- Just curious: What do we actually need to organize one? Is warzone community ready for it?
A tournament is to be made of 1 vs 1 games. They must be low-power without bases, with medium power setting, because otherwise some important game aspects would be missing (though we may want to organize some extra play-off matches in high-power maps;) If we use asymmetrical maps, we may want each match to be of two games, switching sides. Maybe we could use 3-game matches, like No bases - Med bases - High bases, or even T1 - T2 - T3. I don't like the idea of using 4-player maps with 4 actual players, because these games will always be unfair: the one who has a weak neighbor will have better chances. Scavengers may only be used when they don't totally block the way (i.e. startup's scavengers are bad, because they disallow early battles).
We can also actually make a few time-region-based championships (e.g. Europe, USA, etc.) before making a (thus smaller) world championship, if it'd be hard to organize a match between very different time zones.
The championship progress must be traced in a forum thread.
Players
Well, we gonna need some good players. They should not only play well, but also be honest (pleasant dreams ...), have enough time to play and a good-enough knowledge of english (or whatever other language considered to be "official" in the tourney; i didn't think about it yet).
System
I suggest to start with a Swiss-system turnament, though it may boil down to round-robin if there will not be enough players. Knockout may be good as well.
A round-robin tourney might be good because you can play your games in arbitrary order.
Spectators
We need a team of spectators that ensure the game is fair. Spectators cannot participate in the tournament themselves, since they have some rights to decide the outcome of the game. Thus, Spectators and Arbiters are one and the same.
I think each game should have at least two spectators. The game should be hosted by a spectator to make the game fair enough (e.g. all these host-only hangs, and also there might be some sync issues that favor the host). But we still need a second spectator to keep his eyes open in case the host experiences hangs or some other problems.
If the game suddenly breaks (one of the players suddenly leaves, or the host crashes, or whatever), the spectators shall decide if the game should be replayed or the outcome is obvious.
Spectators must be cheating. They should be provided with a cheating version of warzone that has a deity cheat built-in to multiplayer. Spectators can be provided with the source code (as GPL states), but should be fair enough not to publish it or to use it in any other way.
Maps
The maps must be low-power (4 in-base oils max.), beautiful (complicated; neither linear, nor flat, nor rectangular, etc), balanced (symmetrical?), and must have spectator support.
There aren't many maps good enough for this tournament now, but i can make some!! (: (: (: Maybe some current 4-player maps will be fine (players in two opposite positions, and spectators in two other positions). We can also try to add spectator positions to maps like Startup, Highground, or even Dylan Hsu's Contention (could be nice!!).
Game result reporting
The outcome of the match cannot be reported by the winner of the match. Either the looser or one of spectators should do it. Reporting is writing a message to the tournament forum thread.
Forfeiting
This should NOT happen, since it always breaks the fun. No one should join unless (s)he's sure (s)he can finish the tourney. But, well, we'd have to invent something in case it happens. On the other hand, if spectators/arbiters see someone cheating, they may call for an instant forfeit.
Organizing a match
I think each round should take 2 weeks max., or unless all games are played and reported. If someone's not able to play a match in one week, the negotiations on the game time should be moved to public (into the tourney forum thread). This way we can see if anyone is stalling, and if they're not able to play a game in two weeks, arbiters should decide if only one of the players is a reason for it (thus, the other players should be considered a winner), or it must be a draw, or maybe some player has forfeited (if he didn't reply at all). Yeah, i know it'll take some time to play a 10-round tourney that way (unless it's a round-robin!)
Video recording
Gonna be nice, since very good players will play very good games here. It could have a great impact on the community!! The second spectator (i.e. not host) might be responsible for recording. Not all games should be recorded, but it's gonna be really good to see some. Comments can be added later. Any other ways of making battle reports are also welcome.
Did i miss something?
I actually think all this is quite real
