[PiG]

Hi forum,

So I've been thinking recently about how sometimes tournaments seem to randomly get way less competitors and viewers then is expected and how it can be very hard to predict numbers for a tournament due to these circumstances.

I feel like the problem lies the lack of networking across various online media and the disconnectedness of various parts of the community. Now when I say community I actually mean anyone that plays starcraft II, not just those who post on sites like sc2sea. I feel like many of these players have no idea when starcraft II tournaments are on or even that they exist at the smaller level such as BSG or local community opens etc. Essentially not everyone that plays the game uses the same online networks. Alot of us assume that everyone that plays the game just reads the same stuff we do, or we just straightup have no clue what sites others' frequent and what they're reading about!

I am often asked by people looking to start tournaments how many people I think would join/show up and I usually have very little solid answer to give as I'm not sure how many people will see the posts or even hear that the tournament is on!

So at the moment I'm starting a small project to catalogue all the SCII related sites whether they be big sites like TL or clan sites like the TA site. This will be aimed only at SEA ofc as a global one would take a ridiculously long time. Also I want to come up with suggestions of other advertising outlets for SCII tournaments. Once the data is looking quite comprehensive I will also wanting to rate the sites in terms of activeness/roughly how many regular posters/viewers wil be reached.

Ok so without further ado. here's my the beginnings of my list (PLEASE POST ADDITIONAL SITES ETC BELOW TO HELP ME OUT!):

Suggestions for alternative advertising:

• The first thing people new to starcraft II see every time they login to b.net is the 'News' features which on SEA are usually months old peices about blizzcon or some very basic news about season dates. In the days of WC3 when Blizzard held regular tournaments online there was news here advertising them and so everyone, even new players, knew about them. I am hoping that Blizzard will realise there isn't much money to be made by monopolizing this space. And so would be willing to advertise the more prestigous SEA tournaments and big events in this space to help grow SEA eSPORTS.
• ERASMUS (LEGEND): My first thought with this is that tournament organisers could start a facebook page for their tournament (e.g. GPD) then just each week create an event a few days ahead and invite all the subscribers to it, so they get notified that way about upcoming tourneys.
• "The BSG crowd aren't likely to play them seriously, they're less likely to plan ahead for one or even take note of the date/time. Need to get in front of them, and the best way I can think of to do that is to Tweet and be Retweeted." (Highlander) Tweet-focused advertising for BSG tournaments.
• STEAM GROUPS: There are actually many sc2-related steam groups with hundreds and even thousands of members!
  

Clan sites:
http://www.clan-ta.com
aLt: http://www.sc2sea.com/view_clanalthome.htm
nGen:
SPR: www.team-spr.net
http://www.sc2sea.com/forumdisplay.php?f=80 (is there a non-sc2sea site?)
Clan Fade: http://fadegaming.enjin.com/
ToR: http://www.timeofrising.webs.com/
TCP:
LoS:
Infi:
MiTH:
crux
HT (H): http://www.teamht.net
Nerve Gaming nRv:http://nerve-gaming.enjin.com/home
Sequential Gaming:www.sql-gaming.com




Community sites:

http://sea.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/
http://pracbudsc2.com/
www.sc2sea.com
www.teamliquid.net
www.reddit.com/r/starcraft
http://www.cybergamer.com.au/pc/sc/
www.wellplayed.org
http://www.gpforums.co.nz/forum/starcraft-ii/?


Other SCII related sites:


University societies (Mailing lists, admins emails etc would be appreciated if there is nothing like a facebook group etc.):

UNSW and USYD starsoc: http://www.facebook.com/groups/sydney.starcraft/
University of Queensland: https://www.facebook.com/groups/uqstarcraftsociety/
UTS: https://www.facebook.com/groups/107898089291821/
MACQ UNI :https://www.facebook.com/groups/107898089291821/



I have to run right now but hopefully you guys can help me complete this list by posting below! Even and ESPECIALLY small sites are what I want to find out about so please any help is appreciated. ATM I'm just posting this on cybergamer and sc2sea and once I have the time to make the list a bit more comprehensive I'll start posting on other forums to further add to the list.

POST ANY ADDITIONS BELOW!

Quick Comments

	Dox:	LEGEND <3
	neon:	Great initiative, can really see people getting behind this with some great idea's!
	Mayo:	Good stuff!
	TCPLemminks:	<3
	dippa:	i approve of your masterful ordering of the clan websites. well played sir.
	Reere:
	DtorR:
	aLtShortizz:	Thats initiative right there.
	nirvAnA:

[|Erasmus|]

My first thought with this is that tournament organisers could start a facebook page for their tournament (e.g. GPD) then just each week create an event a few days ahead and invite all the subscribers to it, so they get notified that way about upcoming tourneys...

