aloha! i is back from aussie! weather there is cool. everywhere feels like aircon. chocolate fondue everyday. :D~

and since im suffering from jetlag(its about 12noon in aussie.), i'll do a "reply" to tammy's post from a marshal's point of view.

POINT TO NOTE! im only a mini marshal, and it DOES NOT represent what ALL the marshals think and feel. and also there are competitions organised by cha pa lang people who are not even sure how competitions are run or how the games are supposed to be played. so please note, im only talking about competitions that i, myself marshaled..

case 1 : player gets into final /semi-final of 2 different games, but forced to pick one and forfeit one.
organisers/marshals will do their best to accomodate such clashes but sometimes, time/venue does not permit this to happen. for example, capl @ e2max. the often clashes are wc3 and dota. the coms that players are using are actually being paid for hourly. if 2 different games clash, and organisers/marshals allow the player to stagger his game, it will cause some huge delay. say, maybe we're suppose to end at 6pm, but we end up ending at 8pm. when you delay ONE game, it is NOT only your that particular match will be delayed. it will cause delay to the WHOLE bracket, causing some HUGE delay like 2 to 3 hours. organisers are paying for the competition to be run, so if there's a delay, they'll have to pay more. and more often than not, we have a time schedule to follow. a case that happened this year. WCG preliminary round @ lanlab. it was supposed to end by 7pm, latest. due to some delay to ONE game, the whole event ended at 12am. see the seriousness? organisers/marshals try to accomodate players, and players should do likewise too, be a little more understanding, i guess?

then there was this incident in wcg, it happens every yearm and i happen to know both players, in 2005 and 2006. top 4 position in one game, top 2 position in another. then you say, "hey! its not the normal rounds! its the top few position! how can u ask them to forceit one?!" AH HAR! because its the top few games, these games are being casted on stage, online. if im to stagger one game, so whats going to happen? and i remember hearing from a more experienced marshal telling a player who was participating 2 games that, if the games happened to clash, with no regards to whichever stage, he/she will need to forceit one of them. and the player said ok. then after forceiting, the flaming begins. ironic, isnt it?

well, one thing players can do to avoid such clashes is that, if you are going to take part in 2 different games in 1 compy, you can try to contact the organisers beforehand. and beforehand means at least 3 days allowance, not 5mins allowance. i believe we can work some solution out, given the time allowances eh? one thing to note, most organisers/marshals themselves are gamers as well.

case 2 : unclear rules / rules that can be changed according to the marshall's discretion / rules changed last minute.
sometimes, its not the marshals, its the players. i remember this incident, i was the headmarshal for some compy in ngee ann poly. time limit was imposed for all games, except for the finals. so just before the game start, i reminded the players that there will be NO time limit(stated in the rules, and was at the back of the registration form). and as expected, i got scolded. things like, "you never tell us got time limit earlier!" the thing is, it has always been in the list of rules. it was in BOLD. sometimes, rules are there, players just seem to choose to not see certain rules or choose not to read them at all.. and then, because dota map version is everchanging. and dota is still deemed as an unstable game, the rules that we currently have are unable to cover every situation that is going to happen. more often than not, marshals are required to make a decision on the spot. so as to avoid delay. i do agree that marshals sometime make decisions that may SEEM bias but we're all trying very hard to accomodate everyone, both players and organisers. marshals are human too and all human make mistakes. and we marshals always want to explain to players why we make certain decision. but usually, players are too aggitated to listen. players sometimes SCREAM at you. and trust me, many teams would have been dq-ed for being late(some to the extent of 1hour). but as usual, organisers/marshals, accomodate these problems. so ya, spare a thought for us k.. =.= some things are unavoidable.

case 3 : spectators not allowed / spectator unfriendly sites
when i just joined marshalling, spectators were allowed. problems i faced,

1) so many people are crowding behind the teams playing that i cant even see whats going on on the screen. if thats the case, how am i suppose to do my job?

2) people behind telling the players what to do, tipping off enemy's location, causing unfair play. telling them off dont work, they just keep doing it. so do i dq that particular team? tell me what to do..

3) spectators distracting the players. i cant possibly tell the spectators to get loss because spectators are allowed.

and then there was this rule, spectators are to stand 1m away from competitors' chairs. did it work? apparently not. everytime you tell spectators to stand back, yeah, they move. 5mins later, they're touching the chairs again. cant possibly keep shouting at them, will distract the players.

and the implement of barricades. STILL, there are people who ignore the barricade and WALK/CRAWL in.

anyway, thats not the point. the point is, there's reasons why organsiers/marshals do not allow spectators. ya.. thats actually one of the reason how commentating comes about. until we find better solution, sorry, no spectators. :l

ok, im pretty much done with this. im sorry im not very good at expressing certain things. i'll keep this post updated if i find anything to edit.