Independents Cup 18 Sign-Up Thread

[Ratitoue]

This is Ratitoues first Sport event let’s make it a good one!

[Snow And Ice Caps]

I'm in!

[The Spartan Dominion]

I withdraw.

[West Barack and East Obama]

isign

[WasntNotFunny]

OOC: Puppet of Sarzonia here. Figured I'd give this a shot.

IC: The Ministry of Sport, acting on behalf of Supreme Leader Andrew Fredericks, wishes to send our bravest and strongest men to compete on the battlefield of sport and send them to the Independents Cup.

OOC: Sorry this isn't more detailed. I'm at work and my creative juices aren't flowing the way I'd want them to be.

[Srubnaya culture]

I want In

[United Adaikes]

In.

[Geektopia]

Who dares, wins!

[Trolleborg]

In

[Ratitoue]

I withDraw

[Clogia]

in

[Clogia]

in

[Sannyamathland]

Yes

[New Master]

Sure, sign-up confirmed. TILL ARE ONE!

[The Spartan Dominion]

I in Again.

[Clogia]

I withdraw

[PotatoFarmers]

IAC18 Host Bid: Cart before the Horse

The Format
Because we are trying to put the cart before the horse, this bid will attempt to have a knockout stage before a group stage. Well, sort of, since there is still another knockout stage after the Group Stage. In which case, you can consider the first knockout stage as a strict placement round. Besides, the knockout stage will actually be just another variant of the Casaran. For newcomers, this is basically known as the Swiss-system tournament IRL. But like its older brother the Jacquan, this Casaran variant will ensure that teams know their opponents one-to-two matches in advance, therefore getting rid of the issue that users only know their opponents at the cutoff before the match begins. This is done through something known as "pre-seeding" - such that matchups are paired in advance so teams know their possible "pool" of opponents to pick from.

The 3 numbers we are intending to work with are 32 teams, 40 teams, or even 48 teams. While we have 33 signups, some of them are puppets and have made it clear they can be cut. These are chosen because they are multiples of 8, and in particular, 32 teams will allow the Casaran stage to truly do the "knockout" part of its job. The detailed description of the formats can be found here, but in particular, I shall describe the seeding process used in the 32-team format since this is the more likely format we will use, baring a quick expansion. Note that for this format, all matches will be held in Poafmersia.

32-team Variant
Prior to the start of the of the first stage, teams will be split into 4 pots using IAC ranking like any standard group stage. Teams in Pot 1 will be paired with a team in Pot 4, and a team in Pot 2 with Pot 3 for Matchday 1. One of the Pot 1 - Pot 4 matchups and a Pot 2 - Pot 3 matchup will be paired up, with the winners and losers playing each other respectively in Matchday 2. This will form 1 pool of 4 teams. This pool will then be paired with another pool - where the winner of the winners matchup will play with each other, loser of the winners matchup will play with each other, etc. In particular, if you were to put all these in graphic form, it is basically a triple elimination bracket, but you don't go to the end. Teams are eliminated when they lost 3 games.

Prior to Matchday 3 and Matchday 4, the Matchday 4 and 5 pairing respectively will be released with placeholder names. The format will produce 1 5-win team, 5 4-win teams, and 10 3-win teams.

The tournament will then advance to a group stage. The 2 teams who were at 4-wins in Round 4 will be placed in a group with 3 3-win teams, with the 5-win team being given the choice of groups after the rest of the draw is conducted. The remaining 4 4-win teams will be placed in 2 groups with 2 other 3-win teams in each group. Note that Stage 1 rematches may be possible.

From the Group Stage (Stage 2), the group winners advance to the Semifinals. A third-place match will be conducted for the losing semifinalists.

40-team Variant
Prior to the start of the of the first stage, teams will be split into 4 pots using IAC ranking like any standard group stage. Teams in Pot 1 will be paired with a team in Pot 4, and a team in Pot 2 with Pot 3 for Matchday 1. One of the Pot 1 - Pot 4 matchups and a Pot 2 - Pot 3 matchup will be paired up, with the winners and losers playing each other respectively in Matchday 2. This will form 1 pool of 4 teams. This pool will then be paired with another pool - where the winner of the winners matchup will play with each other, loser of the winners matchup will play with each other, etc. In particular, if you were to put all these in graphic form, it is basically a triple elimination bracket, but you don't go to the end. At the end of the stage, the 5 winless teams will be eliminated.

The tournament will then advance to a group stage. There are 2 types of groups for this round, namely, the "Group of Champions", and the "Groups of Challengers".

The 5 3-win teams will be placed in a "Group of Champions", where only 1 team will be eliminated at the end of the round. For the playoffs, the 4 teams from this group will be seeded in separate quarters, so they will not meet before the semifinals.

