The Ultimate Writing Challenge for NationStates Roleplayers!
Come and test your mettle in a fun and innovative skills competition for players in all tech levels!
UNDERGROUNDDIRECTORY
THE COMPETITION●RULES●PARTICIPANTS●NOMINEES●OFFICIAL CHAT
Please Visit the 2014 Best Roleplayer Tournament, Hosted by The Greater Vakolicci Haven by Clicking Here!
ANIMPORTANTMESSAGEFROMTHEOP
This thread is meant for entertainment purposes only, and for participants to have fun.
It is not an exercise to determine who is 'superior' or 'the best' in our writing community.
Those who seek to politicize this competition will be asked to refrain from participating.
The RP Underground 2014 Challenge Series is a friendly competition designed to provide participants with a series of writing challenges in a single-elimination tournament format. Sixteen roleplayers from all tech levels—accepting invitees from a pool of nominated nations provided by readers—will be paired off via random draw into the tournament field. Each round of the tournament will present the participants with a specific writing challenge, requiring participants to submit a sample of their writing to meet the requirements of the challenge. Each match will be qualitatively judged by four judges, each of whom will award a single point to the winner of each match in their judgment. A popular vote will count towards a fifth and possible tiebreaker point for each match. This format will continue until only one roleplayer remains in the series.
This goes without saying: as an unsanctioned competition being held for sheer creative and entertainment value, this tournament is not to be taken as an official statement by the forum moderators, this website, or the OP on the quality or talent of any one member of the series. The OP and judges would like to commend everyone who takes part, either in the competition itself or through participation in nominating and voting roleplayers in. Seeing as this is not a tournament to address qualitative labels such as 'best roleplayer' or 'best in specific tech levels', the purpose of this competition will be to provide a public forum for writers to test their creativity and skill-set against their peers. Any unsportsmanlike conduct, from verbal name-calling or flamebaiting to trolling or arguments will result in the person's banishment from the challenge.
Once the field has been established and paired, the tournament will begin. Each match in a given round will be conducted under the same challenge as all others. Participants will have one week from the opening of each round to complete their submissions according to each challenge. Participants may submit either a sample of their body of work, or create a new entry for each challenge; however, word counts will be explicitly enforced for any submission. All content, whether formerly written or completed exclusively for this competition must adhere to the content rules of the forums; improper submissions will be deleted as per the consideration of Moderation. Decisions rendered by the popular vote and judges will be presented en masse at the close of each round, and will be considered final upon their submission to the thread creator.
To create an amicable and unbiased environment for thread participants, the only roleplayers who are prohibited from participating as challengers are the parties who will act as judges for the competition itself. Judges will be held to an explicit standard of unbiased consideration for all work presented during the tournament, and must explain in a written statement why they judge in the favor of a given player for each match. Public displays of contention over the decision of the judges or the public vote are prohibited; however, concerns over decisions may be lodged to the OP via telegram. All concerns will be addressed privily to preserve the prescribed timeline of the competition. Proof of an attempt to collude for the purpose of rigging the popular vote will result in immediate expulsion of the guilty person(s) from further participation.
Once the field has been established and paired, the tournament will begin. Each match in a given round will be conducted under the same challenge as all others. Participants will have one week from the opening of each round to complete their submissions according to each challenge. Participants may submit either a sample of their body of work, or create a new entry for each challenge; however, word counts will be explicitly enforced for any submission. All content, whether formerly written or completed exclusively for this competition must adhere to the content rules of the forums; improper submissions will be deleted as per the consideration of Moderation. Decisions rendered by the popular vote and judges will be presented en masse at the close of each round, and will be considered final upon their submission to the thread creator.
To create an amicable and unbiased environment for thread participants, the only roleplayers who are prohibited from participating as challengers are the parties who will act as judges for the competition itself. Judges will be held to an explicit standard of unbiased consideration for all work presented during the tournament, and must explain in a written statement why they judge in the favor of a given player for each match. Public displays of contention over the decision of the judges or the public vote are prohibited; however, concerns over decisions may be lodged to the OP via telegram. All concerns will be addressed privily to preserve the prescribed timeline of the competition. Proof of an attempt to collude for the purpose of rigging the popular vote will result in immediate expulsion of the guilty person(s) from further participation.
The RP Underground 2014 Challenge Series will begin with an open nomination period running through November 30th; nominees may be suggested up until this date, with the highest nominee recipients being given an official invite to participate in this challenge. Since participation cannot be forced however, the field will not be set until sixteen roleplayers have confirmed their desire to take part. Invitations will be sent in order of nominations received, and will continue until sixteen participants have been finalized. This hub thread will be reserved for information on the overall list of participants, for nominations received prior to the start of the tournament, and general updates for the progression of the series. The winner and runner-up of the tournament will receive a special custom signature and a commemorative flag.
The field of sixteen will be set after the nomination window closes on November 30th, 2014.
