Here is what we were envisioning for the contest rules.
-- It will be a contest in Team Fortress 2, where people using the mouse can play against a Novint employee, John T, using the Falcon.
-- We'll be hosting the contest on Edge Gamer servers (http://www.edgegamers.org) - they're a very cool group with lots of members playing online games. They will host the servers and moderate the contest. You probably will recognize them from their servers which have the "=(eGO)=" name.
-- If you can beat John, we will send you a Falcon/pistol grip for free, if you cover shipping costs. Even if John loses every game, there's no limit to how many Falcon's we'll send in the contest.
-- It will be 1 v 1 matches. I know that TF2 is a team based game and a lot of the fun and skill is in how teams match up and how the classes are so balanced, but the point of the contest is to test controller skills.
-- The class will be the same for both players to keep it fair, and it will be chosen at random for each match of each game. Everyone has a favorite class, and even if John were using a mouse, it would be a big disadvantage for everyone to have their favorite class against John needing to match. Clearly we can't eliminate TF2 skill vs mouse skill - and given we don't have a local professional player we'll try to focus on mouse/Falcon skill vs TF2 skill as much as possible. Keep in mind John's in the same situation - he doesn't get to pick his favorite either.
-- It will be an arena map, with a control point that opens up after a set time to keep things moving (for spy vs spy matches, etc). The overall game will be best 2 of 3 matches. We'll verify with Edge Gamers on server settings before the match (crits and damage spread disabled, etc).
-- we reserve the right to modify how we're running the contest. We haven't done it before, so we might need to make changes as we get into it.
We'll announce match times shortly. We'll let people post to this thread after I post that we've started accepting people into the queue (keep an eye out for that post if you want to be in the contest), in order to join the contest. At that point you'll simply post that you're in. You'll then go into the queue, and we'll send a PM telling you about when you'll be able to play. Assuming you're ready and available, we'll get you into the match, and you can have your shot at John We'll keep moving through the queue during the match times.
Let me know your thoughts. Should be fun
thx all, tomnovint
