I do tend to be a bit of a perfectionist about my posts, I suppose. Stepping away from the debate on whose writings are "good" (personally I believe I write in a pompous, long-winded manner horribly unsuitable for reading, in contrast to writers like - for example - Inkfinger or Caden), in the end it's a matter of personal style. I don't like posting writing I consider to be substandard, and I can't create satisfactory work that quickly with my time constraints.

It's certainly something I might have to look into, if the possibility exists that it would help to create a better all-around experience for team-mates, opponents, and the general public. The problem being that I've never really been great at simply brainstorming and submitting semi-rough drafts, either. Hmm...

I do know for sure that I'd never be able to keep up with so many threads at a time like you seem to be able to - too many independent storylines floating about my head ^^.

Not sure about Swedish guitarists. My current character's pseudonym was acquired somewhat randomly, so...

[Isis Ixidar]

Endymion: Quality is a person to person thing really. I use the extra-day to send my post to Masika where she corrects my grammar and spelling problems to keep me from looking like an uneducated chimp. Overall though the content of my post remains the same. If I were to be in a situation where I could post rapidly without worrying about getting knocked for editing then I think I would still do fine. As for Masika I can't tell you how many times I had to send one of her(two) posts back to her just to get her actions up to a non-bullshit level.

But on the whole I agree. I'd rather read something well written then a complete fight "lyke dis".

Incomplete matches suck though. Especially if you're going back to read the threads like a story, which everyone on Althanas is supposed to have a super boner for. May I suggest some kind of knock-out/winning post from the team that comes out on top.

As far as the whole communication thing goes, Saxon and I can only agree on one thing and thats that we didn't want to talk to eachother at all. The first meeting was amiable enough but as soon as our teams met on the IRC chatroom there was an endless torrent of bullshit.

Arsene was about as friendly as you could expect him to be. Anyone whose met him will know I mean no insult when I say he's a douchebag. It became predictable that he would be rude to everyone in the chatroom and thats simply how he was.

Things really broke down when Saxon spent all his time throwing rude jokes in our(particularly my) direction. Masika and I eventually decided that if Saxon couldn't talk without acting like a rude child then we simply wouldn't talk to him. That didn't stop him from taking out his aggression on everyone else he could find from Dan all the way down to Typheus though.

Christoph: One month, three months, one week, a tournament needs a deadline. If not then you'll have everyone waiting for that one match where both paties take forever to post but guarantee you that they'll be finishing the match.

BlackAndHolyShitYourNameIsLong: Real life can be a real bitch when your opponent is running around telling everyone that he'll skip you in the posting order just because you have to spend a day or two working.

^You know for money, for those of us who live on their own.

[Taskmienster]

ENOUGH.

I will not allow another post that is in any way back and forth bickering. That's not what this thread is made for, and it will not be used that way.

Isis and Saxon: Take the mature route and stop posting here. If you are only responding so that you can argue I will be either editing irrelevant information or warning you from this point on.

[Shadowed]

So let's try moving this along. What did everyone think of their arenas?

Going in, I got the impression that my arena was supposed to be a modern city (The prompt was something like "The rooftops of a large city at night."). However, since both my team and my opponent's teams were more fantasy-oriented, I decided to change that to a city built for and abandoned by giants. Having the first post really is nice for that, as I could describe the buildings in a beneficial way.

But aside from that, the arena itself was rather cliche. Fighting on rooftops is fine, but there wasn't enough to really do with the environment. Granted, I'm sure we all could have found some innovative ways to work with what we had, provided both teams had been able to keep posting. But even then, there's only so much you can do with rooftops at night.

[Christoph]

Ditto what Task said. I am confident that we can all remain prudently civil.

Isis: I did already explain the reasons behind having deadlines, implying that I support them for obvious reasons of practicality. Three weeks can seem a little constrained, but any longer would have seen the tournament drag on forever. I obviously never argued against a deadline, so I'm not sure what you were going on about.

Edit: Shadow, you ninja'd me. The arenas were fairly varied. Not all of them were amazing, but there’s nothing particularly wrong with that. Sometimes making something interesting out of a seemingly bland or cliché arena is the mark of creativity. It seems that you and your opponents took it an interesting direction, so kudos to you on that.

