User blog comment:Leolab/User Siege Tourney, Round 25 of 63: Cfp3157 (Shengway) v MilitaryBrat (Evans)/@comment-422690-20130819181011/@comment-422690-20130819190212

Well, this battle is a pretty good example of why I want to kill half the entrants here. So, it's RANT TIME!!!

Long Rant
Why the fuck do people join tournies without reading the damn rules, or even the fucking title? Shit-tastic entries like MB's are part of why most tournies flounder. People put time and effort into creating a scenario for the tourney and then they see that half the entries aren't taking the tourney seriously at all.

There is a difference between shit entries and joke entries. Joke entries usually involve interesting characters in their own right, and are generally used to give the user who runs the tournament a vehicle for comedy. Joke entries, like Austonio, aren't crap entries.

Crap entries are things like the two above. As I mentioned in my vote, I gave clear instructions for the entries. I know MB didn't read even the opening, because as quoted above he simply said "Morning Stars" when I mentioned - with that specific example - that simply saying "Morning Star" would give your men a spiked ball.

On top of all that, there's one mistake far too many people make. In the entrance blog itself, I have a nice little blurb, quoted below.

"When adding siege weaponry, remember that they need a crew. Add in how many people are crewing each, or I'll assume that there is no one manning it."

- The Entrance Blog

Now, let's see who failed to do so, out of the original entrants:
 * MB
 * Beast
 * Drayco
 * ST
 * MoA

That's half of the entrants right there. Two of those were booted due to inactivity, so that brings it down to three. Three out of eight.

Furthermore, several entrants seemed to forget that this was a Siege tourney; it's in the goddamn name, people. They either designed their armies for open combat or forgot to put siege weaponry entirely.

The following is a list of who did either of the above:
 * Noob
 * Cfp
 * MB
 * ST
 * MoA
 * Beast

That's six. 6 out of the original 10. Seriously, people. Learn basic reading and retention skills. Again, two were kicked. But this brings it to 4 out of 8.

Since I've been super negative so far, I'd just like to highlight the entries that are actually good:
 * Swg
 * Kite
 * Me
 * Drayco

Swg and I both designed armies that could withstand a siege. We thought and planned out what we would need and how we could maximize effectiveness within the limits provided. Kite also provided an excellent entry. Not quite as strong as Swg's or mine, but it's still an excellent entry. He took the siege concept and fitted it to a theme - in this case, the Siege of Gondor - and managed to create something that was both interesting and effective.

Where both Kite and Drayco shine, though, is in their characters. Drayco created a joke character, one that's simply batshit insane. Austonio is my favourite character to write, and has become the user's favourite character to read. Kite's provided a character that is - once again - interesting and effective. Both Swg and I could use some improvement in this area; we provided good characters, but they were a little bland.

Oh, speaking of characters and their bios, I asked people to provide ones that aren't the typical Mary Sue found in tournies. I wanted the generals to be people.

Instead, I got a bunch of vague entries or some flavour of the "Oh, woe is me, I had such a tragic past and I'm broken inside" BULLSHIT.

I'd actually like to give a particular mention to Cfp's character, a blatant ripoff of mine. Let's take a look at bios, shall we?

Actually, I'm just going to give a link to the X-Factor blog, with all the bios. This comment is getting too long as is. [http://deadliestfiction.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Leolab/Siege_Tourney_Pre-Game:_X-Factors#X-Factors Linky! Whee!]

Well, this really is getting too long. I'll come to my point quickly.

But first, I'll address the most obvious replies. For those of you who were going to say "But Leo, you should have waited for my entry to finish, even though you gave a clear deadline and I didn't finish in time. Then you wouldn't have so many bad entries."

I'm going to be blunt here. Those ten entries were the best out of all the ones posted.

Okay, time to wrap this up.

TL;DR
The TL;DR version, really my point here, is that people need to pay fucking attention when they're attempting to enter a tourney. Give it at least some effort and thought. It's only polite.