Auto-translated
I was asked to share my thoughts, so here it is.
What goals should a general tournament set for itself?
1. Organizing regional gatherings. Look at Siberia, look at Ukraine; the qualifiers allowed players to meet, feel the "Heroes" community in person, and find friends. Old Heroes cities have come back to life – Yekaterinburg, Michurinsk. For once, a tournament was held in St. Petersburg, and I hope everything goes well in Moscow. Being friends online is one thing, but meeting in real life is an order of magnitude better. Naturally, people who took part in regional gatherings will be more willing to support such meetings in the future. And there will be fewer conflicts.
2. Uniting regional gatherings under a common goal. Naturally, the Heroes community will look much more solid with a recognized champion and a general tournament. A well-tuned system is more attractive for attracting both sponsors and newcomers.
3. Separating the wheat from the chaff. Previously, to become a "father" of the game, you had to go through a brutal grind in club tournaments. Stinger spent a long time proving his class in the Chaos League; Cobra and Alex-Great did so in the St. Petersburg tournaments. Anyone who really wanted to could come watch and see for themselves. No one disputed the skill level of the leaders.
Nowadays, to claim the role of a "father," you basically don't need to know how to play well. It is enough to carefully open the map editor, ensure saves are opened correctly, and lose occasionally—for example, in a 3:1 ratio. And that's it; your status as the strongest player is guaranteed. This isn't critical for fan games, but it's risky for internet tournaments. Of course, a young guy might want to become famous, earn praise from other players through his skill, and take 1st place.
Before, there was only one path—gradually increasing your skill. Now the detour is too tempting, especially for an ambitious nature. It's very hard to break the habit of using cheats; if the same-side draw is bad, the hand will instinctively reach for the editor, plus results will drop, and the person is already used to success.
As a result, a well-organized system of face-to-face tournaments will reveal true values. 8-10 club tournaments would cover the entire Heroes space.
And questions about cheating will quiet down because a person who has proven their high skill level in person will stand higher in the Heroes community than someone who only wins online. Even if a person shows incredibly successful results on the internet without demonstrating their mastery to other players in person, they cannot fully claim the role of a "father." Play in a regional club tournament, reach the final, show your level—then you're a father.
4. Creating new regional gatherings. Now, thanks to the internet, there are far more players. Previously, there were Moscow and St. Petersburg with a huge number of players (at least a hundred each). There were Kyiv, Minsk, Yekaterinburg, Michurinsk, Simferopol. In other regions, there were only loners or a couple of friends playing more or less seriously, but very few.
Look at it now. At most ten players are left from Moscow, and the same for Minsk. St. Petersburg probably has more, but not by much. Little remains of Simferopol; Michurinsk and Yekaterinburg remember better days. In theory, Heroes life should have died out, but that's not happening. Thanks to the internet, a decentralization of Heroes life occurred.
Therefore, new islands of Heroes life with very good people have appeared. As soon as they realize there is nothing scary about meeting in real life, they will look for like-minded people in their region. Let new Heroes centers emerge.
According to my assumptions, if everything goes well, then not 7 qualifiers, but at least a dozen might be held, and there could be nearly twice as many people at the second such tournament.
Now about the difficulties. I think we need to maintain a maximally constructive dialogue with both Yekaterinburg and Siberia. Yekaterinburg is one of the oldest Heroes centers and is very strong.
In the last general championship, all the "fathers" from Moscow and St. Petersburg played; breaking through them was almost impossible. Only VVV from Minsk and... Veks from Yekaterinburg managed to break into the top eight.
Moreover, he earned his spot. Why then, if they played well back then, should they play poorly now? Their face-to-face tournaments are held regularly, with fifteen players gathering.
Siberia. Very dynamic players—Dirty, Dreamcatcher, Mike, Alessandro, Van, Logistic, Valenok, Ketch, etc. There are many active forum members, as is already evident from the thread.
Why alienate them? People already live far away, huge distances, yet they still managed to meet.
Ignoring these two regions means that at the second such championship, we won't see two large gatherings. And potentially new gatherings, still in their infancy and unaware of their own strength, will also not unite. What is the point for organizers to hold them if they are designated as second-rate people in advance?
A unifying tournament simply won't happen.
Therefore, my suggestions:
- Find a common language with Siberia and Yekaterinburg. Seek maximum opportunities for their participation in the final, stop all talk of community weakness or players being unworthy; everyone is equal before the final.
- If that fails—organize a second semi-final.
Kyiv is holding its own tournament. The participation of players already announced there will ensure maximum interest from the Heroes community.
A second qualifier is ready to be held in Michurinsk. Benefits for players from Yekaterinburg and Siberia will include free accommodation, free play at the club, and no entry fees. Naturally, if they win, they will receive a prize pool of 20-30 thousand. A small amount compared to the cost of travel from Siberia there and back, but we'll keep working on it.
- Wait for the Muscovites. The situation there is complicated, but there are many players positively inclined toward the tournament. For once, Moscow has come alive; be sure to include its players in the final.
- Samurai wrote a very good post. Organizing a qualifier in Vladimir.
Starik lives there—perhaps the only strong organizer I don't know personally. He is the one who can run a qualifier. The participation of players like Samurai and Doberman will give the tournament status, and the convenient location of the city may ensure attendance for people from central Russia who missed the first qualifiers.
If they succeed—then great, then we'll truly attract everyone who wanted to play. If not—no matter, 7 qualifiers are also not bad.
An important point—two semi-finals will allow players, in an unfavorable scenario, to lose and still contend for the overall victory. 12 people in the tournament instead of 20-24.
The question may arise as to why I missed these points earlier. Because I make mistakes too. And I simply didn't expect such interest from players; I thought that managing to gather 4-5 qualifiers would already be a success.
To summarize:
Seek the maximum compromise with Siberia and Yekaterinburg. Actively contact Moscow and possibly Vladimir (if Starik organizes) so that these initiatives don't devolve into flood.
If a compromise is not reached—adopt the scheme with a second qualifier, two finalists each. But the tournament must be general, taking into account the interests of all healthy Heroes forces and with further development prospects. Otherwise, why bother with all this? IMHO.
Added after 1 hour 8 minutes
One more thing. The old "fathers" disagreed with the second semi-final. Let's analyze the situation.
So, a tournament is being played in Kyiv. After all, at any tournament, you can almost immediately see who is capable of winning and who plays the role of the peloton, even if it's a high-quality one. So if a person isn't contending for victory, what difference does it make to them whether they played in the semi-final or the final: since the participant list is the same, the format is the same, and the leisure is the same?
The two winners get fame and the prize fund. Then—they wait some day for the winners of the second qualifier to arrive.
Apparently, it's believed that the latter might be weaker. If so, 20-30 thousand (maybe more) in free money arrives. One game will bring 500 bucks. For that kind of money, Antal or Chaos would travel anywhere to play.
But I'm not entirely sure about unequivocally predictable results if people of the skill level of Pit, Marcon, Mike, and Merlin arrive.
So, refusing to seek mutually beneficial solutions not only strategically pushes the Heroes movement backward. It also hits the pocket—instead of 30, say, 60 thousand could be earned for a victory.