Curse

SilentVex · Apr 10, 2008, 07:47 AM // 07:47

--The Basic Idea--
I was thinking about hosting a mini pet race (I remembered Gaile mentioning it once). I think I've thought it through pretty well, and am curious about interest.

It would basically work by lining up 4 people, each with a minipet pulled out, and have them run a pre-determined circuit in a given city. The first mini pet (not person) across the finish line would win that race.

If you would participate please let me know in a reply to this post. If you think this is stupid, don't post, because I don't care. I only care to see the potential #s interested in participating.

If you read far enough to get to the prizes or concerns sections, and you have any specific thoughts/ideas related to those, post that also. Additionally, if anyone has already done anything like this, I want to speak to you.

Please don't PM me, I don't check those. Either post a reply, or talk to me in game - ign Silent Vex.

--Prizes--
This is just a general idea of the prizes, actual prizes might vary depending on the bracket system I go with. I'd do an entrance fee of 100g. 1st place in final race would get 50% of the entrance fees and 5 Zaishen Keys, 2nd would get 30% and 3 Z Keys, and then 3rd and 4th places would get 10% and 1 Z Key.

I figured I'd keep the entrance fee low at 100g, because any larger and that fee times a lot of people would be a (relatively) big sum of money. I don't want people's trust in a random stranger (me) holding all that money to come into play. I would provide the Zaishen Keys. I'm too poor to afford providing anything else (sorry).

--Concerns/Disclaimers--
*Mouse clicking will pwn all, so I've come up with a difficult circuit to try to confuse the pathfinding algorithm as much as possible.
*My current town of choice is Kaineng City. Will this affect accessability? (ie, people who don't own Factions) As an extension of this, can anyone think of a better city for a hard & technical circuit than Kaineng City?
*Getting caught on corners, positional lag/de-synch, game lag, & hardware lag are all part of the landscape, they should be anticipated and accepted.
*As far as my testing shows, some mini pets begin to follow slightly quicker than others. Over the course of a race this seams to even out, but may provide a small advantage based on pet. This would also be part of the landscape. Is this a major concern?
*As far as my testing shows, mini pet position at beginning of race -does not- provide an advantage or disadvantage, but I would create a simple system to minimize this regardless.
*Should this event happen, It would be set on a Saturday at noon EST (this is the time that monthly ATs are, I figured it was good to follow suit).
*I'd need 2 additional judges to make sure people stay within the circuit. Would anyone want to do that? (it means you can't participate in the races, and may require membering temporarily in my guild, I might provide a small undisclosed incentive, less than you'd get for winning :P)
*I would screenshot the finishes. My judgement is final.
*1 circuit of the track takes approx 1 min 30 sec. Is this too short? If I make each race 2 laps, I'm afraid the event might take too long to finish.
*What is a good length of time for an event like this to take? This will decide the limit to the number of participants. 15 races (32 racers in bracket system) x 8 minutes per race = 2 hours.
*I could potentially double the number of judges required, and run another bracket started 1/2 way around the course (2 races at the same time, offset by 1/2 the course). This could either double the number of participants, or create a 2nd elimination round (giving racers a minimum of 2 races instead of 1).

--Brackets/Statistics--
If anyone has a really good understanding of this sort of thing (tournament systems and the like), I'd like to know. At this point I'm thinking of running a simple bracket system. The downside to this is 3/4 of the players would only race 1 round (4 per race, only 1st advances). I'd prefer people get more than 1 race in for their 100g, but due to time constraints, I don't see this being possible unless I do the 2nd elimination bracket (mentioned directly above this paragraph).

holababe · Apr 10, 2008, 07:52 AM // 07:52

Sounds cool.
Not sure if it would work but you can try.
And as for the bracket system, use the Swiss Systems (I use it for chess).
Basically, if you have 4 sets of 4 people racing, then everybody who comes first form a new bracket, everybody who comes second form another bracket and so on.
That way people are matched based on results and you award 4 points for 1st, 3 for 2nd etc.
After X amount of races, tally the points and announce the winner.

jonnieboi05 · Apr 10, 2008, 08:15 AM // 08:15

chocolate bunny, gogo!!

~LeNa~

SilentVex · Apr 10, 2008, 08:29 AM // 08:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by JonnieBoi05

chocolate bunny, gogo!!~LeNa~

I actually thought about that, just forgot to mention it. All the movement speed effects (ie sugar rush) are an enchantment, and they would all be in my party, so I can see if anyone is using "illegal performance enhancers".

And sorry about wrong forum. I had no idea there was a buried Community Contests forum. GG.

Natures Spirt · Apr 10, 2008, 10:43 AM // 10:43

you know if they did make the race true you wouldnt do anything they would have NPC's to take the fee send out the prizes say whos the winner and that would cause alot of NPC spam and some people wouldnt like the Zkeys so they might troll about this but i love this idea
/signed

Shayne Hawke · Apr 10, 2008, 10:59 AM // 10:59

Rollerbeetles are built for speed. I'd be up for this.