Ladies and gentleman, I am proud to announce that Heavengames will host the...

OFFICIAL 1 vs 1 PBEM TOURNAMENT 2010

SIGN UP CLOSED SUNDAY 5 SEPTEMBER (as soon as we have an even number)

You will find information and requirements regarding your sign-up for this tournament in this thread. Also, feel free to ask questions, dispute rules, etc... in here.

For news, and more fun issues regarding the tournament, please visit the Tournament News Station.

Current sign-up list
- Swolte
- Castanieda
R - Timelord
- nyarlathotep
- PawelS

- Morgul666
R W W - Bluebaby
- Oleg123
- Albinscott
- Euandor

- Henrysix
- Gryffone
- Unnapu
- The_Stranger
R - Zeldafreak

- Costa
- Thorgal
R - zelenenkiy
- Torso
- Troy Locker

- Charx
- iBobs
- Gwenio
- TheCake
R W D - Triii

- TravisII
- badborre_dk
- Lordduck
- SMUki
- Vovy

R W D - Wizardspike
R W W W D - Endurell
- Enginerd
- luke811
- Naeco

R - zrcalo
R W - Springheel
- Faler

R= Reminder
W = Warning
D = Disqualified


WHAT(FOR) IS THIS TOURNAMENT!?
This is a yearly play-by-email tournament played on small 1v1 maps here at Heavengames (the standard v1.4 rule-set). Former champions of such tournaments have been Waterfly, JWorth (guess he counts), Swolte and Costa. Winners are allowed to proudly wear the title in their sigs (see mine, below... ).

Prizes, etc... tbd.

WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS BEFORE SIGNING UP?
** On average (!), you need to be able to play at least one turn once every two days. Please note that this is a SERIOUS commitment. If there are absences longer than 7 days, you are recommended to not participate.
** You need Shadow Magic and the latest unofficial patch v1.4. installed.
** Before you sign up, you must have read, and agreed to, all the rules as posted below. We will assume you have.
** You must be of good sportsmanship. Where there are winners, there will be losers. Remember that it's a game and the main goal is to have a fun, challenging and exciting time.

If you agree/fulfill all of the former, sign up by posting in this thread and sending me (swolte at gmail dot com) your email and forum name!

WHAT ARE THE RULES AND PROCEDURES?

Rule 1 - Judges.
There will be 5 judges, consisting out of Swolte, Chowguy, Enginerd, Timelord, and Naeco.

Function of Judges:
* Exceptions and additions to any rules below can be made at the judges' discretion if situation asks for it. The rules, however, can be expected to remain relatively fixed.
* Any ambiguous dispute with the organization or opponent players may be resolved by the judges' voting where normal rules are not sufficient.
* Judges rule 'winners' in situations where games takes too long, or ambiguous situations current rules do not cover (see more guidelines below).
* Judges may request information on game progress which you are required to provide. Failure to reply to judges requests within 2 days may result in warnings, or the withdrawal of the tournament unless proper notice has been given of an absence.
* Side note: judges may also be players. In case of a conflict of interest, particular judges may not exert their rulings. Also, if the main parties involved feel the judge would have a conflict of interest, this judge will not participate. Non-playing members of the community may also be called upon as judge.

Rule 2 - Playing rules
Standard Houserules and Optional rule #2 (Migration trick) will be in effect for the tournament games. You are required and assumed to have read and understand them.
Particular maps may have addition playing rules (e.g., the banning of certain spells).

Breaking of the rules and cheating may result, depending on the severity rule-breaking, in consequences ranging from your removal from the tournament to an immediate ban from the forums.

Please do not enter this tournament if you know you are prone to cheating.

Rule 3 - Availability and reliability: The Communication Rules
You are required, and a have a responsibility, to keep your tournament game at a good pace. You HAVE TO log each turn (posting only 'ts' will do*). By not logging, you are subjecting yourself to tournament warnings, which may disqualify you (even if you have been sending turns by email on time!).

Unless notified in thread or by email to me (swolte at gmail dot com), turns should be logged on the forums once every 48 hours (at minimum!) from the last time you, or your opponent logged in the thread having sent a turn. Please be reminded that its your own responsibility to keep track of the turns in the turn thread.

If player does not comply: For the first time, the player may receive a tournament reminder if he/she is late posting and hasn't given notice. This reminder will be posted in the thread, in here, and accompanied by an email.
If a player does not respond within 24 hours to this reminder, he/she will receive one tournament warning.

