Cup of Harmony bid

[Graintfjall]

Græntfjall bids to host the Cup of Harmony.

Invitations

The invitations will be as follows:

• Every playoff loser will be invited (15×1)
• I will ask Tumbra and Chromatika to each supply me with the highest non-qualifying RP earner from each group they scorinated for the half of games they scorinated (15×2)
• I will ask Tumbra and Chromatika to each supply me with the highest remaining RP earner across all groups for the half of games they scorinated (2×1)
• Me, in the event I fail to qualify for the WC (1×1)

For a total of 48.

Obviously there is likely to be overlap, and some teams may also decline invitations. Any remaining places will be filled up through wildcard invitations. I will only go below 48 if it proves totally impossible to fill the slots with active RPers, and I will not go above 48.

Format

The 48 cup format will use 8 groups of 6, with the top two from each qualifying to the Round of 16 knockout. This does mean the tournament has two extra MDs compared to the WCF. Scorination will be 1/48, alternating with the WCF if possible.

Scorination

NSFS with additive mods, usual style modifiers apply. GD will take precedence over head-to-head results in sorting ties. Three+-way ties will be broken by sorting teams by the rules of advancement and working down until the tie is broken.

Solo bidding

I believe I am capable of running a tournament of this size on my own (e.g. WCoH42) and this cycle has proved that solo hosted WCC events can work. That said, if a junior partner wishes to join this bid I will consider it.

Experience

I have hosted several tournaments as this nation and others, including co-hosting CoH80.

[Yue Zhou]

Thanks for the bid!

the highest non-qualifying RP earner

What criteria will be used to evaluate this (is it just cumulative bonus)?

Any remaining places will be filled up through wildcard invitations

Will you request more RP bonus information from the WCQ hosts to determine wildcards, or will this be based on your own evaluations of RPs?

[Juvencus]

Awesome bid, still do not understand the purpose of teams disqualified in the playoffs earning a spot in the Cup of Harmony by default. What if in the extreme case a non-RPer manages to get into the playoffs but lose? Would they still be getting invited over an active RPer with a substantial bonus that didn't get to them?

[Nephara]

I really like the structure of invites. It takes away the most annoying part of CoH discourse: 'why wasn't I invited after my two 500-word match reports?' Can easily just point to the reqs. And the wildcards should sweep up the truly deserving who would have narrowly been pipped by exceptional groups.

And obviously you have my complete confidence as a host, so. If I actually remember to vote, I'm in favour.

[Graintfjall]

Thanks for the bid!

the highest non-qualifying RP earner

What criteria will be used to evaluate this (is it just cumulative bonus)?

Yes.

Any remaining places will be filled up through wildcard invitations

Will you request more RP bonus information from the WCQ hosts to determine wildcards, or will this be based on your own evaluations of RPs?

I'll ask them for the top overall RP bonus winners, yes, though I do reserve the right to exercise my own discretion at this point. Realistically though I do not plan on regrading the entire WC RP thread myself, so I will depend on Tumbratika's assistance.

Awesome bid, still do not understand the purpose of teams disqualified in the playoffs earning a spot in the Cup of Harmony by default. What if in the extreme case a non-RPer manages to get into the playoffs but lose? Would they still be getting invited over an active RPer with a substantial bonus that didn't get to them?

If a non-RPer manages to get into the playoffs and wins, they're not disqualified from the WCF. I appreciate the Cup of Harmony is thought of as a reward for RPing, but it does also have a KPB component. (There would not be such scrutiny over invites to a purely friendly tournament!) I feel the automatic invite is a consolation for the team getting so close but not quite to the WCF. Also, I want to formalise/automate invitations as much as possible to reduce complaints overs invites, which can get quite toxic. By laying out clear criteria, albeit ones still dependent on Tumbratika's judgement moreso than mine, I hope we can avoid too many arguments.

I really like the structure of invites. It takes away the most annoying part of CoH discourse: 'why wasn't I invited after my two 500-word match reports?' Can easily just point to the reqs. And the wildcards should sweep up the truly deserving who would have narrowly been pipped by exceptional groups.

Thank you.

[Krytenia]

Whilst I agree with your points on the mechanics re: auto-inviting playoff losers, I do feel it may detract from the soul of the competition a little. I will say at this point it's not a hard pass for me, but I'd prefer at least some active participation requirement for these fifteen. Of course, this doesn't necessarily need to be as stringent as the remaining invite; may I suggest that playoff losers would receive an invite provided they have posted a roster?

Of course, the flip side of this coin is that the nation in question only receives an invite and there's no guarantee that they'd accept or even respond, so there's that.

[Graintfjall]

may I suggest that playoff losers would receive an invite provided they have posted a roster?

Was actually going to propose exactly that. :) I held off as I haven't quite decided if this tournament will be roster-to-accept or not (leaning towards not).

I do think by the end of WCQ it is pretty unlikely any team would be in that position anyway. As of now every team in the top 3 of their group has rostered, and from this point on Chromatika's roster penalty will be 100%.

[Legalese]

Quick point regarding the bid's plan to invite all playoff losers regardless of RP posting (emphasis mine):

2.4 The Cup of Harmony
The Cup of Harmony is the third and last event in the World Cup cycle. It is designed to be the Cup of Losers Non-Qualifiers, who have failed to get to the World Cup itself but have still demonstrated an insane desire to try and lift some sort of silverware. Originally called the Frosty Cup, the term Cup of Harmony is a much better name for the participating nations who just couldn't make it to the actual World Cup.

