I've been thinking that with the issues we've had with time constraints, finding judges, etc. for tourneys the last few go rounds we should adopt a more free form kind of battle organization. Kind of like a 'battle commission'. We'd organize a draft, track standings, trade transactions, etc. over a set span of time (say, 4 month windows) and at the end of that period whoever the top 4 fighters were would face each other in a playoff (1st vs. 4th seed, and 2nd vs 3rd seed, winners facing off in championship, losers in a bronze medal match).
The catch is that the participants themselves would choose their opponents, like a boxer/fighter/promoter contracting bouts, and the top 4 would be decided on win percentage, number of matches, number of judge votes, and a 'win streak' multiplier which would be tracked in a point system. This way people can have matches on their own time table within the 'season', but also have an incentive to have more matches when they can and be working towards an objective.
In the draft for the following period the participants with the lowest point totals would get higher draft positioning in rounds 1-3 for parity.
Not unlike the "series of Battlezones over a period of time" I've gone into a few times but never followed through on. In that one, even the power levels and stips would have changed from match to match.
I like it in principle, it's not a bad idea. Execution is tricky though. How do we recognize these as official as opposed to unofficial? Can people just jump in? Do we have something akin to belts? Are there sanctioning bodies (i.e. probably me or some group)? The appeal, and its strength, is that it could take place over time. The downside is, much like the boxing world you're modeling it after, it would be a bit of a cluster**** long-term. I'm putting it in boxing terms now in my mind because that's what I know, and it's funny to think of, say, a "linear champion" and vacating titles and promoters and stuff.
I'm going to give this upcoming tourney a legit go with strict deadlines, frequent reminders and updates, and a large judge list. If it doesn't end well, we can probably declare traditional tourneys nearly dead. We haven't managed a complete one this entire year. At that point I'd be very open to this kind of idea, and happy to nudge KMC tourneys in that direction. I actually didn't petition for a tourney forum, but I'd like to see it stay active enough to avoid "deserves to be deleted" status next time Raz pops into town.
...btw, I don't mean to make it seem like I'm deciding yea or nay on the idea. I hope something like it gets tried at some point, regardless of how this upcoming tourney shakes out.
Well, there would be one central 'governing body of rules, fight stips, etc., set in stone. Competitors would be responsible for booking their own fights and sticking to their fight schedule, and would be penalized for failing to do so (point deductions from their overall total which would effect rankings). People that are in the organization will sign up and draft their rosters through sanctioned drafts and free agency (using the system I implemented in my league). We'd need a Commissioner(s), board of directors, pool of judges, and then basically when members of the organization schedule a match the governing body would be responsible for officiating the match and keeping track of the stats, but the combatants themselves would be responsible for booking matches on their own time table. We'd need to maintain a thread that keeps track of the upcoming fight cards as well as the standings on a week to week basis (I already did that for my league, so I know it can work in practice). At the end of the 4 month period the commission posts the final standings at that point and determines who the top 4 combatants were for that period of time (based on the point system) that will face off in the seasonal playoff.
As for whether people can just jump in, yes, after the initial sign up and draft more people can join the ranks and draft from the remaining characters (rosters would be tracked). Joining late would afford you less time for matches, however, as the 4 month window won't be extended. They'd have to try to get as many matches in as possible for that segment of time to try to climb the ranks and be a top 4 contender. This would also allow people to fight each other multiple times if they wished (best of 3 bouts, etc).
i was thinking about a tourney where competitors could choose to draft a single herald level character (low-high) or three, under herald characters instead.