[LORE]

I think there is some confusion over the terms being thrown about, sanctioned and unsanctioned, so I will try to sort that out first.

Sanctioned means to me that you intend to promote the event on the CC's site, use our tournament software to impact the CC player ratings, purchase (or not) prizes created by the CC, and (potentially) receive the added benefits of your event being a CC tournament through our various event promotional channels - the forums, a reference in a website article, links on social media, etc.

Unsanctioned by definition, to me is the anti-thesis of all of that. Running a tournament entirely out-of-bounds with the CC's stated Organized Play Guide and Tournament Code of Conduct that is included therein. In the course of business, very few tournaments hosted here are truly unsanctioned yet still supported by the CC. Beirmeister being the only one that comes to mind, simply due to a necessity that we severe the link between playing STCCG and drinking due to legal ramifications. From a rules / format perspective, unsanctioned events would be something like "I can play banned list cards but my opponents cannot," or "I get to play a constructed deck while you have to use a starter deck," etc. For me, the distinction is pretty clear but I recognize I am a crusty STCCG dinosaur and this might not be obvious for everyone. Bottom line: if you want to use the CC's resources, you agree to follow the rules outlined in the OP Guide.

Now, onto the questions themselves...

Recent events have given me pause to consider what is OK and what is not event naming wise. I have before run "not" the world championship events in Sydney when worlds was on somewhere else, but I did sanction it using the CC system, so I guess that gets a pass. I am curious to know if I didn't sanction it what would have happened.

I believe these were all advertised as local events, and the naming was clear that these were not masquerading as the World Championships (or some such) as officially hosted by the CC. These were fine, my friend.

Anyway, main drive of the post. I understand why the CC want to have control over some names. Mainly, they use them, and have built up (or at least continued) the Decipher naming protocols, and if another body uses the same name, to an untrained or naive eye they could mistake a Championship as being run by the CC, and not others (especially when the event is advertised on these boards.)

Correct. Sanctioning by the CC invokes registering an event here, advertising it here, using the rating system, prize system, etc. These expectations are all laid out in the OP Guide. If there are any questions about them I would implore the community to reach out to a member of the OP team directly for guidance.

On the flip side, I am not sure I am OK with having something called "The North American Championships" censored. As Armus pointed out, the CC hasn't run an event under that name for some time, if at all. I would guess that Regionals, Masters, Continental and worlds would be off the menu also. And I get that.

This was censored because it did not meet the criteria you stated above - that to the untrained or naive eye it could have easily been mistaken for a Championship-level tournament being sponsored by the CC. This is in direct conflict with the Organized Play team's decision to cancel all in-person high-level events in 2020 due to COVID-19. For what it is worth, we ran afoul of several names pitched for what ultimately became the Subspace Championship Series for similar reasons (i.e. a name sounding too similar to one used previously for an in-person event.)

But say I wanted to run an unsanctioned event, call it the New South Wales Open, or CHampionship, or Invitation or some other higher level title. What would be the situation then?

This defaults back to sanctioned vs. unsanctioned. We cannot stop anyone from hosting tournaments and calling them whatever they want to call them. But to consider an event sanctioned by the CC, the respective tournament director is agreeing to abide by the OP Guide and follow the Code of Conduct. I would hope naming rights is not a strong enough deterrent to forgo all the various benefits of having an event sanctioned by the CC, especially in light of how simple it is to avoid confusion. (e.g. the ongoing "not" World Champioships online.)

For those running the Vegas event, could you call it The Vegas Open? The Vegas Challenge? Vegas Championship? The Vegas Chainsaw Massacre? And if the Tower people did this, what would be the response?

None of those names are easily misconstrued as one of the CC's officially sponsored high-level tournaments. I would have no problem with any of them.

Thanks in advance for your responses. Some guidelines appreciated!

Thanks for the questions, and I hope this clears things up a bit. All the best down under, KO!

[AllenGould]

RFC 2119???

Yup - "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", from 1997. It's an oldie-but-a-goodie.

