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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
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Joined: 14 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:35 pm Reply with quote
I did promise that once I was moved into my new place we could revisit this idea. It took a bit longer then expected (thank the Gods that shit is over with) but here we are. Since there was interest in doing another tournament I figured we'd start at the beginning and discuss tournament topics. First, I'll copy and paste my OP from the last tournament just to cover the mechanics and such.

For those who may not have participated in our forum tournaments before, they are head-to-head single-elimination tournaments which generally use standard tournament brackets. The first step in setting up a new tournament - deciding on the topic - will commence now. Any topic is admissible, except one that is patently rude (biggest a-hole) or NC-17 (best boobs), including previous tournament topics. It's been quite long enough since those topics were used and plenty of anime has come out that could add many new nominations. The one exception is we will not repeat the same tournament topic back to back. There needs to be another tournament topic used inbetween any repeated topics. Since we just had a Biggest Badass tournament that topic would not be admissible this time. It could be used for the following tournament, after this next one, if the majority of people wanted it. The same would apply for whatever becomes this next tournament's topic, and so on.

Once we have the topic nominations will be open for characters/groups based on the topic. The next step will be to vote on who we all want to make it into the tournament. We will have a field of 64, 96, or 128 candidates based on how many candidates there are. The goal is a field of 128 participants for the best fit in having an even number of matches each round. After we have a full slate of character nominations there will be a voting period to determine character seeding. The brackets will then be organized by me based on that voting/seeding. Each bracket will have an equal number of characters based on those seeding results. For example, if we have 20 characters that get 4 votes during the voting period then all 4 brackets will have 5 of those characters. That way there is an even amount of characters for each "level" of votes/seeding. I will not publicize the finalized brackets until the start of the tournament to try and keep a bit of intrigue and mystery. That way you won't know in which bracket a character might wind up even if you know how many votes they got. I will also be randomly picking the characters, based on their votes, for the respective brackets. That way it is fair and even and random. My only goal will be to try and make sure each series only has 1 character from it in each bracket. That way if multiple characters from the same show make it into the tournament they hopefully won't be in the same brackets. Once that is done the tournament will start.

During the candidate voting phase is when I will open up signups for the mini-game. The way the mini game works will be described in my next post for those that are unfamiliar with it.

This covers the basics of the tournament and how it will work. We will discuss topics for the next tournament for next 1-3 weeks until we have a majority consensus, and enough interested parties to warrant the time to have the tournament at all. That is important. Below you will see a list, with links, to the past tournaments we've had. Any of these can be used again, minus the Biggest Badass we just had, if people want it. New topics are also certainly welcomed.


PAST TOURNAMENTS
These categories have been used before:

Biggest Badass Tournament (January 2021 - May 2021)
Best World-Building Tournament (September 2013 - June 2014)
Most Improved Character (Januay-May 2013)
Best First Episode (March-July 2012)
Best Rivals (June-Nov. 2011)
Coolest Character (Dec. 2010 - May 2011)
Best Supporting Character (2010)
Best Team/Organization (2009-2010)
Best Hero/Heroine (2009)
Most Clever/Intelligent Character (2008-2009)
Best Duo (2008)
Most Evil Character (2007-2008)
Crazy Character (2006-2007)
Moe Character (2005-2006)

PROPOSALS
Keep in mind the following when making formal proposals for tournament topics:

1) The topic must be broad enough that representatives could be found in a wide range of genres.
2) The topic must be capable of generating a good degree of discussion.
3) Voters must be able to evaluate participants on more than just purely subjective merits like personal preference or likes/dislikes - in other words, a topic that would be a pure popularity contest isn't feasible.


***One big thing to note is the tournament will not enforce the spoiler tag rule. It would be too time consuming when making multiple votes. So no posts will be required to have them. That means you run the risk of possibly having a show spoiled. Just an upfront warning.


Last edited by Redbeard 101 on Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:14 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
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Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 16935
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:36 pm Reply with quote
Here is the information on how the subsequent character nomination & voting will work. Along with mini-game information.

