Battle Recreation / Disconnections

[ABR]

Zarel has developed a new tool that allows games to quickly be exported and imported. This allows tournament directors to easily recreate games from the exact moment of the disconnection, without requiring either party to submit their teams. Among other things, this means that players will no longer be required to submit their teams before games, as the imports will restore all game features from the interrupted game exactly.

If a disconnection occurs, please notify a tournament director immediately. An available TD will then export the game data. TDs have a maximum window of three hours after a game concludes to export game data before the game expires, and require consent from both players to do so. Please note that in the case of a true DC, you must give your consent if the TDs attempt a recreation or the game will be considered an activity loss. If no TDs are online, please tag them in the official tours discord using the @Tournament Director tag.

To review:
--> Players are no longer required to submit teams prior to games.
--> Following a disconnection, immediately notify a TD. A TD will then attempt to export the data. Game windows will remain active for a maximum of three hours.
--> Each player will be prompted to give their consent to the game data being exported. Please note that failure to give consent to this process is akin to refusing to schedule a recreate, and may be considered an activity loss.
--> When the players are ready to recreate their game, the TDs will import the game data and create a new battle room where the players can resume from the point of the disconnection.

The TDs have tested this process and it is quick and straightforward, and makes recreates significantly easier. In addition to saving players the time involved in submitting their teams, this tool should also mean fewer games won by disconnection. Huge thanks to Zarel for his work in developing this utility.

The TD team is also working on updating our policies regarding timeouts and the game timer. We are currently waiting on some new features to be developed that should help alleviate many of the timer issues that have come up in recent tours. As soon as this is done and tested, we will announce the new policy and procedure. Thank you for your patience; you should expect an announcement in the coming weeks.

 

[Sam]

--> Each player will be prompted to give their consent to the game data being exported. Please note that failure to give consent to this process is akin to refusing to schedule a recreate, and may be considered an activity loss.

Is the 3 hour window by choice, or by limitation? I don't really agree with the quoted part, because a TD may not be immediately available to recreate a game and I don't think 3 hours is a reasonable amount of time to have to schedule for a single game. Let's say someone allots an hour for a game and their opp DCs 15 min in and a TD isn't immediately on, and the game gets recreated 30 minutes later. I don't think it's fair to them to force them to play. Can these exports be saved to be used at a later time? Is the 3 hour window by choice, or by limitation?

I know this is probably a pretty niche situation but it's bound to happen.

 

[Hogg]

Yes, once the battle is exported, it can be recreated at any time. The three hour window is how long a game will remain “open” and available to export without activity.

 

[Bughouse]

what is the backup plan for when the export function fails? Parts of PS have gone down in the past, mainly replays. PS is amazing, but all technology runs into issues on occasion.

 

[DragonWhale]

In the upcoming policy, will there be something that makes sure the TD who exports the battle is someone who does not have a stake in the disconnected battle? I'm not saying I don't trust members of the TD team, but battle exports will include team data that can contain information relevant to the unfinished battle, and it would be great if there's no possibility of this being exploited by a TD who is a teammate of one of the players, for example.

Here's two rules I think should be followed:

- The TD cannot be on the same team as one of the players
- The TD cannot be potentially facing either player in the next x round(s) of an individual tournament (x is probably something between 1-3)

 

[ABR]

In the upcoming policy, will there be something that makes sure the TD who exports the battle is someone who does not have a stake in the disconnected battle? I'm not saying I don't trust members of the TD team, but battle exports will include team data that can contain information relevant to the unfinished battle, and it would be great if there's no possibility of this being exploited by a TD who is a teammate of one of the players, for example.

Here's two rules I think should be followed:

- The TD cannot be on the same team as one of the players
- The TD cannot be potentially facing either player in the next x round(s) of the tournament (x is probably something between 1-3)

I wholeheartedly agree with the first one. A TD that belongs to either team involved cannot do the recreate.

The second part is a bit restricting considering the amount of TDs that participate in tours themselves, especially in something like SPL. We will treat TDs not in the tournament as a first priority, but won't be bound to this. Additionally, any TD is forbidden from sharing any info gained via recreates.

Luigi edit: and we had already agreed on this internally prior to the thread being posted, it just didn't make it's way to the post

 

[DragonWhale]

I meant individual tournaments for the second rule, but yeah all of this is just a precaution for the forbidden to share info rule.