The remaining 30 2-win and 1-win teams will be placed in 6 "Groups of Challengers". The 2-win teams will be placed in 1 pot, and the 1-win teams in another pot. Teams will be drawn randomly from each pot with a corresponding group number, such that each group will have at least 2 and at most 3 2-win teams. Note that rematches from Stage 1 may be possible. The top 2 teams of each group will advance to the playoffs.

For the Playoffs (Stage 3), it would be a single-elimination bracket starting from the Round of 16. The bracket will be a semi-fixed group draw method, with the following rules taken into account:
- Each half will comprise of 3 group winners and 3 group runners-up from the Groups of Challengers, as well as 2 teams from the Group of Champions.
- The 1st and 4th placed team from the Group of Champions will be placed in one half, while the 2nd and 3rd placed team will be placed in the other
- The 3 group winners from the Group of Challengers, as well as the higher-ranked team from the Group of Champions, will be the seeded teams in that half.
- Teams from the same group (including the Group of Champions) will not play each other until the Semifinals at the minimum.

Group Stage Tiebreakers
Teams will be ranked in the group stage by the following:
1. Points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw)
2. Head-to-head points among tied teams
3. Head-to-head goal difference among tied teams
4. Wins
5. Coin Flip (Match scored using only RP bonus)
If there are multiple tied teams, and a smaller subset of the tied teams have been given a relative ranking due to the above tiebreakers, the remaining tied teams will be tiebroken again from the first tiebreaker.

OOC Scorination details
The tournament will be scored using xkoronate, with the SQIS formula. Any games involving the host will be scorinated by a third-party. Cutoffs will be held every 48 hours where possible, giving participants ample time to RP. The cutoffs will likely be around 10pm Singapore Time (UTC+8), or 2pm UTC, 10am US Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4).

RPs will be graded based on quality and effort of RP, regardless of the medium of presentation. For example, match reports that are more concise and features more content points would be more likely to get a higher grade as compared to a longer match report which keeps revolving around a few in-game events and feels rather repetitive. RPs which are totally unrelated to the game be graded on similar criteria as RPs relating to the game/team.

In addition, a roster bonus up to 1 matchday's worth will be given. Rosters will be graded based on the amount of information it gives to other nations, from the player attributes, to the team's overall playing style, and any quirks opposing nations should take note of when RPing matches against your team. Teams who do not submit their roster will be given a penalty equal to 50% of the maximum team rank, subject to a floor of 0 for the team rank.

On Entries Cutoff & First Game
I will cutoff on 27th April at 2359 UTC, or 2 days after host bid closes, whichever comes later. Entries that have been submitted as present will be accepted, and if the numbers don't make a multiple of 8, I will seek permission from the puppet masters to ask if their puppets can/should be considered for dropping. Given the May Day holiday period, first cut off will be held on the evening of the 2nd of May should my bid win.

On the Use of ChatGPT and AI Programs
With the rise of Artificial Intelligence Programs that can generate images & large chunks of text, the host believes that any use of the AI Programs as part of roleplaying should be declared. In particular, we believe that AI-generated text should not be given any roleplaying credit. Should any roleplay posted for credit be found to have utilised such AI programs (without being credited as such), the host will take action similar to that of RP plagiarism.

For AI-generated images used as part of an original roleplay, the host would consider them to be similar to using online-found stock images. No additional credit would be given for usage of such images.

Host Experience
You can read more about it here

We are open for any additional questions and feedback.

Side note: I am particularly interested in forcing a host vote, and might submit a second format to allow everyone to pick between 2 (wacky) formats, if I am the only bidder.

[Magnecia]

In as a puppet of Sannyamathland.

[Sannyamathland]

In as a puppet of Sannyamathland.

Confirming this.

[PotatoFarmers]

IAC18 (Other) Host Bid: Two Groups and One Playoffs

Yes, I am bidding with another format.

The Format
Taking into account that a number of users are new, this bid will try to start off with a traditional group stage. In keeping with the goals of the user to have a three-stage competition, this format will create a second "group stage" in between the first and the playoffs. However, there is no reason to believe that the second stage is actually a group stage, due to the quirky format, which we will call, the Dual Group Format.

Dual Group Format
The Dual Group Format will involve pool of 4 teams. For this format, games which are tied in 90 minutes will extend to extra time, and if it is still a draw after 120 minutes, penalties.

In the first round, the teams will play pairwise based on seeding. This will produce 2 teams who won their games, and 2 teams who lost their games. This round is also known as the Seeding Round.

The second round will be split into the Winners Half, and the Repêchage Half. The two game 1 winners will play in the Winners Half, with the winner of the game seeded as top seed for the playoffs, and the loser advancing to the Return Round. The two game 1 losers will play in the Repêchage Half, with the losers eliminated, and the winners advancing to the Return Round.