Character Nominations

Anyone can nominate a character. It can be any character that fits the tournament theme, and they can be from any franchise. Regardless if it's an OVA series, TV series, or just a movie. You must however give 1 or 2 brief sentences as an explanation for WHY you are nominating this character. It does not have to be much, just a little brief something as to why you're suggesting them. You do need to also provide a link to an image, or post the image itself, of the character. That way later on when it's time for voting if someone is not familiar with a character they can view this thread and see who the character is, and why they were nominated. Again, this does not need to be essay. Just 1 or 2 brief sentences is perfectly fine. There will be plenty of time for supporting arguments for characters during matches.

During this phase there can be any amount of characters nominated from a particular franchise. Some shows might have many characters that fit the theme. However, we will only have the top 3 from a particular series make it to the actual tournament. So while any amount of characters from a show can be nominated, only the top 3 based on the voting phase will make it into the actual tournament itself. That way certain shows don't simply steal the show with 7-10 participants. We want the final brackets to have a nice wide selection of characters and shows.

Just as a point of reference you can still nominate a character during this phase even if you do not wish to participate in the tournament itself. The reason for this is because I know some like the idea of the tournament, but do not want to risk the possible spoilers that can come up during the tournament. This way those people can still have some participation in the tournament.

Character Voting

Once we have a nice full slate of characters to choose from we will have a voting phase. This part is very simple, you would simply list their name and add either a +1 or a -1 next to their name. That's it. You can vote for, or against, as many characters as you want, but you can only vote for a particular character once. So each individual candidate could get a +1 or a -1 from you. Voting is not mandatory at all, and you certainly do not need to cast a vote for every nomination. Just the ones you want to. This voting phase will determine the seeding of the characters based on the initial votes they get. Just like how seeding based on a regular season record works for sporting leagues and their playoffs. Same idea. Just like with a sporting league the top seeded characters will face the lowest seeded characters in any given round. That's why the voting period is important. Once the voting period is done I will organize the final brackets and the tournament itself will start soon after.

Tournament Itself
During the actual tournament we will have one bracket match up each week. Bracket A round 1. Bracket B round 1, Bracket B round 2, etc etc. For each bracket there will be a set of matches between 2 characters. Alucard vs Kenshiro for example. All you do is simply pick which character you think should win the match based on the tournament's theme. Who is the biggest badass between Kenshiro and Alucard? Who is the coolest character? Who is the best dressed? Simply pick who you think should win each match. The initial rounds will not require any sort of reasoning for the votes. Later rounds will as the field of characters gets smaller. That being said arguments for, or against, characters in a match is always welcomed. It's also often helpful. Quite often a person playing in this tournament might not be familiar with one, or both, of the characters. That means their vote would then be based on chance, or some other random facet. If you provide some reasoning for why a character should win a match others might be swayed by that. They might not be familiar with the the character but your arguments convince them to vote for that character. We've had people change their votes based on good arguments for, or against, characters as well. That is also part of the real fun of the tournament. Not just simply clicking some names to win, but having discussions as to WHY they should win a matchup. Just please remember this is supposed to be fun so do not take things personally.



Mini-Game

Besides the main tournament there is also what we call the Mini-Game. This is a very simple thing people can participate in. The way it will work is I will keep track of who you are voting for in each matchup for each round. Each character that you vote for in a matchup that wins their matchup you will get points for. If the person you voted for loses their matchup you simply don't gain any points. No negative points. So for example, if there were 10 matches in a round and 6 of the people you voted for to win that round won their matches, you would gain 6 points for that round. Each subsequent round adds to the total. However, in each subsequent set of rounds the point values go up. In the quarterfinal rounds each successful vote gets you 2 points. In the semifinal rounds it is now 3 points. Then in all championship and eventual final rounds each successful choice will be worth 4 points this time. So the points will scale up by 1 point per success in each subsequent round. Quite simple. No need to message me with your picks ahead of time.
All you have to do as a participant is simply join in the tournament once it starts. I'll keep track of everything. Yes this uses the honor system in terms of believing that a user is not purposefully voting for people they think will win to simply gain points. Vote for who you truly believe should win each match up and we'll see where the chips fall.