[Shadowed]

Personally, I think it'd be interesting to construct two huge, elaborate arenas, and divide them up evenly between everyone in a round. It'd be a good read to see what other teams did with the same arena.

[Gordie]

I personally liked our arena, albeit that it was a bit bland and there wasnt many ways to descriptively look at the Snow. I know i tried my best, although just when we were mid battle, one of my opponent had refused to get in touch with me so i could talk about how my abilities would be affected by his and vice versa. Kasei, that was by no means an attempt to insult you, just that though i tried to get in touch with you and your partner, that you were unable to speak via any "Real Time" applications.

That being said, both teams made a few wrongful assumptions regarding the arena and indeed our opponents looks. And i would also have liked to have had another post or two before the fight to work out some more reason why our team was indeed there.... But overall I enjoyed this, and for my first tourney and my frst writers "symposium" leaves me in awe and wonder, and it has forced me to improve the quality of my writing on my other Websites, namely Battletech-Mercenares, the freeform site i came from.

[Jericho]

Loved our arena. Loved it. Very shiny. Yeah, it was a bit bland--you can only slip on smooth stone and dodge lightning bolts so many times before it gets old--so we got...creative. Bwaha. And it was so much fun. It's too bad the round ran out before we got to do more with it. But for what we had, it rocked (especially, after I suggested and wrote in the arena twist, watching Sy and Grin run with it in an absolutely epic way!).

All in all, I enjoyed Round 1. Yeah, there were some rough spots with inter-team communication, but we worked through it, and Kryos and I had a blast fleshing out our characters. ToC = win so far.

[Grin]

Can't say I enjoyed very much of first round, to be honest. Regardless of the result, Syaoran and I are retiring. Firstly we lost about four or five days due to our opponents not being able to post when we had agreed for them to have the first two posts (Even if we hadn't, Sya and I would have put in a single post each and then had to wait. Really no difference to us) which was crippling not only in how much time we had left to complete the fight but also psychologically, since we were pumped to get started, then stalled.

Then there was the actual posting. I felt I had to 'dribble on' about stuff just to meet requirements and that's normally not how I do things. I do not weigh down my posts with unnecessary detail and I rarely bother with internal monologue. This is not entirely because I'm lazy but also because I personally hate internal monologues and can't stand tedious over-description of things or really bad metaphors.

This is not intended as an attack on our opposing team but I struggled to get through their posts. Several times I had to stop once or twice while reading them to do something else because I got bored. That's not to say their posts were boring, they just didn't interest me, personally. Lord Of The Rings did that to me too. Never finished it either. I got about two hundred pages in and decided I was wasting my time.

So for me Round One- my first and last- was boring, disappointing, stressful and a waste of my time. I don't care about the results. I hope Jericho and Kryos get through on their own merits.

[Miehm]

@Flames: I always want to type/say Yngwe. He's a pretty prominent Metal guitarist, and puts on an awesome live show.

My brain doesn't work properly, so having six storylines floating around simultaneously isn't too odd. Especially since I really have nothing else to think about at work. It's just how I operate.

[Nieve.Roja]

Well, I think our arena was pretty cool. Maybe something of a disadvantage, considering Wings mostly used water, but yeah. It turned out quite cool.

I must say, most of my posting quality was thanks to Beaver. He did his best to salvage my posts as far as it was possible. Seriously, you wouldn't want to know what I produce sometimes.

Yeah, it was a bit weird. Emilio isn't the type to go on a killing spree for no reason, and it felt awkward to fight people while actively trying to keep them alive. In-character, possibly, but still awkward.

The deadline was a bit buggish, though. We were really drawing the battle to an end, maybe one more post to finish it off, but the limit prevented us. Can't be helped, I guess. It'd be worse without it.

[Schrodinger's Nirvana]

I'd say just trying to disable the other characters without killing 'em is the way to go. At least, that's how it's always been played with my lot, except we were using several tons of death machines, bullets were flying everywhere and there was a lot of trashtalking via AIM between teams D:

I think all I'd ask for would be more detail about the arena we'd be fighting in. I was at a total loss had it not been for Endymion (he also cleaned up my posts which is why we took so long, Nieve, I'm fast but I type like a monkey on acid and rarely make sense DX thank you for putting up with me!).

