Rock Band Tournament Format Discussion

[Sephi]

Alright, with all the discussion within threads for how a tournament should be run, I figured it might be easier to have ALL formats here for everyone to see and discuss. This thread will NOT be to say your format is better than another if you have one on here, but for you to discuss how best to run your format or issues you find with other formats. I'll try to keep this updated and rank each one for time, equipment, fairness, etc. As always, feel free to discuss or disagree with the rankings and JUSTIFY why it should be different. Here we go:


Tournament Format #1-
Best 2-out-of-3, bracket-style format. Started by Sephi back in GH1 and still used for his GH events. Possible for RB, but has yet to be tried in a RB tournament. This is the classic bracketing style that you see in most sporting events. NCAA, MLB, etc.

Pros: Fairness. Number of matches(more matches = better showing of who is the best)

Cons: Time, equipment. With this style, you will need as much equipment as possible to finish the event as fast as possible, otherwise, it will be a possible 2-day event.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tournament Format #2-
Created by Tigerhawk310, this format allows for multiple bands to play at the same time and with set-lists per round instead of 1-to-1 song battles.

Round format:
Each team within the same match plays the same setlist, but different matches will have different setlists.

Possible ways of choosing a setlist:
A: Each band chooses a song, either from the full list or from a sublist (i.e., for an early round, you might want to restrict song choice to the lower 3 difficulty tiers). If you have fewer songs/setlist than bands/match, flip a coin to decide who gets to choose.

B: Organizer picks the songs; this is particularly useful if you have time problems and need to make sure everyone plays short songs rather than Green Grass & High Tides

C: Random songs; you have that feature to use now. The downside is that you could get stuck having a beginner band playing Won't Get Fooled Again, Ride the Lightning, and Run to the Hills.

D: Combination of A, B, and/or C. For the final round at Funde Razor, each side played a 3 song setlist, consisting of one song chosen by each team and Next to You (because I'm cruel).

3. Matches however are staggered so that the crowd doesn't have to hear the same songs over and over again. For example:

Round pairings: A vs. B, C vs. D, E vs. F, G vs. H

Order of play: A, C, E, G, B, D, F, H.

So, A and B will play the same setlists, but before it repeats, C, E, and G will all play their different setlists and the audience isn't so bored.

4. Teams can play on whatever difficulty they want for each part, and total score is all that counts at the end, but as per BWT rules, you can't switch difficulty or parts mid-setlist. This adds a tricky strategic element for bands, which played out at Funde Razor when a band tried to make it through the final setlist with drums on Expert, and lost their chance to win when they failed out on Next to You.

5. The match winner is determined by the highest total score. A band failout counts as a 0. If all bands in a match fail, the winner is determined by who failed out later.

Pros: Time. Equipment. This style seems to allow for a constant flow for the event and more continuous play between rounds. It also lets the crowd be more entertained during the event.

Cons: Fairness. The choosing the songs by the organizer is just that as quoted by "Next to You(Because I'm cruel like that)" That is a downside to events when the organizer picks how it should be run, especially if they compete in the event themselves.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

So far these have been the two major formats that have been discussed and completely written out. There has been talk of showmanship and such, but it, unfortunately, has yet to have a concrete scoring system in place for it.

Alright, discuss, modify, etc. I'll try to add a spot underneath each format for modifications to the rulesets if they are somewhat different that the format itself.
_________________

Sept. 18, 2006- I no longer am a man, I am now a God. 47/47 *****.

Jan. 12, 2007- I no longer am a mere God, I am a Guitar God. 64/64 *****

[Sephi]

Alright, with all the discussion within threads for how a tournament should be run, I figured it might be easier to have ALL formats here for everyone to see and discuss. This thread will NOT be to say your format is better than another if you have one on here, but for you to discuss how best to run your format or issues you find with other formats. I'll try to keep this updated and rank each one for time, equipment, fairness, etc. As always, feel free to discuss or disagree with the rankings and JUSTIFY why it should be different. Here we go:


Tournament Format #1-
Best 2-out-of-3, bracket-style format. Started by Sephi back in GH1 and still used for his GH events. Possible for RB, but has yet to be tried in a RB tournament. This is the classic bracketing style that you see in most sporting events. NCAA, MLB, etc.