In the last tournament, and in all the previous tournaments in year's past, we required that all mini-game participants sign up before the tournament started. I am changing that this time around. You can join at any point you want, but you have to specifically tell me you are participating so I know to keep track of your votes. The thing is, if you miss a bunch of rounds then you're missing out on those points and probably won't be able to catch up. Which is why I am fine with people joining later on if they want since it would not unfairly affect the chances of those who have participated from the start winning it.


The ultimate winner of the mini-game will get either a $50 digital RightStuf, Roberts Anime Corner Store, or Amazon gift certificate that I will provide personally. In the event of a tie the prize will be split between the winners. You also get bragging rights of course. Just as an FYI I will be personally playing in the mini-game, but if by some chance I win the mini-game then the second place winner(s) will get the gift certificate. It would be stupid for me to gift myself, and not fair to take that away from everyone else.



So that's it. If there are any further questions on any aspect of the tournament just ask.


Last edited by Redbeard 101 on Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:25 pm; edited 4 times in total
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
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Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 16935
PostPosted: Fri Jul 23, 2021 10:37 pm Reply with quote
Hold for tournament ideas/character nominations/voting & Mini-Game participants.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


This is the starting point. What topics would everyone like to suggest for the tournament theme? The floor is open.


Last edited by Redbeard 101 on Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:08 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Unicorn_Blade



Joined: 18 Jul 2010
Posts: 1153
Location: UK
PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 2:44 pm Reply with quote
I do love the idea of some of these:

My heart kind of beats faster for Best team (expansion on the best duo, could include pairs but also anything 2+)

Best dark character

Most annoying
^^

Most unfortunate


Most changed (which could mean improved, but also the opposite, when the character started promising and ended up shockingly and infuriatingly disappointing)


Best music/OST/opening/ending? - easier as you could just listen bits on youtube and they dont require much time, although probably it would just be a battle of tastes Smile

Best world-building would also be quite interesting.
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 12:33 am Reply with quote
Here are my thoughts on possible tournament themes.

Out of the themes that have been done before I think Most Evil Character could use a new tournament. I mean it's been 13-14 years since that tournament and there are A LOT of evil characters since then. I also think that would sort of go along with your idea Unicorn about Best Dark Character. Sure that could also have good guys in it, but most of the evil characters in a tournament would fit that idea.

I like the idea of expanding on the previous Best Duo theme with the Best Team idea. I have 2 concerns though. One is the same concern I had with the Best Duo tournament itself long ago, by what metric are we determining the "best" group/duo? With Biggest Badass, Most Evil, Best Hero, etc it's a much easier theme to grade and vote for I think. Asking who is the Best Group/Duo begs the question of "At what?" The best at working together? Best at achieving their goals (not always the same as best at working together)? I am not opposed myself to using the Best Team/Duo theme, I just think we'd need to tighten up the reasons for the actual votes a bit. Have everyone on the same page so to speak.

Another interesting idea I think would be a Best Villain tournament. We did have a Best Hero one before, but no matching Best Villain tournament. I think Best Villain and Most Evil (version 2.0) would have a lot of crossover in terms of characters that could fit the themes, but I do think there are enough differences as well. Not all great villains are necessarily "evil" in the vein of being the cliche evil villain. Many villains can be more nuanced and not come off as quite the evil per se. Though, as I said, there would be a lot of overlap. Maybe prioritize the Villain idea as it's new and the Most Evil has been done before?
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Beltane70



Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 3879
PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:45 pm Reply with quote
Redbeard 101 wrote:

Another interesting idea I think would be a Best Villain tournament. We did have a Best Hero one before, but no matching Best Villain tournament. I think Best Villain and Most Evil (version 2.0) would have a lot of crossover in terms of characters that could fit the themes, but I do think there are enough differences as well. Not all great villains are necessarily "evil" in the vein of being the cliche evil villain. Many villains can be more nuanced and not come off as quite the evil per se. Though, as I said, there would be a lot of overlap. Maybe prioritize the Villain idea as it's new and the Most Evil has been done before?


