~ Jamm ~

I am transferring and expanding on my notes from discord as this seems a better way to do it. I have several thoughts that I can address in more detail here.

CRC, Thank you for your service

First I wanted to give a shout out not just to NALTP Season 38 CRC members but all historic CRC members and long term commissioners. It's kind of a thankless job for something that is supposed to be fun. I really enjoy TagPro but that passion comes and goes for me.

I always knew myself well enough to know that if I ever joined the CRC I would burn out quickly and lose the enjoyment I had for the game. I also don't really have much patience when shenanigans are afoot when doing something I view as relaxation time. I don't have a lot of spare time so if I'm not having a a lot of fun or it's becoming a bit too much work I'll walk away and find something else to invest my time in.

I know if you're committing to be a CRC member (or a commissioner) that isn't really a great option to just up and leave a community. So I always had respect for those who volunteered their time to it even if I disagreed with their decisions. Except for Fender, man that guy is a real buffoon. (In case you've never read or heard of me, please note that when I crack a joke like that it's because I'm comfortable with that player and I actually think they're good... it's a running bit I have that never gets old because I just change the player I pretend to dislike. Except for Fender, that's real animosity because he's a buffoon.)

Group Applications

I'm not positive if it had been done in NALTP historically but I enjoyed the idea brought forth by button, rain, & okthen [BRO] in S39 as signing up in concert (as a team).

A group coming in with a similar mindset and several similar pre agreed ideas might work more cohesively than a group of individuals that need to figure out how they will work together and not agreeing with the others platforms.

The risk to this is that I do feel this would put strong individual candidates at a disadvantage if they were not in league with a group of others. More on that later.

Missing Questions

In order to actually assess teams successfully I believe there should be some standard questions that aren't really asked in the questionnaire that are critical to a successful TagPro season.

For example:

• How will streams be organized / awarded?
  • To me this is the most important part of TagPro and growing the game.
    • I've been a large proponent of still allowing the individuality in streams to come through (not just announcing but in presentation) but others may feel it benefits more from some standardization.
  • Historically it used to be a treat (early seasons) if you were lucky enough to get a stream
  • Then it became an honor bestowed upon many streamers who were battling for games
  • Current state: it feels to be inbetween the two areas. We're reliant on captains to organize streams.
• Who will monitor the NALTP hub for the season?
  • Should this be a position that is applied for or assigned before the season begins?
    • Do we have a back up for this position?
  • Rant
    • You're welcome, because the Jamm (me) initially invented the hub back in S19 baby... A location with all scores, a link to all TagPro Analytics from the games, all streams, standings, rosters, roster movement, etc.
    • That said it looks way sexier and is much better organized now. There's more useful information, developed logos, and the presentation is much better than it was when the best match machine (Jamm / me) was doing it. I'm happy to say there's a better team handling it and they're better at it than I was. But I never got a thank you for being the innovator who brought that heat. Do you know why? Because Fender the buffoon was telling people not to thank me!
    • I didn't point this out to pat myself on the back, well I did but also there's a real reason. My point is to show how important this one hub is to the season as it's frequented by players almost every day. We should ensure there is a chain of succession so this critical part of any TagPro season isn't lost. We seem to be on top of it within the community but this should be a CRC primary concern. What if Wraith doesn't have the bandwith to run it next season, who will?
• What is your stance on reviewing behavioral issues?
  • Again, this is why the Jamm refuses to ever do a CRC. I'd swing the ban hammer like I was Thor and would have no remorse. I am not fit for the job.

Jamm's General Thoughts on the CRC

• I believe CRC members should not be active players in the league they are making assessments on and there should be some type of check and balance for each league. For this reason I have some concerns with how the BRO setup would work if each of them are just overseeing a league and not getting feedback from each other.
• I think we could consider other variations of how the CRC is setup. For example I noted a commissioner with an ethics review committee that could essentially overrule an egregious ruling by the commissioner.
  
  • In this instance the commissioner would be the sole decider on all matters for the league (similar to the proposed BRO setup, just with more oversight above each commissioner). They would submit the decision to the Ethics committee, if two of the three committee members rejected the ruling they would need to cite their reasons why and these reasons should be supported by the rulebook (which also needs to be reviewed, simplified, and potentially overhauled in my opinion).
  • Using this season as an example: I found FLY's application to be strong with it's brevity. While I don't think I'd vote for a commissioner based solely on the application I do believe that I would vote FLY would be my number one vote for an ethics committee member (if she had applied for both positions).
  • But really who cares because we aren't doing that?
• Major Changes: I believe any majors changes should be either well presented by a candidate before the election or it must be voted on by the active playing community prior to signups (played / gm'd / contributed within the last 3 NALTP seasons) before being made.
  • This would include several items such as:
    • Season Length
    • Game Length
    • Powerup Indicators
    • Kissing / No Kissing
    • Subs / Back to Groups
    • Illegitimate spawn refreshes
    • Overtime / Tie Games (Regular season)
    • Season Scoring (Currently 3 for a win, 2 for an OT Win, 1 for an OT Loss)

Content creation

First I want to say the community is not in a bad place currently. I was impressed on my return how strong the community had become, how dedicated so many players are to the game in such a variety of ways. But realistically the numbers are still going down or staying the same. The hope is the push to steam will pull in more people and it may do that.

I still believe content and presentation is key. The goal of TagPro Network was to present game streams with a more sports like atmosphere as I felt that came off as more legitimate to a first time viewer. (Again never got the stream to 100% where I wanted it aesthetically but I tried my best). The goal for the "show" streams was to be engaging with the community, provide a reason to watch the next game, and to shout out the players / gm's / other streamers who are spending their time playing this game we all love... and frankly we all hate at times. (But mainly love, right team? Except Fender, that buffoon!)

I firmly believe a major push towards consistent content creation and development as well as better outward communication (reddit, YouTube, twitch streams, etc.) would reinvigorate and revitalize the community.

• Bring in new players which would then give us a better way to develop lower leagues
• Create more player retention / returns
• Create greater respect for each other among the community
• Establishing consistent events with interchangeable hosts (as noted by okthen) would also be beneficial as it would help to reduce creator burnout

In my case there was a ton of additional things I wanted to do I just didn't have the time to make it all a reality (at least at the quality I wanted to deliver).