How NOT to run an event...

**MikeAtRockgamer** · Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 9

Thought you guys might get a kick out of this.

How not to run an event.

**count220** · Joined: 13 Feb 2008 Posts: 176 Location: New York City

So it's a rant about Disney being overpriced?

Thanks for the heads up!

**pvtGramps** · Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 114

Yeah, that whole thing just had bad mojo all over it. I've had similar experiences with both the Yu-Gi-Oh and Duel Masters tours way back when.

I was young.

I didn't know that corporations had my soul.

*cries*
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**rkcr** · Joined: 05 Feb 2007 Posts: 2518 Location: Minneapolis

In my experience, the problem with poorly-run tournaments stem from one or both of these problems:

1. It's held in a game store. They're holding the tournament just to attract customers, so they couldn't give half a shit if anything is done correctly. #1 usually leads to...

2. None of the people running it are actually big fans of the game itself, and thus don't understand what one would need to do to run a proper tournament.

**Vertiggo** · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:49 pm Post subject:

I must admit, there were a few slip ups with this tournament. First of all, the time (Noon on the online ad instead of 6:30) thing was a screw up from Virgin's corporate office and 1up. It all had to do with someone being let go from the company. Secondly, the advertising from 1up sucked... no ifs, ands or buts. Third, there was only a week (less, actually) to prepare for this event.

But despite all of this, here's the funny part, this tournament was actually pretty darn awesome. In fact, I may go so far as to say that this was the best run Rock Band tournament to date in this area. Heck, the entire southeast. I may be a little biased in saying this, however, since I'm the guy who ran this tournament. So... let's take an opinion from another thread about this tournament on this very forum...

**count220** · Joined: 13 Feb 2008 Posts: 176 Location: New York City

I second Vertiggo.

It sounds like OP soured up from having to wait at WallyWorld all day (and hemorrhage money). I would, too, if I had to pay $5 for a glass of tap water. Blame bad advertising for that one.

The event itself ran smoothly and our band [Insert Name Here] had a great time.

**MikeAtRockgamer** · Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 9

**Shift** · Joined: 24 Jun 2006 Posts: 562

IMO the one in New York was far worse. I wish it could have been like the one in Orlando. And you don't see me bitching. :P

**count220** · Joined: 13 Feb 2008 Posts: 176 Location: New York City

**Draktyr** · Joined: 08 Aug 2007 Posts: 108 Location: Tampa, FL

Guess "Kentucky Fried Chicken Hat" can chime in with his two cents now.

First off, how many Rock Band tournaments to date have there even been in this area? Or even nationally? Not many. The way you're making this whole thing sound, it's like you've been to several and they were all just amazing, and this one sucked by comparison. Hell, people are still making posts about the "correct" way to score and run a Rock Band tournament, because the damn game's only been out for 4 months.

It can be far, far worse then this, believe me. Did you hear about Otronicon a month ago? The only thing that place had going for it was the stage. Other then that, it was 15 bucks for ANYONE to attend plus a band registration fee, the judging was extremely unjustified and inconsistent, the controllers were badly calibrated, and the drumset (while cool looking) was horribly lagged. We had a miserable time, and it was a waste of money spent on costumes and admission fees for all our friends who wanted to come watch.

Or how about the other two VM tournaments in NYC and LA? All you have to do is read the post about those to get an idea of how rediculous some of that crap was. Qualifying round on 4x easy? Sweet.

What I'm trying to say is, I don't think there's been a "dream" tournament to date for us to even compare anything to. No standard has been set, and everyone's idea of what would make the perfect RB tournament has yet to come into fruition anywhere. The VM tournament in Orlando was by far the best one that I've been to yet.

If you can do better, then great. We'll gladly be there to participate. It's a pretty tall order though, with all the things you need to take into consideration:

- Elevated stage area with room for spectators
- Non-biased ruleset which equally rewards skill with stage presence (anyone can dress up like Bon Jovi and get a 55% on easy)
- Precisely calibrated instruments AND drumset
- Proper advertising in advance and sponsor support
- Rewards that justify the entry fee and compensate 4 people
- Allowing bands to play songs/sets that are equally entertaining for the audience without being repetitive (everyone plays GGaHT for max points)

...and the list goes on. I mean, we all know what it would take to run a perfect RB tournament, but actually having it happen is another story. This one was better then most of what I've ever been to, by far.

