Greetings AoCZone,
I have only very recently discovered the existence of this website/community. The only experience I have with the game is playing some AoK around 2000-2001 as a young kid against AI. I do, however, have a decent amount of experience with (amateur) competitive gaming in general, so I thought maybe I'd introduce myself by trying to be useful and offering some thoughts.
As a teen I poured thousands of hours into a Half-Life 1 mod called Team Fortress Classic (TFC). To make a long story short, the community was amazing and it was really a shame to see it all fade into oblivion. In my mind, nothing will ever surpass that for me in terms of pure gaming ecstasy, and I know many of you would feel the same way if AoC died. I am here to tell you that NOW is the time to get organized and come to a consensus on how to proceed, or you will surely regret it. Here are a few things I think you should consider:
1) Make a generic pledge thread where people simply post how much they would be willing to donate to some major event. IMO it doesn't really matter if the details of the event haven't been worked out yet. It's still a good idea to gauge how much $$ can be expected from within the community before reaching out to Kickstarter. If you are in a position where the amount you would donate is dependent upon the type of event (lame), then just post the minimum amount you are willing to give. Pessimistic estimates are good estimates.
2) Try to come up with some form of tiered competition, rather than just winner-take-all. In TFC we had bronze/silver/gold/platinum etc brackets, which really worked well because newer players had more incentive to participate. I think everyone agrees that watching 2 legends battle it out is optimal, but the community will not survive on that alone. New blood is a necessity for longevity. As a rough hypothetical, consider a 1v1 tournament with a $1K cash pool, with 4 brackets based on Voobly rating (or some other appropriate metric). You could give like $600 to the "real" platinum winner, $200 to the platinum loser, then $100 to the winner of gold, and $50 each to the silver and bronze winners, or something along those lines. If players of all skill levels have an opportunity to be in the spotlight, more people will join.
3) The idea of a centralized AoCZone twich channel is FANTASTIC, and IMO the single most important step that can be taken at the moment. The vast majority of all streamed matches should come from the same source. It will come across as more professional and less confusing to newcomers. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean the same person has to commentate each time. In the event of a tiered tournament, all platinum matches would be broadcast on the AoCZone channel, while the lower brackets could be streamed on an individual person's channel such as ZeroEmpires. Again, this does not mean that ZeroEmpires can't sometimes be the commentator on the official AoCZone channel, too. And of course the championship match in each bracket would be broadcast on the official channel. This is what I mean by giving lesser players an opportunity to be in the spotlight. If you play well and make it to the finals, your game will be seen by a wider audience, and you will be motivated to work in between tournaments on advancing into the next bracket.
Well, that ended up being quite the wall of text, but I hope at least some fraction of it will be useful. I was really excited when I discovered that a lot of people were still playing AoE. It was one of my favorite games as a kid, and I can't wait to start getting owned online over summer break. The glory days may be gone forever, but a small, active, and passionate community is something special indeed. I will gladly chip in towards the next event, and will continue to do so in the future if it is a success. Don't let it die!!!
I have only very recently discovered the existence of this website/community. The only experience I have with the game is playing some AoK around 2000-2001 as a young kid against AI. I do, however, have a decent amount of experience with (amateur) competitive gaming in general, so I thought maybe I'd introduce myself by trying to be useful and offering some thoughts.
As a teen I poured thousands of hours into a Half-Life 1 mod called Team Fortress Classic (TFC). To make a long story short, the community was amazing and it was really a shame to see it all fade into oblivion. In my mind, nothing will ever surpass that for me in terms of pure gaming ecstasy, and I know many of you would feel the same way if AoC died. I am here to tell you that NOW is the time to get organized and come to a consensus on how to proceed, or you will surely regret it. Here are a few things I think you should consider:
1) Make a generic pledge thread where people simply post how much they would be willing to donate to some major event. IMO it doesn't really matter if the details of the event haven't been worked out yet. It's still a good idea to gauge how much $$ can be expected from within the community before reaching out to Kickstarter. If you are in a position where the amount you would donate is dependent upon the type of event (lame), then just post the minimum amount you are willing to give. Pessimistic estimates are good estimates.
2) Try to come up with some form of tiered competition, rather than just winner-take-all. In TFC we had bronze/silver/gold/platinum etc brackets, which really worked well because newer players had more incentive to participate. I think everyone agrees that watching 2 legends battle it out is optimal, but the community will not survive on that alone. New blood is a necessity for longevity. As a rough hypothetical, consider a 1v1 tournament with a $1K cash pool, with 4 brackets based on Voobly rating (or some other appropriate metric). You could give like $600 to the "real" platinum winner, $200 to the platinum loser, then $100 to the winner of gold, and $50 each to the silver and bronze winners, or something along those lines. If players of all skill levels have an opportunity to be in the spotlight, more people will join.
3) The idea of a centralized AoCZone twich channel is FANTASTIC, and IMO the single most important step that can be taken at the moment. The vast majority of all streamed matches should come from the same source. It will come across as more professional and less confusing to newcomers. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean the same person has to commentate each time. In the event of a tiered tournament, all platinum matches would be broadcast on the AoCZone channel, while the lower brackets could be streamed on an individual person's channel such as ZeroEmpires. Again, this does not mean that ZeroEmpires can't sometimes be the commentator on the official AoCZone channel, too. And of course the championship match in each bracket would be broadcast on the official channel. This is what I mean by giving lesser players an opportunity to be in the spotlight. If you play well and make it to the finals, your game will be seen by a wider audience, and you will be motivated to work in between tournaments on advancing into the next bracket.
Well, that ended up being quite the wall of text, but I hope at least some fraction of it will be useful. I was really excited when I discovered that a lot of people were still playing AoE. It was one of my favorite games as a kid, and I can't wait to start getting owned online over summer break. The glory days may be gone forever, but a small, active, and passionate community is something special indeed. I will gladly chip in towards the next event, and will continue to do so in the future if it is a success. Don't let it die!!!