NORCAL INSTALL! [Main Information and Ranbat Update Thread]

[vibratingsheep]

Looks like everyone's coming out of the woodwork to weigh in on this one about events in general to tell me how much I'm screwing up.

Several posts have already noted how much they enjoyed the event. I enjoyed the event too. This is not about a group of people chanting "Chun screwed up." This is about "SNCI could be better, and this is how I think it could be."

[BeaverDeity]

Well since I wasn't there I can only add a little bit of input... But I really enjoyed watching the event (all of the games were fun to watch), and think it was really cool how you had the stream monster event thing. :D

[Spirit Juice]

Enough with the name calling. It's not productive.

Several posts have already noted how much they enjoyed the event. I enjoyed the event too. This is not about a group of people chanting "Chun screwed up." This is about "SNCI could be better, and this is how I think it could be."

This. Criticism does not mean you failed. Overall, I thought the event was a success and I had fun. However, I thought it could be better, which is why I made that post. If it comes off as harsh, it wasn't really my intention. I felt as if someone needed to get the ball rolling on how to improve NCI, and that person should be me since no one else seemed to be willing to address the issues.

[OrionXElite]

Chun, I'm gonna tell you straight up, THIS IS NOT A DISCUSSION OF PEOPLE SAYING YOU SUCK, QUIT TAKING THE CRITICISMS LIKE THAT. Everyone I talked to at NCI said they were having a great time. No one came to me with legitimate problems and saying the event was the worst thing ever to be run on the face of the earth. Now to bring up something important, the way we as a community actually communicate. Now bear in mind, we've had NCI every since John(TaoFTW) started it back in late 09 and it a GG centered tourney. From the very beginning of it, if people needed to discuss anything, ask any questions or find any info, they went to Dustloop and found the NCI thread and figured it out there. When for almost 3 years now, thats been our main medium of communication from players to TOs to organizers, you need to be sure to focus your discussions, opinions, ideas and updates there FIRST and pay close attention to what everyone is saying. I understand we have a website and an email and a facebook and thats all great, but humans are creatures of habit meaning they won't adjust so easily to other means when you just throw it at them. Everyone still comes here for info and stuff meaning it has to be the top priority when it comes to informing those interested. I'm gonna be honest, I don't check the website or the facebook cause I don't want to, I'd rather just go to where is the most concentrated number of people who are involved with the event which is HERE. Now Chun, DO NOT take this as me saying you don't pay attention to people, I'm mearly saying I think your focus is misled to the less reliable means. I understand you want to get Media out there for NCI and thats great, but I'll be honest, I'd rather just have this thread updated and checked up on by EVERYONE constantly and effectively rather than having 3 scattered sources that people have to hunt and peck through. So instead of a poll on facebook(which I honestly don't even remember being up, let alone if I voted in it or not), you should make a post here about what people want and then use those other media outlets to direct non-Dustloop users to here so that way we have constant hub for information. Talking about it on DL then polling about it on Facebook then updating the website is a messy process that gets frustrating, you need to streamline your information so its easily accessible to everyone.

Now as for how to improve NCI itself, I personally accept responsibility for shit going wrong over the weekend. I decided to take a chance and let people go eat given how much of the bracket we had left to go but then we got deadlocked cause people took too long. My mistake, live and learn. I'm just gonna start enforcing the rule that you can go get food at your discretion and be aware that you will be DQ'ed if you take too long for whatever reason. This leaves the responsibility entirely to the player to decide instead of me sticking my neck out there and getting my head cut off for it. Also people if you're going to just play a match without telling me, MAKE SURE YOU'RE ACTUALLY PLAYING THE RIGHT FUCKING PEOPLE. I shouldn't have had to tell 2 different matches that they were playing the wrong opponents cause they decided to glance at the bracket wrong and go. If you wanna play your matches sooner rather than later, just tell me and I'll run your's quickly. If you have to take a deuce and need to be run later, just let me know, I won't kill you for asking but I will kill you for running off and playing the wrong people again.

As for the time constraints I'll be honest, I have yet to be to NorCal tourney of any kind outside of majors that has upheld their time restrictions to a finite end. And its always for the same reason, someone is running late for whatever. The Marvel/SF weeklies start really late too for some reason so its not like we're the only tourney scene with time issues, I just think we are the worst. I don't care if we start an hour late for whatever reason, I care that we start 3 hours late. Its been said 1000000 times before, if don't start enforcing a stricter time constraint and actually boot people for it, then it won't ever change. So what if we get one lower than normal attendance NCI because one group was too lazy to get up and get there on time? It was their fault for being lazy, everyone shouldn't be held back for it. They will learn from their mistakes(hopefully) and be on time next NCI.