Reminders will only be sent out once in a tournament for each contestant. After this, subsequent breaking of communication rules will immediately result in a tournament warning.

Not responding (in thread or by email) after a tournament warning within 48 hours may result in this player being forced to forfeit the game, and become disqualified.

Three warnings will automatically accumulate towards a disqualification.

With notice, a 7 day period of absence is allowed. Whether subsequent periods of absence are allowed will be evaluated by the judges.

If a game holds up the tournament for too long a game may be decided by a panel of judges studying the latest save-game and declaring a winner (see rule 1 - judges). This may become the case if 75% of the other tournament games are finished.

APPEALING: The communication rules are applied automatically. If you believe you had valid enough personal circumstances which did not allow you to communicate (e.g., post one message saying you will be late), you can appeal. The judges will take your reasons into account and see if the decision can be reversed. Note that previous appeals have not been very successful and your reason must prevent you from sending a single email.

Rule 4 - Password Protection

You MUST password protect your turns and you MUST send the password to Chowguy (chowguy at heavengames dot com). This is VERY important as it prevents people from accidentally opening your turns.

A guide as to how to set your password can be found here.

Rule 5 - Issues with map balance
The maps that will be used in the tournament will be down-loadable in a week (link will follow). They have been pondered over by experts and tested multiple times to make them as balanced as possible. Complete balance, and finding agreement on it, is often an illusion so we ask your understanding to keep this in mind. We urge you to check the maps out if you are concerned about balance.

Note that the maps are still subject to change before the tournament has started. Comments about them can be made to the organizers ONLY BEFORE matches on those maps start. This is your own responsibility! After this period, you are assumed to have agreed that each starting position is equally feasible.
The final maps will be uploaded at least 2 days before the matches are sent out. Under high exception will a map be retracted.

If, within reason, no agreement can be reached on a to-be-played map (at least 2 days before the match begins), a different map may be used on which you, and your opponent, CAN find agreement. Any demands resulting from map balance issues between the time period of 2 days before the map was sent out, and after that, shall be ignored by the organization.

Again, when signing up, you are expected to have inspected the maps for serious balance issues before the tournament starts.

Rules 6 - Tournament schedule: Swiss Elimination system

The first round will use a the Swiss format system which allows us to have a tournament starting with any number of contestants.

For the first round in this tournament players are randomly set up against each other. Each player will play 3 different maps and encounter 3 different opponents (thanks to Enginerd for making the excel sheet which computes this all).
A victory will get you one victory base-point, which will get you your base points. The 16 contestants who have the highest base points will go through to the second rounds.
However, many people could have 2 wins. So, after all games are played, there is a subranking based on the base-scores of your opponents. These are the Opponent-points (Opp-points). So, if you have played opponents who have won matches from other players you will have received more Opp points. The base ranking and your Opp points ranking will determine your final ranking. Note that disqualified contestants themselves will default to 0 base and 0 Opp points.

In the end, we will choose the 16 best final-ranked contestants and will do simple elimination rounds with them until the final. For round 2, the second elimination round, the highest ranked player will be paired with the lowest rank player, the second highest with the second lowest, etc... If two players have already played against each other, there will be a switch.

Resolving ties: it is possible that contestants will have the same final-rank. In those cases, we will resolve the tied rankings with those people (usually 2 or 3) in this order:
* When there is a tie between TWO contestants: If they had direct contact in a match before, this will always determine who goes first. If this doesn't resolve the tie:
* Those players who have had official tournament warnings (not reminders) will automatically fall to the bottom. If this doesn't resolve the tie:
* Add all the Opp rank scores of the players they defeated. The one with the highest score will get priority. If this doesn't resolve the tie:
* Add all the Opp rank scores of the players they lost to. The one with the highest score (who was beaten by better players) will have priority. If this doesn't resolve the tie:
- Do the same as the above two steps, but instead of Opp points, use the final rankings of the players. If this doesn't resolve the tie:
- Lastly, the judges will do a lottery.

WHAT IS THE PLAN?

Once the sign-up is closed, it will take approximately a week before the tournament will start (September):
- Feedback on the maps (and rules, if needed) will be incorporated.
- A schedule will be made depending on the amount of players.

[This message has been edited by Swolte (edited 11-02-2010 @ 00:10 AM).]