(Btw, Emilio is an awesome character - will you be sticking around, Nieve? Don't be afraid to whip out the guns and shoot people up!)

[Flames of Hyperion]

I'd say just trying to disable the other characters without killing 'em is the way to go. At least, that's how it's always been played with my lot, except we were using several tons of death machines, bullets were flying everywhere and there was a lot of trashtalking via AIM between teams D:

I think all I'd ask for would be more detail about the arena we'd be fighting in. I was at a total loss had it not been for Endymion (he also cleaned up my posts which is why we took so long, Nieve, I'm fast but I type like a monkey on acid and rarely make sense DX thank you for putting up with me!).

(Btw, Emilio is an awesome character - will you be sticking around, Nieve? Don't be afraid to whip out the guns and shoot people up!)

What she said ^^.

[Petoux]

Round one went exactly how I thought it would.

Shorter than expected, people leaving/not posting, unfinished/unstarted fights.

This is why 2 vs 2 battles are a problem. IMO, 1 vs 1 tournment would see better results.

In my honest blunt opinion, the next rounds will be the same if not worse.

Just like ToL in giveupalready ... except without the appeals.

[Viola Conda]

Seriously guys, enough is enough. We don't need a fifteenth post stating how round one was disappointing and a let down, and if you just want to nay say it than go ahead and just fulfill that prophecy and not participate in round two. But no more saying it openly in this forum. WE just got this thread back on a civil track.

Those who have not posted or left round one are gone, those who stayed are still here, and know that time is of the essence, so I think round two will be great, if not better than your negative feelings to it.

[Grin]

I thought people were being civil. We were asked about how we felt it went and people have a right to say they were disappointed if they were, surely. Although I do partially agree. I don't like criticism that isn't constructive. The tournament really wasn't for me and it wasn't what I'd expected, but that was me personally. I can't complain about our opponents. They had reasonable characters and put a lot of effort in to making an interesting fight, PM'ing Sya and I regularly with their plans and ideas, as well as the agreement to have low-level bunnying between teams. If not for that, we'd have got even less done.

The arena really favoured our team over our opponents and their idea to alter the arena's structure during the fight was inspired. An earlier start, faster post turn-around (Which I suspect would have been possible with a little less of the necessary bloat) and more time and we could have really had a great fight. Oh well, like I said, this tourney really isn't 'me' so I'm stepping away without hostility. I hope it goes really well and you guys enjoy yourselves in the coming rounds.

[Tainted Bushido]

Round one went exactly how I thought it would.

Shorter than expected, people leaving/not posting, unfinished/unstarted fights.

This is why 2 vs 2 battles are a problem. IMO, 1 vs 1 tournment would see better results.

In my honest blunt opinion, the next rounds will be the same if not worse.

Just like ToL in giveupalready ... except without the appeals.

As a participant of the ToL, I would have to say I abhorred the appeals process, as it created unnecessary time delays on rounds, while people complained about losing fights they had actually lost for valid reasons. It was ridiculous when you'd have a ten fight round, and over HALF of the fights were appealed. Its one thing if one or two use the system, quite another when everyone and their grandmother abuse it.

Also, I have to agree with Viola there where you'll only see things pick up, because you aren't looking at three months between rounds. You're looking at a couple of weeks, so its faster turn around.

As for the keeping it civil. I will say this, to everyone in this thread. I'm not angry if you express dislike of what occurred during your fight. I WILL get angry if you do so in a way as to specifically bait your opponent's into the thread to defend themselves. Trolling will be dealt with harshly. Especially in this thread. Everyone, consider this your warning. Next time there will be disciplinary action taken.

Viola, I feel you did jump the gun slightly, though I appreciate you stepping up to defend. Vegna is issuing her opinion in a semi-constructive way. I would of course have liked to have heard more of her ideas than cut it back to a 1v1, but I think that's more for another thread.

[Lightfoot]

Round one went exactly how I thought it would.

Shorter than expected, people leaving/not posting, unfinished/unstarted fights.

This is why 2 vs 2 battles are a problem. IMO, 1 vs 1 tournment would see better results.

In my honest blunt opinion, the next rounds will be the same if not worse.

Just like ToL in giveupalready ... except without the appeals.

