Ravished in a Flash 2.0 - The Flash Fiction Tournament is Back

[Shocker]

No surprise that I would prefer option 2 to preserve the heads up character, but like @RapeU it wouldn’t break my heart if we end using no 3.

[Claire]

@Shocker's suggestion seems fairly popular, so I would say let's go with that.

@AdmiralPiet I think a roundrobin refers to everybody having a match against everybody else. At least that is how the term is used in chess. In a tournament with 10 people, each player would play one chess match against every other player, so 9 matches in total. And the total number of matches would 45. In a double round robin, each player plays every other player twice, once with white and once with black. That would be too much for us here and is more like the league system that football for example uses.

I let you guys know the details once we know how many people sign up.

Either way, I will think of the theme for the first round later today and let you know. Then you can start writing already if you want to.

[Claire]

@SoftGameHunter, @Shocker, @AdmiralPiet, @rdodger, @RapeU, @LtBroccoli, @VictimEyes, @Blue, @Lucius

Here is the the theme/prompt for the first round: Cherry Picking

If you want to, you can start writing already. But please wait with posting your story until you have been assigned your pen name. There will be a separate board for you to post your stories in once the writing period of the first round begins. You don't need to worry about that right now. I will explain everything to you once the first round begins.


And regarding the format, I took the feedback from you to heart and decided to go with @Shocker's model (thank you for the suggestion Shocker) except for the very first round of the tournament. The first round will work as follows depending on the number of contestants (currently 9).

16 contestants: We have a normal round of 16 with 8 one vs one matches. All write for the same theme.

12 to 15 contestants: We have one round without one vs one matches. Everybody writes a story for the same theme. The 8 highest rated stories advance to the quarterfinal.

9 to 11 contestant: We have one round without one vs one matches. Everybody writes a story for the same theme. The 8 highest rated stories advance to the semifinal.


Tiebreaker rules:

1. Number of 3-point ratings
2. Number of 2-point ratings
3. Whoever reached the final tied rating first

Why this model? This model treats all participants the same and guarantees we have either 8 or 4 paricipants left after the first round. It also avoids scenarios where out of 9 contestants only 1 is eliminated to reach 8, or out of 15 contestants 11 are eliminated to reach 4. The harshest elimination rate is 7 out of 11, the most forgiving is 4 out of 12.

The most common solution would be to have an incomplete round of 16. But in our current situation, that would imply 7 people advancing to the quarterfinal by default and the "round of 16" consisting of a single match that takes a week while the vast majority do nothing. And it is of course a disadvantage for the contestants who have to go through an extra round.

I think one round to get us to a power of 2 and a normal tournament model after that makes the most sense. Are there any objections or questions? I'm absolute open to suggestions. This just feels like the fairest option to me.

[Vile8r]

I'm jumping in to Ravished In a Flash! With the proverbial 'both feet'!

I will contribute this username: Two Stews In a Pot

[SoftGameHunter]

@AdmiralPiet Added you to the list! Is Alan Smithee a reference to something? Then name doesn't ring any bells for me.

Have you forgotten the well-known film director? :D

Didn't he direct all those Cordwainer Bird flicks?

[Shocker]

@AdmiralPiet Added you to the list! Is Alan Smithee a reference to something? Then name doesn't ring any bells for me.

Have you forgotten the well-known film director? :D

Didn't he direct all those Cordwainer Bird flicks?

He directed a cut of Dune

[Writers_Bloque]

I am in. got a short I wanted to write.

[Lucius]

I am in. got a short I wanted to write.

Cool, would you like to suggest a pen name for one of your competitors?

[Writers_Bloque]

I am in. got a short I wanted to write.

Cool, would you like to suggest a pen name for one of your competitors?

Why Yes I would. Buster Highman or Dee Fleur (flower in french.) to match the first theme.

[Claire]

@Writers_Bloque Please choose one pen name.