Corr
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Post by Corr on Mar 11, 2015 15:10:18 GMT -8
Greetings Jedi vs Sith
As some of you may already be aware the Galactic Battle Arena has once again opened for those that wish to test their mettle in the area of Role Play combat. I and the other judges are excited to welcome those that wish to participate and urge those that have never written there before to give it a try. We are aware that the opening of the GBA may be met with indifference by some and we wish to address such issues that have been had in the past. We are also aware that dueling just isn't for some writers and have no wish to try and coerce people into taking part.
That being said we wish to open the GBA with a new atmosphere and attempt to make it as welcoming as possible for ALL regardless of whether one has had some success there in the past.
Within this thread we would like to encourage writers to get involved in how they think the GBA should be run, what changes they would like to see implemented, idea's for things as varied as new scenarios, questioning the status of Force Powers, how their characters would adapt to such conditions, basic posting etiquette, overall rules and more. We will be discussing proposed changes to the ranking systems, the possible introduction of star fighter and fleet combat, as well as a slightly revised set of guidelines for RPers to follow. We will also do our best as judges to be available to answer and questions and concerns people may have with regards to the issues being discussed, as well as things already in place.
Above all we want to listen to the feedback given by those who wish to find the experience of writing in the GBA an added joy to writing on this site.
Thank you.
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Mar 11, 2015 16:40:36 GMT -8
Well spoken (written?), Corr. I couldn't have said it better myself. Nods in appreciation.
Hey everybody! Waves. Welcome to what will hopefully be the start of a grand and beautiful relationship between the new (and hopefully improved) GBA and the rest of JvS. We're all very anxious to hear what ideas and proposals the rest of the site can come up with to help us improve your experiences in the GBA.  In order to get the ball rolling, I'll go ahead and outline a couple of the proposals that we've come up with ourselves so everyone can chime in with their own thoughts. So without any further ado...
Ahem.
During the time that the GBA has been closed, I spent a fair bit of time frequenting and participating in the arena threads of several other sites, and one of the more useful things I came across during my "travels" was a system of written combat known as T1 (click the blue letters for a link), which is a fairly common system with variants being used on several other sites around the interwebs. That said, I don't believe that all of it would be of much use to us here, but certain portions would definitely be able to benefit our combat writing here. From my personal perspective, I believe the most applicable portion to our purposes would be the posting etiquette portion, a variation of which I will post below.
Some of that may seem obvious, but I have found that actually having a written, concise set of etiquette guidelines for writers who may be new to the realm of written combat to be able to look back on and reference when need be is immensely helpful to the learning process. Breath. Otherwise they're just guessing at what should and shouldn't be done and tend to be intimidated by the plethora of rules that everyone else seems to know but they can't find written down anywhere. I'm hoping that having a nice, simple list like this will reduce (if not eliminate) such occurrences.
Now obviously, there are more factors involved in a duel than simply the posting etiquette, such as how one character's abilities will stack up against those of another character, but I believe that ironing out a solid etiquette guideline will go a long way toward preventing misunderstandings.
So, thoughts?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2015 17:36:14 GMT -8
The primary thing I'd like to see, is a welcoming of ALL fighting styles. What I mean by that, is that in the past, people got a lot of flack for armor, guns, and various forms of weaponry. People got stuck in the rut that a duel is ONLY between people with swords or lightsabers, typically with force powers. As a guy that used multiple accounts to duel, I can't tell you how many times I got shamed by various duelists for only using pistols - regular, non rail, non shatter gun, non exotic pistols. Because, "that's not a duel". Sorry to say, a DUEL is a fight between any two people; and I really do firmly believe that that Jedi/Sith centric group mentality is what led to a lot of the more exotic duelists to stop fighting, which ultimately contributed to the decline of the GBA.
The second thing I'd like to see, is a "Summary" section with all combat posts. In the past tourneys once I had written up my entire post, I'd make a smaller paragraph section labeled "Summary" which condensed all the character movements, foot positions, battle movements, and etcetera. I found that it really helped reduce confusion, as the reader didn't have to wade through all the muck of the original post to find the relevant material. Because, lets face it, we can get some serious megapost writers sometimes, and it can get kinda easy to miss a detail or two.
