Empires Showdown : Invitational ( Charity Tournament )

[oGN]

Hello everyone,

For those who don’t know me, let me introduce myself briefly. I am OGN and I am a player, streamer and youtuber on Age of Empires II since 2013. My only achievement is to be top 1 in France on the benevolence factor, but I am more than happy with this :D

The purpose of this topic is to announce a particular event, which is a charity tournament!

Before introducing the settings, let me explain its concept. Last year, I created the first edition of this tournament, which was called Empires Showdown. The tournament was organised between French players and we raised funds for a charity that takes care of animals in distress. The tournament lasted 2 days, during which funds were raised through Twitch streams.

This year, I decided to renew this experience but with much higher expectations! This time, I want to help children who miss the chance to live the same life than us and especially children who are severely sick. This is why I contacted a French charity that takes care of children suffering from cancer or leukaemia. The charity is called ARAME and is located in Strasbourg, it has been involved in this cause for many years already. For those who understand French, here is their website: www.association-arame.fr. ARAME offers medical services but also extra-activities to help the children cope with their treatment. This cause is very dear to my heart, which is why I want to try my best to organise a project than can contribute.

For this project, I am lucky to receive support from a French e-sport organisation: LDLC (or LDLC OL for the gaming section). They have been providing all the logistics support I need since the first edition. For example, they provide a studio and a control room for quality content.

Now, let me introduce this new edition. First of all, it is called Empires Showdown Invitational. Why invitational? Because this year, 8 of the best players were invited to participate: @TheViper, @Hera_ , @_MbL_, @TaToH, @_DauT_, @Nicov , @Liereyy , @Mr_Yo .

I am very glad the players all (enthusiastically) accepted the invitation, as this guarantees a very exciting show with epic games! The tournament will take place during the 7th and 8th of March. Here are the rules of the tournament:

About the reward, I decided to fund a 500€ cashprize that will go the winner (winner takes all). This reward may seem light, but as I said earlier, the idea is not to provide for the players but above all to raise funds for children in need.

Players can of course stream their point of view. Since I will be casting in French, I would also like to invite @T90Official and @Nili_AoE to stream this event on their channels. I would also be glad to see @MembTV streaming for the Spanish community because I know how big this community is. I ask nothing from them if only to talk to their viewers about the purpose of the event and the possibility to donate to ARAME through my (or maybe their) twitch channel.

Special thanks to @Chrazini who created most of the maps on DE, abductedPlatypus for Frisia, AlgernonR for Bay and HenkDeSuperNerd for Cup. @Cedric ( Cebdos ) is also acknowledged for the English communication and for helping with tournament administration.

If you have any question, you’re free to ask.

 

[Miral]

Au top !

 

[MaSmOrRa]

Fantastic job man.

I'll be tuning in and donating.

 

[doacid]

Since I will be casting in French, I would also like to invite @T90Official and @Nili_AoE to stream this event on their channels. I would also be glad to see @MembTV streaming for the Spanish community because I know how big this community is.

I just want to correct a slight error. Memb doesn't stream for the Spanish community, he streams for the international one, in the same fashion than T90 and Nili. Maybe it's not important at all but better safe than sorry

All the best for this event!

 

[Silenty]

Really awesome OGN. I will be there and glad to participate to this cause.

Au top !

Bises, Michel.

 

[LidaKor]

Nice concept

One thing to the streaming policy if I may though: not sure what plans you have for smaller casters - there are some of them both in english and spanish. I highly doubt it would change overall viewership on channels much, since the majority (90%+) viewers will either watch POV streams, or one of the bigger casters in english, or your channel in french. So I could recommend a streaming policy that is either fully open, or one that was used at Bonjwa Fightnight - exlcusive french for your channel, open for other channels. You can also ask streamers to display a banner between games that hold information about the event's charity background and ask them to remind their viewers about this.

 

[RogganWololo]

Très bon initiative! Bonne chance pour le tournoi!

 

[oGN]

I just want to correct a slight error. Memb doesn't stream for the Spanish community, he streams for the international one, in the same fashion than T90 and Nili. Maybe it's not important at all but better safe than sorry

All the best for this event!

Yes I know. It was to the extent that there would already have been 1 English stream, rather than having 2 as much to make a second in Spanish for this big community. Simply to reach as many people as possible.

 

[oGN]

Nice concept

One thing to the streaming policy if I may though: not sure what plans you have for smaller casters - there are some of them both in english and spanish. I highly doubt it would change overall viewership on channels much, since the majority (90%+) viewers will either watch POV streams, or one of the bigger casters in english, or your channel in french. So I could recommend a streaming policy that is either fully open, or one that was used at Bonjwa Fightnight - exlcusive french for your channel, open for other channels. You can also ask streamers to display a banner between games that hold information about the event's charity background and ask them to remind their viewers about this.

I am not against this idea, however I would like someone to come and talk to me about it before so that we can work out a few things.

 

[WOTC_Cl3m3nT]

Belle initiative

Et belle présentation @Cedric

 

[Cysion]

Chouette

 

[MaSmOrRa]

Put this on the calendar? Someone?

 

[oGN]

Good evening everyone .

Thank you for your feedback, the tournament is now very close and I am really excited.

I wanted to inform you that @MembTV will therefore be available for the English community https://www.twitch.tv/MembTV and @SilentTV for the Spanish community. https://www.twitch.tv/SilentTV and of course, me for the French community https://www.twitch.tv/ogn_empires

A huge thank you to them for their help and their investment.

PS : The program with the hours for this weekend =)

 

[ZeroEmpires]

Good evening everyone .

Thank you for your feedback, the tournament is now very close and I am really excited.