Honestly...I don't think GUA even knows how to run a proper tournament. No offense to the staff and RPers over there, but I left that place because they're multi-tasking waaay too much. They try to do too many things at once and things get chaotic. At least here they minimalize the choas down to a dull roar.

EDIT: We have a 1v1 tournament. This isn't it.

EDIT2: I can see how the above statements can be seen as flammatory, I don't want it to be taken that way. Just another guy's perspective.

Anyways, back on topic. Although I am not participating, I can see where a lot of the points that have been made apply. But, with all due respect, the first round of any tournament (on a rping site) usually turns out to disappoint. The rounds after are the ones that bring the excitement. The first round is to weed out the, no offense, "weaker" writers to make room for the epic clashes of the best the tournament has to offer.

So don't worry. It's just getting started.

[Jericho]

It's just getting started.

BA BA BAAAAAAAA!!!!!

*cough* Er...sorry about that.

[Mabus]

A bit disappointing. We didn't even really get to anyone's second wind. Just a bad posting plan between all of us, and bad chemistry overall. Ah well.

[Christoph]

That, and a little miscommunication between our teams, of which I'm at least partially to blame. Still, I enjoyed our battle for the most part.

[Petoux]

Vegna is issuing her opinion in a semi-constructive way. I would of course have liked to have heard more of her ideas than cut it back to a 1v1, but I think that's more for another thread.



1.: I'm a guy.

2.: For more ideas ... hmmm... not to much else to say. I think another problem is finding judges that judge in a good amount of time. You got timezones, hw, work, shit happens, gf/bf/wife/husband/etc, grounded, chores, etc.

...




The rounds after are the ones that bring the excitement. The first round is to weed out the, no offense, "weaker" writers to make room for the epic clashes of the best the tournament has to offer.

So don't worry. It's just getting started.



Why is the first round always a bum compared to others? Just curious....


Anyway ... communication is definitely key yes ... without it, you are pretty much doomed to lose.

You have to pray that you and your partners internet works great too. My oppenents partners internet crashed when it was their turn. He was forced to fight solo.

Poor guy.

[Lightfoot]

Why is the first round always a bum compared to others? Just curious....




The rounds after are the ones that bring the excitement. The first round is to weed out the, no offense, "weaker" writers to make room for the epic clashes of the best the tournament has to offer.

-.-

[Shadowed]

In response to GUA not knowing how to run a tournament:

These are the problems that became inherent in the ToL.

1: Angryn3wb designed it, and it became his baby. But he's an inflammatory troll, and it was only a matter of time until either he got banned (Which happened) or he pissed off people through his dickishness (Also happened).

2: After Angry got banned, Krystin took over. Now, for those that didn't know her, she has never actually roleplayed, doesn't know the first thing about it, and is a contemptible witch to boot. Note to Althanas staff, she's not on this site, and has left GUA, so I hope it's okay to say that. But anyways. She ran the tournament to the ground because she had no idea how to do it. The other RP head of GUA at the time was likewise an incompetent git. The people who knew how to run tournaments were shunted to the side, which is one of the primary causes of GUA's failure concerning the ToL.

Now, I'm new to Althanas, so presumably those problems won't be/aren't an issue here. GUA is a forum first, roleplaying forum second, while here, it's a roleplaying forum first. So from that I assume the staff here all know how to RP, and know the logistics of running a tournament. The very fact they've outlawed appeals means they at least know that much. So, yes, I have more hope for this tournament than I did for ToL. If round two starts within a week, we'll be in good shape - a month per round, with a likely, what, six rounds? Yeah, that's not so bad for a tournament. The ToL taking 15 months, well, that just finished it.

[Cyrus the virus]

I'm pretty sure the Althanas folk assaulting the ToL and how that went down is pointless, so let's just not do that, yeah?

[Lightfoot]

I migrated from there so I'm immuned like the crazy racist grandma that won't shut up about her granddaughter's new "colored" boyfriend.

[Syaoran]

I did not get the whole...work with your opponent thing. Just...it didn't sit right with me.

I'd love to stay in the tournament, but my partner wishes to stop. Therefore I am abliged to go with him.

I like the arena, but frustrations through the waiting and the above mensioned co-op with the opponents.

I look forward to the judging though ^.^ I wanna see how I did.

