ArlaneEnalra
from Texas is reading Right now I'm editing . . ..October 8, 2012 - 10:57am
But Nano! Ah well, I guess I'll just have to watch this one.
.
October 8, 2012 - 11:01am
The roster looks awesome!
Richard
from St. Louis is reading various anthologiesOctober 8, 2012 - 11:01am
TomorrowHill
from Newfoundland, Canada is reading your mind. You like Castlevania, don't you?October 8, 2012 - 11:23am
Wow, there are some real bangers in the ranks. This is going to be a bloodbath. Oh, and quick side note: on the offical list #40 is TomorrowHill and #41 is Chris Carter, so I've been added twice. My current goal is to face off against myself in the finals, only to be crowned Champion and Vice-Champion! :)
Moderator
Utah
from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryOctober 8, 2012 - 11:27am
That's you. And you're that? Son of a...
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersOctober 8, 2012 - 11:30am
Okay, so obviously screen names confuse me more than I realized.
Ben Freeman
from Charlottesville, Virginia is reading everything I canOctober 8, 2012 - 11:58am
I'll join the WAR. I've finally made time to start writing every day again, and if I make it to the later rounds it'll coincide with my winter depression/yearly holiday bender, which always makes for interesting late night writing sessions.
TomorrowHill
from Newfoundland, Canada is reading your mind. You like Castlevania, don't you?October 8, 2012 - 12:03pm
No worries :) I love the way my name is posted now, though. It's like the trailer for my life as a movie. "This summer... TomorrowHill IS Chris Carter!" :)
Mess_Jess
from Sydney, Australia, living in Toronto, Canada is reading Perfect by Rachael JoyceOctober 8, 2012 - 12:13pm
Now that is a proper war song!
Richard
from St. Louis is reading various anthologiesOctober 8, 2012 - 12:59pm
seeding might be tough, so random makes sense to me. i would NOT make it double-elimination for two reasons: it doubles the amount of work by allowing everyone to stay in after the first round—we need to cut this list in half, ASAP. also, people may not take it seriously and bring their "A Game" if they think they have two chances. AND, we are already asking people to do a LOT of reading. i'd keep it one and done. and as much fun as it would be to have all 64 the first week, you need to at least divide that in half, which i think you're already planning to do.
carry on.
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersOctober 8, 2012 - 1:06pm
I think we're pretty well set on doing a double elimination for a few reasons. One being, this way everyone will be challenged to create at least 2 stories. And that is the biggest part of all of this - the writing. Also, there were some instances last time that made us think that a second shot might be a good idea.
That said, I'd hear other opinions on the matter. Always happy to get input.
Gordon Highland
from Kansas City is reading Secondhand Souls by Christopher MooreOctober 8, 2012 - 1:06pm
First I break your heart. Then your spirit. Then your pelvis.
Courtney
from the Midwest is reading Monkey: A Journey to the West and a thousand college textbooksOctober 8, 2012 - 1:11pm
I joined the site right around the time the original WAR was being rostered and set up. I sat out on that one and regretted it. I just want to encourage any people who are lurking and considering to go for it.
jyh
from VA is reading whatever he feels likeOctober 8, 2012 - 1:13pm
[On the volume of reading required:]
This would be more work for the organizers, but you could assign reading minimums for participants.
Jay.SJ
from London is reading Warmed and BoundOctober 8, 2012 - 1:13pm
Can I get in on this?
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersOctober 8, 2012 - 1:14pm
Jay SJ - consider yourself in on this.
Moderator
Utah
from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryOctober 8, 2012 - 1:31pm
In answer to the double-elim issue: the intention of WAR was always to have a double-elim structure, primarily because it's very tough to properly quantify something as subjective as writing tastes. We didn't do it in the first WAR because, hell, it was a start-up. None of us (that I knew of) had ever seen anything like it before, so we had no experience how managing it would go. However, we now do know what it takes to make it work the way we want, and we know, more importantly, that it does work.
As to staggering the first 64: yes. We're working on a relatively simple plan to accomplish that so that at no point are we hitting it more intense than we did the first week last time.
Sound
from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael WehuntOctober 8, 2012 - 1:57pm
Question: Are the battles structured like Thunderdome? Rough, then Final posted in workshop followed by a poll? or straight to polls? It wasn't too clear in the details. Or I was too dumb to clearly understand them, rather.
Either way, I wasn't here for the first WAR so I want to make sure I know how this works.