2.4.1 Entry
The conditions for entry into the Cup of Harmony are:
i) A nation must have signed up for the corresponding World Cup in the appropriate Signup Thread
ii) That nation must have failed to qualify for that World Cup, given the conditions set by the hosts.
iii) That nation must have posted at least one roleplay in the appropriate RP thread during the corresponding World Cup
iv) That nation must also have indicated a desire to play in the Cup of Harmony in response to a host invitation.

[Graintfjall]

If they're ineligible, obviously they won't be invited.

[Ceni]

Will there be any control for "strength of schedule," so to speak (ie several good RPers in one particular group, and scraping the bottom of the barrel in another group), or are you relying on overlap and declined invitations as the control here?

[Graintfjall]

Will there be any control for "strength of schedule," so to speak (ie several good RPers in one particular group, and scraping the bottom of the barrel in another group), or are you relying on overlap and declined invitations as the control here?

Doing it by group does open up that kind of variation, it's true, but then we don't adjust for strength of schedule for the WCF. I do expect there to be enough overlap anyway, though.

[Ceni]

Doing it by group does open up that kind of variation, it's true, but then we don't adjust for strength of schedule for the WCF. I do expect there to be enough overlap anyway, though.

I mean... the World Cup Finals have never been billed as a tournament to reward RPing, whereas I think the Cup of Harmony is more explicitly about recognizing RPers who RPed well, regardless of the group they landed in. So I'm still a bit undecided whether I like the proposed structure depending so heavily on the group draw, then.

[Independent Athletes from Quebec]

This is a good bid with a good host who not only knows what he's doing, but also knows when and whom to say no towards. Considering the recent CoHs where we would either get a user constantly begging for a CoH spot like a beggar, or demanding questions quite openly on the forum or a server so over what they believe to be their deserved slot, I think having someone with integrity like the OP here as the host provides us a favour as a whole.

I endorse this bid, though I also question the necessity of having all playoff losers be invited. From my personal recollections in 87-89 cycles I don't remember this being so much of an issue, and I didn't complain back then, but with an expanded pool from 2nd to 2nd and 3rd place on groups I cannot help but to feel that the risk of letting in a rather undeserved playoff loser is there, and I would say with greater likelihood.

Not sure if I'd get behind that idea. I won't go as far as proposing strength of schedule here, especially because that requires additional mathematics which would be more than inconvenient, but would it be possible for some playoff loser slots to be replaced by wildcards to take account into the stronger depth of RPers on a few groups?

[Tumbra]

To provide some additional context: 124 nations have posted a roster at this point in time (the fifth cutoff), and 101 nations have made at least some contribution to the RP thread up till now.

[Graintfjall]

Doing it by group does open up that kind of variation, it's true, but then we don't adjust for strength of schedule for the WCF. I do expect there to be enough overlap anyway, though.

I mean... the World Cup Finals have never been billed as a tournament to reward RPing, whereas I think the Cup of Harmony is more explicitly about recognizing RPers who RPed well, regardless of the group they landed in. So I'm still a bit undecided whether I like the proposed structure depending so heavily on the group draw, then.

I believe my criteria will still allow plenty of scope for inviting those who've RPed. Bear in mind that for each group, 5 teams will either go to the World Cup or be automatic invites. To miss out would require a group with more than half of the users RPing at a high level but not at a high enough level to earn a wildcard spot. I honestly think in the final event, my invite list with wildcards will shake out very similar to a list from someone who proposes just a straight "best 48 RPers" invitation list.

would it be possible for some playoff loser slots to be replaced by wildcards to take account into the stronger depth of RPers on a few groups?

That said, I do see the CoH as more than a pure RP reward tournament. If it were that, it'd just be a friendly and I could invite whomever I wanted. The CoH has KPB implications, too. Giving an automatic invite to the playoff losers smooths out some of the impact of group draw on World Cup qualification by ensuring that every group is going to have 3 teams either going to the WC or the CoH, minimum. So no, other than playoff losers who have not rostered/posted one RP, I won't be replacing them with others, though I'd be surprised if anyone in the top 48 RPers overall didn't make it to the CoH under my criteria anyway.

[Audioslavia]

I like the entry criteria. And obviously Graint is more than capable of hosting solo.

[Carpathia and Ruthenia]

In the event you fail to qualify, who will be scoranting & evaluting your RPs (for the RP bonus)?

[Graintfjall]

In the event you fail to qualify, who will be scoranting & evaluting your RPs (for the RP bonus)?

For scorination, either a third party scorinator or just ask someone to watch a screen-share of me hitting the scorinate button (I prefer the latter as it's a bit quicker and simpler, but I don't know how widely accepted it is as kosher).

For RP grading, to be honest when I've hosted in the past I haven't outsourced RP grading to someone else; instead what I've done is given myself the average of the day's RP bonus (e.g. if the average bonus is 2.7/4, I give myself a 2.7). I'm not aware of other hosts generally getting third parties to grade their RPs, though, if there's a demand to do so, I'll try to find someone who can.

On that note, I won't be accepting an invite with Montaña Verde in the event they meet the invitation criteria unless I'm in a situation where it's easier to stick my puppet in to make the numbers work.

[Cassadaigua]

I have no reservations about Graintfjall successfully hosting the Cup of Harmony solo.

That said, I have a small concern about a good RPer, that may be in their first cycle which Margaret might have hated, perhaps finishing 6th or so in a highly competitive group being left out. I'm also very interested in seeing how this would actually play out. The reason why I post my thoughts is just to say as a former Cup of Harmony host, you really start to be in the picking "the best of the rest" mode after you get past the first 35-40 nations that are easy to pick. So, I don't think that anyone would be left out that should be there. Undecided with a lean towards supporting right now.