Message from the Fist

Aloha DB Gamers! We’re almost through Phase II of the Rite of Supremacy. I hope you are enjoying all of the events. This month I will cover the update to the GMRG leaderboard as well as some year in review statistics for FY18.

Here’s the TL;DR.

1. GMRG Score Calculation Change
2. Year in Review!
3. Rite of Supremacy Notes/Comments

GMRG Score Calculation Change

What is Changing: Beginning next quarter (1 Jan 2019), the GMRG Score Calculation formula will be updated to include placement in Fist-run quarterly competitions.

Reasoning

The GMRG leaderboard calculation has remained unchanged since inception. At its core, it is designed as a competitive environment that showcases the club’s best gamers. The current setup does not highlight the best gamers; it highlights the most prolific gamers. A couple of months ago, I announced a major shift from cluster counts (all gaming methods) to a PvP based score. I anticipated that this announcement would breathe some life into our PvP games prior to the shift.

That shift never happened, and so I cancelled the change to a PvP-only model. Simply put, the club prefers cooperative gaming (PvE and PvO) over pure PvP. Even with the change cancelled, the crux of the issue remained: The GMRG Leaderboard was still not the competitive “end-game” event that it is supposed to be.

I viewed the desired endstate for GMRG change from the following points:

• Continue to place value on all Clusters earned through casual gaming
• Place an emphasis on competition over casual gaming
• Bring crescents and novae into the computation for the GMRG Leaderboard

Currently, the GMRG Leaderboard only takes Clusters of Earth and Fire into account when calculating a score. Clusters of Fire count for two points, and Clusters of Earth count for one. That formula looks like this:

Total CF Earned In a Quarter (2) + Total CE Earned in a Quarter=GMRG Score

As we have discussed before, this score is not indicative of who the best gamer in the club is, but rather who the members are that take the time to submit the most activities.

What the GMRG Leaderboard completely ignores is skill or winning.

Skill is a nebulous term that doesn’t transcend gaming platforms. Somebody that is exceptionally good at Jedi Academy is not necessarily going to be good at a FPS like Destiny, a MOBA like Heroes of the Storm, or a CCG like Hearthstone. Moving to a PvP Score would actually exacerbate the problem of people limiting themselves to a single platform. In short, “Git gud” at a single game and continue to spam matches for that single platform.

As the word “Leaderboard” is generally associated with actually winning something, it seems right that we include the act of winning into the calculation. Crescents and Novae are the primary awards this club provides to show that you actually won an event. Even in cluster race competitions, crescents are the main reward.

The New Formula

With the above discussion points in mind, I developed the following formula:

CE(.01) + CF(.02) + (a+b+c) = GMRG Score

• a=10 (Number of 1st Place Finishes in Quarterly Gaming Comps)

• b=5 (Number of 2nd Place Finishes in Quarterly Gaming Comps)

• c=3 (Number of 3rd Place Finishes in Quarterly Gaming Comps)

This formula places a smaller (yet still relatively significant) modifier on Clusters of Earth and Fire. In this model, 1000 CFs/2000 CEs are worth a Diamond Crescent/Gold Nova. That is a lot of time invested, and is much harder to do for the vast majority of the club than earning a crescent or nova would be. This model excludes participation from the calculation, which is a slight departure from how we score events like the GJW or Vendettas. This is intentional. Participation will net you credits and promotion credit. It will not positively impact your GMRG score. That will only be done by winning crescents or by earning clusters, or any combination of the two.

How This Will Actually Work

First, let me make this clear: only SPECIFIC Fist-run competitions will be a part of this score calculation. Non-Fist DB Wide/Clan/House/Battleteam gaming competitions will not factor into this score. Only Fist staff will have this option, and it will only be used for official GMRG Leaderboard container competitions.

This change places a requirement on me to run enough objective gaming competitions each month to ensure that there are plenty of opportunities for members to place. That is something that I already do, so it’s not a major change for me or my staff. Generally, I run 3-4 competitions a month as part of a monthly gaming event. The current monthly container awards crescents to the individuals who place (or in some rare cases, participate) the most over the course of a month.

With this change, instead of a monthly competition, there will be four quarterly container competitions. All competitions that are part of those containers will be included in the score calculation. The containers will serve for organization purposes only and will not award crescents.

In the event of a GJW or Club-Wide event (like the Rite of Supremacy), I will include novae earned in the score calculation.

The method to rank up in the GMRG is not changing. A member’s comprehensive total of Clusters of Earth/Fire and Pendants of Blood are still the path to rank X. Placement in competitions will not have any effect on ranking up.