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Bloodshot
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Post by Bloodshot on Mar 11, 2015 18:56:38 GMT -8
Points to his own loadout and the fact that he's a judge.  I'll also state it plainly. The fact that the guy who writes one of the most debated and often reviled characters to participate in the GBA, using such things as armor and pistols, has now become a judge, I think you can rest assured that the era of "only sabers in duels, man!" is pretty well done and over with. That, and we're aiming to emphasize on the battle portion of Galactic Battle Arena by adding such things as starfighter combat and potentially fleet and ground engagements. In short, we're trying to broaden the focus instead of tighten it. As far as a summary section though, I'm not sure that's a thing we can mandate. Personally, I tend to keep my own combat posts fairly short and concise, so a summary section at the end would sometimes end up being as long as the post itself. It's a great idea to add to a recommended guidelines list, but I'm just not sure it's something we can require all duelists to utilize, you know?
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Adelle Bastiel
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Post by Adelle Bastiel on Mar 11, 2015 19:34:17 GMT -8
Personally, I'd really love to see the GBA take itself a little less seriously or at least encourage an air of friendly competition. I wrote a few times in the GBA, mostly signing up for the tournaments because hey, why not? But aside from those rare times, I avoided it because I kept seeing people get angry over little things. Angry because they wouldn't communicate with the other writer and ask for clarification or angry because, when they did, they didn't receive clarification. And almost every scenario I saw was life or death. I see the appeal in high stakes dueling. I just want something for those of us that aren't into high-pressure or high-stakes.
Like drinking contests. I'm honestly surprised that wasn't a thing already on this site.
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Corr
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Post by Corr on Mar 11, 2015 19:48:42 GMT -8
I completely agree, Adelle and its os often a point of some dismay even on the site in general. Such differences of opinion have always been highlighted in the GBA due to its very nature. I always preferred to promote good story rather than seriously try to win a duel. Unfortunately that isn't always the case and, one could argue, nor should it be if it truly is competitive RP. We will try to encourage a lighter atmosphere but I doubt for one moment that we will see the end of confrontation. After all, if everything ran smoothly the judges would not be needed. However, this thread is here to help preemptively mediate such things. If we can get the general likes and dislikes then forge them into a string of guidelines that people stick to (roughly) then that would go along way towards smoothing things out. As for light hearted dueling/contest then I urge you to go ahead and see what you can dream up.
I also agree with Dante on the first and (also being a multi-style duelist in a time where it was flashing sabers only) can sympathise. I can only repeat Bloodshots assurance that we will try to welcome all shapes and sizes. The second part is something I have seen done several times, by yourself and others, and I agree to an extent. While I can get on board with such a style I am not sure how we would enforce such a thing. We have always tried to leave it up to the writers as to how they would like to write their posts and post that are somewhat convoluted and confusion have often been judged again because of that. Are you suggesting that we implement a rule where a writer must sum up his post or are you suggested it as a matter of etiquette that one could chose to do so if so inclined?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2015 22:30:12 GMT -8
Meh, more a part of etiquette than anything. Adding one more thing to regulate/mandate, especially to the degree it could be considered "minutia", isn't on the top of anyones list lol.
I'd also say that some tweaking in the tourney system would help somewhat. What I mean by that is (perhaps) several smaller bracket tourneys, and then the one grand tourney. Perhaps some incentives? Whether thats IC or some kind of other incentive other than prestige/ranking. I know I'm being rather vague on that, but I'm throwing these ideas from a stand point of continuing on interest once the GBA is already opened - personally, I think the shift on the site from gaming to writing has done away with the GBA permanently in any en masse capacity. That's a personal opinion though.
A long, long, LONG time ago a few of the old guard were kicking an idea around - you know, back when we were considering blue lighting planets and such - was the idea that one could have a kind of blue light/GBA participant badge for in universe use. The idea was that someone could select that as their traffic light, march around the universe, and if they just so happened to come across another blue light/GBA light user, they could fight each other In-uni, and the whole of the fight could count towards there ranking. Again, throwing out ideas; I don't really know the GBA's capacity for oversight, or even you guys man power.
