Hey everyone,
With the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics running atm, I started wondering whether we should have our very own Warzone Olympics!
Since I don't want to put effort into running an event people don't want, and I'm also aware that there are quite a few other events on at the moment, I thought I'd throw this out here to see if people are interested in such an event.
My current thinking is that we will have a handful of "events" - I'm thinking some 1v1s and small teams, on different template setting categories. Example events could be "1v1 INSS", "2v2 Vanilla", "3v3 Multi-attack" etc.
I think I would host these as tournaments (RR? SE? DE?) with a selected group of "qualified" players (I'm thinking of using MTL ratings as the metric for this, open to other suggestions).
While the Olympics are primarily about elite competition, I could also separate it into pro (Olympics) and amateur (Paralympics?) divisions based on MTL rating if there's enough interest from non-elite players.

Anyway those are my very vague thoughts! Please tell me:
1. If this is an event you would like to see!
2. If this is an event you would like to play!
3. If you have any suggestions for different events or how it could be run.
Keen to hear your thoughts!

Disclaimer: I don't want this to be a competitor event with the preexisting Nations Cup. The way I see it, Nations Cup is an international team competition (like the football World Cup), while these Olympics would be more focussed on international individual (or small-team) performance.
However, if you think there's too much overlap, let me know!

Edited 7/30/2024 14:54:47

1. Yes!
2. Yes!
3. Paralympics for people that do not understand AbbA

I don’t like how the first two posts in this thread are using Paralympics as a synonym for “worse version for the Olympics”. Paralympians aren’t bad at sports, they’re excellent at sports and happen to be disabled…

I love the idea of a competition between countries but we already have it in the Nations Cup. I don’t really understand how this tournament would be additive, in fact, I worry that these tournaments would dilute the talent pool and prestige of one other.

Don’t twist LND and Alex’s words to make them seem ableist. It’s a fair comparison since people aren’t born equal. One Leg Larry will never dribble like Messi, and 95% of Warzoners will never be as good as day 1 Rufus.

I like the idea. You can rep your country without needing to form a 6 man team to do so.

I like the idea.
I have some suggestions:
Instead of countries the WZ Olympics could be played with Clans board of medals. Players without clans could join as refuges team.

Im the board table you could use these kind of medals achievements:

1st: ...  - 5 points?
	
2nd: ...  - 3 points?

3rd: ...  - 1 point?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_medal_table

The Olympics could be played in different maps/templates competitions (like 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 or even 10v10 ?)

Edited 7/31/2024 11:02:08

@Leon - Apologies if my use of "Paralympics" came across as disrespectful to paralympians, I didn't mean it that way at all.

@Lionheart - clans is an interesting idea, I did think of that as well. I initially decided against it, since I see clans as more or less like football clubs, instead of national teams that have always been what the Olympics is about.
However, I'm curious whether anyone else thinks this would work better with countries or clans!

clans could work well, similar to clan league in a way but without divisions, could make it more interesting and unique.

The Olympics limits the amount of competitors from a nation for more variety of representation. Warzoners love inclusivity. If you want to make it like the Olympics, you’d have to turn away top players from stacked countries.

Vote for the "paralympics" to be named the "platilympics"

there’s already clan league, clan wars and nation’s league. yes, you’re part of a national team in the olympics but what if it was individual points. you can set up 1v1, 2v2, and so on and also have 1v1v1, 2v2v2, etc..players get X points for 1st, 2nd, 3rd but are limited to 3-5 events. there are event winners and overall winners.

the hardest part of this idea is which templates and game formats to use. for that you can make a 5-10 player wzoc to decide. i am an average play but don’t mind playing the best, the team games can be a great equalizer as can the ffas.

the problem i see with having two tiers is who decides which one a player is in, what’s the cut-off?

Edited 7/31/2024 19:55:17

@Texx - yes, I would probably have some kind of limit on how many competitors from each country/clan can participate in each event. Likewise, each player would have a maximum number of events they can enter. The idea is that instead of Rufus joining every event and winning, top players are forced to select which events give them the best chance of a medal!

@Kenny - Great suggestion, I will seriously consider it.

@yeller - the Olympics has always been about both individual and national glory. Like yes, the countries are ranked on a medal tally; but it's not like people make a huge fuss at the end over the country who "wins" the Olympics - people celebrate the individual athletes far more. This would be the same. Countries/clans would be ranked, but the only prizes awarded are medals for each event.
A WZOC is a good idea, I'll welcome anyone who would like to form this with me!
Selecting a pro-level cutoff wouldn't be too hard - we could just say that you must have been ranked on the MTL, and use a certain peak rating (say, 1800-1900ish?) as the cut-off. Not going to be perfect, but it's far easier than subjectively deciding on a player-by-player basis.

Edited 7/31/2024 21:54:37

Anyone else interested in this event?

I have thought of this
But one thing I would want to do is have summer games and winter games

Interesting idea, MG - wow would you structure summer and winter games in WZ, which is an all-weather sport? How would you distinguish between them?

While not a straight Summer/Winter distinction, Summer Games could be standard WZ templates, and Winter Games could be really unusual, heavily modded/customized stuff

tho tbh it would probably be more fun if both standard and unusual were in both editions

so maybe 'Winter' would just be based on the time (month) you conduct it in; sorry southern hemispherers, 87% of the globe's population is in the northern hemisphere, so "winter" means Nov-Feb

Good old US of A

I think it's a great idea with lots of potential, but unfortunately the timing is a bit off.
The Olympic Games are already in full swing and they will be over before you start your first WZ Olympic games.
We also have Nations' Cup and Managers' League running atm.

But like I said I see lots of potential in this. If we turn it into a popular bi-yearly event, like the real Olympics, we could then turn Nations' Cup back into a bi-yearly event as well. They could complement each other. I was already afraid that having NC every year could get a little stale.

And then you can tie in MTL into the mix. Getting any rank on MTL (=finishing 20 games in 5 months) could be a requirement to join the Olymplat games. Getting a serious rating (1800? 1900?) could be a requirement to join the top event. That could potentially drive the community towards the MTL, which is a great thing.

So what I would do is to take your time and seriously think about the format (I can help if you're looking for ideas) and wait until autumn 2025 and have the Winter Olympics in place of NC 2025.

Thanks Rento, those are good suggestions and great advice.

After some consideration, I think I agree with you that it is best not to proceed with the Warzone Olympics this year. Ultimately, the Olympics is a monumental event that deserves to be planned and executed well, and to do them this year would be rushing things.

I will however still accept applications to join the Warzone Olympic Committee, for those keen to help organise the event for next year!

you have my venusaur, Gandalf!