Swarm of Hearts [General Discussion]

[OldEnt]

 

Swarm of Hearts: a StarCraft II Arcade charity event organised by the Community

 

Index:

• This thread (copy to share)
  
• Introduction
  
• Announcements
  
• Supported cause
  
• How can I help now: what we currently need
  
• List of things to do
  
• Promotional campaign
  
• Live streams and VoDs
  
• Rules
  
• Contact and links
  

[OldEnt]

Hello AoS Community, let me introduce myself.

 

My name is Greg Dabrowski a.k.a. OldEnt and I am Community organiser for Star Battle, one of the most popular StarCraft II Arcade games. With the approval of map creator RNG and help of multiple tournament host RedHydra I would like to invite AoS Community to Swarm of Hearts, a StarCraft II Arcade charity event organised by the Community to show the best it can offer.

 

Participating Arcade games will run their own tournaments simultaneously on a single day and an official stream presenting each game will be run by appointed streamer and invited special guest or guests. The point of this event is to show the best of Arcade, we need quality maps with good communities and people who can get the job done in fashionable manner. Having Aeon of Storms on-board is obvious choice.

 

The event will take place on April 13th 2013 on NA and EU Battle.net servers, making use of Global Play which will be introduced when Heart of the Swarm launches (expansion will not be needed).

 

My experience

 

I am best known for hosting SBT EU3 (123 participants) and World Star Battle Tournament 1 (over 400 participants from 40 teams). I am also helping with running Terran Star Battle League (12 clans participating). I manage social media sites for Star Battle and hold administrator position of our TeamSpeak 3 server. I am familiar with project management theory and practice and writing legal documents. Hosting together with jzerg a global tournament which attracted 400 participants allowed me to gain invaluable experience in fields of planning, organising, fundraising, promoting, running and closing an on-line event.

 

Introduction

 

Today's StarCraft II Arcade is different from what it was at the beginning. We have lots of quality maps and many of them evolved a pretty organised Communities around them. Arcade tournaments and other events are not uncommon, although they are still not as highly organised as professional ladder tournaments. The Arcade provides fun in vast quantities and flavours, there is something for everyone. Many players bought StarCraft II and play it solely for the Arcade. Map makers spent countless hours improving their creations and players spent much of their free time not only playing games but also improving the Community by posting on Arcade forums, organising events and providing feedback to map makers and Blizzard.

 

A devoted custom map Community deserves a proper recognition and events on the level, something which was lacking over past years. The Community deserves Swarm of Hearts, a Community-driven charity event which will show the best we have: quality games, Communities thriving around them and everlasting desire to improve. This will be a joint effort of the most organised Communities in the Arcade to show that Arcade is mature enough to be reckoned with.

 

Hundreds, if not thousands of players will actively join the cause, a tenfold number of participants of all but the biggest StarCraft II tournaments. Every player will be able participate because it is an average player who makes StarCraft II live, not celebrities. Each participating Arcade map Community will run an official tournament simultaneously on a single day and everyone will be free to join and have a shot at becoming a champion of the biggest StarCraft II Arcade event in his map of choice.

 

An official live-stream will feature every participating map and its Community. A special guest will assure the event will get the coverage it deserves. And if people will appreciate our hard work and resolve we might raise just enough money to support a cause of our choice.

 

Details

 

Summary

 

What:

Swarm of Hearts, a StarCraft II Arcade charity event organised by the Community.

 

Goals:

• Raise funds to selected charity.
  
• Promote StarCraft II: Arcade games outside and inside StarCraft II playerbase.
  
• A joint effort of Arcade Communities to build a better Arcade scene.
  

Guidelines:

• Featured Community content only.
  
• Organised by Community.
  
• Media, professional and honorary patronage.
  
• Official tournaments/fun events of selected Arcade games run simultaneously.
  

Date:

 

The Swarm of Hearts will take place on April 13th, 2013 (Saturday) on EU and NA StarCraft II Battle.net. Participating Communities might extend their tournaments to Sunday if they deem it necessary.

 

Participating Communities

• Aeon of Storms - The Map Creator RNG approved project and confirmed that Aeon of Storms will participate. RedHydra is to host AoS side of the event;
  
• Star Battle - The Map Maker zedu approved project and confirmed that Star Battle will participate. WildFire is likely to host SB side of the event;
  
• The Star Strikers - JinAndJuice a.k.a. RuffRidah, CherrYmooN and JAW will run TSS side of the event;
  
• Night of the Dead - Map Developer Ability approved project and confirmed that Night of the Dead is willing to participate. Reaper is current coordinator
  

Tournaments

 

Every Arcade map will run its own official tournament on the same day. This and the sheer number of participants being on-line on the same day will show how well organised we are. Tournaments (or other events) will be organised solely by map's Community without interference from Swarm of Hearts host. Tournament participants will be awarded in accordance with given map Community's way. Be it special model, unique in-game Swarm of Hearts achievement or elite decal.

