Generic Rules

[BravoBardo]

Hi, people!

I was wondering about some general rules for RB tournaments, including on stage performance analysis by an audience. I plan to make a RB championship on a stage hall, but one issue on comparing band scores is the fact that the same song has to played more than once, what can be annoying for the audience. Due to this, I've thought about that subjective way to rank a band, using not only its final numeric score, but the way the band has played the song.
That's one of the first RB tournaments here in Brazil, so we don't have so much experience on this event type. Have any of you run a RB championship with performance ranking? What were the aspects measured?

Best regards.
Cláudio Ramos
PSN: BarditoMiles
Band: Brain Gun and Tiro ao Alvo

[Ravaana]

The best way to do this, in my opinion, wold be to have a Star system and a group of judges.

I thought about it a few times, and the rules I came up with were pretty simple.

1) Keep it PG-13, this would be so that everyone could enjoy the performances. There is a reason that songs are censored, and most of the time, the bands themselves do it. (I.e. Alice in chains, changed Sh*t to Pit, Coheed and Cambria Changed Your a Whore in Sheeps clothing, F***ing to A Wolf in sheeps clothing marking) Be creative, if something is supposed to be there add it, just have decent taste.

2) Full bands only. This can be 3+ people, as long as someone is on each instrument.

3) Setlist must fit within a certain window of time. This way the flow of the tourney isn't interrupted. 2-3 song sets would work, providing people don't pick back to back 15 minute songs. If this happens, band can be asked to not do the final song, for time constraints.

4) No fail is on, and crowd effects off.

5) Mic Volume =100%, Track Volume = 5 - 10% You can still hear the master, but not well. You want the vocalist to be able to be judged on performance as well.

6) Bands cannot perform a song twice. If you have played the song once, you shouldn't play it again. IF, this happens, then the band will suffer penalty of having a song that is not graded in their round scores. Or penalized by 3-4*s, hosts discretion. (This includes original and cover versions. If you play Limelight (Vault) and Limelight cover. It's still the same song.)

Matches should be ranked by a panel of judges, kinda American Idol style. But the way I'd do it is here.

A) 1* For Easy-Medium 2* for Hard-Expert: for difficulty Difficulty is chosen by lowest in group. I.E. if we have 3 expert players, and 1 medium player, the band is considered a medium band.

B) 1* awarded per game score. Gold stars could be counted as 6* if you wish. But It doesn't really matter.

C) Performance should be awarded by the judges in a range of 1-5. Even if an expert band gold starred the song the vocalist could have sounded like crap to one or more of the judges. Or, the band just sat there. And they were boring to watch. Maybe a Medium band put on a better show, because they interacted with the crowd, I don't know. But this is all up to the judges.

Add the number of stars per song (A+B+C,) and divide by how many judges you have. And that's the band's score at the end of each song / set list. Give scores out in between songs, or after the entire set. However you want to do that.

Highest total star count advances to next round. Each round, the star counts are reset to 0, and the group has to be graded again.

I admit, this isn't the most flawless of systems, but seems pretty fair. And allows enough room for all difficulties to be able to participate.

Good luck, and have fun.

[BravoBardo]

LoL Great ideas! You know, the star ranking is really better than just rely on the numeric score, because each song has its own maximum score values.

Your conception about Gold Star is interesting, and I think it is important to measure, 'cause it is a way to reward the bands that risk to play on Expert mode (as the star number is the same to Hard and Expert difficultties).

Well, this was really a good help. Thanks a lot!

And... have you already run a RB championship?

[Ravaana]

LoL Great ideas! You know, the star ranking is really better than just rely on the numeric score, because each song has its own maximum score values.

Your conception about Gold Star is interesting, and I think it is important to measure, 'cause it is a way to reward the bands that risk to play on Expert mode (as the star number is the same to Hard and Expert difficultties).

Well, this was really a good help. Thanks a lot!

And... have you already run a RB championship?

Yeah, in a way we did. The prize was a case of beer. lol

The trick is to find judges that enjoy all types of music. But the gold star thing..... It's only a slight reward... Because, in general, to GS a song you have to sound like crap on vocals, which will bring the judges opinion down.

I mean, you pretty much have to be robotic, and have little to no way of making the song your own. Here, I'll show you what I mean by making it your own..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-dSWcvaLYc


Notice how she sounds good, but she doesn't exactly score high? A judge would note that, and add it into his / her point value.

You can also look here at this vid http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107915 She sounds wonderful, and fails the song.

And all through here, for some Expert examples of great score and not so great voice. Some are really good... Others............................................ ............... Oh my.

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51673

One of the reasons I suggested No Fail on. Let the vocalist turn it into their own song. Heh.. I've seen multiple vocalists sing at the same time, harmonize and the game tell them they failed. But when they try the song alone, they pass with flying colors.