Richard
from St. Louis is reading various anthologiesOctober 8, 2012 - 1:59pm
okay, if you want to do double-elimination, so be it. but it will obviously mean we will have a LOT more reading to do. you could (theoretically) have half the teams win week 1 and then lose week 2 and we'd be entering week three with SIXTY-FOUR TEAMS still. it could get weird, with all kinds of strange numbers of people losing and being gone. we could have an ODD number eliminated in week 2. just bringing these things to your attention.
will you have a winners and a losers bracket? or just one set of brackets with people only being out if they lose two? how will it work? if we have two brackets, i assume the winner of the losers meets up with the winner of the winners? how do you decide who plays each other in week 2 if you have two brackets?
i'm confused. :-(
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersOctober 8, 2012 - 2:09pm
A double-elimination tournament is broken into two sets of brackets, generally called the winner’s bracket and the loser’s bracket. Each team begins in the winner’s bracket, but with one loss, goes into a loser’s bracket, where they will have to play their way back.
In a four-team bracket, the two first-round losing teams will play in an elimination game, with the loser eliminated. The two first-round teams that won will play each other. The loser of that game will then face the winner of the elimination game.
The loser of that game will then have two losses and is eliminated, and the winner reaches the championship against the team that’s already won its first two games.
In college baseball, the championship finals are set up as a possible two games, because it would be unfair to have the winner’s bracket champion eliminated with its first loss. So while the winner’s bracket champion needs to beat the loser’s bracket champion once to win the tournament, the loser’s bracket champion must win twice.
And yes, I stole this answer from the internet.
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersOctober 8, 2012 - 2:11pm
@Sound - there is no rough. You get one draft and it goes straight into a poll. Your story is emailed to me and I post the polls completely anonymous so there is no bias to the voting. Coincidentally, you better not tell anyone your prompt or I'll disqualify you.
sean of the dead
from Madisonville, KY is reading Peckerwood, by Jed AyresOctober 8, 2012 - 2:16pm
@ avery - maybe you could provide us with a powerpoint presentation?
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersOctober 8, 2012 - 2:22pm
I'll get right on top of that.
WAR and YOU! an (Un)Official Guide to Waging War on Your Friends!
Adam
from Denver is reading books...October 8, 2012 - 2:44pm
WAR
vespr
from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is reading everything Daphne Du Maurier and Haruki MurakamiOctober 8, 2012 - 2:56pm
hmmm interesting. can't do this. different time zones and all.
will watch fr the sidelines.
sean of the dead
from Madisonville, KY is reading Peckerwood, by Jed AyresOctober 8, 2012 - 2:58pm
different time zones won't hurt anything
jump in, the water's fine
Sound
from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael WehuntOctober 8, 2012 - 3:00pm
The double elimination thing sounds complicated. I will just go with the flow.
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersOctober 8, 2012 - 3:02pm
It's not as complicated as it sounds. Once you see it, it'll make more sense.
Richard
from St. Louis is reading various anthologiesOctober 8, 2012 - 3:11pm
i guess where i get confused is, if every time a person loses they get put in the loser's bracket, how do you deal with THAT mess? each week, you get half of the stories in there.
i understand the winner's bracket, they just keep marching forward, onward and upward, getting smaller and smaller numbers.
but the loser's bracket, you'd put 32 in the first week, then 16 more the next week, then 8 more, then 4 more, then 2 more then 1 more. and at the same time, the losers are being slowly lessened as people eventually get two losses.
still very confused.
also, the idea of the winner of the winner's bracket facing the winner of the loser's bracket but then being able to lose ONE round, due to the fact that they haven't lost? that's weird too.
forgive my lack of understanding.
Stacy Kear
from Bucyrus, Ohio lives in New Jersey is reading The Art of War October 8, 2012 - 3:14pm
You don't need to understand Richard, you are a winner.
sean of the dead
from Madisonville, KY is reading Peckerwood, by Jed AyresOctober 8, 2012 - 3:19pm
I think, as far as the loser's bracket goes, it's only populated once.
The intial 64 people battle, 32 win, 32 lose. the 32 winners stay in the regular bracket, the 32 losers get re-seeded in the losers bracket. After that, if anyone loses, they are done for the rest of the tournament. Basically, everyone gets to write at least 2 stories.
Then again, I'm not in charge of this, i don't know...
maybe it goes like this:
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersOctober 8, 2012 - 3:26pm
That is the site where we host these dumb fucking brackets. If anyone is super interested in seeing how they work, you can go there and play around with brackets. Fun for everyone.
.
October 8, 2012 - 3:32pm
I need a WAR name.
vespr
from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is reading everything Daphne Du Maurier and Haruki MurakamiOctober 8, 2012 - 3:37pm
ok, i'm in.
OtisTheBulldog
from Somerville, MA is reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot DiazOctober 8, 2012 - 3:39pm
It confuses me as well but I resolve my confusion by subscribing to this two prong approach:
1) Never question anything. Management always understands what is best for me.
2) Plan on not losing.
avery of the dead
from Kentucky is reading Cipher SistersOctober 8, 2012 - 4:04pm
Averydoll is...
