I made a post in PR about this a while back but it got buried under a rejected proposal and I'd like to revisit the subject before WCoP begins.
Scheduling is a problem that affects the entire tournament community on a regular basis. Every single tournament on this site is subject to scheduling problems and I believe a majority of these issues are one-sided and entirely preventable with a more refined scheduling guideline. Smogon does not currently offer any sort of guidance on what is a reasonable, expected amount of time to get back to your opponent regarding scheduling, which leaves too much room for interpretation and has a negative impact mostly on the person trying to make a legitimate scheduling attempt. There is also no real response criteria; if my opponent waits three full days to respond to me and only offers times I've preemptively offered as not possible, there is really no guidance on how to move forward.
I took my suggestion from my previous comment and edited it to what I think is the most optimal solution, as well as offering how I would write the policy to cover the entire tournament spectrum;
My suggestion:
Implement a policy that forces manager and/or host intervention if your opponent does not respond to your scheduling attempt within 48 hours. After being notified of the delayed scheduling activity, the opposing manager and player will then have 18 hours to provide a reasonable response, or be forced to provide a substitute that can accommodate a reasonable time initially offered.
48 hours + 18 hours feels like a more than sufficient amount of time - most initial contact is made on Monday evening / Tuesday morning, which leaves my opponent almost the entire week to get back to me with some sort of reasonable offer.
The Policy (as written by me):
Scheduling: Scheduling for a tournament game may be done through multiple means, ideally through posting on your opponents Smogon User Profile but also through Discord or other messaging clients. Scheduling is an important part of the tournament process and should always be done proactively to ensure both sides come to the most agreeable outcome possible. See below for more defined scheduling guidance:
Example:
As part of playing in (insert team tournament), I contact my opponent on Tuesday at 10am GMT. On Thursday at 10am GMT, I still have not received a response, and I ask my managers to get in touch with the opposing managers and hosts to prompt my opponent to get back to me. My managers get in touch with the opposing teams managers and hosts at 10:30am GMT, which now initiates the 18 hour timer for the opposing team to offer a reasonable response. The deadline for a response is now Friday at 4:30am GMT;
As a small aside, I personally hope something like this gets implemented. Too many people take an unnecessary amount of time responding to scheduling attempts and make the whole ordeal cringe and annoying, hunting down opposing managers and hosts and getting bad responses and so much more, which derails the spirit of the tournament scene. Almost three full days to respond with some reasonable scheduling availability is the bare minimum we should expect of people who sign up to play the game.
Scheduling is a problem that affects the entire tournament community on a regular basis. Every single tournament on this site is subject to scheduling problems and I believe a majority of these issues are one-sided and entirely preventable with a more refined scheduling guideline. Smogon does not currently offer any sort of guidance on what is a reasonable, expected amount of time to get back to your opponent regarding scheduling, which leaves too much room for interpretation and has a negative impact mostly on the person trying to make a legitimate scheduling attempt. There is also no real response criteria; if my opponent waits three full days to respond to me and only offers times I've preemptively offered as not possible, there is really no guidance on how to move forward.
I took my suggestion from my previous comment and edited it to what I think is the most optimal solution, as well as offering how I would write the policy to cover the entire tournament spectrum;
My suggestion:
Implement a policy that forces manager and/or host intervention if your opponent does not respond to your scheduling attempt within 48 hours. After being notified of the delayed scheduling activity, the opposing manager and player will then have 18 hours to provide a reasonable response, or be forced to provide a substitute that can accommodate a reasonable time initially offered.
48 hours + 18 hours feels like a more than sufficient amount of time - most initial contact is made on Monday evening / Tuesday morning, which leaves my opponent almost the entire week to get back to me with some sort of reasonable offer.
The Policy (as written by me):
Scheduling: Scheduling for a tournament game may be done through multiple means, ideally through posting on your opponents Smogon User Profile but also through Discord or other messaging clients. Scheduling is an important part of the tournament process and should always be done proactively to ensure both sides come to the most agreeable outcome possible. See below for more defined scheduling guidance:
- Team Tournaments: Once the matchups are posted, you should get in contact with your opponent at your earliest convenience. Upon initial contact, you should offer at least one but ideally several times that are suitable for you before the matchup deadline, as well as communicating any times or days that are unavailable for you, if possible. If your opponent does not respond to your attempt to schedule within 48 hours, you may have your managers get in touch with the opposing managers and/or tournament hosts to prompt your opponent to respond within 18 hours of the manager/host notification or risk being substituted out. This response from the opponent must be reasonable, as in clearly in good faith and not just a response offering already predetermined unavailable time(s) just to satisfy the response deadline. If an adequate response is given, the players will work out a time and play the game as usual; if no adequate response is given, the opposing player must be substituted out and the substitute must be available reasonably within or around the initially offered time(s). If no player on the opposing team can make this work, you are awarded the activity win against your initial opponent.
- Individual Tournaments: Individual tournaments operate under a slightly different scope than team tournaments, since your only resource to prompt a response would be the host(s) - if multiple people are hosting the tournament, all of them must be informed about the scheduling to ensure it is communicated adequately with your opponent. The 48 hour response window and 18 hour response deadline of the team tournament guidance still applies, with the host(s) acting as the contact who would get in touch with your opponent if your attempts do not work.
Example:
As part of playing in (insert team tournament), I contact my opponent on Tuesday at 10am GMT. On Thursday at 10am GMT, I still have not received a response, and I ask my managers to get in touch with the opposing managers and hosts to prompt my opponent to get back to me. My managers get in touch with the opposing teams managers and hosts at 10:30am GMT, which now initiates the 18 hour timer for the opposing team to offer a reasonable response. The deadline for a response is now Friday at 4:30am GMT;
- my opponent responds, and is able to make one of my initially offered times work. We play as usual.
- my opponent responds, but is not able to make approximately any of the times I offered work - they are substituted out.
- my opponent does not respond, and the opposing team substitutes a player that can make one of my initially offered times work. We play as usual.
- my opponent does not respond, and the opposing team can not find a player that can make approximately any of the times I offered work - I am awarded an activity win against my initial opponent.
As a small aside, I personally hope something like this gets implemented. Too many people take an unnecessary amount of time responding to scheduling attempts and make the whole ordeal cringe and annoying, hunting down opposing managers and hosts and getting bad responses and so much more, which derails the spirit of the tournament scene. Almost three full days to respond with some reasonable scheduling availability is the bare minimum we should expect of people who sign up to play the game.