Coverage of Regionals This Weekend

[Firestorm]

So with the switch to 7 swiss tournament regionals at once with no televisions, we're going to be seeing a lot of changes. We can no longer get someone who has been eliminated to update us via a Mobile IRC client and stream matches until every phone in the vicinity runs out of batteries. Heck, with all the regionals on at once, it's also going to be hard to follow threads for updates seeing as half the people will be battling.

So here's what I'd like people to do. If you know me personally already, it would be great if you could send me quick updates in between rounds of how you and any other Smogon users you know the status of are doing via Kik or WhatsApp. Or even images of one of the pages of the matchups. You can also upload to Facebook quickly and I can grab it from there if that's the fastest thing for your phone to do. If I'm on your list I'll see it on my feed. Throughout Sunday, I'll be at home looking for updates.

These updates will all be funnelled into one thread here on the Smogon VGC board, and also posted to Smogon's Twitter account.

If you follow SmogonU on Twitter, you can set up your phone to receive updates no matter where you are! If we can get everyone sending in updates, we should be able to then put out this information so you can keep tabs on how your friends are doing at all the other regionals.

Oh, and please remember to save battle videos of your favourite matches so we can upload them later! We may not have streams this year but that doesn't mean we don't want videos!

 

[JRank]

I'll be updating via my Twitter account JRankJustJRank (already following @SmogonU) for most of St. Louis Masters since I won't be playing. For us to update do you want us to start every message off with @SmogonU, or should we use a hashtag i.e. #vgc?

 

[evan]

I'll definitely update you how I'm doing and I'm sure some of my fellow Indianans will as well. I don't have a fancy phone so no pictures and things but we probably aren't going to have much use for those anyway!

Definitely seconding the battle videos though. It'll be fascinating to see what people are actually using in real competition and not just PO.

Also JRank I would recommend doing BOTH.

 

[Expert Evan]

I'll be trying to provide updates from my twitter account as well through my cell phone when I go to Providence, RI this weekend.

 

[Solace]

I'll also be posting stuff to the forums and Facebook for updates

also anyone with my number can text me and I'll let you know what's up :)

 

[bearsfan092]

I'd be willing to help you out Firestorm (Doswell, VA). What's your single most preferred method of contact? I have access to all of those methods.

 

[theamericandream38]

I'll definitely update you how I'm doing and I'm sure some of my fellow Indianans will as well. I don't have a fancy phone so no pictures and things but we probably aren't going to have much use for those anyway!

Definitely seconding the battle videos though. It'll be fascinating to see what people are actually using in real competition and not just PO.

Also JRank I would recommend doing BOTH.

Evan and I should be providing plenty of coverage from Indiana then :3 Agreeing with the battle videos comment as well!

 

[TheGr8]

Kinda stinks, no tv's going to be lame trying to watch lets say the finals. It's alright though, I have twitter also in my sig :)

 

[JRank]

Also JRank I would recommend doing BOTH.

I'VE ALREADY GOT 140 CHARACTERS AND THOSE TAKE UP 14 EVAN, EVERY CHARACTER COUNTS

ok i'll do both

 

[Cybertron]

See: signature.

 

[iss]

I'll be tweeting from @Techonup.

 

[Huy]

Kinda stinks, no tv's going to be lame trying to watch lets say the finals. It's alright though, I have twitter also in my sig :)

You're gonna be playing during the final match... so... D:

 

[Firestorm]

If you tweet @SmogonU, I'll get a notification via the Hootsuite app on my BlackBerry. So that's preferred. I'll keep a #vgc page open as well. If you don't include that tag or send it to @SmogonU (or Facebook), I will not get it because I can't be checking 20 different feeds at once.

evan as much as I'd love to hear from you make sure you can text Canada for free first =P I unfortunately can't text people in the US for free.

 

[TheGr8]

You're gonna be playing during the final match... so... D:

lololol yeah that'd be the day! Alot of us will be tweeting :D

 

[Firestorm]

lololol yeah that'd be the day! Alot of us will be tweeting :D

There is no top cut. Just swiss. Everyone will be playing every round including whichever match is between the 6-0/5-1s.

