I'm sure I'm not the first person to consider or suggest something like this, but I may as well bring it up...
I think it's a pretty well known issue that GoIO has some difficulty holding onto new players despite pretty decent exposure. Now, I think we all agree this game is awesome. The problem is that people have difficulty learning it, finding people to play it with, and that the game really only comes into its own in highly competitive matches between closely matched, experienced players. The clans and casters who make up this competitive system also fill important roles in the community; it probably wouldn't be wrong to say the majority of the game's most active players are in clans and have some current or former connection with high-level competitive play. All that said, it seems a reasonable conclusion that expansion and strengthening of the game's competitive scene will lead to a stronger, bigger community and generally be a good thing.
So, anything that brings new people into this scene is a good thing, right? I think one way to do this would be a competitive event, or series of events, specifically targeted at new and probably non clan-affiliated players, the people who probably don't yet appreciate the game's depth or have a proper grasp of how to play it; although I feel that involving the experienced tournament vets in such an initiative as much as possible could be highly beneficial.
There'd be a fairly broad set of challenges and goals for such an event, and it would almost certainly require design, structure and management pretty different from how most previous stuff has been handled. Note that this is more of an idea than a proposal. If something like this gets off the ground I would be happy to do the organisational work but a lot more thought needs to go into it, and anything like casting is beyond me. ^^
Now for a badly organised collection of my thoughts on how to run such an event and what it would consist of. If you don't like them, come up with better ones - I'd appreciate it.
Target Audience: New players, primarily those who aren't affiliated with established, competitive clans and not yet really integrated or strongly aware of the GoIO community. Experienced players could also be involved to help newcomers prepare for and learn from the tournament, probably should have some in the crews to raise the standard of play high enough to be interesting.
Goals:- Give new players a taste of how awesome Guns of Icarus Online can be when played at a high level
- Give inexperienced players and startup clans who are intimidated by or don't feel ready for the "real" tournaments an opportunity to get into competitive play against teams that won't badly outclass them
- Get more people interested in (and aware of) the competitive scene and by extension clans, the forums, etc.
How to get a supply of interested new players: This is a more difficult one. It's the people who aren't involved in the community we need to get to, which makes relying on advertising through forum a pretty weak option. Advertising in game and directing people to the forums might help but would probably require quite a lot of community assistance to gather enough players. We could just open the lobby to the first people to appear in general chat, but that has all kinds of problems, particularly that it doesn't really give the "tournament" experience necessary for the event to fulfil its goals. Suggestions would be very welcome here.
Involving experienced players: The idea I've been toying around with is that teams would consist of 8 players, with a half and half split between interested new players and experienced players from the clans - with at least one non-experienced captain required and a mix of skill levels on both ships. The teams would be finalised well in advance of the event, allowing the experienced guys the time to rapidly forge their team-mates into a competent force. This makes it something of a competition between the veterans, although all participants should be aware that the focus is on the new players and community growth rather than another mashup between the clans.
Format: My initial thought is a one shot event with several teams and lots of matches. A weekly format does have some advantages; it could function with significantly less people involved, yet still potentially involve more people than a oneshot event if it ran for a long time period. Assuming it was a one shot-thing it would probably be a pretty standard single-elimination tournament to minimise the number of games involved. (not sure here though, it would be pretty discouraging to a prospective competitive player to be knocked out from a bad start in their first match)
Entry Restrictions: The "inexperienced" entrants cannot be members or former members of any clan that is signed up for the new competitive system or has previously participated in any acknowledged tournament or competitive events. At the time of application they should have played less than 500 matches and be below level 6 in all classes, although if they void these requirements between their acceptance into the tournament and the time of the competition they will not be disqualified. Seem reasonable?
Well, that's about everything I have to contribute right now. I realise this is not a proper plan to build a whole event from - it's a collection of thoughts. Would anyone be interested in participating in such an initiative or helping it get off the ground? Anyone got any useful suggestions? (my ideas aren't great, it could be hardly difficult to come up with better ones)
I think the biggest issue with this is getting hold of a load of people who are both inexperienced at the game and not involved in real competitive play, yet interested enough to make the commitment. That alone may be a killer, I would particularly like thoughts on this issue.