I wanted to inform you that @MembTV will therefore be available for the English community https://www.twitch.tv/MembTV and @SilentTV for the Spanish community. https://www.twitch.tv/SilentTV and of course, me for the French community https://www.twitch.tv/ogn_empires

A huge thank you to them for their help and their investment.

PS : The program with the hours for this weekend =)
View attachment 175816

Hey this is a great initiative. Would you be open to allowing other streamers as well? So long as they provide donation links etc? I’d be very interested in casting this weekend if allowed! Thank you

 

[Miral]

We need a banner on the front page for such an event !

 

[oGN]

Welcome to the project @ZeroEmpires , thx for your interest

 

[GutsX]

Welcome to the project @ZeroEmpires , thx for your interest

Pls contact @F1ReAoE for portuguese transmission. https://www.twitch.tv/f1reaoe

 

[GutsX]

Brazil already had the best AOE II team with Brazil B a few years ago, and several players among the best in the world, how can it not be broadcast in Portuguese?

 

[Miral]

The tournament is already providing amazing game. Also, many tks to the players involved even tough there is no guaranteed money

 

[MaSmOrRa]

Awesome games, 10.000€ raised after just 1 day.

We really are, hands down, the best gaming community around.

Congratulations @oGN

 

[joubine9]

There won't be a break of 1 or 2 hours between the second semi final and the final? We saw so many times in tourneys that the players playing straight after a BO5 another one would perform way worst than usual. I remenber for example the max playing VS viper and then nicov with no break in ECL and his performance was not the same at all. But I get it if it's not possible. Idk if it's live or not.

 

[KolyaKrasotkin]

Congratulations for the first day! Looking forward to today's matches!

If the HC3 contracts are, as they seem to be (regarding promo matches), maybe Empires Showdown final can be postponed to Monday evening and semifinals paused during HC3 show match (not during a match, obviously)?
I know, that it is a far from ideal solution (and I personally will take Empires Showdown over recorded HC3 promo anytime today), but I guess, the drawbacks will be more than balanced out by the benefit of having T90's audience for the whole charity event.

On the other hand, if such a solution would be possible, that decision probably would have had to be taken some days ago.

Anyway, very good work!

 

[oGN]

Hi everyone !

First of all, my apologies for coming back to you that late ! But this weekend was really exhausting for me and I wanted to recover fully before writing you these few words.

Where to begin ... So many things

Today I feel like I've achieved one the most important things in my entire life : this weekend we did something big ! I don't know if you can realize, but we succeeded in breaking through the language barrier and the distance which were standing between us, in order to strive for a common cause ...
When I think about it, I find it crazy ! In only 2 days, we managed to raise 17 200€ through a commun passion which is Age of Empires 2, a 20-years old game ...

To go more into details, all your donations this weekend represent :
- 17 276,21€
- 10 different countries
- 575 transactions
- people who have given fifteen times in two days (the biggest donator has given six times for a total amount of 2 500€) !

It's insane !

Obviously, all of this wouldn't have been possible without the players. That's why I'd like to give a huge shout-out to @TheViper , @Mr_Yo , @Liereyy ,@_MbL_ _, @Ator ( TaToH ) , @Nicov , @Hera_ and @_DauT_ . You guys have all been thrilled by this project since the beginning and contributed to it with your presence. And for those who have streamed, you also have played along by encouraging your respective communities to take part in the donations. For that thanks a million, I owe you one !
Special mention to Hera who has decided to donate the totality of his cash prize to ARAME association. Very king gesture !

Also, I'd like to thank @MembTV , @ZeroEmpires , @SilentTV , @T90Official & @ornlu who have casted the event. Some have gently accepted my proposal, while the others have contacted me directly to join the cause. I learned later that @VIVI casted as well a part of the event for the Chinese community.
So same as mentioned earlier, a huge thank to all of you : you have contributed to the success of this event in the same way as the players by ping a big amount of work, qualitative additionally !

Of course I was not alone behind the stage. The LDLC structure and its art director "Paintrau" have provided me a logistical support without asking any promotion in return, just by pure kindness and twice in a row (after last year's event). So a huge thank to them !
Also @Cedric aka Cebdos, a long-standing friend, who's has suggested a great map pool and perfect rules for this tourney. He was also in charge for translating all the official announcements from French to English (except for this one, I didn't want to abuse his generosity and asked to @ClemOL45 : thanks dude).
Thanks a lot, I'm happy to have you by my side as a loyal friend !

@Chrazini has helped a lot too ! Especially for the porting of some maps from old AOE to the Definitive Edition, by recoding them. Someone that I don't know personally, which touches me even more : he didn't know me or much about the project.
I sincerely thank you ...

I'd like to address the last thanks to my marvellous community. Since DE came out, I'm lucky to live a unique and amazing experience ! You are extremely generous with me (some for numerous years) : through the daily goodwill, from a financial perspective, with your comments about the content I try to offer you ... Sometimes I even feel like you're giving me too much ...
Thanks for that ! Thank you for having trusted me and supported me for this project. Thanks for having taken part actively for ARAME association. Thanks for pushing me to do better each time. And finally thanks for simply being here ....

I leave you with a few statistics of the weekend but also with the link of a video the association realized to thank us.

REMERCIEMENT DE L'ASSOCIATION ARAME !

? Le site de l'association : https://www.association-arame.fr/ Le tournoi est terminé mais vous pouvez toujours contribuer au bonheur des petits =)

youtu.be

See you next year for a new project ? Time will tell !

Bye <3

 

[Miral]

I was not expecting that event to be such a succes. All my congrats !

 

[iViktorius]

Great stuff, gj oGN

FYI: TaToH's aoezone account name = @Ator