No longer taking questions for the evening...
Third shift will be along shortly. Or not.
Moderator
Utah
from Fort Worth, TX is reading Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtryOctober 8, 2012 - 4:05pm
Otis, I like your plan.
The bracketing is arranged with an engineer's love of exactitude. It's not really as complicated as it might seem. We'll be laying more of that out here in a bit, but it's nearly a month before we begin. Right now we can all breathe easy until procrastination begins to seem to damn us. Then we can all point fingers at Averydoll and blame her for how miserable we have all become.
Covewriter
from Nashville, Tennessee is reading & SonsOctober 8, 2012 - 4:10pm
Hey guys - Double elimination is great if the organizers are willing to do it. The newer writers will be pitted against the best writers at first, so chances are they could lose in the beginning round. But then, in round two - the losers round - get pitted against someone more their level and win. I'm for whatever you guys decide. I'm just glad you are doing it again.
Sound
from Azusa, CA is reading Greener Pastures by Michael WehuntOctober 8, 2012 - 4:23pm
@Avery: You look very professional as you're telling us all to fuck off. Just a suggestion, though: brown doesn't suit you. Maybe hot pink, our neon green. Something that grabs your attention, punches you in the face for not noticing sooner, and yells, ” I'm here bitches! Trust me, you like it.”
I need to take a shower after getting shitted and vomitted on. Oh LR, your smell hasn't changed.
Wait, new page, new song.
Grab your socks, bitches.
I'm stoked to get my name in there in time. Thanks for the head's up Avery.
IM IN
Wow 2/3 of the field signed up in less than 48 hours. I'm really impressed and super excited.
@MattAttack, appropriate song and album for the WAR. Excellent post, sir.
Whaaaaaaaaat!? It was perfectly fine without you, Matt Attack...
Sean, thank ya sir. I thought so.
I feel like someone else was talking, but damned if I can see it. Haha
What I meant was: Welcome back, Matt. (You son of a...)
BWHAHAHA ! Oh, Sound! Long time, no see. Thank ya. Love the profile pic for WAR. Perfect.
Ow cool, feels like coming back to school after summer. Nice to see you (again) guys!
By the way, tomorrow I'll skip.
EDIT: Flaminia Omerta Ferina. Yes. That's quite right. Supposedly.
But Nano! Ah well, I guess I'll just have to watch this one.
The roster looks awesome!
Wow, there are some real bangers in the ranks. This is going to be a bloodbath. Oh, and quick side note: on the offical list #40 is TomorrowHill and #41 is Chris Carter, so I've been added twice. My current goal is to face off against myself in the finals, only to be crowned Champion and Vice-Champion! :)
That's you. And you're that? Son of a...
Okay, so obviously screen names confuse me more than I realized.
I'll join the WAR. I've finally made time to start writing every day again, and if I make it to the later rounds it'll coincide with my winter depression/yearly holiday bender, which always makes for interesting late night writing sessions.
No worries :) I love the way my name is posted now, though. It's like the trailer for my life as a movie. "This summer... TomorrowHill IS Chris Carter!" :)
Now that is a proper war song!
seeding might be tough, so random makes sense to me. i would NOT make it double-elimination for two reasons: it doubles the amount of work by allowing everyone to stay in after the first round—we need to cut this list in half, ASAP. also, people may not take it seriously and bring their "A Game" if they think they have two chances. AND, we are already asking people to do a LOT of reading. i'd keep it one and done. and as much fun as it would be to have all 64 the first week, you need to at least divide that in half, which i think you're already planning to do.
carry on.
I think we're pretty well set on doing a double elimination for a few reasons. One being, this way everyone will be challenged to create at least 2 stories. And that is the biggest part of all of this - the writing. Also, there were some instances last time that made us think that a second shot might be a good idea.
That said, I'd hear other opinions on the matter. Always happy to get input.
First I break your heart. Then your spirit. Then your pelvis.
I joined the site right around the time the original WAR was being rostered and set up. I sat out on that one and regretted it. I just want to encourage any people who are lurking and considering to go for it.
[On the volume of reading required:]
This would be more work for the organizers, but you could assign reading minimums for participants.
Can I get in on this?
Jay SJ - consider yourself in on this.
In answer to the double-elim issue: the intention of WAR was always to have a double-elim structure, primarily because it's very tough to properly quantify something as subjective as writing tastes. We didn't do it in the first WAR because, hell, it was a start-up. None of us (that I knew of) had ever seen anything like it before, so we had no experience how managing it would go. However, we now do know what it takes to make it work the way we want, and we know, more importantly, that it does work.
As to staggering the first 64: yes. We're working on a relatively simple plan to accomplish that so that at no point are we hitting it more intense than we did the first week last time.
