I have been considering hosting some lower-league tournaments lately as a change of pace and I thought clan events are something you BSG players rarely get to experience. Some of the most exciting events recently have been clan-based and I know for TA in particular our BSG members were there cheering on the team during their SEACL run.
There are a decent number of individual tournaments for you guys but I was wondering if there are any BSG clans or clans with a significant number of BSG players like TA has that could help form a small clan league.
Additionally, would a regular clan competition encourage the bigger clans to start recruiting some BSG players for development or fun, and would it encourage more BSG players to form clans?
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on this!
Cheers,
deL
EDIT: List of suggestions
ToR
nDL
LOS
QED
TA
VB
FaDe
___________________________________ Brendan "TAdeL" Ferguson Clan TA | Twitter | YouTube
Additionally, would a regular clan competition encourage the bigger clans to start recruiting some BSG players for development or fun, and would it encourage more BSG players to form clans?
Quite a few of the higher level clans exist to create practice environments for the players. For these clans to pick up BSGP players, it would require a change in focus of the clan to something more social, and even then what would the gain be? If the tourney had a prizepool worth noting, it would attract smurfs, and if it didn't, it'll be ignored by the higher level clans.
I'm always hesitant about hosting lower level tourneys as well, as it encourages players NOT to get better, to stay around X or Y skill level so they can be the big fish in the small pond.
I'm down with it, will keep checking this forum for progress
I'm a Gold level Zerg that has been told I play more of a Diamond level. Even though I disagree, I do well when I ladder may not be in Gold for long :P
If any BSG clans want me, message me here or in game.
I'm always hesitant about hosting lower level tourneys as well, as it encourages players NOT to get better, to stay around X or Y skill level so they can be the big fish in the small pond.
I don't know any BSG players that want to stay in B, S or G. I think its a good idea.
Thats because theres no money there, add money and people will hang around quite alot more.
and also increase the likelihood of smurfs.
BSG tournaments are sadly over policed here.
its fine that smurfs are detected and hence banned. what about those who are genuinely good yet for some reason cant attain an MMR good enough to get a promotion to plat yet. they are still BSG with possibly the mechanics/skill of a plat and these are also DQ for having higher mechanics.
that said, a bsg clanleague would give genuine BSGers a taste of competition and perhaps spur them on to improve. still a good idea nonetheless.
I'm always hesitant about hosting lower level tourneys as well, as it encourages players NOT to get better, to stay around X or Y skill level so they can be the big fish in the small pond.
I agree, I got to masters league before I could win a BSG or GPD on my way. The good players are too good. (Or rushes are too imba)
I'm always hesitant about hosting lower level tourneys as well, as it encourages players NOT to get better, to stay around X or Y skill level so they can be the big fish in the small pond.
I really love the last phrase of this quote.
But it's entirely true, with the whole money issue attracting smurfs and the such. A while back I had an impulse to sponsor some money for a BSG tournament and plan one, but after talking to some of the experienced organizers of BSG events and other people, I decided against it.
It's sad that the pitfalls of this exist, because I (and probably others like del?) really do want to help out the BSG players and make their experience a more fun and exciting one.
I agree with the whole "don't have money in a BSG tourney" thing.
What I think would be awesome (but a lot of administration effort, sadly) would be to have multiple clan leagues run with a promotion/relegation system, and seed new teams into the leagues by way of the players ladder rankings.
Maybe try and get a money prize awarded to the top league too, so we can get some of the established teams (ngen, TA, aLt, etc.) putting forward their strong lineups as something for all the other clans to aspire to getting to play against.
As a bronze player wanting to get better. I like the idea of non profit lower tier tournaments or clan leagues. For some, the encouraement to get better is to win at these tournaments and as not everyone has the ability or the time to improve to higher leagues this is there chance to feel the pressure and excitement of competition.
Saying that there is the issue of policing such events. For the case of smurfs and how some players who may not ladder often or efectivly could be overskilld and judged that way for the tournament. This is an issue that has no ready made answer. The idea of clan based bsg tournaments or leagues may help to solve this issue as a clan can have a separate chat channel and offshot that focus on the development of these players. The head of that clans bsg section would then be the moderator of who he judges to be to good for said tournaments.(this could be done diplomatically of course I'm just simplifying it) Similar to how a martial arts instructor decides when your ready for the next belt therefore if u enter a tournament and u are to good for your rank you and your master is reprimanded.
It would prevent smurfs if tournaments were run this way thru clans because any regular offenders would be easy to single out. And as this would be a offshoot of the main clan it would not interfere with there high lvl training to much and would hopefully developed skilled players to soon join them for such esteemed competions such as seacl.