I appreciate the fact that you bust your ass to organize these events Chun. Organizing these things is just as a thankless a job as being a TO you gotta learn to grow a shell and deal with it. Don't take a critique too seriously as an attack on your personal being, take it as a critique to improve the scene you've done so much for and make it better next time.

On that note, I'm gonna go back to doing finals work...goddammit:v:

[Yggjrasil]

The only complaint that I had about SNCI is the NOS. I hate that shit so much, please...No more of that.

[magz]

Well, we'll miss you and your hiding broken furniture.

This stuff about Lark breaking a chair needs to be put to an end.

If videos exist of Lark actually breaking a chair and/or hiding said broken chair please come forth with it already.

It is a little ridiculous when the TO of NCI and the owner of Gamecenter accuses one of the regular customers without any concrete evidence.

Thanks.

[STenSatsu]

Another chime in to say that people had fun and these suggestions aren't meant as insults or telling you you did badly, just trying to see things improve. As far as 1-day vs 2-day I don't know if you could have run every game that was listed on the schedule in one day, especially not planning for Norcal Time. If people want 1 day for these bigger events than ya, games are going to have to be cut. Seems like BB, GG, KOF (assuming gc+sta come) would be the main games with SG/P4A joining in and all subject to change based on attendance.

Personally, the only problems I had were BB signups. I swear signups were listed as 10am-12pm but I can't find it now so guess that was my bad. The arcade didn't really 'open' until 12pm which seems like an odd time to end signups in any case.

Either way, just start DQing people even if it leads to 1 or 2 lower attendance NCIs. People need to show up on time or have somebody pay for them. That's really on the community though and all you can do as TO is enforce your schedule.

Was still a fun tourney even with any mishaps on the way and there is always learning to be done. Maybe for future SNCI events you can make a thread for it seperately if there is a poll to be done. This thread could basically be taken off sticky and be like any other weekly/monthly thread and then you could just sticky the SNCI thread and have all/the majority of SNCI format or whatever discussion there. This thread isn't that great for that stuff since it moves fast enough that info given months in advance will be buried.

[brett_]

Sums up my thoughts regarding SNCI:

[Tone]

Chun: as far as communication goes, just crosspost whatever information is needed to facebook/website/dustloop. i myself didnt really have a problem with finding out what was going on, but i guess some people dont feel like clicking on the website or fb links that contained all the relevant polls and/or information needed. it also doesnt help that the info does get lost with all the posts here.

just make a general info thing to copy/paste, i feel that youre overthinking things and causing a mess.

it would really help for dustloop if you updated the thread title with the next date, and updated the thread OP with the current relevant information.

im indifferent towards the two day format for SNCI. some people liked it, some people hated it... I personally didnt really see it as an issue, unless people were that pressed to get to where they were going. It felt a lot less stressful though, which was nice!

as far as needing help with organizational purposes, im more than willing to help out beyond just being a TO, and im sure other people are willing to work with you as well.

Solex: There isnt really an STA/GC rivalry, its just that a good portion the STA people dont venture away from STA much.

TOs: DQ people for leaving, and dont allow people to take these stupid breaks that hold the brackets up. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Entrants: QUIT LEAVING AND HOLDING THINGS UP. This has been addressed many times, but the whole dinner break thing is ridiculous, and in all the months Ive been attending these things, it has been a consistent problem. If you want to take a quick five minute break to go grab a donut next door, or a burger across the street? Thats fine. But dont hold up everything for everyone else because you decided to wait in that 30 minute line across the street at TPumps. Make sure you dont have anything to do before you go do stuff like that.

[lark]

Just to clear things up 100%. I did not break any furniture at Gamecenter. I did not hide any furniture at Gamecenter. I have an idea on how these accusations came up, but they honestly should not even be held. If you have footage of this, please review it again.