 

Participation in Arcade tournaments will be possible only through sign ups on official forums of Arcade maps. There is a reason for that: it will bring new players to Community hubs. There is a high chance such players will stay after the event and contribute to the scene.

 

Official live-stream

 

While each map might have its own streams for tournament, there will be one main stream running for a couple of hours during event. Every game will be featured for two to three quarters of an hour by presenter, invited guest or guests and given map representative. Casters will feature maps in a form of either a showmatch of handpicked high level players or stream of tournament game, depending on map Community's choice.

 

Supported cause

 

During Swarm of Hearts StarCraft 2 Arcade charity event we will raise funds for Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe. In 1999, Doctors Without Borders received the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

I were thinking about possible beneficiary and came to the conclusion that following restrictions had to be applied:

• There will be single charity or cause supported - simpler to organise and promote;
  
• only legal entity will be supported, not individuals, although legal entity which supports individual might be fine - known and well organised legal entities are transparent;
  
• charity supported based in European Union OR well known international institution - easier for me to supervise and act accordingly when needed;
  
• a charity which helps children under 18 will be supported - this is just my personal preference, feel free to suggest other types of causes.
  

I will not be holding any money, I had enough of this while fundraising for World Star Battle Tournament 1. We will select a charity which can receive payments directly.

 

Promotion

 

Promotion will include (but will not be limited to):

• Professional gaming media patronage.
  
• Official TeamLiquid.net thread.
  
• Official Blizzard EU and NA forum thread. May use interpreters/translators for non-English speaking forums.
  
• Ad-hoc professional looking site for easy information access.
  
• Professional looking press pack with Arcade games presentations for gaming industry media.
  
• Single official Event Facebook/Twitter/YouTube and streaming channel.
  
• Single trailer on all participating Arcade games’ channels.
  
• Anthem / music theme (may use Creative Commons music)
  
• Single logo.
  
• Single official poster and unified banners.
  
• Arcade games media pack for fans (wallpapers etc.)
  
• Voluntary in-game advertising with preset text.
  
• Add-on banner for Arcade games loading screens.
  
• Official chat channel and group.
  
• In-game Arcade games awards for participants, including achievements if implemented.
  
• Set up VoIP servers for each Arcade map (TeamSpeak 3, Mumble etc.).
  

Contact

 

Host:

Grzegorz (Greg) Dąbrowski a.k.a. Oldent.728 EU / .600 NA ( contact@swarmofhearts.org ) Skype: oldent85

 

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[OldEnt]

Announcements

 

For the most recent news please visit our Swarm of Hearts feeds:

 

• Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Swarm-of-Hearts/124997404331047
  
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/SwarmOfHearts
  
• YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/SwarmOfHearts
  
• Homepage - http://www.swarmofhearts.org/
  

 

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[OldEnt]

Supported cause

 

 

We are happy to announce that during Swarm of Hearts StarCraft 2 Arcade charity event we will raise funds for Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organization working in more than 60 countries to assist people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe.

 

In 1999, Doctors Without Borders received the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

About MSF

 

MSF's (fr. Médecins Sans Frontières, MFS) work is based on the humanitarian principles of medical ethics and impartiality. The organization is committed to bringing quality medical care to people in crisis regardless of their race, religion, or political affiliation. MSF operates independently of any political, military, or religious agendas. Ninety percent of MSF's overall funding comes from private, non-governmental sources. In 2009, MSF had 3.8 million individual donors and private funders worldwide.

 

In the countries where MSF works, one or more of the following crises is occurring or has occurred: armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, natural disasters, or exclusion from health care. In 2009, MSF medical teams carried out more than 7.5 million outpatient consultations; delivered 110,000 babies; treated 1.1 million people for malaria; treated 200,000 severely and moderately malnourished children; provided 165,000 people living with HIV/AIDS with antiretroviral therapy; vaccinated 7.9 million people against meningitis; and conducted 50,000 surgeries.

 

As an organization, MSF is neutral. It does not take sides in armed conflicts, provides care on the basis of need alone, and pushes for increased independent access to victims of conflict as required under international humanitarian law.

 

Every year MSF sends around 3,000 specialists to work alongside over 25,000 locally hired staff. They are doctors, nurses, logistics experts, administrators, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians, mental health professionals, and others who work together in accordance with MSF's guiding principles of humanitarian action and medical ethics.

