Welcome to Gaia! ::

GTB REVISIONS RULES AND REGULATIONS - SUGGESTED

A thread for participants of the tournament to showcase their characters from either an IC or OOC perspective. Status: Included.

Make KB the winner of the GTB. Status: Rejected.

Staff representation IC/OOC, expanded definition and suggestions. Status: Under Consideration.

Put simply, the presence of the Staff ( or at least Judges ) either ICly or OOCly, if not both. Given the minor needs of GTB staff in overall story events and management, the presence of referees is something that requires minimal but constant attention. Like fighters who need to post at least once a day, the Judges should be reading the fights at least once a day in order to be caught up. This is made a lot easier when fights are divided amongst the Judges, enabling them to track their handful of fights.

The benefits of this are varied.

One, it allows Judges to intervene either ICly or OOCly when they feel there has been a rule infraction or something isn't going the way it should. The players may not immediately recognize the problem, or, they may be dealing with the issues themselves incorrectly. The presence of a Judge allows for the problems to be nipped in the bud and right any problems before they have continued to the point of disrepair - saving time and energy for everyone with minimal intervention.

Second, the presence of the Judge assigned the fight to score allows them to build a general idea of their scoring DURING the fights. This cuts down on the time needed to judge significantly, since by the time the fight ends the Judge should only need to read and grade those last few posts. Again, checking these things daily is easy enough ( checking 5-7 fights a day, should be easy if you're just reading ) but makes an incredible difference. By reading the fight you can already tell who is writing better, fighting better, and roleplaying better. Altogether, you can form a general shape of your judging structure and then polish it off after things have concluded. Again, this saves everyone a lot of time and energy, as well as cuts down on tournament wait time.

Scoring expanded and suggestions. Status: Under Consideration.

The scoring system for GTB uses a readily identifiable and easy to understand point system where fighters are graded on key aspects of their matches. Unfortunately, a lack of a rigid scoring standard lends the system an askew representation of the fights when relying on numbers alone. To that end, a yay or nay system of approval by the Judges is often considered to be the overruling method of determining a winner or loser. An odd number of judges should be used for this ( minimum 3 ) in order to achieve a definite result.

The score system should reflect the decision of the judges, with a tie equally a tied score, a loss equaling a lesser score, and a win featuring a higher score for one player than his/her opponent. The scores themselves are a framework for judging that helps to put their decision into perspective, as well as reflect for players areas that the judges feel they need to work on.

If the scores aren't consistent or unaminous, this reflects a bias. Chances are that a majority of Judges will not succumb to a distinct bias, so, it is safe to go with the majority decision. Additionally, a numbers game played against the overall decision of judges can be used to negatively represent the true outcome of a fight.

ROUND TABLE expanded definition and suggestions. Status: Under Consideration.

A ROUND TABLE? WHAT WITCHCRAFT IS THIS?!

To put it simply, the Round Table system is one where all the people taking a place in the dicussion are put on equal terms. The person running the guild, as well as other members of the staff, all hold the same position of power when involving themselves in a Round Table discussion. This level of equality means that majority decisions rule and solidify themselves.

RULES EXPANDED. Status: Under Consideration.

+ The use of healing abilities in a match is prohibited. Characters with the ability to heal themselves may do so between matches, but not during their fight. Keep in mind that you and your opponent are being scored not only for how you give damage, but take it as well. Removing the wounds and the way you've reacted to them might as well be subtracting from your own score, so, just don't do it.

+ Attacking Judges is prohibited. Any attempt to manipulate or harm a Judge will be severely punished, with possible disqualification. This means both ICly and OOCly. ICly you may find yourself disqualified or worse, as the GTB is considered canon and Judges wield considerable powers. The fate of your character should you choose to test the boundaries might be worse than death.

+ Character Death - Penalties. A contraversial yet necessary rule that adds an extra layer of protection to participants. If a character dies their opponent will be disqualified and they will be revived, but not without a price. This ensures that players will do the most possible to keep themselves alive ( within limits ) and discourage any attempt to take a fall in order to win. The penalties suffered will vary depending on the situation, at the Judge's discretion.

UPDATE

Due to the large number of abilities related to enhanced healing or shorter "downtimes" and the no active healing clause ( in fights ) of the tournament, I think there should be a rule addressing these abilities as extraneous. It's simply information that becomes irrelevant when you consider the basically inexhaustible resources of the tournament's medical personnel. That being said, it's just more to read and sucks up precious time and the overall length of profiles.

Suggested, is a rule that reads something like,

+ Due to the nature of the GTB character wounds sustained are dealt with according to their severity in the Infirmary. Any range of wounds can be handled by tournament personnel, including death. With this in mind there is no reason to include superficial healing abilities that are only active outside of battle, as it is assumed characters have their wounds addressed at the end of each match.
---

More to come.

