2009 Masters of the Bull Board Tournament

[Master Roshambollah]

OPEN CALL FOR COMPETITORS

The 2009 Masters of the Bull Board Fantasy Online RPS Tournament is set to convene. 

First, I would like to once again congratulate Martin Burley for winning the last two MotBB tourneys.  This speaks highly of his skill as a fantasy online rps player, and little else.

There are considerable rule changes this year, so listen up:

1 - This tournament will take place via facebook's Roshambull app.  If you do not have facebook and roshambull, and have no intent to register for same, you cannot enter this tournament.
2 - Player registration commences immediately.  Please PM me with your intent to register and your facebook name. Registration closes at 12pm EST on Friday, March 6.  Tournament commences immediately thereafter.
3 - It is not the intent of myself as Administrator to exclude players from registration, but I will if I want to (e.g., if old "three letters and three numbers" shows up, he won't make the cut.)  Likewise, if a bunch of new players show up with little to no Bull Board experience, they will also be excluded.
4 - It is not the intent of the 2009 MotBB tourney to use Roshambull "creds" as a basis for competition.  Therefore, challenges will not use "cred" bets.
5 - On to the fun stuff:  tournament format for this year is double round-robin.  Each player will play each other player twice.  Winning a match will award the winning player one point.  The player with the most points at the end of the tournament wins the tournament.  In the event of a tie, tied players will meet in an additional double round-robin playoff round.
6 - How to Play:  After midnight on the 6th, I will send each player a list of the others.  You will have to "friend" the other players in order to compete, so don't join if you're not willing to do this.  In many cases, this step will be redundant.  After receiving a list of players, simply challenge all other players once.  Since all other players will also challenge you, you will play each of them twice.   To ensure legitimate challenges, in the "Make it More Interesting" box, enter "2009 MotBB match" or something similar.  I will be the sole arbiter of intent here, but some mention of the 2009 MotBB should be made. If you do not challenge a particular registered player by midnight EST, Friday March 13, you will forfeit that match and your opponent will be awarded a point.  It is my hope that matches will proceed quickly, but players may feel free to cancel matches if the other player takes longer than the 24 hour period used by Roshambull.
7 - To report a win or loss, send me a link to the match.
8 - If any match remains unresolved by the end of March 2009, the match will be declared a tie and neither player will receive a point.

That should be it, but I reserve the right to alter the rules if there's a glitch.  If anyone has any questions feel free to PM me or comment in this thread.

I should have my head examined for organizing one of these things again...

[custardchuk]

Well, You know I can't resist a MOttBB.
Consider me in.

regards
custardchuk

[martinburley]

I'm also in.

I intend to pass on my crown to the most worthy opponent.

If no-one proves worthy enough, hey ho, I guess I'll have to win it again.

[R Cohrs]

I'm in. 

[Franklint]

Yep, I'll tee up for this one, just because you beg me so.

[Maxamillion]

nice one Rosh,
I will give it a try,
will have to figure out how to join Face book first.

Max

[Master Roshambollah]

Easy as pie, Max.  Go to facebook.com.  Enter your name and email, assuming you have both.  Make up a password and enter your sex and birthdate.  You can embellish more if you want, but that's the minimum you need to do.  Takes about 30 seconds. 

Once you're in, do a search for "Roshambollah" (there's only one of me) and send me a "friend request."  I'll send you an invite to the Roshambull application.

[Master Roshambollah]

James Hayes (who I think is the developer for Roshambull) has asked to join this year's 2009 MotBB tourney. 

Even though he's never posted here, I'm inclined to let him in.  Professional courtesy among tournament organizers, you understand.

Players, what do you think?  Should we require a courtesy post?

[TGOTT]

No need to force it out of me Rosh, I may as well let the competition take the mick out of a Amature player(cept Mr Burely who just lost to me recently on RSB)

and beleive it or not, Im not actually a developer of anything on facebook, just forever on it.

[Franklint]

Now, this is an interesting question. I can provide nothing but my slant on the issue, so please accept it in this manner.

Firstly, as per the rules, "if a bunch of new players show up with little to no Bull Board experience, they will also be excluded". While I may not call James a new player, he certainly lacks any form of Bullboard experience.

