EVERYONE WHO READS THIS TAKE NOTE: I am not shooting this thing down. I want it to function, I want it to work, I want it to take off and be something amazing. However I think it needs a lot more thought, planning and precise descision making. I am about to make an eye-wateringly long myriad of reasons why this will fail. But this isn't because I want it to fail, this is because I want to draw attention to various aspects of the idea and see them improved. Most of it is analytical and explanitory, if you want a summary then read from the bottom up.
This looks like a brilliant idea. I love the notion of more tournaments and more growth in the competitive community. However if this idea is to lift off it is going to need a LOT of support. This is going to be a multi-man effort so get a good and reliable group of people to prepare and run the event.
Whilst the idea is amazing when written down and thought about, I think it has deeper problems and could easily suffer under it's own weight. On reading the thread numerous things grabbed my attention:
This will be a series of 4 smash tournaments, starting after Edster 2 (April) and will run throughout Summer and finishing around September/October. The aim is to bring both melee and brawl together but also to promote Smash in the UK. All 4 tournaments are likely to be held at the Global Gaming Arena in Birmingham.
This is going to increase the divide between the communities. If it's starting after Edster 2 and ending around October then you're fitting 4 tournaments in 6 months. One every month and a half. Most people won't be able to make all of them due to personal contraints, work, finance, travel issues or a host of other reasons. This needs more time to be spread over.
Prizes will vary from Vouchers to Games Consoles.
A brilliant incentive but several problems in one. How do you decide where the vouchers come from? Which Prize will get which award? How do you make it fair that some people get consoles and some people get vouchers? How do you afford all of this?
Cash prizes would be a heavy incentive to current players, regular prizes an incentive to new ones. But this is where the problems lie in rewards. Cash prizes attract professional players. MLG and EVO offer cash up front, no vouchers, no consoles, no controllers, nought. They want the best and only the best. Rewards such as controllers, vouchers and consoles attract anyone and are the kind of thing you'd see at a local Gamestation or GAME tournament.
This is turn presents another problem: Can you and can the scene support a growth of such proportions? Will sponsors really back an event with an interest margin that is currently so small? They'll see more of a return on a Halo, CSS, DOA or Tekken tournament. If it all works out are we as a community prepared for such a massive influx of players simultaneously?
Consoles and Vouchers will probably attract more players from a more local community. A Console is a Console is a Console will always be a Console. Cash could be....a train ticket to the next event.......new games.....shoes....clothes......or a console. Much more flexible.
This was always a big concern of mine. My main arguement for non-cash prizes is that 90% of players come to all events without ever seriously thinking they will see any money back.
90% of players that turn up to smash events will not see any money back no matter what you do. No matter how many people turned up to a previous event, 3 people saw a prize from singles. About 8 thought they'd see some money. The rest have to accept that they aren't getting a prize.
The reimbursement argument is a big one, but if you're making this to please the smash community on here, then you have to please the smash community on here. Attending this tournament is going to be expensive, random example say I was going to turn up (LOL!)
Can't get a coach from Lancaster to Birmingham. Have to get to Preston and get a coach from there: £12 (£6 each way)
Coach Fare to Birmingham and back: £2 (Assuming booked WELL in advance and taking advantage of NationalExpress' funfares, could change at any time)
Entry to the tournament: £20 (£10 for each)
Hotel Room: £30-£35 per night.
Grand Total = £64 (Assuming all conditions are ideal, not including food, drink or accidents)
May not be much to you guys but is a lot to some people.
The point is, yes this may deter the top players as they are "used" to getting some money back.
There will be a prize for the winner in each tournament. but it wont necessarily be the best prize.
The whole point of a tournament is to see who is the best player. If you're making a descision that you feel will deter the top players, you need to be CONCRETE in your ascertainty that that choice is the right choice to make and will make your tournament a better tournament for it being made.
What is the point of being a top player if you're not getting the top prize? This diverts attention from the tournament itself.
My other reasoning for considering non-cash prizes this time is that I'm looking to get sponsers next time I do something like this.
If it goes well, Sponsers will look at it more professionally as there are prizes, not cash.
As AmcD said: XL is one of the largest gaming companies in England and offers cash.
MLG is the one of the biggest gaming leagues in the world and has always offered cash. EVO offers cash. Renaissance of Smash 4 was one of the biggest tournaments in europe (at the time), sponsored by several companies and offered cash.
space and time are a great issue. And we just dont have either.
Don't have the capacity to hold 40+ players and no time to run both brawl and melee singles, let alone teams.
If you have neither of these, your tournament is handicapped from the word go. I understand the second part was referring to both being at the same event but if you have no time to run Melee and Brawl singles you'll barely have enough time to run both singles and doubles of either.
Do you honestly believe a sponsor will cough up money to reach a maximum of 40 people?
Oh and the last thing about the prizes. Again, good idea but it needs rethinking. Prizes are achievements, like medals they are awarded to exemplars of skill, competition and performance. Having too many dilutes the significance of them all.
Plus how are you ever going to award a prize like ' Most Improved '? It's all based on a viewpoint, a perspective and everyone has a different one. All of which are biased. Even if you come up with a neutral, statistical method of discerning improvement, skill, and progress on a player by player basis, people will reject it because it is based on statistics.
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Brilliant idea, I really hope it works. It should work but you really need to take this apart and re-think each and every aspect of it.
Your prizes, your setup, your location, your structure, your timeframe (Both on a tournament basis and on the grand prix basis), your target attendee, everything.
No sponsor would ever back up a series of tournaments where the maximum player cap is 40 and the current competitive community in this country for it numbers less than 100.
Honestly, I think this will achieve success if you do it right (Depending on what your goals are and what your definition of success would be) but you have to do it right and you have to be unyeilding in your pursuit.
My advice: Know your target, know your goal. Work around your intended end result.
If you want to host some tournaments for the current community, fantastic, go for it. You are more than capable and you have proven it time and time again. Gear everything to suit the current community: Villiage Hall/Church. 10 Setups. £5 per person per event. Cash Prize. Simple and Easy (Relatively).
If you want to go big (Sponsor style big), gear everything towards expanding your audience: Bigger Venue. more time at the tournament. Tournaments more spaced out. Varied locations. *Advertise*
No sponsor has sponsored smash in this country because there's no return from their investment. No advertising to be done on a large scale. No major profit stream. I think you've misfocused.
This is a monumental idea and it will become a monumental event. But it first of all needs a monumental community to support it.
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