 

[Ashenlock]

Do we know how much time is allowed between rounds? I've never actually been in a swiss-styled competition, so I don't know if there is usually a predictable amount of time needed to calculate the next matches, or if every case is different and we won't know till we get there.

Either way, I think this VGC will be more about warstories (Since everyone can participate in each round, meaning a greater number of "complete" experiences) and less about keeping up with standings (For the same reason), although I applaud any effort to help keep everyone informed, especially if that effort is made when that user could be doing something else.

I finally have a smartphone versus whatever that thing that I used to make messages on can be called, and can thus load pictures, so I'll probably write a warstory rather than try to learn what the hell twitter is and how the hell it works between now and then. I'm staying with a bunch of people in a room so mischief and shenanigans worthy of chronicling should ensue one way or the other.

 

[Dozz]

Considering the large amount of people that are saying they'll be using twitter, would #vgc not be the easiest option, instead of sending them all over the place. I'm sure pictures can be added as well, and it'll be easier than trying to collaborate tweets, texts and fb posts.

 

[Dr Fidget]

How about a google.doc listing players and records separated by location. Then whenever there is an updated via twitter or whatever, you can update the records of the players mentioned. You can have multiple people editing the doc too, so the editors can all get updates from different sources. That way there’s one easy place to look and see how everyone is doing.

 

[Firestorm]

Sort of a reference thing for anyone able to do updates this spring:

Things that worked:

• Mentions on Twitter (@SmogonU) - They come up on Hootsuite and I saw them right away (Thanks JRank, iss, paul, Expert Evan, Dragonking700, and all)
• Tagging me on Facebook and commenting on the thread - Comes up as a notification and saw them right away (Thanks TTS)
• Jumping on IRC on your phone and updating - Tried and true method these past few years works great (Thanks TeeJ)
• Texting someone who's at home and can update - Another tried and true method these past few years and worked great (Thanks Cassie and her network)
• Posting straight to the thread from the event (Thanks Sapphire Birch, Maski, and all)

Things That Didn't Work

• WhatsApp - This may have worked but maybe I screwed up? I updated a core system file on my phone and I don't think I opened the permissions afterwards maybe. Instead of getting updates every round I got them all a few hours later at once. Thanks for trying anyway though tad.
• Hashtag on Twitter (#vgc) - Apparently Twitter blows for searching and most of this didn't get updated -.- I still did think to check Cybertron's twitter at one point and grabbed standings though so thanks!

I'd also like feedback on if Twitter was an effective way to get updates and if anyone actually used at the events? I know we now have like 50% more followers than we did before yesterday now so it was hopefully used. Anything that could be done better there?

 

[Psycho]

Sort of a reference thing for anyone able to do updates this spring:

Things that worked:

• Mentions on Twitter (@SmogonU) - They come up on Hootsuite and I saw them right away (Thanks JRank, iss, paul, Expert Evan, Dragonking700, and all)
• Tagging me on Facebook and commenting on the thread - Comes up as a notification and saw them right away (Thanks TTS)
• Jumping on IRC on your phone and updating - Tried and true method these past few years works great (Thanks TeeJ)
• Texting someone who's at home and can update - Another tried and true method these past few years and worked great (Thanks Cassie and her network)
• Posting straight to the thread from the event (Thanks Sapphire Birch, Maski, and all)

Things That Didn't Work

• WhatsApp - This may have worked but maybe I screwed up? I updated a core system file on my phone and I don't think I opened the permissions afterwards maybe. Instead of getting updates every round I got them all a few hours later at once. Thanks for trying anyway though tad.
• Hashtag on Twitter (#vgc) - Apparently Twitter blows for searching and most of this didn't get updated -.- I still did think to check Cybertron's twitter at one point and grabbed standings though so thanks!

I'd also like feedback on if Twitter was an effective way to get updates and if anyone actually used at the events? I know we now have like 50% more followers than we did before yesterday now so it was hopefully used. Anything that could be done better there?

Next time...I could BBM you hahaha! Twitter or irc are probably the best ways to do this though!

 

[JRank]

Twitter worked exceedingly well. @SmogonU's retweets made it easy for me to follow the action elsewhere and I could update on how it was going in Crestwood as well. Definitely the way to go for future tournaments.