*Competitive Showing League

TLDR:
Bi/monthly competitive showing league where players can enter their horses to compete against fellow players to win monthly prizes. The goal is to earn the most points for that season. Horses are eligible based on RANK and not STATS, and add other small factors to showing factors as well. Rotating pair of disciplines each round to keep things exciting.

The general idea:
Players can select either ONE horse, or a team of horses (maybe 1 per discipline) to enter into a competitive "league" that runs either monthly or every other month. The goal is to earn the most points in a showing season and then win prizes with placing in the top 3. Maybe there is a participation award for horses that compete (that would just be a ribbon that goes in the prize box) and then perhaps the top three can get extra fancy ribbons, and competition exclusive prizes. You would enter based on discipline. Perhaps each season could rotate between 1-2 disciplines so it doesn't get spread too thin, but keeps it interesting! Maybe have a 1-2 month break between seasons so it doesn't feel too overwhelming, and gives everyone a breather between each season to prepare their horses.

How would these shows be run/entered?
The idea I had was to make the shows either be a weekly thing (that in theory would push the run time back for the "whole" season, so this would mean a longer running season) OR having them be run every 3-5 days so people have time to enter them (so people with different time zones/schedules still have a chance to toss their horses in). The shows would be game run and created, so no hassles there, just toss your horse in and go.

How would you enter for the season?
I think buying a season pass or ticket for an EVD fee would be the most reasonable. Since its kind of like a "best of the best" maybe have it be a little pricier?

What horses would be eligable:
I think that the requirement would be the horse to be international rank. I mean realistically these would be akin to your "olympic level horses".

How would these shows be judged:
Gonna simplify this down cuz it got real wordy real fast:
+ give flat, non-stacking scoring bonuses based on international rank, IE: I1 +5, I2 +10, etc...
+ weight conformation more: I know not every champion is the breed standard ideal, but it could be a small bonus as a nod to breeding for the imagined "breed standard".
+ weight horse training level the same, as with regular shows.
(???)+ Maybe add a hidden factor that would equate to "natural talent"? helps give it a wildcard feel, and make it non-hereditary; perhaps it wouldn't be weighted very heavily, but be a small bonus similar to confo.
(???)+ Maybe lightly factor in NSS into the score, but make it a flat bonus: under 60 gets like a +10 for being "specialist" (we'll say for this example) and over 60 gets a -10 for being a "generalist" or something along those lines. Nothing that is too crazy but that still rewards players for "breeding" for that specific discipline, so people don't just flip flop disciplines and toss random horses in.

Points of contention:
- Finding a way to balance entries would be kind of tough, but I think the aforementioned points kind of neatly cover any issues. I think that these events should count towards their daily totals, and at the end of the season, the competitors should get stats based on how they preformed during the season, to make up for lost showing days. That way people can compete and not hurt their horses career missing regular showing/schooling. 

- Using the blanket grading system that I mentioned earlier also opens up avenues for horses who can't normally competing in regular shows because of their NSS. Now you might say "well NSS is important for showing, ergo it should be factored into judging these shows". Not everyone has access to super low NSS horses, and this is supposed to be a fun kind of competition. I think making the judging balanced like this allows everyone to compete so long as they have the funds to enter.

Notes/ideas:
+ perhaps have rotating prizes (like plushes, backgrounds, etc) that make it special and still make it fun! Perhaps make these items non-tradable/sellable so it doesn't do weird market shenanigans with rarity/money.

+ no monetary awards would be dished out, these would purely be for exclusive game items/awards that would (ideally) be tied to that player. Or maybe do like redeemable tokens at a seasonal shop? Not too sure, but make the rewards tied to that players account so it's not an actual form of currency for trade, etc

+ I think this should be a solo event, no teams or anything like that. Teams get weird, and weird drama happens and this is purely for fun.


The upsides:
Raises awareness for different disciplines, and provides a pretty inclusive way for everyone to have a crack at competing for prizes.

Anyways I would love to hear feedback C:

*this is a little scatter-brained rn, I will go back and clean things up once I have fresh eyes lol*

Last edited on 2020-12-15 at 11:24:42 by River

Okay this is an amazing idea! However, I would make it on a qualification merit for entry based on how many show placing for the 2-3 weeks before the big show versus buying a pass with EVD. That way players with a ton of money, but aren’t really showing their horses can’t buy their way in and take from the players who are consistently showing and investing in their horses. 

Overall, I really really like this idea! It’s a great way to promote responsible breeding and actively showing horses! Would love to see this as an option!

My only counter point is that making it merit based would bias towards higher populated disciplines and people with more horses, and/or people who are delux members making shows for their own horses. Which i think realistically trends towards people with more $$$ anyways.

The whole point is to provide a way for players to spend money (aka money sink) and filter it out of circulation, while providing a fun competition in exchange that isn't focused on nss or monetary reward. Idk what exactly I originally wrote for entry price, but something like 35k wouldn't be horrific.

* I should add:
If this was modelled only off of:
1) nss or
2) the current showing system was not top 3 prizes

I would agree with you that adding merit based benchmarks for entry would make sense. But as it stands, merit based it would be more prohibitive than inclusive.

Last edited on 2020-12-10 at 05:19:30 by ᵍ ᵒ ᵃ ᵀ☀