Cactus Game Design Message Boards

how about a format that encourages playing- and we really need to get this month's ROOT going, right?

ya know as much as i hate to admit it i agree with red on this one 3 weeks of swiss pairs followed by a 4th week top 4 finals with all points being reset for the finals

how about a format that encourages playing-

I agree with this.  ROOT has always had one of it's primary goals to get people playing games online.  If ROOT was set up with only 3 swiss games to determine who even has a chance to place for the month, then that's not really getting people to play very many games.

The other problem is that it puts all the focus on winning for the month.  If you don't do well in the 3 swiss games, then you have no shot to place, so why even play the last week of the month.  And if you know that you aren't as good as other players in ROOT, then why bother even joining ROOT.  There are a few people would would be willing to get beat 3 times a month to develop their skills.  But most people wouldn't join something if the only thing they got out of it were getting beat 3 times a month with nothing to show for it.

That is one reason why in the past ROOT has always given points even if you lose games, and has allowed people to play more games.  That allows players who are not as experienced to still score a lot of points if they are just persistent in playing all their games, and they won't finish the month at the bottom of the standings every month.  It is also why the prize packs have always focused mainly out of the top 3 finishers

But some people can't play 5 games a week.

Quote from: Red on March 04, 2011, 10:33:08 AM

But some people can't play 5 games a week.

All of the ROOT versions that I can think of only had people playing 3 games a week, which I think is reasonable for people to fit in.  And of course you don't HAVE to play all those games, but I liked it that people were rewarded for playing them whether they won or lost.  That way ROOT accomplished its purpose of encouraging people to play more

All ROOT versions required 3 as the max per the the set up, however, it was possibly to need to play as many as 4 to get full points for the week.

Well my problem with ROOT is that it doesn't supply prizes to the winners thus giving players no incentive to keep playing if winning is meaningless other than RNRS points. Or in other words:To better theirselves. I guess my main problem is with majorly lacking prize suport.

Because of the lack of up and down arrows...I want to step in here and say "well said Prof U!" and 

Two and Three apply to actual tournaments also (less so for smaller tournaments, if no players have a deep card pool), but the packs still go to the winners.

This is why I give out prizes to my playgroup from my own stuff at my tournaments that are weighted toward the bottom of the rankings.  For instance, I might let people pick cards out of my box of "useful in a real deck commons" as many cards as they placed.  So the 10th place person gets 10 cards, while the 2nd place person only gets 2.  Or sometimes I give people as many dollars of credit as they placed.  So the 10th place person gets $10 credit to spend on cards from me, while the 2nd place person only gets $2.

Naturally Cactus can't provide that kind of prize support for all tournaments and stay in business.  But I think it's a good idea when possible, as did Soul Seeker.  And since we were the ones who started ROOT, we were able to get it set up that way

never did get my priests pack from december

Just PM the "other Prof" about it, and I'm sure he'll take care of you