Just an idea from a lowly bronze
Last edited by DeNile; Thu, 30th-Jun-2011 at 12:54 PM.
Reason: Bad typing on iPhone
Quite a few of the higher level clans exist to create practice environments for the players. For these clans to pick up BSGP players, it would require a change in focus of the clan to something more social, and even then what would the gain be? If the tourney had a prizepool worth noting, it would attract smurfs, and if it didn't, it'll be ignored by the higher level clans.
I'm always hesitant about hosting lower level tourneys as well, as it encourages players NOT to get better, to stay around X or Y skill level so they can be the big fish in the small pond.
The prize will be very small if anything, it's more about letting the BSG players have something to participate in and get their name in results threads. At least the prize will not present a very good return for the time investment (team leagues require a lot of organisation and last several weeks... turning up each night for a month to win a $10 voucher or a $30 mouse or something is not really worth it). I have also been around long enough to realise problems with smurfing and have my own ways of identifying and dealing with it. The prize could also be something like coaching, or a showmatch against with a top player of their choice
I don't think clans should underestimate bringing on Gold/Plat players as an 'academy' type player, especially if they already offer coaching (the TA players who offer coaching give reduced prices to TA members). Rossi joined TA at around Gold level and look at him now
Guys I am not asking for your opinions on smurfing or rules or prizes or whatever I am going to handle that myself - right now I just want to know which clans exist out there with a BSG presence, or if any clans that are BSG only would wish to compete, or if any BSG players would consider forming or joining long-term clans in order to participate in something like this.
___________________________________ Brendan "TAdeL" Ferguson Clan TA | Twitter | YouTube
Guys I am not asking for your opinions on smurfing or rules or prizes or whatever I am going to handle that myself - right now I just want to know which clans exist out there with a BSG presence, or if any clans that are BSG only would wish to compete, or if any BSG players would consider forming or joining long-term clans in order to participate in something like this.
Yes, I'm interested in joining a long-term clan to participate in something like this. Get on board BSG people.
I would honestly say BSG clan war would work and smurfing would not be such as issue, or at all in fact. The main issue I can see is, it encourages people to stay in BSG for a long period of time, which may or not benefit the clan in a whole, especially if the clan is seeking to advance their players to be more competitive. There are already several BSG clans out there if I can name out of my head, ToR, nDL, LOS...
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It's an i not an L!
I don't think clans should underestimate bringing on Gold/Plat players as an 'academy' type player, especially if they already offer coaching (the TA players who offer coaching give reduced prices to TA members). Rossi joined TA at around Gold level and look at him now
Yet to get a single 'Rossi', you need to take on quite alot of lower level players, which completely changes the dynamics of the team and how it works. TA have a very large number of players, and that works for them, but it doesn't work for all of us.
Theres more than 1 way to run a team, and just because it works for TA doesn't mean every clan needs to change to match it, even if you try and force the issue by creating events like this which is obviously created to benefit TA and your team structure.
I would honestly say BSG clan war would work and smurfing would not be such as issue, or at all in fact. The main issue I can see is, it encourages people to stay in BSG for a long period of time, which may or not benefit the clan in a whole, especially if the clan is seeking to advance their players to be more competitive. There are already several BSG clans out there if I can name out of my head, ToR, nDL, LOS...
There are going to be people who want no more from the game than to sit in their current BSG league and play at that level, and that is fine. I don't think there will be too many players who are going to stop laddering just to play in a clanleague every couple of weeks and if they do but still maintain a high enough level to be competitive who cares.
Of course players who feature a lot in these events are going to have people checking out their accounts all the time and if there's anything suspicious like throwing games in match history to stay in a low division that is going to become apparent. If they put in the effort to cover up these thrown matches to make it look believable then they are kidding themselves and wasting a lot more of their own time than anyone else's.
Most of the players interested in the competitive aspect of SC2 though have the drive to keep improving and climbing up the ranks and those players will flourish and go on to hopefully represent their clan in higher leagues. Players who are happy with competing in BSG without any intention or the spare time to dedicate to getting better are also welcome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Benji
Yet to get a single 'Rossi', you need to take on quite alot of lower level players, which completely changes the dynamics of the team and how it works. TA have a very large number of players, and that works for them, but it doesn't work for all of us.
Theres more than 1 way to run a team, and just because it works for TA doesn't mean every clan needs to change to match it, even if you try and force the issue by creating events like this which is obviously created to benefit TA and your team structure.
Hi I am Benji and I think everything is supposed to be serious and for ESPORTS and have never heard of fun. Also anything anyone ever does is only to benefit their own people and not meant to include everyone even though I never thought that maybe people get inspiration or ideas from their friends and teammates rather than fabricate them to benefit them.