 

MSF volunteers go unarmed into warzones to provide medical assistance to those in need, often risking their lives. MSF personnel risks injuries from stray bullets, mines and epidemic disease alongside with direct attacks such as raids, ambushes, rape, political imprisonment and kidnapping.

 

In 2008 a documentary film about MSF was released: "Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders" which depicts stories of four doctors as they struggle to provide emergency medical care in extreme conditions.

 

 

About Fundraising campaign

 

Doctors Without Borders encourages using social fundraising tools such as JustGiving and DonorDrive and presents fundraising campaigns on it's websites. A tool which allows to process payments directly to the organisation will be used, meaning Swarm of Hearts organisers will not have access to raised funds. Amount raised will be updated live and donors will be able to leave a message in donors list if they desire to. Fundaising campaign page will be open by the end of February and the whole fundraising process should last two months, giving everyone enough time to donate. More information will follow.

 

More information about Doctors Without Borders can be found on MSF USA http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org and MSF Facebook http://www.facebook.com/msf.english/info

 

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[OldEnt]

How can I help now: what we currently need

 

At this very moment:

• AoS needs to organise April 13th tournament.
  

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[OldEnt]

List of things to do

 

 

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[OldEnt]

Promotional campaign

 

Campaign start date is to be announced. Please refrain from contacting media until we have basic work done.

 

Whenever you are advertising Swarm of Hearts please follow netiquette and local rules of media on which you represent Arcade Community. All posts, e-mails and IM messages should meet standards of orthography and grammar in respective language. Carry a conversation in civil manner and do not get trolled. People will respect us and the effort will turn a profit sooner or later.

 

Promotion is split into two levels:

• individual tournament (each participating map),
  
• Swarm of Hearts.

 

Promotion will focus on following areas:

• Battle.net
  
• Battle.net forums
  
• Participating Arcade games' sites
  
• Social media
  
• Gamers' media
  
• Professional gaming media

 

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[OldEnt]

Live streams and VoDs

 

Main stream of the event will feature each of participating map and its Community. Every game will be featured for two to three quarters of an hour by presenter, invited guest or guests and given map representative. Default presentation will include a short briefing on a map and Community, a showcase match involving skilled players and post-game Q&A and interview with Community representative or map developer.

 

Every tournament will run its own live-stream if maps Community decides to do so. Links to all streams will be aggregated in single place.

 

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[OldEnt]

Rules

 

 

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[OldEnt]

Contact event staff

 

Event staff

• Swarm of Hearts host: Grzegorz (Greg) Dąbrowski a.k.a. Oldent.728 EU / .600 NA ( contact@swarmofhearts.org ) Skype: oldent85
  

Tournaments' hosts

• Aeon of Storms tournament (temp title) host: JustSAfrican.406 NA
  
• World Star Battle Tournament 2 host: WildFire.427 NA / .560 EU [skype: schalljohn]
  
• Night of the Dead event host: Reaper
  
• The Star Strikers tournament: JAW
  

Links

 

Tournaments of participating Arcade games:

• Aeon of Storms tournament (temp title): tournament info (TBA) and Swarm of Hearts thread
  
• World Star Battle Tournament II: tournament info and Swarm of Hearts thread
  
• Night of the Dead event: event info (TBA) and Swarm of Hearts thread
  
• The Star Strikers tournament: event info and Swarm of Hearts thread
  

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[Yaldi]

This sounds like a very good idea. I will be there

[IMBrew]

> Be it special model, unique in-game Swarm of Hearts achievement or elite decal.<

 

Can you make blizzard do that? Already happened? Proof if yes?

[OldEnt]

> Be it special model, unique in-game Swarm of Hearts achievement or elite decal.<

 

Can you make blizzard do that? Already happened? Proof if yes?

I meant map specific extras like elite model for your hero. For example Star Battle tournaments have slightly different ship models, ranks and colours as awards (no gameplay advantage) and tournament participation achievement for built-in achievement system Star Battle uses. What exactly AoS tournament participants would get depends on tournament host and of course map developer. So feel free to brainstorm your ideas and see if it is feasible to implement. If you ask nicely RNG might find some time for shiny stuff, I hope ;')

 

Regarding Blizzard. In fact, I was thinking of asking for a StarCraft II achievement for all event participants (this is going to be the biggest Arcade event, for f* sake!). A couple of Blizzard Arcade maps like Aiur Chef already have those. Let me say it this way: the better we do it, the higher our bargaining power will be. And it would make a good precedence for future Arcade achievements.

[WhaleTits]

well damn. GET SHOWN UP AFRICAN YOU SCROOBLE. and i guess me and inspirez to.

