Frequently Asked Questions concerning the topic "tournaments"

For players and tournament directors:

• How do I find a tournament in which I may participate?
• Where do I find results to a tournament in which I have participated?
• How can I publish a tournament report on openCards?
• How can I put pictures to a tournament online?
• Do I have to pay any money for using the tournament functions on openCards?

• How can I put my tourney announcement online on openCards?
• Do I have to register the location where my tourneys take place every time?
• Who is allowed to publish tournament announcements on openCards?
• What is the openCards tournament policy?
• How does the online player registration for my tourney on openCards work?
• How can I limit the number of players on my tournament? (according to available place for e.g. 20 players)
• How and why can I add players to my tournament respectively the online player registration of my tourney?
• How do I fill in results of my tournament?
• How do I publish a news article on my tournament?
• How can I invite players to my tourneys?
• May I also register tournaments after they took place?

How do I find a tournament in which I may participate?

Assuming a TD uses openCards as publishing platforms for his or her tourneys (which is totally voluntarily and thereby our listings may not be complete), you may find tournament listings under their respective gaming systems:

Example for the Second Edition: See under "Games" -> "ST2E" -> "Play" -> "Tournaments" There you will find three different listings of tournaments:

1. Planned or "upcoming tournaments" (tourneys that have not taken place yet)
2. "Tournament history" (toruneys already finished)
3. A list of all tournaments of this gaming system ("comprehensive database" - all tourneys, both those only planned and those already in the past)

So if your looking for a tournament in which to compete, click on the button "upcoming tournaments", and you’ll see a list of all upcoming tourneys registered on openCards. This list can be altered according to different criteria to individualize the search functions.

Where do I find results to a tournament in which I have participated?

Results to a tournament have to be registered by the TD first. As soon as this has been done, the results are seen on the page belonging to that certain toruney. Keep in mind that you will find past tourneys no longer under "upcoming tournaments", but under "tournament history" (see also: How do I find a tournament in which I may participate?).

The TD can also post a news article after filling in the results to a tourney. This you will find either on the starting page of openCards (MY OPENCARDS - news on openCards) or under "Recent Posts" on the right side (middle height) of the navigation menu.

How can I publish a tournament report on openCards?

As soon as the date of an announced tournament arrives, the presentation of this tournament on openCards changes. Instead of the players registered you’ll see the results (if the TD has posted them) and a link for the publishing of tournament repoerts. Either "Be the first to write a tournament report." or "Write a additional tournament report".

While a tourney (and its results) can only be edited by a TD (or his or her additional judges), all openCards members may publish tournament reports. They don’t have to have been an active player in that tournament, it suffices if they witnessed the event ;-)

Just click the corresponding link on the page of that tournament and a formular appears into which you may write (or copy/paste) your tournament report.

Which brings us to a tiny restriction: Tournament reports can only be published, when the corresponding tournament has been registered at openCards. If you want to write a tournament report to a tourney not in the system, contact the TD of that tourney and ask him to register it.

How can I put pictures to a tournament online?

The latest function for tournaments on openCards. Every member may now add pictures (with short descriptions) to an existing tournament page. Further details and explanations concerning this function will be added here soon.

Just open the tournament you have pictures for and click on the link "upload an image" under Galery. On the next screen you can select the picture fot the upload from your computer. Furthermore you can enter a short text that shoul shown with the picture. After pressing the upload buttom the picture will automaticly added to the tournament.

But keep in mind: this function is only availible for tournaments that already have taken place.

You can upload as many pictures about tournaments as you like - but only one per time ;-)

Do I have to pay any money for using the tournament functions on openCards?

No - no costs have to be paid, neither by the TD nor by the players.

How can I put my tourney announcement online on openCards?
There are only two requirements for the online publishing of tournament announcements on openCards: On the one hand the registration on openCards (only registrated openCards members may make actively use of the tournament functions), on the other hand the agreement with our policy (see: What is the openCards tournament policy?). The same applies to the publishing of tournament results.

As soon as you are a registrated openCards member you may publish tournament announcements by clicking on the link "Post your next upcoming tournament!" within the according pages of your game system, For example for ST2E: Games-> ST2E -> Play -> Tournament, and there the link "Post our next upcoming tournament!" on the upper left side.

The announcement of a tournament always happens in the following three to four easy steps:

1. Check out and agree to our policy. If this already happened, this step will be left out.
2. Choose or register the location where the tournament is supposed to be.
3. Input of other tournament details like date, time, format etc.
4. "Saving" of the tournament, thereby publishing it on openCards.

That’s all, folks!

Do I have to register the location where my tourneys take place every time?

Locations are registrated on openCards independently from tournament and can be used over and over again, just by being chosen during the registration of a tournament. If you already published tourney announcents on openCards, locations you used before will be suggested as "favourites" to you. But of course you can alternatively choose from all registered locations on openCards (including those registered by other users) or register a new location and use that for your tourney.

Who is allowed to publish tournament announcements on openCards?

Every openCards member has the possibility to publish tournament announcements on openCards. He or she has only to agree to the openCards tournament policy (see: What is the openCards tournament policy?), there are no other requirements to fulfil.

What is the openCards tournament policy?

The main reason for the tournament policy is transperancy. By agreeing to the policy your full name, place and country become "visible for all openCards users" and will be published together with each of your announced tournaments. By agreeing to the policy you allow potential players to know more about the person "behind" the tournament. Only after agreeing to our policy are you allowed to publish tournament announcements.