Still need to spread the word about the facebook page though, but it's a way to encourage repeat attendances by getting people to join the group once.

I know it's not directly what you're trying to do, but just on the topic of networking and encouraging repeat attendances to avoid the massive fluctuations in attendances.

Quick Comments

PiG:

that is actually an epic suggestion! Thanks man.

[[TA]LoSt]

Clan TA website is http://www.clan-ta.com, you've linked the wrong TA! It's also teamliquid.net not .com ^_^

Goodluck dude!

[Stallion]

crux http://crux.sc2sea.com
gl PiG

[Dox]

I've actually been thinking about creating a general SEA tournaments Facebook page to track everything that's going on. Might do it this week.

[|Erasmus|]

Originally Posted by Dox

I've actually been thinking about creating a general SEA tournaments Facebook page to track everything that's going on. Might do it this week.

Despite suggesting that, I'm not a big facebook user. I'd probably get very frustrated and leave the group if I'm getting several invites to BSG/Masters only, etc. tournament events every few days.

But this is the sort of thing I think facebook should be used for, rather than status updates.

[Dox]

Originally Posted by |Erasmus|

I'd probably get very frustrated and leave the group if I'm getting several invites to BSG/Masters only, etc. tournament events every few days.

That wouldn't happen. It's just a page you can subscribe to for information, popping up in your feed each time an event is announced. I used to do it via Twitter for 6 months or so, but the character limit actually made it quite challenging.

[ToR.Arnor]

Originally Posted by Dox

I've actually been thinking about creating a general SEA tournaments Facebook page to track everything that's going on. Might do it this week.

Id suggest making a "Group" Page rather than a "Fan page" as the Group Page comes with a chat group feature for online members, In saying that based on alot of experience on managing a facebook for this sort of stuff (I manage our companies page) it is super difficult to build up and maintain etc, Im more than happy to help you with this project buddy

[Apth]

I think the problem PiG is describing would be best solved by an SC2 tournaments site, dedicated to tracking SC2 tournaments and nothing else.

Instead of dispersing tournament information across dozens of sites, put all the information in one place that everyone knows how to get to.

TL/SC2SEA do well at tracking tournaments, but for people who are just looking for tournaments, the information isn't prominent enough. This is a limitation that would be hard to get around because of all the other content that has to be displayed on the site.

A dedicated tournament site could be expanded later on to include embedded brackets, embedded restreams, email notifications, all sorts of crap.

Bottom line - people are fuckin lazy. If it takes them too long to find something, they'll give up. If all people need to do is type in a URL to find information, rather than click through layers of website hierarchy, tournaments will get more participants, and more viewers.

./2c

Quick Comments

PiG:

Great Idea!

[PiG]

@Apth

Great Idea for making it accessible for those looking for tournaments! (added to OP) However I still want to keep collecting data from all these various sites though so that SCII can keep advertising to those players who don't even know they want to join tournaments (Often BSGers or really busy higher level players!).

[Highlander]

In the unlikely event I get a tweet on these things in time, I'll retweeted to my small list of friends if I get them in time (alas I usually check only Twitter daily).

Perhaps post a day before and again 20 minutes before?

The BSG crowd aren't likely to play them seriously, they're less likely to plan ahead for one or even take note of the date/time. Need to get in front of them, and the best way I can think of to do that is to Tweet and be Retweeted.

For scheduled events, it wouldn't be hard to schedule these in advance with Tweetdeck.

Just my humble thoughts.

[neon]

I think the website idea would be cool and if you could create say an RSS feed that those affiliated SC2 sites might be able to somehow use to update something (such as a sidebar) with what's on or a brief list ?

Not sure how feasible that is but it could be slightly more automated, key in something so people can reply or get directly linked to the relevant location for signups/detailed information/streams and it creates a bit more streamline.

I'm no webguy so this could just all be impossible, but the internet does some crazy wonderful things.

[|Erasmus|]

Originally Posted by neon

I think the website idea would be cool and if you could create say an RSS feed that those affiliated SC2 sites might be able to somehow use to update something (such as a sidebar) with what's on or a brief list ?

Not sure how feasible that is but it could be slightly more automated, key in something so people can reply or get directly linked to the relevant location for signups/detailed information/streams and it creates a bit more streamline.

I'm no webguy so this could just all be impossible, but the internet does some crazy wonderful things.

You could use the google calendar API pretty easily and just have a website where:
1) Tournament Organisers can create events.
2) People can subscribe to them with an email adress and have it added to their calendar, with reminders and stuff.