 

that explainith who you are atleast.

[GhostEU]

Do maps that are suggested have to be PvP or can they be coop gameplay against AI maps (not melee) such as RPGs

[OldEnt]

Do maps that are suggested have to be PvP or can they be coop gameplay against AI maps (not melee) such as RPGs

I think of it as a competitive event but exceptional coop PvE map could bring in a variety (if it's somewhat interesting to watch on stream). Actually I considered one coop some time ago so please suggest. Time on live stream would be limited like for any other map, though.

 

Please PM RPG maps regardless, I love RPGs :'D

 

BTW African is or will be shortly on holidays or something so he is AFK for a week.

[Hogwarts]

win/10

[akanna]

Do maps that are suggested have to be PvP or can they be coop gameplay against AI maps (not melee) such as RPGs

 

How do you have a tourney for co-op / RPG games?

 

Not that some aren't stupid fun to play or watch, but not sure how you make it fit the "competition" aspect proposed

[OldEnt]

How do you have a tourney for co-op / RPG games?

 

Not that some aren't stupid fun to play or watch, but not sure how you make it fit the "competition" aspect proposed

This is why I dropped first coop I had in mind. But with custom maps you never know what authors come up with! I would rather see a tournament of course.

[KinGofDaBerG]

I am going on holiday tomorrow for a week, when I get back I will begin all requirements needed for this date!! its going to be big guys, so get yourselves prepared!

[Marche]

Afrikan clear your inbox I cannot send you PMs bro.

[OldEnt]

We will set up a http://swarmofhearts.org/ site. All games will be featured in few paragraphs and screenshots. Please provide some good looking screenshots in HD and high details or/and write a bit about the game. Here is how I wrote it for SB (i will just copy that text since I am lazy bastid). It doesn't have to be well written, we will have a proofreader.

 

The event logo is in the works but if you feel creative please submit your own ideas! For both SoH event and AoS tournament if you like.

 

HD and high details footage of 1280x720p or full HD (16:9) AoS action will be required for event trailer. If you are interested please record gameplay (sound: ON; music: OFF) and share on dropbox for example.

[OldEnt]

I have been writing tutorial on hosting a tournament for some time now but do not have time to finish it yet. It is less than 25% complete (I feel like 5%) and will be rewritten. I just hope it will help. Anyway, Feel free to ask whatever you would like to know.

 

 

How to: host a StarCraft II online tournament (alpha version)

a comprehensive guide and to-do list for every tournament host, referee and caster

licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Author: OldEnt (feel free to contribute)

 

This guide is only 25% complete. I release it "as it is" due to time constrains. I will update it when I have more time.

 

Table of contents

WIP

 

Foreword

 

...

Chapter 1: Planning

 

1.1. Define your goals

 

First-off: you are the boss. Whatever happens onwards everything goes as YOU say. You get all the credit and blame so make sure you won't be blamed for something you couldn't manage. Just be smart and stick to your goals. Generally, lie does not pay off so skip on that. If you don't know what to do just look at your list of goals.

 

Why do you want to host a tournament? Is this something new or you intend to improve an introduced scheme? Is this mainly competitive or socializing event? Do you want everyone to relax or have play twenty one-hour long matches over weekend to determine "the best"? Where are hardcore clans, groups of friends, pro pubbers and noobs in all this?

 

1.2. Write down things to do

 

Self-explanatory. Do not write essays, single key-words will suffice. Make a plain text file in your main tournament folder.

 

1.3. Find associates

 

If you run a small-scaled event you can do it on your own. Over 100 participants, however, might force you to find a helpful person. You DEFINITELY need a help when number of participants scores 200. Pick someone who has "get the job done" attitude. He does not need to be exceptionally friendly, pretty or well-known. Involved > full of ideas, reliable > fun, less talk, more work > picky on details. A guy who can resolve issues without you even knowing of them is a gold. A guy who does not waste more than 5 minutes in a conversation on single topic is a gold. Good command of English and intelligence are essential.

 

Chapter 2: Tools

 

1.1. Off-line

 

Your *personal* computer with separated space for tournament documents, preferably a folder in root directory of your secondary partition (do not use system one). You DO NOT want to mix your personal and public documents. Looking for a lost file or browsing through multiple subfolders just to reach your documents is a waste of time.

 

World processor and spreadsheet application, Skype, TeamSpeak 3, calculator application, preferably an e-mail for public.

 

Headset with microphone. Speakers won't do. Also, make sure you got quiet room and voice transmission set on voice-detection or push-to-talk. There is nothing more unprofessional than host who is barely heard while speaking.