PROFILE SCREENING

Allow me to drop my professionalism for a moment.

JESUS ******** THERE NEEDS TO BE SOME CONSISTENCY.

Thank you. Now, as well all know, profiles are something that are required in order to determine the fairness of characters being submitted to the tournament. Obviously in order for this to work, there need to be solid guidelines on what is and isn't acceptable in a profile. The complete rules list was is prohibited, but, they do not build a very clear cut picture on what is acceptable outside of those boundaries. To that end there should be a codex that fleshes out the expectations of the tournament, and this should only change when there is a need for it to change. Any Staff taking part should memorize the codex and be able to uniformly adhere to it.

Also, it might not hurt to have a section in the guild where the Judges can post the exact profiles sent to them and their notes, if any, on what should be changed. This would allow all the judges to know exactly what is being submitted by the players, as well as allow them to voice any concerns or objections they may have. Remember, the tournament's starting date can be tentative, and you can take profiles BEFORE giving a concrete start time, allowing you to give thought to the issues BEFORE they become real problems.

MORE THOUGHTS REGARDING JUDGES/STAFF and PARTICIPANTS

The Staff is in charge of making the guild and tournament run smoothly, but they are people with real problems and issues. Though they take an active part out of guild will or a desire to see the community flourish, they should be held accountable to similar standards as participants. One of the easiest things for judges to adhere to is transparency.

There is a notification thread for absences, it should be used by players and Staff alike when the need arises. There is no reason for the Staff to be held to unreasonable standards - if they encounter problems that take them away from their responsibilities they should inform people of it.

This is actually better for everyone, in that,

- Cuts down on complaints regarding late scoring or judging, since the reason is documented and worthwhile.

- Encourages Judges to take an active role and face their responsibilities as soon as possible. Once they have completed their task they will have free time, which is a good feeling.

- Allows for fellow Staff members to take over responsibilities of others ( should they choose to do so ) and allows the players to see this change of hands. This keeps everyone informed of the grading and scoring traffic, so that players and Staff alike aren't confused as to the status of their fights.

- Encourages overall communication.

Just as the tournament participants are expected to post regularly and be active in the guild, as well as inform of absences, judges should be the same. It is not very fair for a player to be docked points on their fight if they do not post within time constraints simply because they chose to put it off, while Judges have the luxury of making them ( and others ) wait for whatever reason. Furthermore, when these reasons aren't made plain it raises questions as to the integrity of the staff, and their dedication to the tournament.

CONTINUED THOUGHTS

While the Staff is not reimbursed for their activity in the tournament, only a select few of the participants are as well. Namely, the 1-4 top players of the tournament, as the others get nothing except for their fun fighting ( if they had fun ). To that end, it might be best to have a portion of the pot dedicated to giving the Judges a fraction of the winnings for their efforts.

To offset any implications that this might be a scam of some sort, you could also make a margin dedicated to a "consolation prize" where the tournament participants are rewarded for their efforts even if they don't win the main prize. With a good set of donations these fractions can be good enough to placate the Staff/Participants, while not detracting from the main prize too heavily. At a first place prize of 1.8mil, ( and combined prizes from 1st to 4th ) it wouldn't make a huge difference to subtract 200k of it and divide it amongst the tournament.

ALL YOUR BASE

It should become tournament standard to perform a background check on the Staff. If someone applies wanting to be staff and they aren't good enough for the job or have a history of messing things up, they shouldn't take the selected position. Refer back to the ROUND TABLE section for determining who this influences.

Like say, Vintrict. Say for example you thought Vintrict was a horrible judge, for whatever reason. If he's shown he can't judge, or whatever, then don't let him! Who cares if he's owning and operating the tournament? ROUND TABLE! All the Staff should be equal when it comes to judging or other responsibilities, so they should all be held accountable. To that end... you can have a pro artist who doesn't know how to fight, or a guild owner who is crazy... it doesn't matter because you simply bar them from the judging position.

Similarly, you could have a great judge who really sucks at story writing. You wouldn't have that person take part in leading the story if they can't do it.

I mean, you can have a janitor at a nuclear power plant and that doesn't mean he's qualified to run the place.

DISCUSSION - Pending deletion

-KB

Self control like the kind that gave you a 16 on the first round?

I mean, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but if you don't like the way things are run, then gather up a bunch of people willing to contribute and make your own GTB. Its a far better '******** you' then posting a bunch of suggestions that Vintrict may or may not give a s**t about, as well as insulting him constantly in the OOC thread.

DEFINING CONCEPTS FOR ESTABLISHING STANDARD

AGILITY - STRENGTH
INTELLIGENCE - CONSTITUTION


PHYSICAL POWER - SPELLPOWER
MELEE - RANGED


EQUIPMENT - ABILITIES




Agility - Agility is basically the mobility and versatility of a character's body, their ability to conform to different shapes or stretch. The overall speed and manueverabiliy of the character allows them to dodge more easily as well as strike weak spots.

