Calendar of Online Events

Current and historical discussions of the best teams and players across the nation, along with question sets and tournaments. The board-run national polls also take place in this forum. Region-specific discussion live under this forum.
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a Joe
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Calendar of Online Events

Post by a Joe »

Let's try to spread out the weekends as much as possible. Let me know if I missed anything, either by posting here or by PM, and it will be added in short order.

3/21: CALISTO Online (CALISTO) (Closed) (Texas Only); Michigan Winter Tournament Online (MWT) (Mixed HS/College Open)
3/22:
3/28: WAIT Online Knowledge Event (WAIT) (Closed); Terrapin Open (Terrapin) (College Open)
3/29: QBlitz Individual Championship (Other); Terrapin Open (Terrapin) (College Open)
4/4: Internet Charity Tournament (CO-Level) (Collegiate Open)
4/5: BHSAT Online by LI Quizbowl Alliance (BHSAT) (Closed)
4/11: BLAST Online by Groger Ranks (BLAST) (Closed); Pennsylvania Area SUN Mirror (SUN) (Collegiate Closed; PA/NJ/NY/WV/DE/MD/OH Only); NHBB B-set Online (NHBB B) (Individual HS); Ontario Hybrid 2020 Online Mirror (Ontario Open) (Mixed HS/College Open)
4/12: Easter Sunday
4/18: RAFT Online (RAFT) (Closed); BLAST Online by Groger Ranks (BLAST) (IL Only) (Closed); RAFT Online Open (RAFT) (HS Open)
4/19: SCOP Novice Online by LI Quizbowl Alliance (SCOP) (Closed); LOGIC Online (LOGIC) (HS Open); SUN Open (SUN) (Collegiate Open)
4/25: James Blair Bowl Online by LI Quizbowl Alliance (Blair) (Closed); Open 'Shop (WORKSHOP) (Collegiate Open)
4/26: Clarke Online Spring Tournament (COST) (RAFT) (Northeast Only) (HS Open)
5/2: Online Middle School Tournament (WAIT) (Middle School Closed); Closed 'Shop (WORKSHOP) (College/HS Combined Closed)
5/3: SUN Online (SUN) (HS Closed)
5/9: Island Cup May Online (BUTTERSCOT) (Closed); TAPIR Online (TAPIR) (HS Open)
5/10: Quizdroid Open (PSACA) (HS Open/Designate Bowl)
5/16: CALISTO Online (CALISTO) (HS Closed)
5/17: QBlitz Nationals Warmup (Other); SCOBOL Solo Online (Scobowl Solo) (HS Solo)
5/22 (FRIDAY): Ohio Trash Online (Bob Kilner's Ohio Trash) (HS Open, expanded elig.)
5/23: HFT Online (HFT) (HS Closed)
5/24: Reinstein Online (Reinstein) (HS Open)
5/30: (Apparently a large Model UN event; potential HS hosts should bear this in mind)
5/31: Scottie Online (The Scottie) (HS Closed)
6/6: Delta Burke HS Online (Delta Burke) (HS Closed)
6/7:
6/13:
6/14:
6/20: The Midsummer Classic (RAMS II) (HS Novice Closed)
6/21:
6/27:
6/28:
---------------
8/1: Wolfie Bowl by SBU (Housewrite) (HS Closed, Expanded elig.)
---------------
Be sure to check out NAQT's BUZZWORD events as well!
Last edited by a Joe on Wed May 13, 2020 9:14 pm, edited 43 times in total.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by High Dependency Unit »

RAFT expects to run a closed online event on April 18.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by Berniecrat »

The forums announcement will be posted sometime this weekend, but Groger Ranks plans on hosting an online mirror of BLAST on April 11.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by a Joe »

Berniecrat wrote: Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:53 pm The forums announcement will be posted sometime this weekend, but Groger Ranks plans on hosting an online mirror of BLAST on April 11.
Open or Closed?
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by Berniecrat »

It will be a closed high school mirror
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by sho16 »

Hi, I think on the LOGIC mirror post, Mr. O'Rourke mentioned something about a LOGIC mirror.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by a Joe »

sho16 wrote: Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:30 pm Hi, I think on the LOGIC mirror post, Mr. O'Rourke mentioned something about a LOGIC mirror.
I'll keep an eye on that and add it once a hard date is set.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by meebles127 »

Barring any major objections the CLOSED HS Only mirror of SUN Online will take place May 3rd.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by Carlos Be »

Ameya wrote: WAIT Online is $60 per team
BHSAT Online (TU only) is $75 per team
JBB Online is $65 per team
BLAST Online is $60 per team
Island Cup Online is $75 per team
RAFT Online is $60 per team
The mirror fee of WAIT is $10 per team
The mirror fee of BHSAT is $10 per team
The mirror fee of JBB is $10 per team
The mirror fee of BLAST is $10 per team
The mirror fee of Scottie (and presumably also Butterscot, although I can't find this explicitly) is $10 per team.
The mirror fee of RAFT is $10 per team.

For comparison, EFT Online (HS) was $70 per team, while its mirror fee was $45 per team. I am guessing that when these online events set their prices, they looked at recent HS online tournaments (e.g. EFT) and modeled the price off of that. However, the mirror fee of EFT was 4.5 times the mirror fee of each of these other sets.

Online tournaments are much lower quality than in-person tournaments. Connection drops out, and since this is high school, there will certainly be rampant cheating. Additionally, online tournaments do not have to pay for rooms or offer discounts for buzzers, so the cost of the tournament is less. I think a price range from $40 to $50 would be more reflective of the cost and quality of online tournaments.

