New #ffapickup channel and FFA tournament

We are delighted to announce the opening of #ffapickup, a Quake Live classic ruleset pickup channel on QuakeNet IRC Network. Currently for  EU players, we will add other locations in the future if enough interest is shown.

Thanks to the generosity of  SyncError and the Quake Live team, we are extremely pleased to announce that there will be at least a few Sunday tournaments with Pro tokens up as prizes. The duration of the tokens will be up to one year for the first tournament. In total we have a pool of several years worth of Pro subscriptions to give away to our various winners and participants selected at random. Our staff are not eligible for any token prize.

In order to participate in the Sunday cups, the players are required to play at least five #ffapickup games during the proceeding fortnight. On top of this requirement all players are required to play at least 100 matches within Quake Live itself (any game mode). This limitation is in place in order to help minimize any alternative account sign-ups and to aid in making the rating method as accurate as possible.

Our bot has the following public commands for channel users. If you have any requests for future features feel free to query any OP.

FFA Tournament information

Sign-ups are open at all times and the first tournament will take place on Sunday, November 2nd. The bot will check if you have been active in the channel or Quake Live itself within a couple of minutes prior to the tournament start. If you are not active within that period, the bot will automatically remove you from the initial player list.

Tournament Details

There is a lucky dip to be randomly given out to a few of the entrants. As long as the players play all their games of the tournament they are eligible to win a one week Pro token. Winners will be notified automatically on our IRC channel #ffapickup their names will be announced alongside our news page and various forums.

Tournament commands

!tourn_a adds you to the tournament.
!tourn_r removes you from the tournament.
!tourn_w displays the currently signed up players.

We have limited the initial tournament to 160 players that sign up. The tournament cap may increase depending on the interest.

The bot will split the signed up players into even groups by using elo/glicko rating. For example, 64 signups would be 8 groups of 8 with the average rating of each group being close as possible. If signup count is high we will make the first round with up to 10 player servers. 158 players would be divided as 14 groups of 10 (140) and 2 groups of 9 (18)

Each round is a Best of 3 game. The scores for those games are then tallied up. The top four of each group will go to the next stage.

The players will then be reseeded as stated above until there is 8 players whom will proceed to the final. This will mean a slight delay between rounds, but this ensures that all players are given the best possible chance to win. Each round will increase in difficulty with the final showcasing the very best Quake Live ffa skills that our player base has to offer. It will truly bring an exciting climax to the end of the tournament, for players, spectators and streamers alike.

Bot Commands

!help shows commands available. !help command shows detailed help for any command.
!iam <ql nick> link yourself to your QL account. You may find that you’re already known if you’re a frequent irc user and have used any pickup channel recently.
!a add yourself to the next game
!r remove yourself from the next game (leaving the channel will auto remove you as well)
!s <server> sets the server for next game (must be added to use this)
!rs removes the set server (must be added to use this)
!w shows the currently added players.
!l shows last game information
!rules displays rules
!maps displays the current map pool
!findplayer <ql nick> provides you with a player’s current server, if they are playing
!player <ql nick> provides some detailed stats
!get_gamenick <ql nick> get the name of the linked QL account of a channel user
!stats <day/week/month/year/all> shows pickup stats for that time period
!ladder shows top ladder for players that have played a game in channel

If your linked Quake Live nick is wrong, query an admin (@) and it will be rectified promptly. Channel rules are simple. Don’t ruin pickups. This includes, but not limited to, being abusive, cheating, rage quitting. Streamers are more than welcome. We have some tokens available to give away to your viewers. Query an admin for further information. Any suggestions/comments are more than welcome inclusive of the tournament format. See you in #ffapickup.

Links: Web IRC, #ffapickup