[Cyrus the virus]

You're frustrated because you need to work back-and-forth with your opponents?

[Qaron]

I enjoyed round one thoroughly, to be honest. My team, Team Zetsumei versed Team Awesome. My team member and I discussed it before hand and it was decided that I would take Atle. It was a really good fight. We enjoyed it thoroughly, Atle and I regularly corresponded via PM, and we broke bones, drew blood and did some serious damage to one another. It was an enjoyable fight. I just wish it could have gone on longer so that we could have fully explored one another's abilities. It was a shame, though, that my partner went AWOL after his first post and didn't manage another post until the round was almost over. In any case I loved fighting with Atle and would be more than happy to do so again. I'm hoping that both teams make it through, one by winning, the other by fate points.

As for the arena, I quite liked it. Plenty of scope for the imagination, and ruined castles are something I seem to always end up fighting in. We worked very well together, keeping the arena consistent and it all went smoothly.

Big fan, really hoping to go through to round two, so hurry up on the judgement judges! :D

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

I don't see what the big deal is over the time its taking for the judgments to come out.

Round 2 doesn't start until the podcast says so.

*indignant arm crossing and scoffing*

[Shadowed]

Because I'm impatient and American, thus I believe in instant gratification and a god-given right to have it?

[Christoph]

See, that's why we need a robot to judge for us. I keep suggesting that we build one, but the staff never supports me. Those jerks.

>.>

But since we've just got fleshy mortal judges with those pesky "lives", as they call them, it'll take a little bit longer, but not too much. ;)

[Jericho]

Because I'm impatient and American, thus I believe in instant gratification and a god-given right to have it?

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!

:P Sorry.

I'm antsy for judgments too, but having done several thread scores over on Domhantir, I totally sympathize...I can't imagine having to go through so many so fast.

[Lightfoot]

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!

:P Sorry.

That applies to the State, not Althanas. Sorry :P

[Shadowed]

I'm an atheist anyways, I only used it for effect/stereotype.

[Syaoran]

You're frustrated because you need to work back-and-forth with your opponents?

This is the first tournament where I have ever had to work with the enemy. It just dosn't seem logical to me to work with the person I am trying to better in a battle of writing and the fighting itself.

[BlackAndBlueEyes]

Hey, Syaoran?

The following comment is based solely on my experience here.

Battles are just like your standard quests. When nobody is on the same page, the entire thing is going to fall apart, because it won't be a clear and cohesive whole. Battles here aren't about besting your opponent, they're about telling a good story. If you don't work with your opponents, you stand no chance of beating them.

My worst battles were that way because I couldn't get in OOC contact with my opponent. All I could do was wing it and hope for the best. Which, obviously, doesn't work. Take a look at what is allegedly happening with some of these first round battles.

[Lightfoot]

I'm an atheist anyways, I only used it for effect/stereotype.

Okay...good to know?

[Shadowed]

School and lack of alcohol has left me devoid of my sanity. Pay no mind.

[Taskmienster]

School and lack of alcohol has left me devoid of my sanity. Pay no mind.

Yes. Yes indeed.

And I felt that the arena's that were given were a little lack luster in description mainly so that the players themselves could be a little more expressive (if you will). It gave people the opportunity to really do a lot more than giving a outright description would have.

As for writing with others: The way it works for Althanas, as far as my experience has gone, is that writing a thread with another group is far more enjoyable and a much better read than not working with them. The reason is that if you are writing to make it difficult for your opponent to respond, you cut the pacing and flow of the entire thing. By all means, out write the opponent, show your prowess, but if they can't respond then it's going to make their posts extremely difficult to respond to as well. Eventually the thread will be more of a single sentence (in a sense) of reacting and another one of acting in each post. Not much fun to read or take part in..

[Schrodinger's Nirvana]

I dunno, mate, I kind of like the challenge of being written into a corner and finding a way out of it - it's what I cut my teeth on when I started forum-rping about four years ago.

Can see what you mean mind you.

[Jericho]

I'm an atheist anyways, I only used it for effect/stereotype.Okay...good to know?

The fault is mine. 'Twas a very bad joke. :9


School and lack of alcohol has left me devoid of my sanity. Pay no mind.

Bwaha. Explains why my floormates act so strangely when they're drunk. They've gone sane!