 

1.2. On-line

 

Use community forum to its full extent. Do not create external sites or allow registrations out there unless it's absolutely necessary. Having most of activity on community site boosts visitors count and can lead to involvement of tournament participants in future community affairs. Every newly registered active user is a big win. Player who made an effort to register and browse community forum is a more sure show-up. Better one sure participant than 10 random people form the internet. Those 10 people can seriously endanger fun for everyone.

 

Reserve a full first page of a thread for general information and discussion (10 reserved posts) Make a separate thread for registering players as this will make spotting roster changes easier for everyone. You can make a third thread for news only but be sure to delete all replies. Every participant who sees a reply there should know there is something important to know.

 

Always log onto TeamSpeak 3 server when your computer is on. Even if you are unable to reply be sure to check for any message left for you before you log out.

 

Creating a Skype conference for all organisers is good idea. Stay in touch and let others know how things are going.

 

Chapter 3: Rules

 

3.1. Constructing rules

3.1.1. (formal)

Use proper English. Rules written in Engrish look unprofessional and as such whole tournament looks like a child's play. You would get no respect from third parties and potential participants. Ask for a help if you must . You don't have to be a lawyer but it helps.

 

Make rules consistent and well-structured. Do not mix different issues in single article/paragraph. Use divisions/chapters or whatever you want to call them. Have chapter for general rules, participation, gameplay itself (you can split to pre-game and in-game), scoring and advancement rules, code of conduct, final provisions etc.

 

Use short sentences in present simple. Not only it is easier to understand for non-native speakers but also reduces the risk of ambiguity. There is a reason why statutory law is written in present simple. If you do not know what present simple is you should stop playing video games and grab your primary school textbook. There are priorities and reasonable host has them right.

 

Better more detailed, well written rules than few simple. This gets exponentially more important as number of participants grows. Dictionary is a friend of you and so is participants'.

 

3.1.2. (material)

Once you understand *how* to write rules you have to decide *what* to put into them. You can use rules of previous tournaments as a template. It is in fact encouraged as people familiar with those will quicker grasp ideas of your changes.

 

Make a use of your established goals. If you won't follow those you will quickly get lost, and so do participants. Have a principle and follow it every time you write down your next rule. Is this one really necessary? Is that one in the accordance with my goals and won't it hinder my efforts?

 

3.2. Interpreting rules

 

Sooner or later you will have to resolve a dispute or at least explain your rules. Do not trust common sense: the intelligence of that creature known as a crowd is the square root of the number of people in it. Look up your rules and ask yourself what you had in mind while planning tournament. Every rule should be written and interpreted in the spirit of tournament (see: http://en.wikipedia....xiomatic_system).

 

Possible disputes are also the reason why rules should be as precise as possible - precision reduces numbers of various interpretations before you would even need to remind tournament goals. Ergo: write precise rules to achieve your goals in the most elegant manner possible.

 

A rule which constitutes a surrender once a captain of a playing team types GG in a chat is in force. During a match a captain of a team which is obviously winning types GG in a chat as a sign of respect of opponents' play. Following literal meaning of the rule' date=' the result of this match would be defeat of a leading team. Yet, the dispute was resolved in favour of leading team.

 

The rule was introduced as a fallout of previous tournaments where single or pairs of players of defeated teams still remained on a battlefield despite captains' "GG" and disconnect from the game, wasting up to 15 minutes of everyone's time. This was causing confusion to the opposing leading team as it was never sure should it remain and play or quit the game and fear of losing because of leaving.

 

Because of this rule's background supplemented by general goal of having tournament played in friendly ambiance (what aforementioned captain had clearly in mind), the rule was interpreted differently from literal meaning [b']*in this specific case*[/b].

 

 

This guide is only 25% complete. I release it "as it is" due to time constrains. I will update it when I have more time.

[OldEnt]

You can LIKE our page or follow Twitter feed to get the most recent updates on the event.

http://www.facebook....04331047?ref=hl

We need 100 likes to get shorter Facebook URL.

 

https://twitter.com/SwarmOfHearts

 

There is also YouTube channel set up, although there is no content on it yet. Subscribe! :')

http://www.youtube.com/SwarmOfHearts

 

Graphic design and Swarm of Hearts logo courtesy of Terminus. Suggestions are welcome.

[OldEnt]

Following numerous complaints earlier today about having problems with logging in or downloading Battle.net data players are now able to play full version of Wings of Liberty on servers other than their original license is for. For example EU players are free to log in and create fully functional character on NA and vice versa, provided they have appropriate game client.

 

We don't know yet if this is just a last stage test or permanent change to be announced today or tomorrow by Blizzard.

 

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=395154