Or I guess I could go back to what I originally thought and have a website where people sign up and subscribe to certain types of tournaments (BSG, GPD, Masters+, Open, etc.) and when an event is created that matches their chosen criteria they are notified and given a signup link.

I might even adopt this as a pet project in a few months when I'm not insanely busy. It doesn't even need to be SEA specific. Can easily set up region as a qualifier for event notifications.

Quick Comments

	neon:	Nice
	Apth:	Do it.

[Intoccabile19]

Hey PiG,

This sounds great. I am one of the people you are talking about! I would love to enter a few tournaments but have had a hard time finding any that are at my level. I have just started looking into the BSG but would love to know what else I can enter.

Also one of the community sites you missed.

www.wellplayed.org

I find it quite a good alternate to TL some times.

Quick Comments

PiG:

This is the sort of stuff I'm looking for thankyou :)

[Mayo]

Good stuff PiG, I agree with your motives.
I was personally dissapointed in only getting 20 players in the Tt eSPORTS charity challenge, I was really expecting 48+

[brijan]

Awesome idea.

Quick Comments

PiG:

Get on here more often <3 Brian!

[Satu]

Originally Posted by PiG

SPR: http://www.sc2sea.com/forumdisplay.php?f=80 (is there a non-sc2sea site?)

www.team-spr.net

You're welcome ^_^

[Intoccabile19]

Hey guys,

After having a quick look into creating a tournament management site I have found that with Joomla and a few plugins it would be quite easy to create a really good looking site. I can do this up (or a test version) very quickly.

I was wondering what kind of involvement sc2sea would want with this site? Thinking about it off the top of my head.....

-shared user logins would be good for the sake of a single login.
-pulling the information from the tournament site to the upcoming section on sc2sea
-maybe integrating some form of announcement system?

I am curious to see how many people would be interested in this and would want to be involved?

[|Erasmus|]

Originally Posted by Intoccabile19

Hey guys,

After having a quick look into creating a tournament management site I have found that with Joomla and a few plugins it would be quite easy to create a really good looking site. I can do this up (or a test version) very quickly.

I was wondering what kind of involvement sc2sea would want with this site? Thinking about it off the top of my head.....

-shared user logins would be good for the sake of a single login.
-pulling the information from the tournament site to the upcoming section on sc2sea
-maybe integrating some form of announcement system?

I am curious to see how many people would be interested in this and would want to be involved?

Setting up an API where people can grab all the tournaments offered to a particular region/league, etc. with JSON formatted time/date, organiser, region, leagues, prizes, signup link to any other tournament organising site would be fairly simple.

It would be useful (imo) for users to be able to sign up with an email address and be able to set up an account and have a bunch of criteria for tournaments they want to be notified about. e.g. League, region, days they are available to play, only wanting tournaments with prizes, no entry fees, etc.

This would integrate well with an announcement system. Send something to the supplied email address when tournaments they are interested in are listed on the site. Could also set this up with google calendar or something similar.

@zeffrin: I would not want to do this as yet another site to manage tournaments. There's enough of those already.

What I -would- also think about is adding tags for large tournaments (e.g. NASL, GSL, IPL, MLG, Assembly, etc.). Even if the event creators for those don't use the site, someone can always add them, and if we also list stream information, people can also subscribe to this one site to be notified when any of the events are about to start. Just as another way of getting people onto such a site.

But really just keep it as simple and basic as possible:

• List tournaments.
• Notify users when a tournament they are interested in is created (i.e. tournaments for bronzies, tournaments on SEA, tournaments with prizes, etc.)
• Notify people following a tournament (one they want to play in -or- watch) is going to start in 1 hour (or something).
• Search tournaments by league/region/etc.
• Let other websites farm all this information to encourage people creating events on this site.

As far as i know, there isn't any website that does this (although some other sites like team liquid have their own event system, this only displays on their site when they are happening).

[zeffrin]

I'm sure if anyone can make this work it's going to be you but some challenges you're going to face...

The reason people aren't finding the BSG tourneys are because they aren't really looking for them I would think. I know for me at least I'd been watching Day9 for ages before I started looking for active community.

Setting up a new website is a fine idea but truth be told... all the websites which exist now probably started on dreams of publishing all the best info and being one place for everyone to go for news but the reality is that this is much harder to achieve than just design and build of the site itself.

I'd propose a section for this site to advertise and manage the tourneys, as well as maintain a seed kind of like GSL between tourneys. Something kind of like what Dox used at WCG Bris etc, how cool would that be.

But anyway, which ever way you decide to go I'm a web developer, strong on many languages and platforms so if you need a hand let me know