Let The Games Begin

Well, we have started the new season of the tournaments and ladders. Check out what you can expect for team. To start things off, we are going to try to take things slower. The new software should be a little more simple then the last version. While it doesn't have all the bells and whistles, I'm hoping that people will be able to understand it better and learn how to use it faster. The major problem of Time Zones is fixed by making all games Central Standard time. Now when create a match, you will know what time zone it is in.

The Competitions

Currently we are starting with a limited set of games. Of coarse Halo 2 will be there, but we have also added newer games like G.R.A.W., COD 2, UNO, and Counter Strike: Source. If you would like to see another game on the ladder, please feel free to let us know in the Tournaments forum. To view these games and their ladders, simply click on Tournaments in the Community navigation.

The Ladders

There are 3 different types of ladders. I will go through them all below to try and explain the difference of each.

1) Ladder: A ladder is a form of competition that allows you to challenge members on a RUNG type system. Depending on the settings, you will have the option to knock the leaders off the top rungs of the ladder and take their spots while earning some points. If you lose, you will remain in your spot and have points subtracted from our total.

2) League: This is more of a seasonal type competition. The idea with a league is to mix everyone together while earning points for winning. You can challenge anyone on the ladder no matter what their standing is. The idea with this ladder is to get as many points as you can buy winning. The ladders usually run for a set time and the player with the most points wins.

3) Knockout: One of the coolest ladders, the knockout allows members to "knockout" other teams by defeating them and taking away their "stars". Each team will start with 5 stars when the ladder begins. When a team defeats another team, the loser will lose a star. Once all stars are taken away, that team is removed from the competition. The only way to gain a star is if your team knocks out out the final star from another team. You will gain the last star. You can only have 5 stars at a time so some strategy is needed to win this type of ladder.

The Teams

Creating and managing a team is easy. Go to the hope page and look at the right side of the site. There you will find the Ladder Team Manager. You can use this to create a team, log-in to a team, or join a team. Once your team is created, you must join the ladder of your choice. Remember you can only be on ONE TEAM PER LADDER. That doesn't mean one team per game. You can be on as many teams as you want as long as they are not apart of the same competition. This is to combat ringers and cheaters in case we have any.

Rosters are easy to manage as well, if you want to add someone from the roster, you can either select them from the drop down in your team manager, or simply email/pm them the join password from your team. New members are given 48 before they can play in a match and will show up orange until that time expires. Once again this it to stop people from bringing in ringers or new members for a match. Each team is given a minimum and maximum number requirement for the ladders. Make sure you READ THE RULES very carefully and understand them before challenging others.

The Rules

This is the most important part of the ladders. Make sure you READ THE RULES and understand them fully and to the letter. The better you know the rules, the less time and effort goes into managing the ladder. If you need help with the rules, you can contact the ladders leader in the tournaments forum. Please make sure you read all the rules before you go asking for help!

Lag

This is always that biggest issue with online games and continues to be a problem. The best way to combat this problem is to be fair. So, before you start your matches, test out the host. Play a practice game first and see how the connection is. If its bad, try another host. Once you agree its ok, play your game. There will be NO disputes of lag in this seasons ladder. Its your responsibility to pick a suitable host before the game begins and LAG is a natural and unstoppable occurrence in online gaming. The best thing you can do it test test test. No whining. If a person drops, then you must have someone ready to join in ASAP.

Starting it Up

Ok, so every ladder is open and ready to go, but Im sure the rules and learning the ladder will be an issue at this point. I have done limited testing and Im sure there will be issue. PLEASE DONT PM ME! Just post it in the tournament forum and we will get to it when we can. Thanks and let the games begin.