Feedback for Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime · Post by **Optimus Prime** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:11 pm

Alright fellow tournament organizers, it is time for me to get some feedback from all of you on what I can personally do better to serve you in my capacity as Tournament Director. I have been at this job for roughly 3 months now and we have seen some great things happening here in our forums.

We have seen the addition of this Organizer's Forum, a helpful reorganization of all the tournament forums in general, a new policy on abandoned tournaments, some helpful additions to the Tournament Handbook, and many other things as well.

My question to you is what can Optimus Prime do to make it even better for you? I have been trying hard, and I have pages and pages of brainstormed ideas here at home, but I want to know what all of you think.

Feel free to tell me what I can personally do better, as wells as what you think could be done better around the tournament forums. All I ask is that you make your posts insightful, detailed, and worthwhile. If you really want to see an idea or comment make an impact then put some thought into it.

Regards, Optimus Prime

soundout9 · Post by **soundout9** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:23 pm

OP wrote:and I have pages and pages of brainstormed ideas here at home, but I want to know what all of you think.

how bout posting that? :wink:

and how about an update section like what lacks to-do list

barterer2002 · Post by **barterer2002** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:48 pm

I like the abandoned tourney policy that's been implimented. One of the reasons I started organizing was because I was tired of tourneys that didn't go anyway. Nothing more frustrating than signing up and never getting going or running one round (the big tease) and am happy there are consequences.

One of the things I'd like to see would be a list of players who are willing to join up for tournaments if necessary. Not necessarily joining any specific tourney but able and willing to join in as needed.

soundout9 · Post by **soundout9** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 4:50 pm

barterer2002 wrote:One of the things I'd like to see would be a list of players who are willing to join up for tournaments if necessary. Not necessarily joining any specific tourney but able and willing to join in as needed.

a perma-reserve list for-say

Gozar · Post by **Gozar** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 5:38 pm

barterer2002 wrote:One of the things I'd like to see would be a list of players who are willing to join up for tournaments if necessary. Not necessarily joining any specific tourney but able and willing to join in as needed.

I second this truly fantastic idea.

iamkoolerthanu · Post by **iamkoolerthanu** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:08 pm

soundout9 wrote:
barterer2002 wrote:One of the things I'd like to see would be a list of players who are willing to join up for tournaments if necessary. Not necessarily joining any specific tourney but able and willing to join in as needed.

a perma-reserve list for-say

Yeah, that does sound like a great idea. I have no other ideas to add atm, but I will be looking for things now. P:

soundout9 · Post by **soundout9** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 6:10 pm

iamkoolerthanu wrote:
soundout9 wrote:
barterer2002 wrote:One of the things I'd like to see would be a list of players who are willing to join up for tournaments if necessary. Not necessarily joining any specific tourney but able and willing to join in as needed.

a perma-reserve list for-say

Yeah, that does sound like a great idea. I have no other ideas to add atm, but I will be looking for things now. P:

I can see this though getting a bit sticky. You would have to check and make sure whoever signs up has
1. premium
2. logs in everyday

and you would have to keep track of who is on vacation and other stuff like that.

iamkoolerthanu · Post by **iamkoolerthanu** » Sat Dec 29, 2007 9:27 pm

soundout9 wrote:
iamkoolerthanu wrote:
soundout9 wrote:
barterer2002 wrote:One of the things I'd like to see would be a list of players who are willing to join up for tournaments if necessary. Not necessarily joining any specific tourney but able and willing to join in as needed.

a perma-reserve list for-say

Yeah, that does sound like a great idea. I have no other ideas to add atm, but I will be looking for things now. P:

I can see this though getting a bit sticky. You would have to check and make sure whoever signs up has
1. premium
2. logs in everyday

and you would have to keep track of who is on vacation and other stuff like that.

Or, the organizer of the tourny could just send a PM to a few of the reserve members, and then they could say first come first serve kinda thing, to see who is the most active. Then they could post in the thread saying that they have a spot in a tourny, and that could be that.

Needs a little work, but it could be done.

barterer2002 · Post by **barterer2002** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:17 pm

For the most part I see it not as something to use to fill a tourney but we all run into issues at times with players dropping out mid-tourney which is sometimes a tough place to recruit for. I'm thinking this list would be for those times when you get stuck (and we all get stuck at times) looking for that one replacement so the tourney can go on. The people on it would know that you're not asking if your not desperate.

barterer2002 · Post by **barterer2002** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 8:49 pm

Another day, another suggestion.

Is it possible, to cut down on the number of tournaments that shows up in the Game Finder section. There are a lot to search through there that have been over for a long time. Perhaps a seperate area for completed tournaments would make it easier to look through those that are currently running.

Gilligan · Post by **Gilligan** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:11 am

One thing I get really bummed about is the fact that people deliberately don't join. I have a doubles tourney going, and WalkingShadow didn't join 2 rounds of games. I recently had a game with him, and he said 'I don't like doubles'.

This may be unfair, but how about adding players automatically to the game when you start it? That would ensure the right players actually join, and there will be no PM sending.

barterer2002 · Post by **barterer2002** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:21 am

Of course the issue then is deadbeating which is at least as annoying as people not joining. At least if they don't join you know they aren't playing but I know I don't check every game of every tourney to see who's deadbeating and who isn't.

Gilligan · Post by **Gilligan** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 8:44 am

barterer2002 wrote:Of course the issue then is deadbeating which is at least as annoying as people not joining. At least if they don't join you know they aren't playing but I know I don't check every game of every tourney to see who's deadbeating and who isn't.

I, honestly, don't even care if someone deadbeats. At least they were in the game.

iamkoolerthanu · Post by **iamkoolerthanu** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 1:33 pm

Gilligan wrote:
barterer2002 wrote:Of course the issue then is deadbeating which is at least as annoying as people not joining. At least if they don't join you know they aren't playing but I know I don't check every game of every tourney to see who's deadbeating and who isn't.