Gotta ditto BlackAndBlueEyes and Task. In my experience, battles have always gained immensely from OOC cooperation. It makes it much easier to develop larger devices than what fit in single posts, and it's fun to find creative ways to play off of your opponent's ideas.

Granted, I've never tried a write-to-corner contest. Sounds a little intriguing to the chess-loving side of my brain. Might have to give it a shot sometime.

[Lord Saladin]

I suspect that the difference in style stems from what the basis of the competition is. Here, the competition is a writing competition that uses text-based fighting as its medium. Other places, like the GT League, (http://www.thegrandtournament.com) the writing aspect is secondary to achieving an In Character win.

This is the first time I have seen such a system as is on Althanas, so it is foreign to me as well. But, in comparison to places where text-fighting is purely for competition, this is much more enjoyable. Places like the GT League, from my experience, tend to be full of egotists who fully enjoy twirling their 'e-peen' to show superiority - both IC and OOC - and arguments about the actions are highly prevalent. Sometimes, as asinine as timing: "Your character couldn't possibly move to block that punch in time."

The arguments make the fight boring, tedious and entirely destroy any enjoyment it potentially had. At least, this is how it has been for me.

Working with your opponents is a great idea, I think... It allows for not just a battle, but a good story as well. And cooperation surely makes a fight more fun than spending (and I've witnessed this) two or three hours arguing about a single move the other player did.

It is quite a transition for those unused to it, but people need to remember that this isn't really a fighting contest: it's a writing contest.

[Cyrus the virus]

I've RPed both styles extensively. I too enjoy having to write a character out of a corner, but I combine that with what my opponent and I have planned.

When it comes to cooperation, I mean it more like "okay, we should end up in this area at one point for a cool spot," and maybe discuss a few things coming up. But the actual fighting I write on my own, and all that.

I mean, trying to best someone in a writing competition isn't all that hard, but it almost universally results in a lot of long, agonizing posts where the characters talk too much or have huge monologues or there's too much description. It's really nice to talk to an opponent and be like 'okay, let's have a few posts of pure action with no conversation, since talking while swinging a sword makes no fucking sense :)'. And then being like 'I just broke off the action to have Luc say something to your guy about his ugly shirt, but feel free to get right back into the action so it doesn't drag'. It's just writing freedom, or something.

I mean, if Izvilvin goes against a lower-level character... It's pretty sensible to suggest Iz is going to win. So we discuss how my opponent will get in some licks and not look like a buffoon. It's a lot more fun than having six ultimate, final finishing attacks in succession and resulting in a draw because you're both too stubborn.

[Petoux]

I'm not trying to be bitchy, crabby, or whiny ... etc. But 15+ days to judge a thread is ridiculous.

What if a judge fails to judge a thread in time? Does someone else take it over?




February 6th, 2009, 07:55 AM

Thank you for participating! Ebivoulya will judge this battle shortly. Please do not contact your judge regarding the judgment until after it has been posted.



It is currently, here anyway, Feb 21 2009 10:34 am.

[Christoph]

As I explained in the podcast, we're currently short nearly half our original judging team. The others are working to pick up the slack and should be done very, very soon. We ask that you please be patient and understanding.

[Petoux]

What happened with them? Are you guys trying to find replacements? Just curious.

......

Sorry... I just don't want to see another ToL, that's all.

[Christoph]

Well, our head judge had to retire for personal reasons, but we're not sure about the other two. We are finding replacements, but it's not easy to do on short notice. The next rounds will be easier though, because there will be fewer battles to judge.

[Petoux]

You're probably right.

I'm to much of a worry bug ... I'm sure you understand ... I think. In other words, you want things to go well too.

Rock on!

Hopefully I'll fight your team in round 2!

:D

[Kryos]

So, umm, I hate to be a bother, but when were the exp and gold gained from Round 1 going to be added to our accounts? After each round, or after the tournament was completely done? I just don't want to se another FQ Special Awards again. It has been months and the GP hasn't been added from that. But no rush, really. Just curious.

[Taskmienster]

The exp/gp will be added as soon as I have time, lol. I kinda hop around to get things done because I have a long list of stuff right now. I will be adding the exp/gp hopefully tonight, as well as finishing the judgment of the last battle, and getting to the FQ as well.