The requirements for each rank are listed on the GMRG Wiki Page.

James has already begun the necessary work to code this formula and a few Fist-Staff specific competition toggles.

This change will go live on 1 January 2019.

Year In Review

It’s that time again! Another year of stats and numbers to show you all what gaming looks like in the DJB!

Compare this with the score distribution to the model we are moving to. In a PvP Score centric

Rite of Supremacy Notes/Comments

Couple of comments on the ongoing Rite of Supremacy Competitions

• The two bracket queue competitions are ONLY for those members that are still in the bracket event. Do not queue for the bracket competitions unless you are actually about to play your match. If I see anyone idling in that queue, I will ask if you are about to play. If not, I will remove you from that queue. In the event that I do not catch someone idling and they wind up paired up with an opponent they are not matched with on the bracket, it is acceptable for members to decline that match. You will not be accused of match dodging, as the matches for the brackets are already set and managed by me.

• Do not idle in the PvP Battles queue. I will remove anyone who has idled in queue longer for 24 hours or more. Announce your platform, queue, and wait on an opponent. When you are no longer going to play for the day, leave queue.

• The chat restrictions will go back to normal at the end of the Rite of Supremacy. If you are unsure about what constitutes acceptable postings in DB Gaming, follow this format:

You: Anyone for X Game? (You enter the queue for the bot)

Opponent: I will play. (Opponent enters queue)

Bot: Matches you. Bot: Reports Score

You and opponent give a hearty “GG” or “Thanks for the Matches”

• Do not ask for help or clarification for competition guidelines in DB Gaming. Email me with issues or questions. I will respond to email only. I am keeping a log of all issues that come up with games, matches, and competitions so I can see if issues are systemic. For basic questions, your clan leaders can help you. If enough people have the same issue, I will issue a clarification or update so everyone in the club has the same understanding. I will delete anything not related to matchmaking (yes, if you are looking for casual gaming you can post that you are playing, just state you are doing non RoS gaming), or posts from a member of the DC related to the Rite of Supremacy.

• I am the only person processing gaming submissions right now. I will process everything under the 24 hour mark, but with a job and a wife and life outside this club, it may take me longer than normal to process everything. I will guarantee that anything submitted will be processed within 24 hours. Do not email me and ask me to process clusters prior to site reset unless your items have been in queue for 23 hours and 59 minutes.

Admin and Policy Reminders

All current Gaming and Fist Policies can be found on the Gaming Information page. I suggest that all members read this page as it has some great info. I will make sure this page stays updated to reflect all current office policies. I do not want to confuse anyone, especially with what is and is not allowed in the DB Gaming Telegram room.

Other items of note:

• The staff has 24 hours from the time you submit gaming activity to approve it. If your submission has been sitting for longer than that, there is a problem. If it hasn’t, there is no problem. The staff do their best to process gaming submissions as quickly as possible, but they are real people with real lives. I do not expect them to sit behind a computer processing gaming submissions all day, and neither should any of you.

• Solo submissions are never acceptable for Clusters of Earth/Fire. My staff and I will reject any that come in. You must play with at least one other DB member, no exceptions. This is not changing any time in the near (or far) future.

• Pendants of Blood are not acceptable for submission to cluster-counting competitions. If we see them, we will remand the request.

• Reminder: Feel free to run Gaming competitions DB wide. Gaming is a slightly different community, and is one of the few that consistently brings club members together outside of the competitive environment. Most of the people I currently game are all in different clans. By opening up your event DB-wide, you increase the pool of possible participants, which could allow for a crescent upgrade!

• Reminder: While I sincerely appreciate having proposals/great ideas sent to me via telegram, please email the staff list (email is at the bottom of this report). I ask that your House and Clan leadership take a look at your proposals before you send them up. This isn’t to add a layer of bureaucracy, it’s because I’m sure they’d like to know how you are trying to help the club improve...helps with award and promotion recommendations and all that. Feel free to cc them on your email to me and my staff.

Helpful Links

• [DB Gaming on Telegram - Log in to view join link] on Telegram. Come be part of the discussion in the one and only official gaming channel of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood!

• Send us an email at [Log in to view e-mail addresses] (DON’T USE THIS FOR RITE OF SUPREMACY QUESTIONS!

I hope you are all enjoying the Rite of Supremacy. There were a lot of submissions in Phase I, and I hope to see even more in Phase II.

Good luck, mahalo, and keep on gaming!

-Dracpool, out.