Also, Tiers based on ranks, and a limit on how many times a person can win in tourneys. I mean, one of the reasons the GBA got kinda boring was the final four got really, really, really old. It was practically always Inky, Ashra, Adi, Dunta, Leto, Lahash, Reign, or some combination of them. I'm not saying that out of jealousy or bitterness, I've gotten to the Final four myself a few times; I'm saying that in the sense that it really can discourage a newbie. I mean, Newb number one versus Inky, in round one of their first tourney. Who do you think is going to win? If you use several smaller tourneys to break newbies in, build up their rank, let them progress through the tiers, and then only let tiers X through X fight in the big stand up tourney, then you get a better atmosphere for nurturing newbies - purely in my opinion, from the stand point that it never seemed like we got a lot of new blood into the dueling rings, just an elite group who battled each other over, and over, and over.
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Cathaoir Ordo
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Post by Cathaoir Ordo on Mar 12, 2015 0:27:19 GMT -8
Dante,
In our talks about the Tourneys and Ranked scenarios (in general) moving forward, we've had a few different ideas come. One idea of which is that we break up the year into seasons in a sense. For a three or four month span, writers can duke it out in ranked scenarios, at the end of which, the person who has accumulated the most points via W, L, or D would win a Badge similar to those presented at the Sithies. Tournaments would be held in the following month completely separate from the season itself. As for the seeding, though, we haven't exactly approached that subject yet. We'd have to put some more thought into it to see how we could most evenly lay it out so a "Battlehardened Vet" did take on a "Rookie" to make he event the most enjoyable it could be for all involved. As with the "seasons," the winner(s) of the tourneys would also receive a badge/trophy for winning. It has even been proposed to hand out a second and 3rd place badge/trophy as well for both events.
For tiering and rookies, we could definitely look into this, but whether or not we could put in place a "rookie/newb bracket" would be completely dependent on participation from said category.
As for the traffic light scenario, I'm not entirely sure how that would work effectively. Would the participants in said "blue light vs blue light" battle message the judges with a link and details before the fight began in uni, or would it be an afterthought for a Judge to look on it after the scenario was complete. I'll speak for myself in this and say, while this avenue might open a number of opportunities, I'm not entirely sure we could cover it with the manning we have now. What I will say is this, though, we'll discuss it and see what we can do, but I can't make any promises past that.
One last note is that we plan to use the "Training Scenarios" thread for exactly as it implies. Unfortunately in the past, this was not really advertise and talked about as a place where writers could come to develop their writing skills in combat scenarios, but more as a place to write a fight without fear of placing an "L" in one's stat column. We're just hoping that we can correct this common misconception and have it be a place where people can learn, and have fun doing it. Whether it is with a Judge or with another writer is up to the writer, and explanations behind why a person is writing what they are and simple tips and pointers will be highly encouraged here. We hope that with this we can help level the playing field for all who continue to want to participate in the GBA.
