Live Tournaments Hosting Guide

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Oglemi

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Useful Prior Reading by Bloo: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/tournament-rules-and-general-guidelines.3486049/

This following guide is written by Iconic and written for hosting Smogon Tours, edited to match hosting more general Tours. Most of the concepts below apply to all Tours.

PLEASE read this, pretty please
. I really mean it, there's nothing more irritating than bad tour hosts, especially when you're me and have to baby the people who haven't a clue what they're doing because they failed to read this guide below. Even if you've hosted before, I'd suggest re-reading this to refresh your memory, especially if your first time didn't go well. Ask me or any of the other TDs in PM questions if you're confused or wondering about anything. It's better to ask now than during a live tour.

The guide is a little lengthy, but it's definitely worth the read to ensure your hosting goes as smoothly as possible. There have been many times where someone didn't bother to read this guide and had questions on what to do every other minute. As you can imagine, this causes problems for not only the host, but for everyone else involved, such as the participants and Tournament Directors. As such, please do me a favor and make sure you give the guide a read if you're hosting for your first time or even need a refresher if you've done it before.

Written by Iconic,

Hello friends!

Thank you so very much for volunteering your time as a Tour Host! Hosting Tours is a really fun way of getting more involved with the administrative side of the Tournaments forum. There's only one problem: hosting a Tour will be the most stressful two to three hours of your life. Well maybe that statement is a little hyperbolic in nature, but there is honestly some truth in it! From the flood of PMs you'll receive to to the dumbasses screaming "NEXT ROUND!! WHERE'S NEXT ROUND???", there's a lot of pressure on the tournament host. But fear not! Seasoned veteran Iconic is here to save the day and give you a thorough step-by-step guide to hosting Smogon Tours. I know that most of you already know what you're doing, so this guide is mainly directed to the newer hosts, but hopefully it will help you run your Tours more smoothly.

Iconic's Laws of Tour Hosting

Before we get into the nitty gritty, there are two fundamental rules that you must steadfastly abide by. These are the keys to your success as a host. Do not sway from them!

1. Your job as a host is to keep the tournament moving as efficiently and as swiftly as possible. A lot of hosts take their sweet time to get rounds up, but I'm going to be the first to tell you not to do this! Anyone who has played in a Smogon Tour knows how frustrating it is to have a slow host, so when you're the one running the show, pretend like the tournament is a race. Try to get it completed as soon as possible, because this will not only greatly reduce the number of complaints that come your way, but it will also solidify your reputation as a competent host.

2. You are the boss; what you say goes. What I mean by this is that if someone is disputing your call for cutting off the signups at 96 people, just tell them to shut up and move on. As a host, you will inevitably run into conflicts. However, you just don't have the time to address every petty little argument that arises. Obviously you need discretion in this department, but when you make a call, stand by it. If you find it too difficult to make the call yourself, you can consult any TD or seasoned Smogon Tour host for advice.

Tour Hosting Rules

There are a couple of rules you should be aware of before you host. They're pretty boring and relatively intuitive, but just makes sure you're familiar with them in case anything arises. I stole a lot in this section from Aeolus's old hosting thread, so shout outs to him.

1. You can't participate in the Tour you're hosting (go figure), to ensure you can remain focused and stay impartial.

2. There is usually a time limit of 15 minutes for rounds, but use your discretion here, since Round 1 of a 128+man Tour will undoubtedly take longer than 15 minutes (usually about 45 minutes on a good day).

3. Just gonna flat out copy and paste what Aeolus says here. In certain circumstances, it is sometimes appropriate to give out a few Round 1 byes. For example, if 122 users sign up within 15 minutes, you'd be forced to have a tournament of 96 players since you didn't fill to 128. In this situation, it is more appropriate to award 6 byes and have the larger tournament. As a rule of thumb, the number of byes you may award should be computed as 10% (rounded down) of the total number of users in the larger tournament. I illustrate the calculation below:

(Tournament Size, Number of byes allowed)

(24, 2) 24 x 10% = 2.4 (round down) = 2
(32, 3) 32 x 10% = 3.2 (round down) = 3
(48, 4) 48 x 10% = 4.8 (round down) = 4
(64, 6) 64 x 10% = 6.4 (round down) = 6
(96, 9) 96 x 10% = 9.6 (round down) = 9

(128, 12) 128/10 = 12.8 (round down) =12

The purpose of awarding byes is to get the most possible participation each week without giving too many people free passes.

4. Here's a really important one. If someone disconnects during a battle, the user that did not disconnect gets to decide if he wishes to take the win or award a rematch.

5. If something pops up and you can't host your assigned Tour, it's your responsibility to let the back-up host know or to find someone to replace you.

Step-by-step guide to hosting a Tour

Alright so now that those are established, I'm going to walk you through a typical Tour. You clearly don't need to follow them step-by-step, but they are a good guideline if ever you find yourself confused.

1. Post the Tour thread at your assigned time. Try to post it as close to your assigned time as possible, even to the second if you can. It's come to my attention that it can be a little hard to find a thread template because most Tour threads are locked, so here's a sample to use. Just make sure to change your name / tier / server / etc. Remember to title the thread appropriately; just look at past Tour threads so you get it right.

2. After posting the thread, monitor it closely to see how fast the signups are filling up. Typically, signups should be left open for 10-15 minutes, and at that point the host should decide how big the Tour will be. Tours generally have either 96 or 128 participants, but it's fine if you only reach 64. Keep in mind the tier; an ORAS OU Tour will inherently fill up faster than an ADV OU one.