Strength - Strength is the raw physical capacity of the character to interact with the environment around them. It represents striking power, lifting capacity, and associated things. A strong character is often larger than his peers ( to scale ) and does more damage.

Intelligence - Intelligence is a character's overall analytical ability and represents their aptitude for educational pursuits. A highly intelligent character often pursues the relative comforts of schools or intellectual forums to the detriment of worldly experience.

Constitution - Constitution is the overall health of a character and their ability to endure bodily harm. A character with a high CON represents someone who has endured the elements and a variety of other hazards. Typically the pursuits that lead an individual towards these things robs them of the opportunity to attend advanced classes or courses.

Physical Power - Physical power represents a character's mastery or potence in fighting with martial weapons or earthly techniques. A warrior character that has no spellpower will be a comparatively strong physical fighter for this reason, with knowledge of extra techniques or other abilities pertaining to the field.

Spellpower - The opposite of physical power, spellpower represents the mastery of magical abilities like spells. Generally speaking, an ability or power that cannot by mimicked physically is considered a spell, such as a blast of telekinetic force or the manipulation of fire serpents.


Melee - Melee capability is representative of a character's ability to fight in close combat with or without weapons. A high melee value reflects intimate knowledge of close combat fighting techniques.

Ranged - The Ranged identifier represents a character's mastery of ranged weapons. A character with a high ranged value is accurate with all forms of ranged weaponry they are able to use, as this shows an intuitive understanding of the mechanics of ranged attacks.

Equipment - The equipment stat encompasses all tools and devices a character uses, from armor to communications, to even lighters or matches. The higher an equipment stat the more the character relies on technology to assist them with daily life.

Abilities - Like equipment, the Abilities section refers to utility powers. While other characters rely on equipment to fill in the gaps an Ability based character has spells or spell-like ability to mimic the effects of equipment, or better. Abilities are characterized by different rules than equipment, and their effects are a whole different brand as well.

=================

TOURNAMENT STANDARD AS OPINION OF KB...



STANDARD

------

MID STR is the ability to lift more, strike harder, and in general be stronger than the average person. A MID STR character in this case is about two times stronger than the real-world average, or, equivalent of a member of the armed forces.

MID AGI is the increased range of motion capable of a character compared to their average real-world counterpart. A MID AGI character in this case is as agile as a professional judo practictioner.

MID INT is the quick-thinking required of high-tier fighters. Someone at this level is smart enough to be recognized as brighter than their peers, which allows them an insightful edge. A MID INT character in this case would be capable of solving most basic problems, and learns fairly easily.

MID CON is the bodily endurance of fighters at this level, reflecting the hazards of professional fighting in addition to those of Gaia. A MID CON character in this case is about as hardy as an armed forces soldier, able to endure a variety of wounds and fight through the different elements.

MID PHYSICAL POWER at this level of play is around that of a soldier or above. The average character has either mastered a select style or knows a variety of tricks. In addition to that they have limited physical abilities that aren't possible in the real world or encountered, like a lightning fast draw and slash or 100 fists technique.

MID SPELLPOWER at this level of play is around that of an low-power spellcaster or elementalist. The ability to generate special attacks that exist only in the realm of imagination, as well as the mastery of elements or ki falls into this category. A character at this tier probably knows at least one or two spells, or has a resovoir of magical energy they can call upon in unique ways.

MELEE ability of a character in this tournament can generally be considered the capacity to fight in close quarters combat with the experience of a professional. Unlike PHYSICAL POWER, this reflects more of the mechanical ability of a character to score hits on their enemy, and ultimately represents their accuracy and skill with weapons of choice.

RANGED is the ranged equivalent of MELEE. A character with a normal RANGED ability at this level is going to be able to strike a human-sized target within the standard range of their weapon or weapons even under less than ideal circumstances. While a normal hunter or marksman may require to be completely still or the surroundings to be in their favor, characters at this tier are able to fight with ranged weapons accurately and more flexibly.

EQUIPMENT for characters at this level should be fairly similar to that of celebrated fighters in the real world. Characters should have access to civilian technologies for utility, as well as appropriate levels of body armor ranging from archaic to modern variants. At this level of play it would be appropriate for a character to have their own vehicle and all the things they need to maintain their daily life/occupation.

ABILITIES for characters at this level are similar to the levels of equipment. For characters at this tier of play it is acceptable to have non-offensive utility abilities limited in scope and power. These abilities should be in keeping with the nature and personality of the character, and be representative of their lives. A common ABILITY at this level might be limited telepathy ( talking only ) or effects that change their appearance in minor ways.

Viviana character info - Moved to OOC Topic Subforum.

-KB