This is a message that I sent the team in charge of CAT, an online mirror of CALISTO:
Justine wrote: I'm not demanding or even requesting that you lower the price. I just think it would be better for the community as a whole to set a precedent in which online tournaments cost less than they do now. Of course, I do not have full information about whatever costs are driving the price. If you disagree with my assessment, feel free to charge whatever price you deem is fair.
The price we set for online HS tournaments now could set a precedent for years to come, so it's imperative that we get it right. Please respond to this post if you agree or disagree with any of these points.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by eygotem »

Granted, I can easily see high school sets' mirror fees increasing in the coming years in order to better compensate writers, so the price of online tournaments should rise accordingly if that were to happen.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by sho16 »

justinfrench1728 wrote: Sun Mar 15, 2020 7:05 pm
Ameya wrote: WAIT Online is $60 per team
BHSAT Online (TU only) is $75 per team
JBB Online is $65 per team
BLAST Online is $60 per team
Island Cup Online is $75 per team
RAFT Online is $60 per team
The mirror fee of WAIT is $10 per team
The mirror fee of BHSAT is $10 per team
The mirror fee of JBB is $10 per team
The mirror fee of BLAST is $10 per team
The mirror fee of Scottie (and presumably also Butterscot, although I can't find this explicitly) is $10 per team.
The mirror fee of RAFT is $10 per team.

For comparison, EFT Online (HS) was $70 per team, while its mirror fee was $45 per team. I am guessing that when these online events set their prices, they looked at recent HS online tournaments (e.g. EFT) and modeled the price off of that. However, the mirror fee of EFT was 4.5 times the mirror fee of each of these other sets.

Online tournaments are much lower quality than in-person tournaments. Connection drops out, and since this is high school, there will certainly be rampant cheating. Additionally, online tournaments do not have to pay for rooms or offer discounts for buzzers, so the cost of the tournament is less. I think a price range from $40 to $50 would be more reflective of the cost and quality of online tournaments.

This is a message that I sent the team in charge of CAT, an online mirror of CALISTO:
Justine wrote: I'm not demanding or even requesting that you lower the price. I just think it would be better for the community as a whole to set a precedent in which online tournaments cost less than they do now. Of course, I do not have full information about whatever costs are driving the price. If you disagree with my assessment, feel free to charge whatever price you deem is fair.
The price we set for online HS tournaments now could set a precedent for years to come, so it's imperative that we get it right. Please respond to this post if you agree or disagree with any of these points.
I agree with Justine in that some of the online tournaments seem slightly too expensive since they seem to not need to pay for as many things as IRL tournaments but have almost the same price per person.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by a Joe »

I would like to respond to some of the concerns raised about the tournament prices. I admit the complaints caught me by surprise.

I would like to first note that we are working very hard on ways to both make Discord tournaments run as smoothly as possible, especially when scaled for large fields, and in a timely manner, and we are trying hard to cut down on cheating. We have a special coordinator just to look for potential cheating, and we are doing tossup-only tournaments for that reason as well as to make make the tournaments run quickly.

For these tournaments, we pay for packets, moderators, overflow/backup moderators, my back-end staff, trophies, postage for said trophies, possibly credits for headsets if mods need them, and yes, a cut for myself, as I don't work for free. Some of it goes to put on more tournaments next year on Long Island. For the Island Cup specifically, there were unforeseen expenses at the two in-person events, the small fields for which didn't help, and a full field for the Discord mirror would put it in the black.

Now, we did raise the number of rounds for BHSAT and we dropped the price for James Blair, both in response to cost concerns. But the point is: we are running professional-grade Discord events with expenses to match. We are not ripping you off.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by Berniecrat »

Groger Ranks will be hosting a closed high school mirror of BLAST for Illinois teams only on April 18, 2020
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by High Dependency Unit »

Justine, with regards to the RAFT mirror, I mostly priced it off of the other online mirrors, but I think that trying to get as close as possible to a real tournament experience, on a good question set, can justify the expense. If RAFT ends up being 10 rounds, a team of 4 is paying $15 per person to hear 200 tossups and the corresponding bonuses, which is pretty fair.

We're also trying to pay staffers a stipend to reflect the commitment required from them, so our revenue is more like $40 per team than $60 per team (although the goal is of course to have writers of the set read, and thus see a little extra compensation for their hard work).
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by CPiGuy »

I'll be running the Online Middle School Tournament on May 2.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by ashkum »

Penn State will be running an online mirror of SUN (announcement here) primarily targeted for collegiate teams in Pennsylvania and surrounding states on April 11th.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by A Dim-Witted Saboteur »

Can this thread get pinned?
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by celsius273 »

Harvard will host a closed online mirror of HFT XIV on Saturday May 23rd (announcement).
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by CPiGuy »

Ontario Hybrid is April 11th; SUN Open is April 19th.

There also appears to be an open mirror of RAFT on the same day as the closed mirror.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by a Joe »

CPiGuy wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 5:50 pm Ontario Hybrid is April 11th; SUN Open is April 19th.

There also appears to be an open mirror of RAFT on the same day as the closed mirror.
Thanks, Conor! I believe that's everything for now.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by QuestionCactus »

The high school open tournament Reinstein Online will be on May 24th.
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by nicole. »

I will be running a HS Online mirror of Ohio Trash on the night of May 22nd. Forum post is here: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=24056
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Re: Calendar of Online Events

Post by nicole. »

I will be running a closed HS Mirror of Delta Burke on June 6th, 2020. Forum post is here: viewtopic.php?f=1&p=371039#p371039
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