Official***** Kong Off 4 (July 30,31,Aug 1, 2)

[xelnia]

People don't realize just how much work was involved and while small MINOR issues may have occurred

Let's be realistic here. I would wager the vast majority of people who are interested in this hobby and event DO realize how much work goes into it. The streaming issue was not minor.

Everyone involved in this discussion needs to remember two things: 1) Don't mistake disappointment for ungratefulness. 2) You either do something right, or you don't. There is no middle ground in life.

[danman123456]

People don't realize just how much work was involved and while small MINOR issues may have occurred

Let's be realistic here. I would wager the vast majority of people who are interested in this hobby and event DO realize how much work goes into it. The streaming issue was not minor.

Everyone involved in this discussion needs to remember two things: 1) Don't mistake disappointment for ungratefulness. 2) You either do something right, or you don't. There is no middle ground in life.

True it probably should have not streamed at all the first few days. I haven't seen the bill for my mifi but i have a feeling its going to be $150 - $200 if JC's $45 overage is any indication   - The issue with streaming is the biggest one and I'm looking at options for it next year.  Anyone with any ideas on it please feel free to hit me up with them. It just needs some more planning to be more readily accessible and available which I do think is possible.

[johnbart]

I don't know what the wifi setup was at the event but having experience at bigger shows like PAX I can say that net access isn't easy or cheap.  When you're dealing with most convention style settings you have a couple big issues with cell based wifi:

1. You're typically stuck in a big concrete box which limits signal to the point of being very unusable.
2. You've also got a bunch of people in the same spot hitting probably the same one local cell tower which also affects connectivity serious.

For this reason most events provide the option to get wifi from a local network but it tends to be very pricey.  Typical charge for a day of wifi access at a major show is $1500-$2000.  I don't know what the options were at this venue but I would wager it's not as simple as grabbing a cheap personal wifi hotpot and making a go of it.

[hooch66]

Carnegie Mellon is right there and there has to be an overlap of the programming guys there and guys into stuff like arcade games. I bet they'd be willing to help find a solution.

[TeaJay]

Hey guys, TJ here. It was awesome meeting everyone at Kong Off 4. As a first time spectator of the Kong Off and being there in person, I've got nothing to say but positive things. Overall, I think everything went very well as an in-person spectator. There was one thing that I wish we had for the Kong Off that I noticed Walter's tournament was using... which was a web-based scoreboard.

How cool would it have been for both online and in-person spectators to get up-to-date information about the big games players were having throughout the weekend?

If we had an online scoreboard with a simple user interface for both the data submitters (passworded access) and the spectators, so that we can track various players’ games throughout the day… how awesome would that be?

We could have someone be a dedicated score/data submitter for the web-based scoreboard (I’d be willing to do it, I plan on attending next year baring life altering events; we could also have Dan or JC doing it when they aren’t playing). What things would you all be interested in tracking?

--------------
Player Names,
Current Game Score (updated every 10-20 minutes [Simply have someone walk up the line and write down the scores and just update them on the computer]),
Current Level,
Kill-Screen Total (per day and overall event),
Million Point Games Total Count and Score(s) (per day and overall event)
Top Score (per day and overall event),
Overall Ranking… anything else?
--------------

We could have a dedicated TV screen near the merch-booth showing off the scoreboard. The scoreboard tool could have filters, so if we want to see who did well on a certain day etc. we could apply filters and get into the nitty-gritty.

I’m a software developer by profession, and whipping something together like this shouldn’t be difficult and I’d love to somehow give back to all you guys who made me feel welcome at the event. I’ve got a whole year to put something together, which is plenty of time and I could get started rather soon. It could be a fun side project…. However I’d like to see what you guys think.

Just brain-dump your thoughts!

[mikegmi2]

People don't realize just how much work was involved and while small MINOR issues may have occurred

Let's be realistic here. I would wager the vast majority of people who are interested in this hobby and event DO realize how much work goes into it. The streaming issue was not minor.

Everyone involved in this discussion needs to remember two things: 1) Don't mistake disappointment for ungratefulness. 2) You either do something right, or you don't. There is no middle ground in life.

True it probably should have not streamed at all the first few days. I haven't seen the bill for my mifi but i have a feeling its going to be $150 - $200 if JC's $45 overage is any indication   - The issue with streaming is the biggest one and I'm looking at options for it next year.  Anyone with any ideas on it please feel free to hit me up with them. It just needs some more planning to be more readily accessible and available which I do think is possible.

Regarding streaming, and the Periscope stream I had going a good portion of Fri/Sat,  in the end I used up about 4 Gb of data.  When I watched the replay, for DK the stream quality was good, as well as the sound (you could even hear stuff like Ethan walking by my cab announcing when Robbie took the lead, etc).  It's extremely simple, as all you need is your phone and the app.  The difficult part is making people aware of how to watch (have to follow on Twitter or Periscope).  A simple DKF thread with everyone's Periscope account could solve this though.  It's way easier than having a laptop, webcam, hotspot, etc...seems to use up less data...and setup consists of a cheap cell phone mount, and extension cord for phone charger.  Super easy.  I have AT&T and carried over 6Gb from the previous month, so data was also a non-issue.  You can also do other stuff like walk around and show the venue, and give a first person perspective of watching other players, which can't easily be done with a laptop/webcam.  I thought with all the people walking around, the stream would drop or lose signal, but streaming over 4G/LTE was also a non-issue.
Periscope also gives you the option to save your entire stream to memory when it ends, and regardless, all broadcasts are available for 24 hours on your account page from the time they end.

