Good and the Bad of a long tournament & 3 possible solutions

[AshBorn]

Alright so last night was the biggest tournament so far. We started with 6 PVPers at the first tournament and now we have 35.

This is great and I'm sure it is helping people get used to fighting others which in turn should bring more people to the field. New players may be annoying to watch fight, but they won't be new forever and investing our time with them now means more of a benefit for everyone later on.

That said, the tournament was 4 hours long. The Free For All was 45minutes of that, but I don't want to cut that. When people come to see what UOSA is all about, and see a 35 man free for all video on the front page, I'll be damned if that doesn't make people say 'Hey, lets head over to UOSA, screw the purple pot chucking lumberjack bullshit on this server!'. The FFA is not all about fun for people on this server (although I imagine it still is) but its to bring other people over.

So I'm not removing the FFA.

With 35 participants, everyone probably got twice as many fights as they usually would. This is good and bad. More time yes, but more fights (this HAS to be a good thing, you're all here to fight right?). To speed things along there are a few solutions:

1) I buy Bridged Towers and run two fights at once. This is my ideal solution but doesn't seem real possible at the present moment because no one is selling.

2) I gate a second fight to a second arena which is Refereed by someone other than me. This is a workable solution IF the following can happen - I have a punctual IMPARTIAL judge to host the second fight. This individual has to be able to put ALL personal feelings towards someone aside. If there is a dispute (and there always is) the judge has to be able to rule based upon the present facts and towards the best possible outcome (no one is perfect, I'm certainly not and we will make mistakes). My problem with this solution is that I have yet to really see someone on the server who will give the pain in the asses of the server a fair shake when it comes to disputes (we all know who these people are).

3) DONT WAIT AROUND FOR YOUR FIGHT! If there is 10 other fights before your next one, go drink a beer and or do a treasuremap. Watch the updated bracket on the website to see when your fight is coming near on your iphone, and come back when the fight right before you starts so you are ready to go. Theres no reason to sit around for an hour until your fight starts UNLESS you enjoy watching the other fights in which case a 4 hour long tourney is something you are enjoying and you cannot bitch about time.

TL;DR - I need a punctual impartial judge to referee a second fight; drink a beer instead of watching all fights; someone sell me bridged towers.

You guys only get the tournament twice a month, why have it end after an hour or two? Then you just have to wait for another two weeks!

Please post comments below! Thank you everyone for attending and making this tournament successful!

[Menkaure]

Someone please sell me and ash some gfd bridged towers!
Ash we are always welcome to use my tower for another spot but I wouldn't be able to ref

[Freight Elevator]

Less deco/items would also help. Looks cool and I like it but...I was lagged to shit on the roof.

Make the arena a little smaller.

[AshBorn]

Hmm. I never lag from the deco but only when there are a ton of people.

Is it possible it was because of the 35 contestants and not the deco? I didn't think I had a TON of stuff but maybe I have too much?

[Freight Elevator]

I feel like it is a combination of both but I also have a pretty shitty connection

[Menkaure]

More items equal more lag. You can leave the deco n try to remove other things. The 247 tower is right below mine as every time I run past it It feels like in running in quicksand cause they have so much shit in there haha.

[AshBorn]

Do you run on the steps of that tower? The items wont load unless you do.. So if you're lagging by that tower and you didn't run on the steps, its probably something else causing it.

Just purposely playing devils advocate. People are doing stuff, and causing lag. But Items are computer based mostly, they are just loaded once and if youre computer is up to date it really shouldnt bog you down all that much. But constant movement of 35 poeple is more Internet than computer lag.

[Elk Eater]

Do you run on the steps of that tower? The items wont load unless you do.. So if you're lagging by that tower and you didn't run on the steps, its probably something else causing it.

Just purposely playing devils advocate. People are doing stuff, and causing lag. But Items are computer based mostly, they are just loaded once and if youre computer is up to date it really shouldnt bog you down all that much. But constant movement of 35 poeple is more Internet than computer lag.

I've never had any problems with items lagging, but when you throw 35 folks onto the same screen that's a different story

I'll offer up my keep for a second tournament location, I can also referee.

[Ragancy]

If you guys are serious about putting on these events, I'll donate a tower deed to the fund to get you a two tower setup.

[AshBorn]

Awesome Ragancy! Yeah I'm very serious. I've been doing these tournaments for 3 months now and they are just getting bigger and bigger. A two tower setup is what I need for sure.

Elk - Lets chat on IRC

[Asan Drakus]

I don't lag at all.


I think it is a connection thing, not an item thing.



Personally, one tourney every 2 weeks or not.... I hate wasting 5 hours of life on a tournament. Keeping an eye on bracket for your fight is a good idea, but that still means I have to mess with UO for 5 hours.. so it is not MY favorite solution.

I vote for multiple fights at the same time, like it is done on other servers. Can anyone see a downfall of this solution?


Obv pimp towers would be the best idea, but that is probably just not happening. Even if we cant find them to BUY.. maybe borrow?

[Orion GM B^D]

Ash....I would be willing to offer up an empty tower for another fight spot. If you were to
set it up so that you are doing prelim fights at 3 spots [Elks keep], you could then do the final
fights at your place. Of course you would need another ref, but I bet it would help with time/lag.

I would co own/friend whomever is in charge of those fights so no bs happens.

I have wanted to make a few more of your fights, or at least make a donation to further your cause, but
way to busy irl, so I thought I would throw this out to ya!

Keep up the good work bro!

[AshBorn]

Hey guys thank you for all of the support!

And I would like a 2nd spot to do it but I would need a tower where theres no else co owned/friended to.

The reason is, it seems that everyone has a bone to pick with someone else. So if someone is out of line that is co owned or friended, I wouldn't be able to put the hammer down and keep order.

I know most people think that everyone on their co own lists would always be on their best behavior, but its my experience so far that even the most calm person can cause a problem at these tournaments lol. I've had to remove friends/co owners from my place so I could ban them for disrupting. Friends that I know very well, like, and certainly trust. Its just the nature of UO with multiple different personality types.

I may seem like a control freak for this but it really is necessary when you are in my shoes. The host of the tournament really does need ultimate power to keep things in order.

So yeah Orion and others, if you have a 2nd tower that has a very empty co own/friend list that I can set up as an arena, and I can get a 2nd judge, that may be my best solution.

I had a long chat with Asan Drakus about it and I think I can make it work, despite some problems I know will occur.

**And Orion, any donations I would love to receive! I keep going overboard on the raffles but I enjoy it too much lol. When new players find out they won something big and are stoked as all get out, its the greatest thing ever.

[[Uhh] Eo]

Item lag is your computer, lag from lots of people is your connection.

Amirite? Think I remember Derrick saying that item lag is mostly PC related, at least.

[Gork]

I think when the tournament participants reach more than twenty-five, a second tower should be used. I have fought in the last four tournaments and this last one was difficult to play solely based on the lag. I noticed the later rounds had a lot less lag. When the beaten fighters started to leave the tower, I noticed a significant change in my personal run speed and hot-key functionality. Thus, I think that adding another location would be the best option as fighters will be more comfortable running and cycling at normal speed.

I'd split the tournament into two small tournaments and then have the winner of each tournament meet up for the final showdown. Also, the second place winners could meet and duel in the same fashion for third place.

As far as the time is concerned, I don't mind spending four hours at a tournament; however, I wish these tournaments were weekly, opposed to bi-weekly.

P.S. Thanks to ash for hosting these tournaments. Without you we wouldn't even have a tournament to go to. I'd also like to thank everyone who goes out there and duels it up at these tournaments. See you guys at the next one!