[Crosell]

Critisms are suggestions for how to fix what went wrong and not personal attacks. Please separate the differences. And you know what, its good you are getting this because it means the community fucking cares. I'm not writing a big long post because you guys get that from me every month trying to discuss what went wrong. Take these, think them through, talk to other TO's who want the event to succeed to be respected. And one thing to take at heart, people want dustloop to be the primary source of communication. So let it be the primary source of communication.

[Shining Aquas]

I think everything that needs to be said about SNCI (as well as a few things that weren't entirely needed) have been said and acknowledged. The overall consensus is that great times were had, but there's plenty of room for improvement.

Let's move forward here.

The big issue that currently stands to me is the holding of the next NCI. April is within about a week's time, which means the predetermined date for April NCI is supposedly in 11 days.

Are we delaying it, skipping it, or meeting again in barely over a week's time? I don't care which of these is the case, so long as that decision is fully followed and jumped on, and soon.

Consider the following:

Skullgirls is "supposedly" coming out in April. It may be beneficial to either delay or skip April NCI to wait for Skullgirls release, while simultaneously planning out our new schedule of games with Skullgirls in it.

NCI has on a number of occasions been a decent outlet for the stream to see Skullgirls in action before release, and this is an opportunity to be one of the first tournaments to have Skullgirls post-release.

Alternatively, run NCI like normal, first Saturday of the month. If that's the decision, then it would be worth it to use this NCI as an experiment. Since this one is so close to SNCI, I don't expect the turnout to be all that impressive (but it's a bit hard to tell since it hasn't been solidified as a date), but with fewer people it might be a good idea to try using as much of the previously mentioned criticism towards the next NCI to see how it runs.

So that leads to things like:

1) Stricter Time Enforcement - Got to uphold the deadlines stronger. We usually talk about NCI having registration start roughly around 12:00-12:30, but then the tourney doesn't start until around 2:30-3:00. If people are really showing up that late, we just have to cut them. It sucks, but I don't see any other way to run everything on time. If registration starts at 12, we really should have tournies started by 1:30 at the latest. It doesn't take that long to set up a bracket, especially with computers.

2) Ramen Run Restrictions - I completely agree that the food run thing is ruining a lot of tournies. At the very least, people have started being more courteous about telling the TO's, but we might need to go beyond that. I'm in favor of plan "tell them to wait until after the tournament", but maybe we could also try "Give me your phone number and I'll call you when your next match comes up" or possibly "You only have about X minutes to get food, and if you aren't back by then I'm DQ'ing you".

3) Which Games are Really Important? - I love GG and it's probably one of the biggest reasons I come, but I do agree that the numbers are lower than I'd like. At no point do I think it should ever be given up, but side tourney status may be realistic in the near future. What does that leave us with exactly? BBCSE, SC5, KOF13, Cat, and Gundam are the current lineup (+GG). I support the motion to remove Catherine 100%, and taking out SC5 makes sense given how well that scene is sustaining. I don't know about moving Gundam to side tournament or not, if anything I feel that game is growing in popularity as people try it. So with the future looking like SG and P4U, our lineup is still at least 4 games, 5 if we keep either GG or Gundam. In this regard, I feel like waiting for Skullgirls to come out might be good for us to get a feel for tournament length with SG. P4U doesn't come out until summer, so we have some time to work these things out, but the sooner we implement SG in the better.

Ultimately, I just hope everyone that's coming is enjoying themselves. Lots of us will get salty from time to time, but the appeal is in the fun games we play and the people we play with. We're all here to show off our grinded out training modes and get some solid matches in, while learning new things in the process. We're also here to meet with folks that we don't see on an everyday (or everyweek) basis; NCI is the event that pulls us all together to hang, chill, and reunite under common ground, which in this case is the NOS-covered floor of Myung's establishment. NCI is a big deal to some of us, and I just want to see it improve and grow like any major event.

Hopefully some hard decisions will be made soon, and we can aim to make the next NCI perfect.

Also, I think I left my PS2 at Gamecenter. It's a thin silver with a modded flip-top.

[STenSatsu]

Have results been posted yet? Just wanted to see who got what outside of GG lol.

[Yggjrasil]

Have results been posted yet? Just wanted to see who got what outside of GG lol.

This. Results from the last 2 NCI haven't been posted yet either...Whats up with that?