Again, any concerns and suggestions are welcome. We want the GBA to be a place people can come to enjoy themselves should the desire a fight and/or a challenge
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Corr
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Post by Corr on Mar 12, 2015 1:25:36 GMT -8
The traffic light scenario would be something that would have to be added to the site by an administrator and would be something that would need to be run past the Whills. If we can get a working idea for it and everyone thinks it viable then it could be brought to them. I am not sure how it would be effectively applied though. If it so happened that two met in uni during the course of their RP and then brought it to the GBA in a kind of "you met now you have to fight" scenario then we have the manpower, though I'm not sure how many would be down with that. As for the fight taking place in uni then... would you want us to judge it or would it just be written out and the subsequent results added to the rankings? Again, more thought needs be applied to it. The proposed ranking change to a season would likely need to be a larger time frame, perhaps 6 months or even a year in which duels would be fought. It may be best to get a roster worked up for those who wish to participate in the "league" so we don't have the "ranked" matches crossing over with the more relaxed overall atmosphere most would like to see employed. I truly believe it should be fun and creative writing before competition and points scoring, though I completely understand those that disagree. Therefore the above may work best if it were segregated somewhat though even that may smell of an elitist section. *sigh* We can only do what we can to make all parties happy. I personally want to see cohesion and fun being had before serious dueling, yet I also want to see great competition. Its a fine line. Also I don't believe anyone to be newb or rookie. Such terms are too close to what we want to try and avoid, though I understand the meaning they are given here and why they have been used. I also acknowledge the comment about the same four often winning tourneys. I have found in my experience that it is easily possible to win a duel by closing off another opponent by making it difficult for them to respond. Such a tactic destroys the story. It is also possible to keep things tight and see a duel out. Also limits the story. Perhaps we can implement a new judging criteria where 'points' (for want of a better term) are awarded to those who a) take hits for the benefit of epic story where they could possibly have avoided to do so, and  took risks to make the duel a better read. These would not be huge shifts in the way duels are judges but would detract a little bit from the stiff hit and miss policy. Usually taking a hit would cost you in a duel and it still should, especially if you have been neatly maneuvered into doing so. In those cases things would remain the same. But if one created an excellent little but of action and narration around taking a hit that they could have avoided but chose not to do so to either put themselves in a position they'd rather be in and/or because it would look fantastic to the reader if they took it and wrote what their imagination threw up? You follow me? I have done this countless times in duels and been punished for it. Sometimes rightly so (the injury taken may have gone on to slow me enough that I lost anyway) but sometimes because one significant hit sent the match the other way. I can imagine the faces of the other judges as they think "how the hell are we meant to measure such a thing" but I will simple reply with "go with your gut." Which made you feel like you were actually there watching. Anyway... yeah. |
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Darth Andor
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Post by Darth Andor on Mar 17, 2015 8:42:25 GMT -8
So, just so everyone knows, the GBA is open and ready for action! Right now, the only action it's seeing is Andor vs. Onasi! We would love it if people gave us another shot!! As you try it out, feel free to give us feedback so we can continue to work to make this more community-friendly place! Whether its a competitive match or a Training Scenario, the judges are here to write with you! Or feel free to reach out and challenge your friends!
If anyone wants a crack at Andor, I've got an open challenge standing to anyone who wants to take a shot!
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Gavin Phoenix
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Post by Gavin Phoenix on Mar 20, 2015 5:46:17 GMT -8
After talking with Andor to set up a match and the mention of set up areas for battle, it made me think that perhaps a list of typed up arenas could be added to allow for players to choose from and even make suggestions for. Also, something interesting I thought up is an addition to the fight. When playing Magic, we called it a Chaos deck. In such have a list of options that could change the way the fight goes. Both players would have to agree on the addition/s and a third person, judge or someone who'd like to take such a role would play it out. In some cases, maybe just adding a storm to impair vision and make the ground slippery. Also if you had a match on Tatooine, maybe suddenly a Krayt Dragon suddenly appears. Just my thoughts to make matches a bit more exciting.
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Darth Andor
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Post by Darth Andor on Mar 20, 2015 7:53:04 GMT -8
Gavin, if you check here, you will see we have a list of special scenarios that are made to throw curveballs at the combatants during their battle. Perhaps, these could appeal to your idea regarding the "chaos deck"? |
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Corr
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Post by Corr on Mar 23, 2015 3:15:23 GMT -8
There is also a thread for suggested scenarios if anyone would like to write up and offer one.
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Corr Vhett - puts the "Laughter" in "Manslaughter"..... 
In order to get the ball rolling, I'll go ahead and outline a couple of the proposals that we've come up with ourselves so everyone can chime in with their own thoughts. So without any further ado...
took risks to make the duel a better read. These would not be huge shifts in the way duels are judges but would detract a little bit from the stiff hit and miss policy. Usually taking a hit would cost you in a duel and it still should, especially if you have been neatly maneuvered into doing so. In those cases things would remain the same. But if one created an excellent little but of action and narration around taking a hit that they could have avoided but chose not to do so to either put themselves in a position they'd rather be in and/or because it would look fantastic to the reader if they took it and wrote what their imagination threw up? You follow me? I have done this countless times in duels and been punished for it. Sometimes rightly so (the injury taken may have gone on to slow me enough that I lost anyway) but sometimes because one significant hit sent the match the other way.