Seriously man. This is outrageous - I wanted to dedicate some spare time to another event and have had enough of working with the same high-level players for a while and with the recent win by TA I had my mind on team leagues. The obvious conclusion is making a team league for low-ranked players and I don't see how this is to benefit TA - I am going to donate some of my own money to a team league that MIGHT be won by TA and go back into the clan? DEVIOUS! Oh wait I could just run an in-house event like we have in the past... FOILED!
Or you could be a sane and rational human being and see it as an event that gives purpose and fun to some BSG level players from TA and elsewhere who would otherwise not get to play in a team format. Heaven forbid I encourage BSG teams to form or let other teams know about this event so they might take notice of some low ranked players and decide whether they want to be included or not. OK I admit it I am worse than Hitler.
___________________________________ Brendan "TAdeL" Ferguson Clan TA | Twitter | YouTube
Keep the post in this thread as a valid discussion that has no reference to any specific clan. If you have any trashtalk, bring it to the smacktalk thread. It hasn't been serving it's purpose for a long long time.
Thanks.
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It's an i not an L!
I don't know what's wrong with deL using TA as an example, since it's his own experience with his own clan, which actually has players who are not diamond and above. He wants to provide an arena for low-level players to play as a team which is less "scary" and more fun vs. playing in a BSG which is more of a solo tournament.
Just a bit confused on how a simple thread can get derailed into something negative when it's just an idea/call to see if there was any interest. And if it was a "TA" ran, "TA" sponsored event, what's wrong with it? Should the Red Cross donate money and not say it's from them?
Sorry, but in the few times I do read the threads in this forums, I just get irked by the obvious negativity of a lot of people rather than working for the best for all.
deL I think this is a great idea. And its great to see a top clan putting some effort in to encourage players to get better without having to play GM/M ranked players. The few tournaments I have played have seen me matched against GM's in most cases (eg FaDe Open 3 v TARossi!).
I would like to see an option for clan-less BSG players to play in the tournament as well because not everyone has time to be a full member of a clan be it pro or social. Maybe I should just start up 'Team Random' for this type of tournament!
To the naysayers, why the conspiracy theories? Anything that aims to help improve players on SEA should be encouraged as it will strengthen the community - think of the big picture.
I think this would be a great idea. yes there are possible issues (and they can be easily dealt with as noted), but the idea overall is great. If a BSG team league existed, i would be much more likely to join a BSG clan.
The BSG tournaments each weekend give us noobies something to look forward to each week, a reason to not become a spectator. So how can anyone possibly suggest that a BSG CL would be anything other than a good idea? thanks for thinking of us
I think that a BSG league will be a great idea to encourage lower league players to become more competitive and active. As baka has mentioned there are alot of BSG clans around, and in fact the majority of players (60% according to bnet?) are BSG.
The problems i could see with this is finding someone with the time to run it. del organises events well but he seems to have alot on his plate at the moment, with nation wars coming up in addition to his FXO/TA duties. Another problem would be most BSG players are not very active or willing to commit to a regular event, which is also a reason why they are in BSG in the first place, they simply don't have enough time to play the game so participation might be an issue.
With that being said, it has to be carried out in a very transparent manner to there isn't any smurfing(this will be HUGE if there are prizes at stake) or biasness to certain clans, and i think that was the main concern of benji, wanting to have a competition with a fair level playing ground, not that he was against the idea of having a BSG league. If its good for the whole community who wouldn't want it? sc2sea could certainly help throw in achievements, interviews for up coming players to look out for, posting the tournament regularly on the news page to remind people etc.
As for transparency, I don't want to go into the Team Australia selections to derail this thread but for the few qualifying spots I felt there should be at least 1 slot given to the winner of an open tournament instead of just having the pre-invite tournament for familiar faces. That way every Aussie would have felt they had the chance to represent Australia and would be more attached and support the team more, because even they could have had the chance to rep Australia if they won the tournament. Pringles for e.g is #1 on ladder and I believe he is kr who has been living in Australia for awhile, just that hes so low profile and detached from the community. I don't think he even has an sc2sea account or knows about us? Not many pple know him or if he's even Australian and these open tournies help these unknowns get noticed and who knows maybe develop into future assets to the team AU in the future.
Its a big reason why i always have at least a few slots for open tournaments in every event i run, from the SEASL to SEACL to the Singapore team selection which has 2 slots for open tournaments. Its because we don't know all the players who are Singaporean and also want to give a fair chance to everyone. Like last week i just learned keyersoze was from sg. At the end of the day i'm leaving it to the team managers to decide how they want to run their selections but this is my feedback.
