Thoughts so far?

[Amber Eyes]

What do you think about the Serenti so far? What can we do to improve the remaining rounds? What would you like to see next from your features team?

[orphans]

I was going to save this until it ended, but I think I'll just say it now.

I was talking to artie about it earlier a few days ago, and came to the conclusion that the Serenti was a fun way to get writers who would never write with one another under normal circumstances, to see what'll happen if they did.

It seems to be a great way to get people together, but with the whole competition behind it and time frame, didn't do it for me.

I think it'd be nice to figure out a way to some how make a system where those who'd like to participate, could be mixed together to quest or something like that. Maybe even with an overall theme? Kinda like what the featured quests did, but maybe not so serious?

Obviously the idea needs to be a lot more work than the thought I put in so far, but, maybe?

[Shadar]

It definitely brings characters together in unexpected ways. (My Brigitte's making friends. Yay!)

Having the high scoring 'losers' continue on is a great way to do it. I don't know if it's been done like that before, but it should be the trend in the future, brackets allowing of course. It puts people in the mindset to maximize their score even if they think their opponent will score higher. And that way we can hang onto the ones who actually want to participate.

[Relt PeltFelter]

I think it'd be nice to figure out a way to some how make a system where those who'd like to participate, could be mixed together to quest or something like that. Maybe even with an overall theme? Kinda like what the featured quests did, but maybe not so serious?

Obviously the idea needs to be a lot more work than the thought I put in so far, but, maybe?

As I recall, there was a tournament something like that way back when; instead of paired opponents, people were organized into teams, and another writer served as a kind of Dungeon Master figure, leading them through an adventure or treasure hunt or similar.

Rather more topically, I'm enjoying the Serenti so far. I think perhaps the biggest thing hurting it thus far has been the high drop-out rate, but that's nothing new for tournaments. The only improvement that I could suggest would be greater obviousness; it's a big event, why not slap a banner on the top of the site? Put a nice graphical bracket where everyone can see it, lay out the schedule in a concrete fashion, really push this thing into people's faces so that the ones who are participating have a blast and the ones who aren't want to participate next time.

[Silence Sei]

I'm trying to do all those things, God Blessit!

Anyways, I'm enjoying the tourney as well, but next time, I plan to damn well participate rather than judge.

[Duffy]

Side events for non-participants asides from gambling would be nice - additional vignettes (onlooker perspective?)

[Relt PeltFelter]

I'm trying to do all those things, God Blessit!

I'm sure you've got much of it on lockdown, but if you need any kind of inspiration, the best thing I can prescribe is ZOOFIGHTS (http://zoofights.squarespace.com/). Never before has the pageantry of online-based combat been so well expressed. Perhaps it can help.

[Shadar]

Side events for non-participants asides from gambling would be nice - additional vignettes (onlooker perspective?)

That would be awesome.

Also, Relt, the quest tournament you're thinking of was the Advernturer's Crown. It was splendiferous. I forget if it lasted, though. I could see a lack of participation from even a couple people completely locking up something like that.

[SirArtemis]

Think of it like a multiplayer vignette, but instead of a single post, you have a month (maybe 2) to write a quest with a certain theme, however loose, and highest scoring team gets a reward of some kind? Feel like this might like FQ but I don't know much about them.

[Vigil]

Stricter posting time frames and penalties to shore up activity. Honestly, if wildcard is going to be used as that gauge for activity then people should start off with a 10 and get a point deducted for the first 48 hours missed, and then one point every 24 hours after that. Keeping it at 5 and deducting it from it before interpreting what you liked about it just seems like a loss of free points and undermines whatever negative incentive you're trying to provide to reinforce activity. Just a suggestion.

I like the tournament, I'm just kind of.. I'm not sure. Unmotivated, maybe? Took too long to get off the ground, in my opinion. Registration should have been a three day event. First round kicks off immediately after that, and keep the machine going. I think if the start hadn't been so delayed, we'd already be on our way to the semi-finals by now. Overall, though, for my first Serenti and with a rocky start, it's been running pretty smoothly. Maybe the next tournament can be something a bit different to shake things up.

[Sagequeen]

As a mere reader for this Serenti, I agree with Vigil. I was sad to see so many unfinished; I like a story to have an ending.

IMHO, I think it's a great idea to have concrete rules regarding Wildcard so people know if they don't post for a day, they'll be docked X amount. I know 48 hours can be difficult for some, but with a time period of two weeks, it's not too much to ask for those who choose to participate, especially when party 1 is at the participation whims of party 2 and the reader suffers. I almost don't want to read because so many go unfinished. That's just me, without real experience as a Serenti writer (yet), so please take it as that. :)

[Atzar]

I'd like to speak out against the notion of advancing the 'best loser'.

I've talked about this in chat a few times. Losing is the endgame for many people in a tournament. Even if the administrator of the tournament moves you forward for scheduling convenience, you feel like you shouldn't be in that match in the first place. It's empty, and I'd hazard a guess that most in that situation don't give it their full effort. I know I didn't when it happened to me in the past. Yeah, I'm in the next round; whoop-de-doo. The satisfaction of getting to the next round is about validation, about earning it by winning, not by having it handed to me.

Just some food for thought.

[Amber Eyes]

There were two reasons we decided to create the wildcards. The first being that we had a weird number of contestants and we didn't want to give byes. The second reason was that we figured it would even out any situations where two amazing writers were paired together in the first round and obviously someone has to lose; whereas two lackluster writers paired together would allow someone less talented to progress. Also, we based it off of activity, giving those who put in the effort the same chance as some who posted only once to move on. What we didn't count on was the amount of unfinished battles, allowing the same people to move on more than once. We expected to take the top four losing scores out of 20 people instead of 5 in the first round as well as taking the top four out of twelve in the second. We've discussed some alternate options for future tournaments because obviously the way it worked out was in no way what we intended.


TL;DR or Jessica just made no sense-


The staff agrees.

Edit: But I would like to point out that I very much enjoyed the second round of the tournament even though I lost in the first, so I do have to disagree there. I wouldn't have gotten the chance to write a thread that I am quite proud of if I hadn't been given the second chance. I think for some of us it is more about the chance to be in a tournament, pitted against people you might normally never write with than it is about winning and losing. I'm here to write, learn a bit, and have fun, and this has been an amazing chance to do that.