While I can understand granting him a special case entry in order to climb further up the social ladder (professional courtesy my foot) and score free creds, he has now revealed that he is in no such position of Roshambull power. For this reason, I would vote towards the exclusion side, purely to avoid claims of favouritism and bias amongst those potential new players who potentially get rejected. Nothing personal, James, simply principle  . As the great masters say, "one must work [post on the Bullboard] to obtain the ultimate prize [entering the MoTBB]".

That said, you certainly have two safeguards to allow you to grant James the entry, in a technical sense. The first is that you mentioned that it was purely your decision whether or not to allow certain players in, meaning you have the call in either case. The second is that you allowed for rule changes in case of difficulty. This means you can change the rules to "any player who asks gets entry", enter James, and then change the rules back again. You may use this sneaky plan of mine for free, without any fee required!

As we all know by now that I'm a big stickler for the "exclusive" nature of the sport (I don't think I'd be as passionate about this aspect if I weren't included), I think my opinion on this issue was quite predictable, so only pay it as much notice as you think it must be payed. Looking forward to the tourney, and playing James if he is given an entry!

Cheers,
Franklint

[custardchuk]

I'm with Franklint.
I'm a stickler for the rules and the the rules are clear unless you decide otherwise.

[TGOTT]

I thought it was a 0 cred match up??

And does saying that I am 3-0 up on Rosh on the Red Bull change the matter??

The tournament organizer thing he is on about is my own World Tour style events currently takin place on the Roshambull game

[R Cohrs]

TGOTT,
     The question isn't your commitment to the sport, it's your commitment to the Bull Board community that has been like a second home for many of us over the years.  Although the second home smells a little funky, has leaks, and too many mirrors to remind us of our horrid failure, it's a home nevertheless. 

    In any case, I'm all for having you in, if only to stack the odds further against Burley.

    How 'bout inviting some of the past masters like Urbanus, Saint, Fox..... 

[Master Roshambollah]

Interesting points, lads.  Here are my thoughts:

Firstly, as per the rules, "if a bunch of new players show up with little to no Bull Board experience, they will also be excluded". While I may not call James a new player, he certainly lacks any form of Bullboard experience.

Well, he's got two posts under his belt, that's got to count for something.  As for the "bunch of new players" this is merely a safeguard to protect the tourney from zombie players (multiple entries under assumed names.)  James recently had a similar problem with his World Tour of Online Fantasy RPS promotion, and only figured it out when he cracked the fiendishly clever algorithm the abuser was using to create new names. 

As we all know by now that I'm a big stickler for the "exclusive" nature of the sport

Not everyone would agree with you, Franklint, but I'm with you in spirit.

The question isn't your commitment to the sport, it's your commitment to the Bull Board community that has been like a second home for many of us over the years.

Point taken, but I'm judging more by intent than the letter of the rules.  One of the goals of the 2009 MotBB tourney is to include players currently active on the Board, even if their involvement tends more toward reading than writing (other goals are to experiment with a double round-robin format, as well as host a MotBB that, for once, doesn't drag on for months and months...)  It should be noted that I did not promote this tourney in any other forum than the WRPSS Bull Board; no mention of it was made on Facebook or Roshambull.  Therefore, to have even learned of this tournament, one must have read about in on the Board. 

How 'bout inviting some of the past masters like Urbanus, Saint, Fox.....

There are many great players and strategists who have called the Board home over the years.  Sadly, many of them are now retired, though their influence lingers on.  Fisted Sophist, Fujiwara-san, Rockefeller, even the great Arbiter; these giants of the Bull Board still cast long shadows, but they are no longer involved on an active basis.  Time marches on, and even though we pay our respects to the past, we must deal from our strengths.  Work with what we have, in other words.  A week is plenty of time for potential players to run across the information.

I will, however, call out Jef Hallestone personally and request that he pull his head out of the Mello Yello bucket long enough to get in a few token throws.

James is in.  We'll deal with future entries as they come.

[Jef Hallestone]

Great to see things off to such a fine start. A throw has not even been made and controversy is ruling.

Pass the Mello Yello, jef is ready to throw down!