3. Once you've decided how many participants there will be, post the pairings for Round 1. To do so, go to this link: http://smogon.com/forums/pages/tournaments/

Insert the thread ID into the appropriate field and pairings will be generated. Byes and quits are automatically generated with this script, so don't worry about that. Test the script out on an already existing thread to get a feel for how it works. If, for some reason, the script is broken, unfortunately you'll have to type out the names in a bracket maker. (EDIT: It will break if you have over 128 participants.)

HINT: Before you post Round 1, you should verify how many match-ups the script has produced. You can quickly check this my copying and pasting the match-ups into a new Pastebin and submitting it, because Pastebin will show you how many lines there are in the text you submitted.

4. Edit Round 1 into the OP of your thread and let everyone know the match-ups have been posted. At this point, get your ass on the Smogtours server of Pokemon Showdown and prepare for an onslaught of PMs you will receive in about 10 minutes. This part is extremely overwhelming. Anyways, once someone PMs you they have won, let them know you have received it with a simple "ok", and bold their name in the OP.

HINT(s): Couple of hints here. Firstly, if you can manage it, try hitting Submit as you edit the OP every 10 or so names you bold. This will allow current players to gauge how close the Round is from being completed. Also, I've found that giving winners the option to PM you on IRC is really useful, because the PM system on IRC is much better than PO. Just mention it in your OP right after the thing that says "...losers need not PM as it could cause confusion." Finally, another huge mistake a lot of hosts make is that they wait for every match to be done before commencing the next round. If there are like 2 or 3 matches left that are exceptionally slow, you should start the next round.

5. Now to start Round 2. There's no script for this, so you'll have to use a bracketmaker. There are tons for you to choose from, scroll to the bottom of Bloo's thread posted at the beginning of this one. Once you find one, randomize the bracket, and post it. Easy peasy!

HINT: I've found that the best bracketmaker for Smogon Tour's is Alaka's. It's so much more useful than others because you don't need to write out each winner's name. All you have to do is paste the completed round in the box with appropriate bold tags. Bookmark this shit, it's awesome.

BLOO EDIT TO THE ABOVE: I think this one is better: http://davidpeter.me/apps/bracketmaker/ - once you type down all the winners for round 1, it generates round 2 and onwards for you, All you have to do is click the name of the winner during round 2 and onwards and it'll do the pairing work for you. Give both a try and see what you prefer.

OGLEMI FURTHER EDIT TO THE ABOVE: Do not use Challonge.com to create the brackets. It is a terrible, horrible, awful bracketmaker for conducting live tours.

6. After you post Round 2, you're in the clear because the number of PMs you'll receive will decrease dramatically. Just keep doing the same thing by posting new rounds, making judgement calls, all that jazz.

7. Once a champion has been crowned, edit his (or her!) name in the title of the thread.

The end!

So now you know how to host a Tour! If you feel I've missed something, feel free to shoot me a PM or ask me on IRC. Thank you again for signing up to host, and good luck with your Tour hosting endeavors!

Written by Bloo,

I'd like to highlight some very key points in this guide, starting with the one that everyone messes up:
  • "Finally, another huge mistake a lot of hosts make is that they wait for every match to be done before commencing the next round. If there are like 2 or 3 matches left that are exceptionally slow, you should start the next round." THIS is very key. PLEASE don't wait until every single game is finished, that's the biggest and most annoying mistake hosts make. I'd even change the "2 or 3 matches" iconic states to 5 or 6 undone matches. Just extend the matches lagging behind into the next round by surrounding the matchups with brackets. An example would be the following: Bloo vs. [McMeghan vs. BKC], with McMeghan vs. BKC obviously being the extended undone matchup.
  • If something pops up and you can't host your assigned Tour, it's your responsibility to let the back-up host know or to find someone to replace you. If you fail to do this, I will disallow you from hosting any future tour. There's nothing more annoying than scrambling for last minute backup hosts because the main host failed to inform their backup that they couldn't make it, thus leading to the backup not showing up.
  • If someone disconnects during a battle, the user that did not disconnect gets to decide if he wishes to take the win or award a rematch. Don't waste your time arguing with people over this; if someone disconnects / times out and their opponent wants the win, they can have the win.
  • UPDATE WINS AS YOU RECEIVE THEM AND HIT SUBMIT SO PEOPLE ARE UPDATED. Don't bold everything at the very last minute before the start of the next round.
  • http://davidpeter.me/apps/bracketmaker/ USE THIS BRACKETMAKER FOR ROUND 2 AND ONWARDS.
And MOST IMPORTANTLY, I will copy and paste the bit below as it's essential you understand how to work the script. PRACTICE with the script before hosting to make sure you know how it works.

"3. Once you've decided how many participants there will be, post the pairings for Round 1. To do so, go to this link: http://smogon.com/forums/pages/tournaments/

Insert the thread ID into the appropriate field and pairings will be generated. Byes and quits are automatically generated with this script, so don't worry about that. Test the script out on an already existing thread to get a feel for how it works. If, for some reason, the script is broken, unfortunately you'll have to type out the names in a bracket maker.

HINT: Before you post Round 1, you should verify how many match-ups the script has produced. You can quickly check this my copying and pasting the match-ups into a new Pastebin and submitting it, because Pastebin will show you how many lines there are in the text you submitted."

This is a lot to absorb, but again, ask me or any of the other TDs in this PM questions if you're confused or wondering about anything. It's better to ask now than during a live tour. Read everything carefully so your host runs smoothly! If it's obvious to me that you haven't read any of this when it's your time to host, don't expect to host again.
 
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