IBC Discussion Thread (OOC, V2)

[Drawkland]

Yeah, I have to say that I'm pretty disappointed in Qas so far. I realize earlier in the tournament he had some RL issues and some technical issues with his xkoranate file corrupting, but coming back from that only to disappear again in 2 cutoffs and be active hosting other tournaments ... it's a little off-putting.

If Qasden comes along in the next day or so with a response on the matter it'd be much appreciated and we'll be able to continue from there. Otherwise, though, I think we'll have to go on without Qas' input. It's been far too long. Hell, I was gone for about a week due to various RL trips and was a little shocked to see the tournament thread had sunk to the second page of my tracked threads.

[The Sherpa Empire]

Yeah, I have to say that I'm pretty disappointed in Qas so far. I realize earlier in the tournament he had some RL issues and some technical issues with his xkoranate file corrupting, but coming back from that only to disappear again in 2 cutoffs and be active hosting other tournaments ... it's a little off-putting.

If Qasden comes along in the next day or so with a response on the matter it'd be much appreciated and we'll be able to continue from there. Otherwise, though, I think we'll have to go on without Qas' input. It's been far too long.

This sounds fair to me.

[95X]

It should be obvious my entry was a 'gag' entry for numbers, and more of my own time is now being used for other obligations. Regardless, cutoff dates have come and gone without any sign of anything. It would be very helpful if we at least know what's going on.

Edit/add an idea from the Department of Bad Ideas: If a new host is needed, maybe just cancel the second half of the group stage and proceed directly to the Round of 16 or something along those lines? And have some strange IC reason for the delay like AO being attacked by raccoons from outer space to forage through our garbage dumps but instead finding dumpsters near IBC venues? I've no idea really.

[Newmanistan]

Another three days have gone by with no response from Qasden. It was more then fair to allow him a response, but at this point I don't feel it matters, regardless of what the reason is. If anyone else here is in a RL management position, then this is comparable to that employee with three call outs in 30 days, calling out for the fourth time. It doesn't matter if the fourth time is legitimate and for something serious, that's why you don't call out the first three times, and rules are rules. We need to move on, now. Regardless of whatever has happened with Qasden, serious or not.

I would support giving the tournament to Equestrian States, as he also bid for this tournament initially. It's been a month since MD3 was played. Even with the revised schedule, the tournament would be over at this point.

As far as RP alternatives, I don't plan on saying anything other then tournament abandonment. No reason to sugar coat it, at least for me.

[Lisander]

I'm not even a Committee member yet (I should be one of them when this IBC finishes, provided I already posted a roster and some RP), but I'd like to say I disagree about abandoning and re-starting the tournament when it comes to roleplaying. I personally would feel wasted. The concept Qasden imagined, with games taking part all over Atlantian Oceania, could be mantained. One could simply ask for his XML and continue from that, or even resetting the RP bonus to 0. IMO, it's better than just quitting.

[Free Republics]

I'm not even a Committee member yet (I should be one of them when this IBC finishes, provided I already posted a roster and some RP), but I'd like to say I disagree about abandoning and re-starting the tournament when it comes to roleplaying. I personally would feel wasted. The concept Qasden imagined, with games taking part all over Atlantian Oceania, could be mantained. One could simply ask for his XML and continue from that, or even resetting the RP bonus to 0. IMO, it's better than just quitting.

I'd also be completely against a restart because we've already had 5 days of the tournament scorinated and RPed.

---

My understanding from what has been said on Discord is that Qasden has some RL issues right now that he doesn't want to talk about in detail. I think its probably best for him and for the tournament at this point if we replace him as host. I think the best course of action for Qasden would be to take some time off from NS to focus on RL and let others finish the tournaments he's been elected to host. I believe he'll host major tournaments again in the future and do so successfully but right now I don't think there's any confidence in his ability to return as IBC host, set a schedule for the remaining days of this tournament and stick to it so we probably do need a new host.

I do think he could have done a better job of communicating all of this on the forums and I definitely recommend that hosts make some sort of public statement ASAP whenever there's a delay in a tournament they're hosting (no need to go into more details than what you're comfortable sharing though) and, if you're not capable of finishing a tournament you're elected to host in a reasonable amount of time there's nothing wrong with withdrawing as host and letting somebody else finish the tournament. In cases where there are co-hosts, each host should be ready to step in and finish the tournament solo if necessary (there was an NSWC a few years back where one of the co-hosts disappeared for all of qualifying, even from IRC, and the other co-host ended up scorinating all of qualifying rather than delaying the NSWC for a month).

[The Sherpa Empire]

I do think he could have done a better job of communicating all of this on the forums and I definitely recommend that hosts make some sort of public statement ASAP whenever there's a delay in a tournament they're hosting (no need to go into more details than what you're comfortable sharing though) and, if you're not capable of finishing a tournament you're elected to host in a reasonable amount of time there's nothing wrong with withdrawing as host and letting somebody else finish the tournament.

This is the part that's frustrating to me. He found the time to come on Discord, so I don't see how it would have been impossible to post on the forums and tell us what's going on. If he had some kind of RL emergency and legitimately does not have the time to read everyone's RPs and scorinate, OK, but at least tell us.

