Policy Discussion: Invitationals

[Mr Stoofer]

IIRC public nominations for the 5 Year Invitational caused some consternation...

[Mr Stoofer]

It seems that I'm the only one against invitationals. I think they are divisive and can only lead to friction amongst the community. The nominations process for the 5 Year Invitational threatened to do just that, leading to some people (e.g. MeMe) refusing to have anything to do with it. It was also clear that a number of other people (not me!) were genuinely upset at not being nominated.

Isn't the fact that invitationals seem to have died out an indication that they are not what we are about?

[Mr Stoofer]

I think in fact that there we need to distinguish between 3 types of "invtitational":

1. There are games where, at the sign-up stage, the mod sets certain criteria for players he will accept (e.g. Gambits II: must be a regular contributor; Mini 283: must be IC). Nothing wrong with this at all as far as I am concerned (provided the criteria is objective, as in those two examples).
   
   
2. Games where the Mod, entirely off his own bat, sends out invitations inviting people to join. He picks the criteria -- usualy just players he thinks would like his game and would contriute to it (e.g. various "Minvitationals"; Mini 263; and no doubt many others that are not publicised). People may be offended at the mod by not being invited, but this is a risk the mod chooses to run. Again, I have no problem with this myself.
   
   
3. Finally, there are the big deal, "official" invitationals, such as the 5 year anniversary game. Since these are official, there has to be an official means of selecting players. I think that this is the sort of invitational mith is talking about in this thread. Now, unless the criteria are purely objective, some people are bound to be offended. And because it is an "official" game, they'll be offended at the whole site. It's completely different to being annoyed at an individual for not being asked. If these games are going to be run in the future, this has to be borne in mind.

[Mr Stoofer]

As I suggested earlier, if you define twelve "players" based on join month or first letter of username, then let everyone participate on behalf of their respective "player", everyone can play without the game getting too big. Call it "Hydra Mafia"; people grow new heads all the time.

I like this idea!

[Mr Stoofer]

I guess what I'm saying is, why are invitationals by permission only?

I think this discussion has moved over into the subject area of Policy Discussion: Invitationals. Although I accept there is an overlap.

I always understood that there was a difference between:

1

. An Invitational -- which operates outside the List system, and requires permission

2

. A game within the List system, which the Mod notifies to some people before general sign-ups open -- which I always assumed was permissible -- it certainly happens a lot and there has been no attempt by authority to ban it.

I understood that this thread was talking about, amongst other things, Type 1 and that Policy Discussion: Invitationals is the place to discuss Type 2.