[mikegmi2]

Hey guys, TJ here. It was awesome meeting everyone at Kong Off 4. As a first time spectator of the Kong Off and being there in person, I've got nothing to say but positive things. Overall, I think everything went very well as an in-person spectator. There was one thing that I wish we had for the Kong Off that I noticed Walter's tournament was using... which was a web-based scoreboard.

How cool would it have been for both online and in-person spectators to get up-to-date information about the big games players were having throughout the weekend?

If we had an online scoreboard with a simple user interface for both the data submitters (passworded access) and the spectators, so that we can track various players’ games throughout the day… how awesome would that be?

We could have someone be a dedicated score/data submitter for the web-based scoreboard (I’d be willing to do it, I plan on attending next year baring life altering events; we could also have Dan or JC doing it when they aren’t playing). What things would you all be interested in tracking?

--------------
Player Names,
Current Game Score (updated every 10-20 minutes [Simply have someone walk up the line and write down the scores and just update them on the computer]),
Current Level,
Kill-Screen Total (per day and overall event),
Million Point Games Total Count and Score(s) (per day and overall event)
Top Score (per day and overall event),
Overall Ranking… anything else?
--------------

We could have a dedicated TV screen near the merch-booth showing off the scoreboard. The scoreboard tool could have filters, so if we want to see who did well on a certain day etc. we could apply filters and get into the nitty-gritty.

I’m a software developer by profession, and whipping something together like this shouldn’t be difficult and I’d love to somehow give back to all you guys who made me feel welcome at the event. I’ve got a whole year to put something together, which is plenty of time and I could get started rather soon. It could be a fun side project…. However I’d like to see what you guys think.

Just brain-dump your thoughts!

A scoreboard was tracked, but it was on Richie's mac which sat on the desk the whole time and got updated as the day went on.  An online scoreboard would most definitely be needed for next time, as I know many were asking for that.  I think what most would want is simply a leaderboard with top score of each player.  For the bracket day, the best thing would be to have a split-screen stream for each matchup (like they did for the KO3).  A guest announcer could even do commentary for each of the 4 matches.  Access to wifi/data upload becomes the most difficult issue here.

[danman123456]

Yeah my overall goal/impression Mike/TJ would be to have one place for ALL that information readily available for everyone both onsite and off. www.kongoff.com is my recommendation for this. Have all the streaming links/current scores/bracket info/etc there in one place and have it all updated online instead of a spreadsheet. I'm sure we can get this setup and working before next year 

[WCopeland]

Before this goes any further, I'm going to point out the elephant in the room.

It's fucking ridiculous that you guys are willing to put up money from your own pockets to take care of a problem the ReplayFX staff should take care of themselves. By you guys taking care of this, you're absolving ReplayFX of their own responsibility. You should not be focused on the organization and exposure of the event -- you should be focused on your own gameplay and actually performing in the event.

You are not paid, and unless ReplayFX hires you or reimburses your internet costs, there is no reason you should be doing this.

[danman123456]

Before this goes any further, I'm going to point out the elephant in the room.

It's fucking ridiculous that you guys are willing to put up money from your own pockets to take care of a problem the ReplayFX staff should take care of themselves. By you guys taking care of this, you're absolving ReplayFX of their own responsibility. You should not be focused on the organization and exposure of the event -- you should be focused on your own gameplay and actually performing in the event.

You are not paid, and unless ReplayFX hires you or reimburses your internet costs, there is no reason you should be doing this.

Well if that becomes part of it than sure but I don't think this is something that ReplayFX will provide. All of the vendors and attendees are usually responsible at some level for their own setups im sure. Most conferences and events like this do not provide internet and you have to get it yourself AFAIK. DLCC did have wireless internet available for free but it was capped at 0.75Mbs which is way to slow to try and stream from. I would imagine they would expect the people handling the kongoff to handle the internet/streaming stuff which means any streaming/scoreboards/etc? If not I am all for trying to get them to focus on it. They did provide the TV's and GoPro cameras I believe and did they do the setup for the Walter Day tournament? If so that would be perfect from a scoreboard perspective. I am not so worried about getting paid and I won't use my own mifi data plan up this time. I thought I could get away with just the weekend but whoops was that wrong

[PAPA_Doug]

Before this goes any further, I'm going to point out the elephant in the room.

It's fucking ridiculous that you guys are willing to put up money from your own pockets to take care of a problem the ReplayFX staff should take care of themselves. By you guys taking care of this, you're absolving ReplayFX of their own responsibility. You should not be focused on the organization and exposure of the event -- you should be focused on your own gameplay and actually performing in the event.

You are not paid, and unless ReplayFX hires you or reimburses your internet costs, there is no reason you should be doing this.

ReplayFX took care of all the expenses associated with our stream. Anyone who wants to stream their own content would have to do the same.

That being said, we appreciate any suggestions or help on how to make it a better experience for everyone involved.

[DadsGlasses]

Hung up my signed Marquee #2 in a lighted box today. Great addition to the game room.

Sorry for the bad pics.