How does the online player registration for my tourney on openCards work?

When you register your tournament you have the option to activate online player registration for your tourney (check "online registration" under "details"). If this is activated, all openCards members can register for your tourney by a single click - on the announcement page of your tournament there will be a link under "Register online - Now!", players can easily join the list of announced players here (or later cancel if they chancge thier decision). You as TD will get an automatically generated private message "by" that newly registered user. This registration is non-binding for both parties, but will inform you and your players about the probable number of players. And it will save the TD some work when filling in tournament results (see: How do I fill in the results of my tournament?)

Another plus of online player registration: We are planning a function which will allow openCards members to check out which tournaments they have played in - but this function works only if those players have used the online player registration!

How can I limit the number of players on my tournament? (according to available place for e.g. 20 players)

While registering your tournament details you have to check the topmost number of available playing seats on your tourney. In most cases there will be more seats then players - but there’s always the exception to the rule. The important part is that the number of available seats plays an important rule in online player registration. If too many people want to visit your event, some may be put on a waiting list - and move up when other players cancel their registration.

How and why can I add players to my tournament respectively the online player registration of my tourney?

When you register or later edit your tournament, you have got four headings under which you can fill in data into a mask:

"Tournament", "Participants", "Results" and "Post Results". Under the heading "Participants" you can list players who want to partake in (or already have been to) your tournament.

As long as the tournament has not taken place, players can use the online player registration on openCards (if you as TD has activated that function - see: How does the online player registration for my tourney on openCards work?). All users who have done this will automatically appear under the heading "Participants". But there are also players who can’t or won’t register online (for example because they don’t have internet access). To compensate this you as TD may fill those player’s names and click on "Sign in" afterwards.

But why should you put in the extra effort to register players for your tourney?

a) The increasing number of players will make your tourney more desirable for players.

b) The number of seats may be limited and you will give players without internet access the possibility to have a guarantee for participation in your event, while online users will be better informed about possible effects of the limitation (see How can I limit the number of players on my tournament?)

c) When filling in results for your tournament, you will have to register those players anyway - and you can use all information from the advance registration here (see also: How do I fill in results of my tournament?)

How do I fill in results of my tournament?

After your tournament has finished (Actually after it has started according to the announced time), the page on openCards concerned with that tournament changes: Now instead of the list of registered players there will be the sentence "Results: Awaiting Results". To add thoes results you click at the heading "edit": Now you will again see those four headings you already know from your tourney announcement: "Tournament", "Participants", "Results" and "Post Results".

To start you will have to correct the list of players who actually have participated in your tournament. At this moment you will see all players who have registered themselves or have been added by you as the TD. (see: How and why can I add players to my tournament?) Should any last-minute players have turned up, you have to add them now: Click on "Participants" and register them. Should any registered players have not turned up at the tourney, they do not have to be deleted during this phase.

After you corrected the list of players, you can now fill in the results. Click the heading "Results".

Attention: At the moment we only register teh final ranking and victory points of tourneys, not individual game results, since those can be registered at the website of The Continuing Committee.

For filling in the results you can use the columns "Rank", "Participants", "Points", "Faction 1", "Faction 2" and "Additional comment". Under "Participants" you will already find the players registered and corrected. Under the heading "Rank" you fill in the places of the players ("1" for first place, "2" for second and so on). Under the heading "Points" you fill in the victory points of each player. It is also possible to add details like the "Strength of Schedule" here. The next two solumns are reserved for the "Factions". We assume that usage of three headquarters is very seldom, this could be stated under "Additional Information". Under "Additional Information" you may also fill in strategies like "Battle", "Mission Solver" or "Androids".

If there are registered players who have not come to the tournament, you leave their windows empty - they will be ignored in the results afterwards.

After filling in all results these are saved with the button "Submit". Your tournament’s page will now show the results, ordered after "Rank". The factions will be shown as icons.

How do I publish a news article on my tournament?

To inform all openCards users about the results of your tourney, we have installed a function with which you may post the results. This news article will be generated automatically according to your result input and you can later add further information.

To publish the news article, you have to choose the headings "Edit" and then "Post Results". Here the program will check if you already filled in the results to that tournament, and if so, you will automatically get a short news article presented that sums up the most important details (first two places, date, location etc.) From a link users can access the detailed results with all players, ranks, factions.

Before you save this news article (and thereby publish it) you may add details to the generated text.

After clicking on "Submit" you will see the finished news article which now every openCards user may also have a look on (and which will be listed under "recent posts" and other appropriate content headings).

How can I invite players to my tourneys?

Here the "Group" function on openCards will be helpful. Every openCards member can register new groups or become a member of several groups. You will find this function under the headings "MY OPENCARDS" and "Groups". We recommend tournament directors to register a group to which they should invite all regular players at their tourneys. (Invites can be sent via the "Private Message" function also to be found under "MY OPENCARDS") Afterwards you may sent invitations, news and tourney information to all members of a group.

We at openCards also plan to connect tournament announcements with such groups to allow automatic invitations or messages when vital details of a tournament are changed.

May I also register tournaments after they took place?

At the moment it is not possible to register past tournaments. To be specific, any tourney even has to be registered four days in advance.

But we’re always interested to document also the past of a gaming system on openCards - so if you possess the data of a tournament from previous years, contact us: st1e.bm@open-cards.de for the First Edition and st2e.bm@open-cards.de for the Second Edition.