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Why the Match Length in a Community Tournament is Important

I recently saw a tournament online where the entire match consisted of the best of two out of three on using three different maps played just once. The time per map was 10 minutes. That is not a very spectacular or compelling match if you ask me.

Michael Hahn, Blogger

October 11, 2011

2 Min Read
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I recently saw a tournament online where the entire match consisted of the best of two out of three on using three different maps played just once. The time per map was 10 minutes. That means if there was no problems with the launching of games that the entire match length could last approximately 30 minutes plus loading times. That is not a very spectacular or compelling match if you ask me. Tournament matches should have a format where the matches feel like the players or teams are getting a real chance to win their match. Matches with a short hook is either inexperienced and/or they want the tournament over super fast. They just want to take the sponsorship money and run. Maybe they want quantity of entrants and not quality of an amazing tournament.

When I hosted tournaments online, I made sure that the matches gave teams and players a fair opportunity to have a chance of a comeback if they made a mistake in the tournament match. Quick hook or super short tournament match play penalizes players and teams for any/all errors. Tournaments should use a scoring system where the team wins the match when all players are killed or most players are dead at the end of a time frame. The tournament match should at least use the best of 2/3 on 2/3 maps. If your game has multiple maps or more you could do 3/5 3/5 or a different combination. The average death match or team death match tournament match length for a tournament match should be about an hour or so.

But in any format, your entrants will feel cheated if they aren't given a fair chance to win. Any short tournament where teams and players lose, should feel cheated. Gamers play games competitively for hours and practice to be better. If they lose some easy elimination tournament because the tournament host doesn’t want to wait for a meaningful match. They wont be be entering in future tournaments. They will be better off buying a lottery ticket or a chance at the local church. Tournament match length is important to the depth of all tournaments. In the end, while all games and genres are different, the average match length for games should be considered when setting your tournament match length rules. 

Thanks for the win please go report.

 

 

How do you feel when you enter a tournament with super quick match rules?

 

 

 

This article is also posted on mbhahn.com. Follow me on twitter: @mbhahn

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