As for the other issue of big fish in small pond... personally speaking, there are various factors and reasons why players stay bsg, some if not most have already been explained in this thread. From my standpoint as a member of our clan, we aim to improve and have fun. having monetary gain would be detrimental to the bsg players because they might want to stop improving and just keep winning in low leagues.
there are much more that the community can offer to bsg leagues to inspire the lower league players to improve ( ie: a feature page for a week/month/whatever on sc2sea.com or tutorial from masters/GM or something else like light-trolling the other clans..). Some just want to enjoy playing starcraft in an evironment that they see pro players play in, and that experience is something that they want to feel for themselves. We have been in a clan friendly against ToR without any actual prize except for pride on the line. Our side, and hopefully they too, have enjoyed it even without money involved. Regardless of whatever controvery, I think the general concesus of the good manner bsg clans just want to improve while having fun playing against each other without thinking of monetary gain until they they are good enough to even try earning from the game.
(smurfs may be an issue, but from a personal standpoint again, i see this not being a problem unless the clans don't control their players. should this happen, the said clan should be suspend if this league thing comes into fruition for a limited time. but from what i see, there's no point in smurfing bsg leagues just to win because the real bsg players will get to play against a better player. if they lose, at least they will learn something from that lost. it will be actually a bigger lost to that smurf if he should lose to someone supposedly weaker in skill than him.)
I'll check back on this every now and then, but as the creator and member of our clan I am hands down for a fun tourney!
Feedback looks good guys, if anyone can help me get in touch with any of these clans:
ToR
nDL
LOS
QED
VB
It would be a big help - even if you just know the sc2sea ID of their leader. Regarding free agents I might get each of the teams if they are recruiting to write a blurb about their team and see if we can match up any of the clanless players with a recruiting team that shares their goals or ideas. That should also help bolster the rosters in case of the aforementioned issue of BSG players going inactive. With the CL lasting around a month it shouldn't be a HUGE issue and any players that do go inactive after 1-2 weeks should be handled by having enough replacement players in full rosters.
Once I get confirmation from the teams I will get a signup thread up, let the lesser known teams introduce themselves maybe and give a chance for free agents to express their interest. Can't guarantee everyone can play but we'll shoot for maximum participation! As for the prize, I think I might try and stay away from cash but perhaps something to spend the money on (paying for a group coaching session with an EG player or something, a professional team logo, team website, or something like that that will benefit the whole team) could work out - feel free to get creative with suggestions!
It's true I won't have time to run it all on my own 100% but I know I will be able to provide all of the coverage and I have had offers of help already in terms of overlooking the individual games. The rest is easy enough and shouldn't impact on my FXO duties!
I never play favourites in tournaments, even if my forum posts suggest otherwise sometimes.
___________________________________ Brendan "TAdeL" Ferguson Clan TA | Twitter | YouTube
I'm keen in helping making this work, as well as casting the event!
A caster would be great! I don't think many high-level players tune in to watch BSG events so seeing the viewers will mostly be lower ranked players I thought the cast could lean towards an educational aspect as well as the normal play-by-play.
It would be a challenge, but if you're up for it rather than using assumed knowledge like builds, strategies, unit counters or player decisions one of the caster/s could focus on teaching players what to do or what the players are doing right/wrong.
If you don't want to try this out don't worry about it but if you're keen to give it a shot swing me a PM for details!
___________________________________ Brendan "TAdeL" Ferguson Clan TA | Twitter | YouTube
Not gonna bother reading the rest of the thread, but i love the idea. Gaming for passion.
If you want, i would like to help casting as a zerg analyst if you would like?
How many players would we need to get on at the scheduled time?
We have 12 BSG members right now, could probably get a team of about 5 together on any given night given notice.
I've been intending to get added to the clan list here(seems a bit messy?) and start a recruiting thread, just haven't gotten around to it.
Sure mate 5 is enough, if we do the regular all-kill format that seems so popular then 4 is enough but even if we go with individual matches 4-5 is enough.
___________________________________ Brendan "TAdeL" Ferguson Clan TA | Twitter | YouTube
We can probably throw a team in there. Quite a few of us have gotten out of BSG now, but we've a few new members too, so I'm sure we still have enough players.
Suppose we get only 2-3 players per clan, with the clans numbering around 2-4. While this is almost impossible to happen, can we repair this dilemma at a moments notice? Probably so.
We can always change that certain week's tourney from one format to another, for example into a koth or on-the-spot made team vs another on-the-spot made team. Still, the scenario I mentioned should be hopefully rare in itself for this to be even considered, imo...