Question: Are the battles structured like Thunderdome? Rough, then Final posted in workshop followed by a poll? or straight to polls? It wasn't too clear in the details. Or I was too dumb to clearly understand them, rather.
Either way, I wasn't here for the first WAR so I want to make sure I know how this works.
okay, if you want to do double-elimination, so be it. but it will obviously mean we will have a LOT more reading to do. you could (theoretically) have half the teams win week 1 and then lose week 2 and we'd be entering week three with SIXTY-FOUR TEAMS still. it could get weird, with all kinds of strange numbers of people losing and being gone. we could have an ODD number eliminated in week 2. just bringing these things to your attention.
will you have a winners and a losers bracket? or just one set of brackets with people only being out if they lose two? how will it work? if we have two brackets, i assume the winner of the losers meets up with the winner of the winners? how do you decide who plays each other in week 2 if you have two brackets?
i'm confused. :-(
A double-elimination tournament is broken into two sets of brackets, generally called the winner’s bracket and the loser’s bracket. Each team begins in the winner’s bracket, but with one loss, goes into a loser’s bracket, where they will have to play their way back.
In a four-team bracket, the two first-round losing teams will play in an elimination game, with the loser eliminated. The two first-round teams that won will play each other. The loser of that game will then face the winner of the elimination game.
The loser of that game will then have two losses and is eliminated, and the winner reaches the championship against the team that’s already won its first two games.
In college baseball, the championship finals are set up as a possible two games, because it would be unfair to have the winner’s bracket champion eliminated with its first loss. So while the winner’s bracket champion needs to beat the loser’s bracket champion once to win the tournament, the loser’s bracket champion must win twice.
And yes, I stole this answer from the internet.
@Sound - there is no rough. You get one draft and it goes straight into a poll. Your story is emailed to me and I post the polls completely anonymous so there is no bias to the voting. Coincidentally, you better not tell anyone your prompt or I'll disqualify you.
@ avery - maybe you could provide us with a powerpoint presentation?
I'll get right on top of that.
WAR and YOU! an (Un)Official Guide to Waging War on Your Friends!
WAR
hmmm interesting. can't do this. different time zones and all.
will watch fr the sidelines.
different time zones won't hurt anything
jump in, the water's fine
The double elimination thing sounds complicated. I will just go with the flow.
It's not as complicated as it sounds. Once you see it, it'll make more sense.
i guess where i get confused is, if every time a person loses they get put in the loser's bracket, how do you deal with THAT mess? each week, you get half of the stories in there.
i understand the winner's bracket, they just keep marching forward, onward and upward, getting smaller and smaller numbers.
but the loser's bracket, you'd put 32 in the first week, then 16 more the next week, then 8 more, then 4 more, then 2 more then 1 more. and at the same time, the losers are being slowly lessened as people eventually get two losses.
still very confused.
also, the idea of the winner of the winner's bracket facing the winner of the loser's bracket but then being able to lose ONE round, due to the fact that they haven't lost? that's weird too.
forgive my lack of understanding.
You don't need to understand Richard, you are a winner.
I think, as far as the loser's bracket goes, it's only populated once.
The intial 64 people battle, 32 win, 32 lose. the 32 winners stay in the regular bracket, the 32 losers get re-seeded in the losers bracket. After that, if anyone loses, they are done for the rest of the tournament. Basically, everyone gets to write at least 2 stories.
Then again, I'm not in charge of this, i don't know...
maybe it goes like this:
Not exactly. Hey, I have an idea...
http://challonge.com/
That is the site where we host these dumb fucking brackets. If anyone is super interested in seeing how they work, you can go there and play around with brackets. Fun for everyone.
I need a WAR name.
ok, i'm in.
It confuses me as well but I resolve my confusion by subscribing to this two prong approach:
1) Never question anything. Management always understands what is best for me.
2) Plan on not losing.
Averydoll is...
No longer taking questions for the evening...
Third shift will be along shortly. Or not.
Otis, I like your plan.
The bracketing is arranged with an engineer's love of exactitude. It's not really as complicated as it might seem. We'll be laying more of that out here in a bit, but it's nearly a month before we begin. Right now we can all breathe easy until procrastination begins to seem to damn us. Then we can all point fingers at Averydoll and blame her for how miserable we have all become.
Hey guys - Double elimination is great if the organizers are willing to do it. The newer writers will be pitted against the best writers at first, so chances are they could lose in the beginning round. But then, in round two - the losers round - get pitted against someone more their level and win. I'm for whatever you guys decide. I'm just glad you are doing it again.
@Avery: You look very professional as you're telling us all to fuck off. Just a suggestion, though: brown doesn't suit you. Maybe hot pink, our neon green. Something that grabs your attention, punches you in the face for not noticing sooner, and yells, ” I'm here bitches! Trust me, you like it.”