The two teams in the Return Round will play one final game, with the winner being seeded as second seeds for the playoffs.

The format will start off with a Group Stage of 8 groups of X, depending on the final numbers. Currently, we can work with 8 groups of 4 and 8 groups of 5 for 32 teams and 40 teams respectively. The top 2 teams of each group will advance to the Second Stage, the Dual Group Format.

For the Dual Group Format, each pool will include 2 group winners and 2 group runners-up, with the group winners seeded in the Seeding Round. The first seed will enter the Playoffs in the Winners Bracket, the second seed will enter the Playoffs in the Losers Bracket.

For the Playoffs, it will be an 8-team double elimination tournament. Teams in the Winners Bracket will drop to the Losers Bracket should they lose their game. To avoid having multiple bye dates, the Losers Bracket Quarters & Semifinals will be double scorinated. All games will be scored with draws off.

For the Grand Finals, it will be scored with draws on. The team winning the Winners Finals will gain a draw advantage - meaning that if the game ends in a draw at 90 minutes, the Winners Finals winner will clinch the IAC trophy.

Group Stage Tiebreakers
Teams will be ranked in the group stage by the following:
1. Points (3 for a win, 1 for a draw)
2. Head-to-head points among tied teams
3. Head-to-head goal difference among tied teams
4. Wins
5. Coin Flip (Match scored using only RP bonus)
If there are multiple tied teams, and a smaller subset of the tied teams have been given a relative ranking due to the above tiebreakers, the remaining tied teams will be tiebroken again from the first tiebreaker.

OOC Scorination details
The tournament will be scored using xkoronate, with the SQIS formula. Any games involving the host will be scorinated by a third-party. Cutoffs will be held every 48 hours where possible, giving participants ample time to RP. The cutoffs will likely be around 10pm Singapore Time (UTC+8), or 2pm UTC, 10am US Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4).

RPs will be graded based on quality and effort of RP, regardless of the medium of presentation. For example, match reports that are more concise and features more content points would be more likely to get a higher grade as compared to a longer match report which keeps revolving around a few in-game events and feels rather repetitive. RPs which are totally unrelated to the game be graded on similar criteria as RPs relating to the game/team.

In addition, a roster bonus up to 1 matchday's worth will be given. Rosters will be graded based on the amount of information it gives to other nations, from the player attributes, to the team's overall playing style, and any quirks opposing nations should take note of when RPing matches against your team. Teams who do not submit their roster will be given a penalty equal to 50% of the maximum team rank, subject to a floor of 0 for the team rank.

On Entries Cutoff & First Game
I will cutoff on 27th April at 2359 UTC, or 2 days after host bid closes, whichever comes later. Entries that have been submitted as present will be accepted, and if the numbers don't make a multiple of 8, I will seek permission from the puppet masters to ask if their puppets can/should be considered for dropping. Given the May Day holiday period, first cutoff will be held on the evening of the 2nd of May (or after) should my bid win.

On the Use of ChatGPT and AI Programs
With the rise of Artificial Intelligence Programs that can generate images & large chunks of text, the host believes that any use of the AI Programs as part of roleplaying should be declared. In particular, we believe that AI-generated text should not be given any roleplaying credit. Should any roleplay posted for credit be found to have utilised such AI programs (without being credited as such), the host will take action similar to that of RP plagiarism.

For AI-generated images used as part of an original roleplay, the host would consider them to be similar to using online-found stock images. No additional credit would be given for usage of such images.

Host Experience
You can read more about it here

We are open for any additional questions and feedback.

[Muralos]

Muralos is in! The Muralosian Ministry of Sport may also make a host bid…

[Kriegiersien]

zzzzZzzzz Hu?

Oh, Independents Cup. We can't miss that.

In.

[IAC Organising Committee]

Poafmersia's bids have been recognized, and thus we will hold a host vote on which format to use if nobody else bids. That being said, any potential bidders have 24 hours from the posting of this message to post a bid. After that, the vote will be organized so we can get on with the tournament. Thank you!

As an update, we currently sit at 36 signups (this is counting the withdrawal of Ratitoue and Clogia, as well as the withdrawal and re-signup of The Spartan Dominion).

[Space]

space

[IAC Organising Committee]

We have two bids, both from Poafmersia. Since they're two different (and quirky) formats, a host vote is going to be held. The voting group:

HOSTING
Currently signed up nations with at least one previous user entry in the IAC are eligible to vote.

Please send your vote to IAC Organising Committee, which is this account. Your two bid options (plus re-open bidding) are:

Poafmersia 1 (Cart before the Horse)
Poafmersia 2 (Two Groups and One Playoffs)

You have approximately three days to vote, so get voting quick so we can get underway!

Signups remain open, we're now at 37 including Space.