[qwerty]

Just to throw this out there, if I had to schedule the next SNCI, assuming it retains its two day format, it'd be something like this:

Saturday:

BB up to Top 8 starting at noon on the dot

P4U start to finish immediately after (assuming it gets AH3-levels of entrants, which I'm guessing it would)

SG either ran simultaneously or starting an hour into P4U, start to finish (again, assuming a comparably low turnout vs BB)

Sunday:

Gundam at noon, start to finish

BB Top 8 at whatever designated time it'd be at

Whether GG and MB would be side tournaments or not, they should both probably be ran on Sunday, as well.

My rationale behind this is simple: get the games that take longest to run out of the way first. Gundam is the exception to that because those setups would be used to expedite the BB/P4U/SG tournaments.

The issue with the setups at GC lagging is a whole other matter altogether, though. I haven't played on the cabinets enough to notice, but I'd be willing to help in whatever way I can to determine how much those displays are lagging.

[Chun]

The world looks a lot clearer with academic responsibilities finally out of the way for a Spring Break.

Thank you to everyone that gave me feedback about the way things were run in SNCI, I've already started a plan for the next event which will be posted in a new thread, because I think this one is getting too long, after using it for the past 1.5 years.

I read every post about SNCI that has happened in the past few pages, your voices are heard, and I'll continue to have updated threads since people are adamant about external sources for information.

Also, I'm looking for people that can help me in the administrative part of updating tournament content, particularly keeping the dustloop thread updated, getting me the questions that need answering regularly, and people willing to update facebook content as well. This also will include posting the final brackets/getting that information up so people can view them the day after the event. If you're interested please PM me or send me a message at norcalinstall@gmail.com with what responsibilities you'd like to assist with.

Thanks for your time guys.

[PhaethonH]

I recommend a mailing list (Google Groups, perhaps), maybe two. For the LUG when I was at school, there were three distinct sublists:

• general (public, low/no access restrictions)
  
• announce (low-volume, "read-only")
  
• admin (staff, restricted subscription)
  
  
  Seems like suitable lists for now are:
  
  • norcalinstall-staff (this stuff)
    
  • norcalinstall-announce (event dates, organizational changes, commendations, etc.)
    

  (the equivalent of norcal-general would be here on DL...)

[totoroslayer]

I've been meditating on this for the better part of a week, and I have a long post/rant I'll inflict upon you all later tonight. In the mean time, however, Dacidbro, ApologyMan, and Copperdabbit are all back from Japan. In honor of their homecoming (and to extract the Japanese secrets from their brains), GC will be holding an impromptu BB session tonight. Check out www.facebook.com/gamecenterarcade for details and comments. If we get enough people there, we could even start a small bracket. Hope to see you there, and I'll get to editing this post of mine.

-Myung

[qwerty]

Just to clarify, my previous post regarding your involvement with the promotion of NCI was answered by Chun via email and as it turns out, I just looked too much into that. No harm intended on my part, it just seemed odd at the time, given the little information I had about how NCI is promoted. Keep doing what you're doing.

[ehuangsan]

Somewhat off topic, but:

Fred - looks like hour 1 and hour2 of station 1 are all tourney footage, so you may want to break them up and post HQ for each.

[Shining Aquas]

I've been meditating on this for the better part of a week, and I have a long post/rant I'll inflict upon you all later tonight. In the mean time, however, Dacidbro, ApologyMan, and Copperdabbit are all back from Japan. In honor of their homecoming (and to extract the Japanese secrets from their brains), GC will be holding an impromptu BB session tonight. Check out www.facebook.com/gamecenterarcade for details and comments. If we get enough people there, we could even start a small bracket. Hope to see you there, and I'll get to editing this post of mine.

-Myung

Is there a time for that, or just show up whenever?

[Chun]

As much research as I could find, a PS3 release date for Skullgirls doesn't look like it's going to be simultaneous with the XBLA release, and given most of the setups and the short time between here and now, I think the next NCI will be the first Saturday of May.

However, if people want to have an April 14th NCI, please give your input now. I have been playing with a "Mini-NCI" idea just so people can play Day 1 Skullgirls.

[ShelledMenace]

If PS3 doesn't have SG by the time of possible April NCI, I have a 360 I can bring for setup...you know, assuming I have the money to buy SG lol

[OrionXElite]

Screw a fullblown NCI, people need a break. Just make it a day 1 Skullgirls tourney for those interested. If you decide you don't wanna do it, I will cause theres no reason not to have one frankly.

[Spirit Juice]

I'm in agreement that we should wait until May for the next NCI.