Best Villain would be interesting, but like you said, that and Most Evil would have a lot of crossover. Plus, as you also mentioned, not every villain is evil. How many times in anime have we seen villains become allies later on in a series?
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bonbonsrus



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 1537
Location: Michigan, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 9:58 pm Reply with quote
Best romance - this can be a very broad category, maybe they are together, maybe they aren't but still have a will they/wont they thing...

Best tournament show - simply very different than anything else that's been done, covers a wide range of topics

best dressed - I love looking at the designs in shows, not even just fanciest black-tie stuff, which is often un-original, but the clothes in the show in general...frankly, while I tend to not LOVE idol shows, I often like the performance clothes.

most altruistic character - whose motivations are for others more often than self?
...or conversely
most selfish character - who is in it purely for themselves while trampling over others
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Unicorn_Blade



Joined: 18 Jul 2010
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Location: UK
PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 4:08 am Reply with quote
Redbeard 101 wrote:
Here are my thoughts on possible tournament themes.


I like the idea of expanding on the previous Best Duo theme with the Best Team idea. I have 2 concerns though. One is the same concern I had with the Best Duo tournament itself long ago, by what metric are we determining the "best" group/duo? With Biggest Badass, Most Evil, Best Hero, etc it's a much easier theme to grade and vote for I think. Asking who is the Best Group/Duo begs the question of "At what?" The best at working together? Best at achieving their goals (not always the same as best at working together)? I am not opposed myself to using the Best Team/Duo theme, I just think we'd need to tighten up the reasons for the actual votes a bit. Have everyone on the same page so to speak.


I think it would be up to us to precise that, and convince how a soecific aspect of a duo/group works better than another, I'd be fine with a general take. I mean, we had a few tournaments with the 'best' in the name, don't think we had to precise what lets say 'best episode' had to be best at (setting up expectations? having the best animation? best music? best characters?)- or a combination of a lot of things that just made it, you know, the best?).
Not sure if I am explaining myself properly, I guess I just love a bit of chaos. If it ever happens, don't mind if it's narrowed down to something, but I hope that won't limit the pool of participants who are a great grouping in one context, but not in the one the tournament decides to look at Smile

Best villain is interesting too.
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Unicorn_Blade



Joined: 18 Jul 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 26, 2021 4:10 am Reply with quote
oooo, most selfish- that sounds cool too!
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
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Joined: 14 Aug 2006
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 03, 2021 9:28 pm Reply with quote
Selfish might be interesting. Though we would need to make distinctions between being egotistical, and selfish.
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Redbeard 101
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 12, 2021 11:09 pm Reply with quote
Any more thoughts of which way to go in terms of theme?
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Olliff



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 550
PostPosted: Mon Jan 17, 2022 1:39 am Reply with quote
Unfortunate, this has stalled out. I used to participate in these tournaments ages ago, and didn't realize one happened since they moved to contests and games and I am pretty inactive. I don't think this is quite necroing since it is still fairly high on the front page.

You are also missing one of my least favorite ones from the list that was done in the past. animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=4279697&highlight=#4279697

Most aesthetically appealing

As for ideas, I have always thought that a Biggest Loser / Least Successful or Biggest Otaku / Most Nerdy tournament could be solid ideas. I can ask Mow123 if he has any good ideas even though he hasn't been on ANN for ages.

Other ideas I had were Most Pragmatic, Best Leader / Most Charismatic.

Pragmatic or practical thinking is easy to define, and it is also easy to identify weaknesses and strengths. Lelouch or Light may seem pragmatic on the surface, but if you dig deeper they make many mistakes blinded by their childish emotional state.

If we were to do a redo, Moe Character may be interesting since he has been so long, and moe has changed quite a bit since 2005-2006. The popularity has died down, but I think it is is somewhat easy to separate the weaker entries from the better ones, but it would be far from my first choice among these.

Of the other ideas stated, here I do think Most Selfish could be interesting.
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Hikari14



Joined: 30 Oct 2010
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 13, 2022 5:25 pm Reply with quote
I think that Best villain or Best romance could be a cool theme.
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