Guys.. the idea here I believe is that the tournament organizers can remain as they are. That they can still push their own identity and custom formats. I would hate to see conformity that totally changes the uniqueness of each tournament.
As I have proposed.. this Association/Circuit.. should be more like the PGA (Professional Gold Association) with each tournament having its own identity and features. The idea here is first to get the organizations to work together on a circuit calendar.. not about making all of the formats the same. Each organization should still compete for players and teams and compete for sponsors and for added production value.. but at the same time a circuit of specifically listed events and rankings/points to be earned can increase the 'buying' power of the esports industry.
The Masters (Golf) is different from the US Open... but both are on a circuit with a points/rankings system that carries across all 'sanctioned' PGA events. This allows each organization to remain a competitor with others to improve the product.. but unifies the organizations to provide better opportunities for the industry as a whole.
Curious if this is an equal partnership or does one have to say more than the others. For example I hope this doesn't mean stuff like MLG telling Robert to stop cursing on camera
Universal Ranking: A universal ranking system across organizations for all major game titles directly impacting seeding and event qualification.
Unified Competition Structure: Development of a unified competition structure for all major titles at all tournaments.
I was kind of curious what these things really meant. It might not be great that every tournament has the same structure. What is the universla ranking system going to be like, too? I think Carmac made a great point before on twitter today where he talked about the middle ranking pro's and their difficulties in the scene. If the same 30 players get seeded continously across all the tournaments then it will be harder to break out or to earn money, which ultimately will be to the detriment of starcraft.
On November 16 2012 02:08 Meki wrote: Sounds great, but i'm fearing PPV...
No PPV
Good Didn't really expect it to occur anyway (at least, for the main championship events).
MLG Adam, does the streamlining of the competition structure imply that MLG may finally get rid of the double elimination + extended series format? Or that, in general, DH, ESL and MLG will all share the same format for their tournament (whatever that may end up being)?
We are evaluating Double Elimination now. I can say with 99% confidence that extended series will not be present for SC2 next year. Stay tuned for details.
Double elimination is the bane of SC2 right now. To many games, to hard to plan, do difficult to broadcast. I would rather watch 50 awesome elimination games in a weekend than 250 games, some that are not broadcast. It hard to follow, brutal on the players and just leads to generic, run of the mill, substandard games.
While I agree with you that scheduling *the most important games* to appear on a stream gets dicey (because of how subjective it becomes, and you end up with some players ::coughPoltcough:: not getting much air time), as far as tournament format and fairness goes, I always thought it was pretty much established that double elimination is fine, but it's the extended series in addition to double elimination that's the central problem. The extended series seems to be the biggest controversy, and that's what a good number of people want eliminated.
coming.. details on a ranking algorithm that I created a few years back while at the GGL (Global Gaming League)... for this very sort of circuit.
I will say now.. any rankings system that uses a 'raw points earned' system will be flawed and do exactly the opposite of what appears to be proposed. Any ranking system used must be relative to the number of events an individual attends.. not points that accure from attending more events then someone else. Yes.. there must be a number of events attended that are required as part of the rankings.. (ie: a player must attend 5 of 9 circuit events for rankings)...
Anyway.. --- Global Points System details coming soon.
On November 16 2012 02:08 Meki wrote: Sounds great, but i'm fearing PPV...
No PPV
Good Didn't really expect it to occur anyway (at least, for the main championship events).
MLG Adam, does the streamlining of the competition structure imply that MLG may finally get rid of the double elimination + extended series format? Or that, in general, DH, ESL and MLG will all share the same format for their tournament (whatever that may end up being)?
We are evaluating Double Elimination now. I can say with 99% confidence that extended series will not be present for SC2 next year. Stay tuned for details.
Double elimination is the bane of SC2 right now. To many games, to hard to plan, do difficult to broadcast. I would rather watch 50 awesome elimination games in a weekend than 250 games, some that are not broadcast. It hard to follow, brutal on the players and just leads to generic, run of the mill, substandard games.
While I agree with you that scheduling *the most important games* to appear on a stream gets dicey (because of how subjective it becomes, and you end up with some players ::coughPoltcough:: not getting much air time), as far as tournament format and fairness goes, I always thought it was pretty much established that double elimination is fine, but it's the extended series in addition to double elimination that's the central problem. The extended series seems to be the biggest controversy, and that's what a good number of people want eliminated.
Double elimination isn't used in any real sport. Why not learn from organisations that make sports entertainment for Billions of viewers? Why not a simple group stage and a single elimination tournament? Not that abomination of a tournament table like MLG, were group play standings give you an so huge advantage. Learn from FIFA world cup, the biggest sports event ever.
On November 16 2012 02:08 Meki wrote: Sounds great, but i'm fearing PPV...
No PPV
Wow!! Seems like a complete reversal from the 2012 model ... a really welocme change!
It makes me sad when people imply that MLG has become PPV, just because a few added, satellite MLG events ran that model. Some people conveniently forget that the entire regular, main circuit is still free (unless you want extras or super HD, which is what pretty much every tournament asks you to pay a little towards anyway). The central MLG competition has consistently been free for SC2 viewers, and I'm excited that it (and other tournaments) will continue to have free options.