**MikeAtRockgamer** · Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 9

**MikeAtRockgamer** · Joined: 26 Jan 2008 Posts: 9

**Draktyr** · Joined: 08 Aug 2007 Posts: 108 Location: Tampa, FL

If you can do an event with everything you just described, that would be pretty damn awesome, and I know several bands that would definently want to participate

My personal answers to your questions:

Prizes - I'm impartial to these, as long as they properly compensate all 4 members of the band assuming there's an entry fee. If no entry fee, then prizes can be whatever. It's free, after all.

Venue - Bar settings are what I'm used to, but that's just because they're usually the ones hosting RB nights.

Crowd - Size doesn't matter as long as they are getting into the competition, and not just "there" watching. People love playing for a loud audience much more then a disinterested one, obviously.

Amount of Competitors - the more the merrier! Although, time limitations would probably have to keep this within reason.

Weekend - Totally.

Would you feel snubbed if another band won even though you got a higher score in the game because they had a better stage presence? - That honestly depends. If we were sitting up there like zombies doing absolutely nothing, and got 95%, then lost to a band that went full out crazy and ended up with 90%, that would be justified. However if it was something unreasonable like a full medium/easy band winning with 80% since they were all girls with butterfly wings, then blah to that. (no, I'm not bitter!) To me, it's tough to find the exact fairness when even a small amount is personal opinion, but I personally favor a 80/10/10 split like the upcoming March 7th competition, in which 80% or so is skill, 10% is costume, and 10% is stage presence. As I mentioned before, anyone can go out and buy this fancy ass costume, and act like a complete muppet for the 5 minutes of their song, but suck at the game. This isn't "Dress up and Spaz out Hero", it's "Rock Band", and at the core of the game is playing ability. That said, this game certainly favors the performance aspect a lot more then GH3 does.

Would you play for no prize other then 'first place' if you had a dream setup (Stage, Speakers, Outdoors, Huge TV behind you, lots of competition) - Absolutely.

Should downloadable content be allowed? - I think it should be, yes. My main reason for supporting it is, we're quickly approaching the day where there are MORE downloadable tracks to choose from then original ones that came packaged with the game. It's clear that this game is intending to regularly add new content, and it would be a shame to disclude that many songs. Only people that get snubbed are the PS2 players who don't have access to that, which can suck. Nothing's stopping those players from sticking to an original setlist choice, assuming the competition doesn't feature any head-to-head situations where they'd be forced to play a song they'd never been able to play before.

The March 7th tournament will be interesting. Will you be attending? It may be a good opportunity for you to get more feedback from the bands that are planning to go to that.

**silenceindminor** · Joined: 06 Feb 2007 Posts: 279 Location: jaxxxonville, FL

I'm thinking about making the trip down for the March 7th tourny. I am skeptical of the rules. I mean, if a band plays weezer on medium and goes performs well and gets 99% across the board while my band plays on hard/expert but picks like Train Kept a Rollin and do the same but get in the lower 90s, well how fair is that really. What do ya think about it Drak??
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**count220** · Joined: 13 Feb 2008 Posts: 176 Location: New York City

My biggest worry is the random song. If we get GG&HT or RttH as our random song, we be focusing too hard to put on a good show.

Other than that, here's my advice for this type of contest.

1. Pick a song you can perform well with minimal effort. The idea is to allow you to focus on putting on a show. This is not a score battle. Judges would rather see a great rendition of Buddy Holly than a Perfect Solo on GG&HT by a bunch of statues.
2. Get the crowd involved. Pick a catchy tune that the crowd can sing along or clap to.
3. Pick a relatively short song so you don't lose the crowd.
4. Don't forget the wings and b00bies. =P

This type of judging isn't for everyone. I'd say the ruleset lies halfway between Otronicon (pure show) and the Virgin tournament (pure score). If you think you can have fun with it then we'll see you next Friday.