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Verminardo



Joined: Sep 27, 2006

Post   Posted: Feb 17, 2017 - 15:53 Reply with quote Back to top

So in the beginning there was only Ranked, no Blackbox, and there was the SMACK. For those new kids who haven't been around since before iPhones were a thing, this was arranged in IRC (an archaic chat device still in use by some of us), and you had to find 8 people online, with teams within a 250k TV bracket, who were willing to commit to play two rounds right away, and then the last round would be scheduled within a week.

For a long time this was the only way to play a SMACK and there were actually a lot of SMACKs played that way, believe it or not. So that's what a "Fumbbl SMACK Rookie (Roman number)" trophy on a coach page means.

Then it became difficult to find 8 people at a given time. Enter the alternative format where all games are scheduled on a weekly, um, schedule. So we call it "Fumbbl SMACK Scheduled (TV bracket)", to distinguish it from "Fumbbl SMACK (TV bracket)" (instant), which ran parallel for a while before it went extinct. So that's what a "Fumbbl SMACK Scheduled Veteran (Roman number)" trophy on a coach page means. It went to 300k TV brackets but eventually, there wasn't enough interest to get 8 coaches for any bracket in a given week.

By that time, we had Black Box Brawls on the site, for Blackbox teams, scheduled without a fixed TV bracket and thriving (at least compared to the SMACKs, for Ranked teams). This system worked better to allow all the willing coaches to actually get seeded into a tournament with their teams. Therefore, there was a test to switch the SMACKs from the old seeding system (by TV bracket) to the new seeding system (open TV but clustered). The test was successful so eventually the new system was adapted for good.

Naturally, to distinguish the new format, no longer seeded by TV bracket, from the old format, it became "Fumbbl SMACK Scheduled - Brawl", as opposed to "Fumbbl SMACK Scheduled (TV bracket)". Also, Arabic numbers were used to count the trophies instead of Roman numbers, which had become quite cumbersome with the passing of time and the playing of a higher number of tourneys than anyone probably expected, initially, which is why the initial choice to emulate the source material and go with Roman numbers was probably made.

So if you've been around for all of that history, it probably makes perfect sense to you to have a permanent record on your profile that says "Fumbbl SMACK Scheduled - Brawl 51". But really, isn't it a bit unwieldy? How about we just call them "SMACK", full stop, because after all, they're the only SMACK in town now?

Just a suggestion.
vaclav



Joined: Mar 21, 2009

Post   Posted: Feb 17, 2017 - 16:14 Reply with quote Back to top

How about we go back to how it was? Its no more possible to build teams through different tv brackets. Now, if u want to build teams in R u have to cherry pick. No fun anymore. And i dont see its better as there is only one so called brawl per week. When i used to play smacks there was sometimes 3 smacks in week in different tv bracket. And now, if u apply more teams the one with lowest tv got chosed, which sucks.
Just a suggestion..
mister__joshua



Joined: Jun 20, 2007

Post   Posted: Feb 17, 2017 - 16:22
FUMBBL Staff
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While I understand the change, I too miss the old SMACK format because I enjoyed trying to build/cut teams to a specific TV

_________________
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Verminardo



Joined: Sep 27, 2006

Post   Posted: Feb 17, 2017 - 16:38 Reply with quote Back to top

Well the reason the change was made was that with the old system there were never enough coaches to start a SMACK. But my point was about the naming conventions, not the format. Wink
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