If EQS does pick this up and get it moving again now, I probably won't be able to RP for the remaining games because I am going to be traveling IRL.

If someone picks up where Qasden left off and scorinates the rest of the tournament, keeping the games that have already been played, that's cool.

If it is decided that the tournament got ICly cancelled for some reason -- demons ate the people running it, Qasden got invaded by space raccoons, whatever -- and the new host starts over from scratch, please assume that a year passed in the Sherpa Empire between the cancelled tournament and the new one. You can still use the same roster and stadium info if you're playing against me and want to name-drop my players or mention where a game is being played. Assume I won't RP and feel free to godmod anything that doesn't kill my players, cause career-ending injuries, or do significant damage to my nation.

[95X]

After finally being able to login to Discord for the first time in over a week (technical issues unrelated to their overall technical issues), there was absolutely no discussion about the IBC. An obvious conclusion is Qas has moved on.

I'm not even a Committee member yet (I should be one of them when this IBC finishes, provided I already posted a roster and some RP), but I'd like to say I disagree about abandoning and re-starting the tournament when it comes to roleplaying. I personally would feel wasted.

Agreed. IMO, one of the unwritten norms of NS Sports is the RPs contribute to an RP bonus.

If EQS does pick this up and get it moving again now, I probably won't be able to RP for the remaining games because I am going to be traveling IRL.

Exactly why there should be some consideration to the games already played. Again, purely IMO.

The concept Qasden imagined, with games taking part all over Atlantian Oceania, could be mantained. One could simply ask for his XML and continue from that, or even resetting the RP bonus to 0. IMO, it's better than just quitting.

All of this IMO is up to the new host. If I had a place at the IBC decision-making table I would suggest some sort of participation bonus for the previous RPs and trudging forth from there. Or maybe if they have the time, go through and re-bonus the previous RPs.

[Newmanistan]

I'd also be completely against a restart because we've already had 5 days of the tournament scorinated and RPed.

I completely agree. It will be a PITA for the new host to have to manually create tables, but it's what has to be done. What I was meaning earlier is that, when the new host does take over, I will be RP'ing the pains and tribulations of this tournament.

This is the part that's frustrating to me. He found the time to come on Discord, so I don't see how it would have been impossible to post on the forums and tell us what's going on. If he had some kind of RL emergency and legitimately does not have the time to read everyone's RPs and scorinate, OK, but at least tell us.

My thoughts exactly.

[Drawkland]

Yeah, I've seen enough. I like the idea of asking Equestrian States to score the rest of the tournament seeing as how he currently doesn't have any hosting responsibilities (as far as I can recall), bid for this tournament anyway, and is an AO nation (which would keep the "played across AO" idea Qasden employed intact, for those that liked it).

I'll ping EQS in a moment and ask him if he wants to do it. If not, I'll be willing to take on the rest of the tournament, since that's an implied presidential duty in some circles if I remember right. Unless there's somebody else dying to take up the reigns, that's how we'll go from here on out.

I'm making an executive decision here because, while a committee vote may be appropriate, God knows that this tournament needs more delay. We need to get this over with before the World Cup sucks up most people's RP energy.

[95X]

Section 4: The president's duties are the following: opening the sign-up thread; opening and collecting host voting; opening and collecting constitutional proposal voting; keeping the membership list updated; and making any other arbitrary decisions which are not fit to be decided by the organization as a whole.

So the reason to declare an 'arbitrary decision that isn't fit to be decided by the organization as a whole' is the tournament is so delayed IRL that further delay is contrary to the purpose of NS Sports, or something.

It turns out I'll have even less usable time over next few weeks than I anticipated, so I wish whoever takes over the IBC the best.

[Equestrian States]

Since the consensus seems to be in favor of me taking the reigns for the rest of the tournament, I'll be happy to do so. It's a bit late here, though, so I'll have to put off laying out a complete plan for finishing the tournament until tomorrow, but I'll try to have a full plan figured out ASAP. Ideally, I can get the RP bonus spreadsheet and xkoranate file from Qas to make the transition easier, but I can still proceed without them if need be.

[Equestrian States]

IBC 26 Host Announcement

As per this post by IBO Committee President Drawkland, the Equestrian States will be taking over IC and OOC hosting duties for the remainder of the tournament. I have received the xkoranate files for the tournament, so completing the group stage with manual tables will thankfully not be necessary. Scorination will resume with MD6 on Wednesday, August 15th at approximately 11:00 pm EDT. Since we never got venue assignments for the group stage and I simply don't have the time to carry out the "venues throughout Atlantian Oceania" plan, I've also decided to proceed under the assumption that the individual nations participating will host their "home" games. The playoffs will be hosted at venues in the Equestrian States, with more information on that to be provided prior to the end of the group stage. Otherwise, there will be no changes to the format or tiebreakers of the tournament from what Qasden's original bid and plans contained.

If you have any questions/comments/concerns regarding the rest of IBC 26, please ask them here or via TG or PM on IRC/Discord.

