Nationstates Olympic Games Discussion Thread

[Ethane]

'I read the first line of your post and backed out.'

Well, Vang, I am sorry you feel that way about the comments I made. As FFR has said, a debate can only work if everyone's viewpoints are heard, and that is what I believe I was doing. I'm sorry if my comments insulted you in any way to the point of banning me on TGs and sending that TG to me, but I'm not your enemy and I don't intend to fight with you.

I am personally hopeful that I will be able to RP plenty in this Winter Olympics. 1 thing we will have to try to watch out for is the World Cup and the Winter Olympics clashing. That would probably put a dent in the number of active RPers. I think having 2 of the biggest NS Sports tournaments running at the same time would be pretty disastrous. That will have to be factored into planning of both the next World Cup and Winter Olympics.

[Electrum]

A bid is in the works. Everyone relax.

[Todd McCloud]

A bid is in the works. Everyone relax.

Oooooh

[Electrum]

XIII Winter Olympics - Prescott, Electrum - Bidding City

IC Information

The city
The EOC, has come to the conclusion that it will want to host the third time in a row, taking advantage of the 3 (as in the three times it will host the Winter Olympics, should the bid be accepted) and 13, the edition of these Olympics. The bird on the logo is the finch, Prescott's official bird. Once again it will be held in Electrum's second largest city, Prescott. Electrum is a centralised nation, so it is the only city that is large enough to host the Olympics. Founded by settlers who braved the wintry and cold weather of the foothills of the Wilderness Mountain Ranges, Prescott is a cosmopolitan city nestled in the mountains. The town's namesake is Jess Prescott, the first female settler to form her own town out in the Electrum north. Prescott chose the location for its proximity to the redwood forests which surround the city, making for an excellent source of building material (shelter) and heat.

Modern Prescott has a very large and active night scene, with bars and taverns being the most popular in the Blue District, with alcohol being produced in the vineyards to the south of Prescott, taking advantage of the high altitudes and fertile soil. The large mountains are where the tourists go and spend their time at Prescott, with the main ski towns actually a further 80-90km north/north-west of the main city, close to the Great Lake. The main form of transportation between these towns and Prescott are through buses or private automobiles, as the weather is not conducive to other kinds of public transportation. The road network is fairly good, however 'shortcuts' to the ski towns are unsealed and rocky. The facilities will be reused (with some refurbishments) from the last two Winter Olympic Games held in Prescott.

The nation
Electrum has co-hosted the Games of the X Olympiad with New Gelderland, its neighbour to the south. Electrum is a nation of 40 million people in Rushmore, with borders with Valladares (via the Junin Enclave), Eura, Rhodesiah, Rio Oscuro and New Gelderland to its South. It is known for its vast international commerce and love for all things sport. It is also known for its strict pacifism and anti-war stance, the nation being founded by refugees who happened upon some no man’s land in Rushmore. Its capital and largest city is Centralis, on the mouth of the renowned Eridanus River. Other major centres include Agri, Hamilton, Port Grenville, Kale, Auras, Prescott, Somer and Warburton-Fairleigh. Prescott is a two hours flight from Centralis.

The venues
Central Prescott
Northcote Oval: A seventy-five thousand seater with corporate boxes for VIPs, Northcote Oval will once again play host to the Opening and Closing ceremonies.
Ice Sheets at Whitecliff: Curling arena, contains many sheets for group stage play.
Landry's Arena: Ice Hockey arena, with preliminary matches at the nearby National Electrum University - Prescott campus.
The Ice Palace: Short track speed skating, figure skating
Prescott SkateDome: Speed skating
Other venues: Athletes village, international broadcast centre

Ski towns
Mt. Buckley
Mt. Buckley Sliding Centre: Luge, skeleton and bobsleigh
Mt. Buckley National Park: Biathlon, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined (skiing component)
Etienne Jumping Centre: Ski jumping, Nordic combined (ski jump component)

Timberline
XPark: Snowboarding, Freestyle skiing
Alfred Marley's Park: Alpine skiing
Other venues: Athletes village for the ski towns (Timberline Lodges)

OOC Information

Experience
Electrum has hosted six tennis tournaments with complex draws, the 22nd Rugby World Cup, World Bowl XXVI and co-hosted three basketball tournaments (WHS2 and IBC 15/16) with Mizuyuki. Electrum also co-hosted the 76th World Cup with Ceni. Electrum was also the president of the International Basketball Organisation for some time. In terms of multi-sport events, Electrum has hosted the Multiverse Games, the past two Winter Olympic Games, and co-hosted the Games of the X Olympiad with Ceni/New Gelderland.

Format and dates
The tournament will last for approximately eighteen days, following the PyeongChang schedule (with minor adjustments) very closely. All extended list events will be medal events in Prescott. All new events in PyeongChang will be medal events as well (subject to the list of events being changed). Demonstration events from the previous games I hosted will be included as well. The tournament will ideally start a week or so from the start of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics so as to take advantage of the Olympic year, as well as give me time to devise xkoranate files for the new events that are coming in PyeongChang.