Pros: Fairness. Number of matches(more matches = better showing of who is the best)

Cons: Time, equipment. With this style, you will need as much equipment as possible to finish the event as fast as possible, otherwise, it will be a possible 2-day event.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tournament Format #2-
Created by Tigerhawk310, this format allows for multiple bands to play at the same time and with set-lists per round instead of 1-to-1 song battles.

Round format:
Each team within the same match plays the same setlist, but different matches will have different setlists.

Possible ways of choosing a setlist:
A: Each band chooses a song, either from the full list or from a sublist (i.e., for an early round, you might want to restrict song choice to the lower 3 difficulty tiers). If you have fewer songs/setlist than bands/match, flip a coin to decide who gets to choose.

B: Organizer picks the songs; this is particularly useful if you have time problems and need to make sure everyone plays short songs rather than Green Grass & High Tides

C: Random songs; you have that feature to use now. The downside is that you could get stuck having a beginner band playing Won't Get Fooled Again, Ride the Lightning, and Run to the Hills.

D: Combination of A, B, and/or C. For the final round at Funde Razor, each side played a 3 song setlist, consisting of one song chosen by each team and Next to You (because I'm cruel).

3. Matches however are staggered so that the crowd doesn't have to hear the same songs over and over again. For example:

Round pairings: A vs. B, C vs. D, E vs. F, G vs. H

Order of play: A, C, E, G, B, D, F, H.

So, A and B will play the same setlists, but before it repeats, C, E, and G will all play their different setlists and the audience isn't so bored.

4. Teams can play on whatever difficulty they want for each part, and total score is all that counts at the end, but as per BWT rules, you can't switch difficulty or parts mid-setlist. This adds a tricky strategic element for bands, which played out at Funde Razor when a band tried to make it through the final setlist with drums on Expert, and lost their chance to win when they failed out on Next to You.

5. The match winner is determined by the highest total score. A band failout counts as a 0. If all bands in a match fail, the winner is determined by who failed out later.

Pros: Time. Equipment. This style seems to allow for a constant flow for the event and more continuous play between rounds. It also lets the crowd be more entertained during the event.

Cons: Fairness. The choosing the songs by the organizer is just that as quoted by "Next to You(Because I'm cruel like that)" That is a downside to events when the organizer picks how it should be run, especially if they compete in the event themselves.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

So far these have been the two major formats that have been discussed and completely written out. There has been talk of showmanship and such, but it, unfortunately, has yet to have a concrete scoring system in place for it.

Alright, discuss, modify, etc. I'll try to add a spot underneath each format for modifications to the rulesets if they are somewhat different that the format itself.
_________________

Sept. 18, 2006- I no longer am a man, I am now a God. 47/47 *****.

Jan. 12, 2007- I no longer am a mere God, I am a Guitar God. 64/64 *****

[TigerHawk310]

Sephi--

There's no requirement in my format that the organizer has to pick the song, but it can make the tournament more interesting. "(because I'm cruel like that)" was meant as a joke--the reason for putting that song in the finals was because it created a more interesting choice for the bands that had to decide whether to risk a DQ on Next to You to play on a higher difficulty for the other 2 songs, and that ended up being a deciding factor; one team tried to stretch for expert drums, failed on Next to You, and barely lost the round.

But that is just an optional rule; song choice can be done by any of the typical methods, including random song choices (still fair; everyone in a given match plays the same song(s) chosen randomly), or having the competing teams choose songs (if you have enough time to do multiple songs/round).

[TigerHawk310]

Sephi--

There's no requirement in my format that the organizer has to pick the song, but it can make the tournament more interesting. "(because I'm cruel like that)" was meant as a joke--the reason for putting that song in the finals was because it created a more interesting choice for the bands that had to decide whether to risk a DQ on Next to You to play on a higher difficulty for the other 2 songs, and that ended up being a deciding factor; one team tried to stretch for expert drums, failed on Next to You, and barely lost the round.

But that is just an optional rule; song choice can be done by any of the typical methods, including random song choices (still fair; everyone in a given match plays the same song(s) chosen randomly), or having the competing teams choose songs (if you have enough time to do multiple songs/round).

[Sephi]

Bump
_________________

Sept. 18, 2006- I no longer am a man, I am now a God. 47/47 *****.

Jan. 12, 2007- I no longer am a mere God, I am a Guitar God. 64/64 *****

[Sephi]

Bump
_________________

Sept. 18, 2006- I no longer am a man, I am now a God. 47/47 *****.

Jan. 12, 2007- I no longer am a mere God, I am a Guitar God. 64/64 *****