[95X]

For those who wanted to RP that they wanted to play their games in AO, have no fear, as 95X venues will continue to be available. I'm somewhat sure I have the info. I originally gave to Qas on a file on my desktop and can add it to my post on the thread. If not it's easy for me to find. Just be sure to be nice to thw bus drivers, capitalists, and conjoined twins. :)

That information is now available on the bottom of my roster post: viewtopic.php?p=34318795#p34318795 (Hmm, I guess I should've completed the roster, would be helpful, wouldn't it?)

If there are questions, feel free to stop by NS Sport in the Esper Dead Mall. Vaporwave and a s t h e t i c s optional. ;) I also seem to be able to login to Discord these days.

[Equestrian States]

MD6 has been pushed back 24 hours as I had something come up that prevented me from getting everything together in time for tonight. Expect the cutoff tomorrow basically right at 11pm.

[Free Republics]

A couple of weird discrepencies I found in the tables (emphasis mine):

Group A                       Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD   Pts 
1 Royal Kingdom of Quebec       5    4   1   409  359  +50    12
2 Qasden                        5    3   2   368  336  +32     9
3 Lisander                      5    3   2   355  359   −4     9
4 Nepenisea                     5    2   3   388  399  −11     6
5 Calderwoodian People          5    2   3   358  389  −31     6
6 Xelsis                        5    1   4   358  400  −42     3

Group D                       Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD   Pts 
1 Abanhfleft                    5    5   0   404  313  +91    15
2 Free Republics                5    3   2   402  371  +31     9
3 Equestrian States             5    3   2   385  366  +19     9
4 Aristian Republic             5    2   3   374  382   −8     6
5 Halfdansodal                  5    1   4   357  403  −46     3
6 Nicana                        5    1   4   337  426  −89     3

Group A                     Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD   Pts 
1 Royal Kingdom of Quebec       6    6   0   500  415  +85    18
2 Qasden                        6    4   2   500  438  +62    12
3 Lisander                      6    3   3   460  402  +58     9
4 Nepenisea                     6    3   3   470  505  −35     9
5 Calderwoodian People          6    1   5   430  486  −56     3
6 Xelsis                        6    1   5   436  550 −114     3

Group D
Free Republics 72–68 Equestrian States
Abanhfleft 82–69 Aristian Republic
Halfdansodal 75–76 Nicana

  Group D                     Pld    W   L    PF   PA   PD   Pts 
1 Abanhfleft                    6    6   0   502  388 +114    18
2 Equestrian States             6    4   2   450  395  +55    12
3 Free Republics                6    3   3   442  420  +22     9
4 Nicana                        6    3   3   421  468  −47     9
5 Aristian Republic             6    2   4   418  447  −29     6
6 Halfdansodal                  6    0   6   380  495 −115     0

---

I'm sure I could keep looking and I'd find more discrepancies but I think its obvious that something's wrong from the examples I've bolded above. I didn't even provide the MD6 scores for Group A because its impossible for a team to go from 4-1 to 6-0 and its also impossible for a team to go from 1-4 to 0-6. I assume that Qasden must have either lost the original file or forgot to save at some point and ended up rescorinating at least the first 2 matchdays (as Quebec's loss was on MD2) and doing manual tables for the remaining matchdays that he scorinated.

[Newmanistan]

Yeah, unfortunately you got a corrupted file from Qasden. We were 5-0 after five days, won on the MD6 scorination, but show as 5-1 now.

[Equestrian States]

*sigh*

Well, looks like it'll be manual tables from here on out then. MD6 tables should be fixed sometime this morning, or by the afternoon at the latest. Sorry about that.

[Lisander]

Thank god xkoranate has a Table Generator.

[Equestrian States]

Thank god xkoranate has a Table Generator.

Indeed.

Tables have been fixed. If anyone sees any errors from here on out with the table, please let me know ASAP.

Edit: MD7 will be pushed back 24 hours to allow more RPing with the updated tables

[Saint Kanye]

Abanhfleft fails to make playoffs? What is this world coming to?!?!?!

[Equestrian States]

Right, so my sincerest apologies for the continued delays with the knockout rounds as work has been absolutely brutal the last week and a half or so. Fortunately, things are starting to lighten up on that front, so I'm planning to get my IC stuff together sometime before the weekend with an eye on Saturday evening for the Ro16 cutoff. That might get pushed back to Sunday night if RL conspires against me again, but that should (fingers crossed) be all the delays we have to deal with from here on out.

[Newmanistan]

Right, so my sincerest apologies for the continued delays with the knockout rounds as work has been absolutely brutal the last week and a half or so. Fortunately, things are starting to lighten up on that front, so I'm planning to get my IC stuff together sometime before the weekend with an eye on Saturday evening for the Ro16 cutoff. That might get pushed back to Sunday night if RL conspires against me again, but that should (fingers crossed) be all the delays we have to deal with from here on out.

Thank you for the update!

[Newmanistan]

It's actually, finally, over!
Congrats to Vangaziland!

[Vangaziland]

Thanks to Newmanistan for the nice RP and good game. Thanks to Equestrian States for stepping up to finish hosting. Even a thanks to the first host for the attempt.