Suppose we get only 2-3 players per clan, with the clans numbering around 2-4. While this is almost impossible to happen, can we repair this dilemma at a moments notice? Probably so.
We can always change that certain week's tourney from one format to another, for example into a koth or on-the-spot made team vs another on-the-spot made team. Still, the scenario I mentioned should be hopefully rare in itself for this to be even considered, imo...
Sure not having enough players show up is a problem but if it's only 1 player then conceding 1 game as a walkover is no issue. If it's 2 or more we can sort something out.
I am hoping there will be a reasonable number of BSG free agents who would want to play in this and be motivated to look for a clan that suits them long-term because of it. That should mitigate it if it works out but personally it shouldn't be a huge issue.
___________________________________ Brendan "TAdeL" Ferguson Clan TA | Twitter | YouTube
Im from nDL and just wanted to say that this BSG Clan league is a good idea and nDL is happy to participate in it. Just inform us if there is anything that we can help
If anyone needs any help administrating or casting for this BSG clan league idea I'm more than happy to help with anything whatsoever. I imagine organizing would be reasonably tough. PM if you need.
Nope, difference in skill is too great between bronze and plat. Even gold is pushing it!
If it does well and the workload isn't too much maybe we could split it between Bronze+Silver and Gold+Platinum league competitions.
Thanks for the prompt response.
It would be cool if it could be split like that for some reason 2bh has a lot of plat and master level players not much else.
I would be happy to help out in admin and casting as well for the league as well as spruiking it to get more coverage. Just let me know what you need help with.
A caster would be great! I don't think many high-level players tune in to watch BSG events so seeing the viewers will mostly be lower ranked players I thought the cast could lean towards an educational aspect as well as the normal play-by-play.
It would be a challenge, but if you're up for it rather than using assumed knowledge like builds, strategies, unit counters or player decisions one of the caster/s could focus on teaching players what to do or what the players are doing right/wrong.
If you don't want to try this out don't worry about it but if you're keen to give it a shot swing me a PM for details!
Don't know if you watch any BSG casts that I have done but thats what I tend to do. I act in a way that I am overlooking them while they are playing, and saying what they can do to fix it and so on. Even after every match I give a brief overview of the match and how each player could improve.
Not to mention I have alot of BSG friends so it'll be a more friendlier environment
Don't know if you watch any BSG casts that I have done but thats what I tend to do. I act in a way that I am overlooking them while they are playing, and saying what they can do to fix it and so on. Even after every match I give a brief overview of the match and how each player could improve.
Not to mention I have alot of BSG friends so it'll be a more friendlier environment
PM incoming
Sounds good Will keep you updated regarding new threads or schedules for this event if it goes ahead!
___________________________________ Brendan "TAdeL" Ferguson Clan TA | Twitter | YouTube
Yes, this sounds very gud Im a quick improving bronze and i recently lost 2-0 in the down under derby to a masters- I was plainly out played but someting like a BSG tourny would be great and would probably accelerate my improvement and that of others- who could say no to a prize how big or small?
I would love to Participate. I'm ironically Silver Profile but I'm playing at a bronze skill level, dunno how the ruddy system works but IMO it's screwed up. I've yet to win my first 1v1,2v2 and 3v3 in Season 2.
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Paul Anthony Soh, , smileyfs
Core i7 2600k @ 4.4 GHz. 16 GB DDR3 RAM, GTX 780.
Website: http://youtube.com/MusicHaven2012 - Painfully below average gamer.
i think this is a great idea. clan FaDe would like to participate too
we have a few BSG players interested.. but not sure if we have enough for a full team yet
I love the idea. Would be sensation to break the monotony of laddering.
I would be interested in forming a clan for sure. I got 2 other gold level friends (zerg, random) who we would be happy to form a clan for a team league. I myself am a gold level terran, if anyone is interest msg me.
Hey hey, just wondering, I'm a Diamond level Zerg (not in any clan), but would I be able to participate if I played as Protoss or Terran. Without being certain my Protoss level is about Gold, and I'd say my Terran level is about Silver, I've got pretty bad macro when it comes to races other than Zerg. :P
I reckon the casting may probably a good enough prize in itself. Getting to watch your casted replays will probably pick up a lot of things you can learn from and improve. The higher you go = the more games you get casted = the more you can learn.
Yeah if you guys need any help with the whole Admin side of it, I actually would be quite keen to give it a go Had quite a bit of experienced in terms of organising etc
We have a clan with a 10+ players in BSG.
We are very interested in playing the next BSG clanleague (if there is one).
Team Carbon Pressure - http://pracbudsc2.com/
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