Scorination Details

All events will be scorinated using xkoranate 0.3.3, using files and documentation which can be found here.

As per the last Olympic Games, MMAB will be utilised. The RP Bonus will have a 20% weighting to the MMAB, 30% for the day's roleplay, 30% for the previous three day's roleplay, and 20% for the total, cumulative roleplay. The inclusion of the additional 'previous three days roleplay' is to reward those who submit high quality roleplays but do not necessarily roleplay everyday. Multiple posts submitting during one day will be counted as one larger roleplay for the purposes of RP Bonus. The host bonus will be identical to what was used last Olympic Games.

There will be a limit of 200 entries for one delegation, and a delegation can either be one nation or a unified team. Each OOC user will be allowed to have two delegations, with a combined total of 300 entries (not including automatic entries), which is the same as last time.

Something new
I will be collecting the sign-ups and will be hosting for the majority of the days in the Olympic Games. On selected days, I will allow specially chosen people to scorinate the entirety of that day's events. The reason for this is to address the problem of nations not having enough experience in hosting the Olympic Games, so these games are an opportunity to give that experience to nations who are at least thinking about hosting the Olympic Games in the future. These specially chosen nations would ideally have some experience hosting other major events on the forums, and have expressed an interest in hosting Olympic Games in the future (whether by themselves or with another partner). I haven't decided to split off individual sports as in previous Olympic Games, as the Winter Olympics are too small to do that. This is obviously the most 'experimental' part of the bid and would like some feedback on it. They would have to apply to me and I will announce them at an appropriate time before the Games start. I will always hold the master file should they not be able to score for whatever reason.

Closing remarks

If you have any questions, queries or concerns, please ask them.

[West Phoenicia]

I think it's a wonderful idea that certain players will be given the opportunity.
It allows for new people to begin to be trained up and not only does it give them experience and a new nation to host events as opposed to the same people every time with the same results but allows veterans an opportunity to enjoy the games by just rp and giving them some rest and lets them have a bit more of a life..

And stops the small clique from having a sort of tight grip monopoly that is clear in the NS Sports forums.

[Todd McCloud]

I... really like that idea of temp daily scorination bit. Can we call it that? Give people some more experience to get their confidence up a bit. That, and it blows out Vekaiyu's in-progress bid, which won't have that option and relies on a heavy winter in Eldura and sort of doesn't make a whole lot of sense considering the nation falls flat for every winter Olympiad!

But I do have a question or two about it: if they scorinate in the entirety, that would include RP bonuses assigned during that day, correct? Will the temp scorinator also be in charge of any corrections that come about? Also, how many do you anticipate will apply to this program?

[Vilitan Union]

I'm going to hold out in the hopes that there will be other bids such as the one Vekaiyu has in works, for no other reason than it would be nice ICly for the Olympic games to be hosted in a different city this time around. Nothing wrong with the bid otherwise and if it ended up being the only bid then so be it

[Kelssek]

Wearing the presidential hat, what I read from Electrum's bid is that the proposed start date is 16 February 2018 or thereabouts. So at this point we are looking at holding a hosting vote by mid-December at the latest, which gives 5-6 weeks for signups. I'll set a definite bid deadline close to that date or if another bid proposes an earlier start.

Also, and not directed at anyone specifically, the formal name of the event is "Olympic Winter Games", we seem to get that mixed up every now and again.

[Sjovenia]

If you have any questions, queries or concerns, please ask them.

I think one of the Prescott's Winter Olympics was my first olympics ever! Heh nice! Back for round two I suppose!!!

I noticed in comments a page back about turn outs and Nations. I feel like theres a relatively small community of sports RPers and even smaller for those who are "uber" into it. Most of my region is war based/politics based. I am included in that but I also enjoy sports RPs for national glory and sports history! Im not "uber" into sports but I enjoy roleplaying them as they add to the over all aesthetics of my nation. Aside form just "War and Politics" I can RP my nation as a whole. Daily Life, concerts, sports, War, businesses etc etc.

Side Note: Click Here for a Sjovene Sports Demo featuring a combination of sports footage!

[Liventia]

I second some of the questions Vekaiyu has raised about Electrum's plan to turn over scorination.

Additionally to those my question would be will they have free reign to run the day's events as they wish or will you provide them with guidance (format of events, number of qualifiers, etc)? I think it's slightly trickier with the winter games because while, say, athletics is fairly straightforward, not everyone's going to know how to run a Nordic combined event.

Also, a Liventian bid — for a Games starting 1 March (four days after the end of PC 2018) — is under consideration.

[New Doltania]

We'll bid to host the games

[Vangaziland]

Seems legit.

[Liventia]

Also, a Liventian bid — for a Games starting 1 March (four days after the end of PC 2018) — is under consideration.