I, honestly, don't even care if someone deadbeats. At least they were in the game.

Thats how I feel, too, but there's always someone to say that another one deadbeated or whatever. I usually get alot of PM's of people saying that there was a multi account or there was a deadbeater, when they werent multi's and they weren't deadbeating, so deadbeating wouldn't really be a problem most of the time.

Tieryn · Post by **Tieryn** » Mon Dec 31, 2007 9:41 pm

I had an idea before along those lines gilligan, but instead of adding them to the game (and starting it) it adds them to the game "in waiting" or something, they still have to log on and confirm that they are ready to start that game (it would go in their awaiting players list, or maybe in the normal list but they need to click on it to start it). If players then deadbeat, you could remove them and add a new player to that game. This would infact remove the need for putting passwords on tournament games, since only the players put in that game by the tourney organiser can accept it, and play it.

Another idea I've had is it would be really nice if there was some sort of info on mouseover, or some easier way to get basic info from a player (ie, premium or not) without having to check the profile of everyone that joins. Perhaps on mouseover of their name it pops up a bit of info "Premium, Rank, Score, Last Login". I'd also like to see a "Last Logged In" part added to the profiles, so it's easier to check if a player is away for a day or two, or purposely avoiding joining a game or whatever. Rather than having to look through all their active games and check their last turn time.

That's all from me at the moment, more news at 7. Happy Yew Near everyone.

soundout9 · Post by **soundout9** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 12:25 am

Those are good ideas Tieryn. And happy New years to you too!

soundout9 · Post by **soundout9** » Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:13 pm

Well here is a suggestion. A "My Tournament Page" where you can see all your tournaments that are needing players and ongoing. It would make it a lot easyer to update things. Yes you can use the search button but even when i type in soundout9, author, ongoing it still comes up with other tournaments.

what do you think?

soundout9 · Post by **soundout9** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:03 am

Another. How about we make tournaments a little more "official"

Right now it's pretty up to the director do be responsible for everything considering their tournament. Well I think we should have something like the usergroup deal to get into a tournament. So if someone wants to join a tournament that can click a button saying join tournement. Then if there any other details you need a box comes up with what you need. When the organizer signs back on they can go to this tournament control panel and accept players in or keep them out.

If i did not explain this clearly enough ask me questions becuase im watching tv right now while thinking about this.

BaldAdonis · Post by **BaldAdonis** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:11 am

soundout9 wrote: Well I think we should have something like the usergroup deal to get into a tournament.

If we had this, it would be a lot easier for the players to keep track of tournaments they are involved in.

iamkoolerthanu · Post by **iamkoolerthanu** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:10 am

BaldAdonis wrote:
soundout9 wrote: Well I think we should have something like the usergroup deal to get into a tournament.

If we had this, it would be a lot easier for the players to keep track of tournaments they are involved in.

Jesse710 · Post by **Jesse710** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 1:28 pm

soundout9 wrote:
OP wrote:and I have pages and pages of brainstormed ideas here at home, but I want to know what all of you think.

how bout posting that?

and how about an update section like what lacks to-do list

I don't really no if the To-do will work out. If you noticed lacks to-do list wa last edited July 25 /07

But this is Optimus Prime the leader of the auto bots, so I expect him to do better than a monkey and a Turtle (Andy & Lack) :lol:

Optimus Prime · Post by **Optimus Prime** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:27 pm

soundout9 wrote:
OP wrote:and I have pages and pages of brainstormed ideas here at home, but I want to know what all of you think.

how bout posting that?

and how about an update section like what lacks to-do list

As much as I would love to let all of you see what I am working on behind the scenes I really don't think that would be a good idea. I have been given many projects that letting out into public view would not be a good idea until they are finished.

Optimus Prime · Post by **Optimus Prime** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:29 pm

barterer2002 wrote:I like the abandoned tourney policy that's been implimented. One of the reasons I started organizing was because I was tired of tourneys that didn't go anyway. Nothing more frustrating than signing up and never getting going or running one round (the big tease) and am happy there are consequences.

One of the things I'd like to see would be a list of players who are willing to join up for tournaments if necessary. Not necessarily joining any specific tourney but able and willing to join in as needed.

This is something that may be possible to implement with phpBB3 and the more advanced functionality. I agree that having a "stockpile" of players who would be willing to fill in on short notice would not be a terrible thing. I will put it in my "Pending" category for now, how does that sound?

Optimus Prime · Post by **Optimus Prime** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:31 pm

barterer2002 wrote:Another day, another suggestion.

Is it possible, to cut down on the number of tournaments that shows up in the Game Finder section. There are a lot to search through there that have been over for a long time. Perhaps a seperate area for completed tournaments would make it easier to look through those that are currently running.

This is a concern brought up on numerous occasions by numerous people. I know that Lack is aware of the problem, but I will add this to my more immediate stack of things to do and see if I can make some headway with it. I have the same problems as all of you when it comes to finding the tournaments in that list.

Optimus Prime · Post by **Optimus Prime** » Sun Jan 06, 2008 4:33 pm

Gilligan wrote:One thing I get really bummed about is the fact that people deliberately don't join. I have a doubles tourney going, and WalkingShadow didn't join 2 rounds of games. I recently had a game with him, and he said 'I don't like doubles'.

This may be unfair, but how about adding players automatically to the game when you start it? That would ensure the right players actually join, and there will be no PM sending.

A feature to add players to the game immediately upon joining is something that has been rejected before, but perhaps there are other ways we can do something about it. If we were to find an efficient way to have a "perma-reserve" list that would be very helpful in combating this particular problem.