I know the bid hasn't officially been made yet, but just to note I'm withdrawing my interest — I'm off to PyeongChang in March for the Paralympics for my RL job.

[Darkmania]

We'll bid to host the games

I cannot see you have hosted a sporting event. Even me, a nation who will make its debut at the upcoming Olympics, knows that it's recommended that you have hosted some events. Could you please show us your hosting portfolio?

[Kelssek]

The deadline to submit hosting bids for the XIII Olympic Winter Games is December 14, 2017 at 23:59 UTC.

[Northwest Kalactin]

What is a sign up creator?

[Liventia]

What is a sign up creator?

It's a spreadsheet or PC programme that helps some people produce Olympics signups in the format required by hosts (Name;TLC;skill).

[Sjovenia]

What is a sign up creator?

It's a spreadsheet or PC programme that helps some people produce Olympics signups in the format required by hosts (Name;TLC;skill).

I'd be very interested in learning how to use Xkorinate and sign up creator but alas I am dumb

[Liventia]

@Electrum could we get a response to our questions please?

[Electrum]

@Electrum could we get a response to our questions please?

My apologies: I thought I already answered it on the forums, but it turns out I misremembered - I answered Todd's questions on Discord, so I'll just answer just so everyone can see:

But I do have a question or two about it: if they scorinate in the entirety, that would include RP bonuses assigned during that day, correct? Will the temp scorinator also be in charge of any corrections that come about? Also, how many do you anticipate will apply to this program?

I had initially considered to let them assign RP bonuses themselves but I am concerned that temporary scorinators would be able to have a look at the fine detail how I've graded everyone else, which is something I feel uncomfortable about, so I've decided to set RP bonuses myself. As a result, every day I will make the files available with the updated bonuses each day on cut-off to the appropriate temporary scorinator.

For the sake of simplicity and organisation sake, I'll handle the corrections as they arise. Some are simple fixes (such as for one-instance events), some are more difficult to resolve (e.g. bracketed tournaments missing players). If it's the latter, then I would figure out a way to reach out to those adversely affected, as in previous Olympic Games. I plan for temporary scorinators to resend the files back to me once they have finished scorinating so that I can verify that everything's gone smoothly, and I also plan to be available everyday the Winter Olympics are being held as well, in case of an emergency (so I would be available every day, just like last year).

I anticipate there will be not more than a dozen applicants, and the likely talent pool is going to be small, given the scale of commitment for even just one day of scorination and the prerequisite level of experience that is required. I will whittle down applicants as necessary to determine who is most likely to host an Olympic Games in the near future. I may even do this in consultation with previous Olympic hosts as well.

Additionally to those my question would be will they have free reign to run the day's events as they wish or will you provide them with guidance (format of events, number of qualifiers, etc)?

Yes, guidance will absolutely be provided. I plan to provide the successful applicants files that I have used to help me with nordic combined (including how to use the spreadsheet, if they are rostered for that day, and making sure they do some practice runs). For the other events, I will give specific instructions on what to do, e.g. for team trophy, make sure to collate the results at the end for each team, for short track, how to draw the next round of competition, for ice hockey adjusting scores for shootouts/overtime etc.

[Kelssek]

The hosting vote is now open.

For those of you who can't remember if you actually were in the Olympics this year, the Olympic Council membership list is in the same thread.

[West Phoenicia]

The nation we need to message has CTE

[Free Republics]

The nation we need to message has CTE

Looks like Kelssek put a space at the beginning of the nation tag and it ended up linking to the nation " Eryn Firith" instead of "Eryn Firith".

[Savojarna]

I'd encourage you (or somebody else who agrees with you regarding timing) to start a smaller event featuring some of the Winter Olympic events and run it in the weeks prior to the RL Winter Olympics. Sometimes, the only way to make your case in these debates is to take your ideas (or somebody else's ideas that you like) and run with them yourself.

Which I will do (aside from the ongoing Ragnar Johansson Trophy) Savojarna will host one or two skiing events. If the community is willing to sanction them, I can turn them into a "World Championship", but given that I'd still like to get something akin to the FIS World Cup going, I'd rather base it on a similar system. I'm still fairly busy with uni and the RJT, but expect something to happen in January

[Mattijana]

Which I will do (aside from the ongoing Ragnar Johansson Trophy) Savojarna will host one or two skiing events. If the community is willing to sanction them, I can turn them into a "World Championship", but given that I'd still like to get something akin to the FIS World Cup going, I'd rather base it on a similar system. I'm still fairly busy with uni and the RJT, but expect something to happen in January

I'd certainly be up for that. I'm planning at some point pre-Olympics to get a bobsled and skeleton world champs set up in something similar but probably a bit shorter than the WGPC. I don't know if you'd be interested in combining the two sports as some kind of Pre-Olympics Winter Sports tour. I'd be happy to keep the events separate if that doesn't grab you of course.