(Also, worth noting that I suspect we *aren't* following 2119, because it's a spec for writing specifications. It's just my personal go-to for "must" vs. "should")

I get its not absolute, but I don´t know what you mean with "but you don't get to just skip it without reason". What would reasons be? And where can I find out what the reasons are?

The reason would have to come from the organizer in this case - they're the ones who are going off spec, as it were. For instance, maybe it's some weird mystery-prize, and that's why they don't specify prizes.

[MrVorlon]

RFC 2119??? Microformats??? Do people really have to google before they have a chance of understanding what´s written and meant?

I get its not absolute, but I don´t know what you mean with "but you don't get to just skip it without reason". What would reasons be? And where can I find out what the reasons are?

It might be only me, but this is frustratingly confusing.

I get annoyed anytime acronyms are used.

[Nerdopolis Prime]

Sanctioned means to me

that you intend to promote the event on the CC's site, use our tournament software to impact the CC player ratings, purchase (or not) prizes created by the CC, and (potentially) receive the added benefits of your event being a CC tournament through our various event promotional channels - the forums, a reference in a website article, links on social media, etc.

Unsanctioned by definition, to me

is the anti-thesis of all of that. Running a tournament entirely out-of-bounds with the CC's stated Organized Play Guide and Tournament Code of Conduct that is included therein. In the course of business, very few tournaments hosted here are truly unsanctioned yet still supported by the CC. Beirmeister being the only one that comes to mind, simply due to a necessity that we severe the link between playing STCCG and drinking due to legal ramifications. From a rules / format perspective, unsanctioned events would be something like "I can play banned list cards but my opponents cannot," or "I get to play a constructed deck while you have to use a starter deck," etc. For me, the distinction is pretty clear but I recognize I am a crusty STCCG dinosaur and this might not be obvious for everyone. Bottom line: if you want to use the CC's resources, you agree to follow the rules outlined in the OP Guide.

While I understand what you mean AND also love that you are trying to smoothen things down, there is one thing I have to highlight:

If you have to start explanations with "XY to me is ...", then you have already lost. Not because you "have no clue", but only because the regulation isn´t well written.

So I perfectly well understand why there are problems with things like this. I reluctantly have to say that was also on my list that got ignored. Unfortunately the CC lately walked right into a few traps I wanted to adress. And without any doubt there will be more, after all I had about 500 hours of material, unmistakable written communication being one of them.

I would like to ask all people involved to calm down and see that the problems are caused by very much un-ideal formulations colliding with common sense. So please take a step back and begin to communicate in a constructive way. Not individuals are fault here, fault is only sloppy writing. So start talking and repairing the issue in a respectful and constructive manner. Thats what I´m asking here.

[monty42]

...So please take a step back and begin to communicate in a constructive way...

rofl... bless your heart.

[Clerasil ToB]

Being one of the bad and dangerous green badges I think I might bring a simple and easy solution to this without forcing every interested player to read the entire OP guide to get to know if the tournament they want to participate is a "CC official event" or not, without harming anybody:

Just add the initials to the announced event!!! So if named "ToC - North American Championships" it would be clear for everybody what this event is about.

To make it clear, this is my personal opinion and NOT an OFFICIAL one my colleagues of the CC could be forced to follow...

[Nerdopolis Prime]

...So please take a step back and begin to communicate in a constructive way...

rofl... bless your heart.

You see why I say its hopeless?

Nicht wegen Dir. Du hast Dein Bestes getan. Die Fronten sind einfach nur zu verhärtet. Es ist sinnlos. Kaum hast Störenfriede entfernt, kommen ihre noch aktiven Kumpel und machen Radau. Das geht so weiter bis man das Gebiet "depopuliert" und somit "befriedet" hat. Es bleiben halt weniger übrig aber mit denen kannst dann was machen. Aber erst wenn das Krebsgeschwür beseitigt ist. Verflucht hart, verflucht wahr, verflucht effektiv! Und das Beschissene ist, mir gefällt es genauso wenig wie vielen Anderen.

[Honest]

I think there is some confusion over the terms being thrown about, sanctioned and unsanctioned, so I will try to sort that out first.

Sanctioned means to me that you intend to promote the event on the CC's site, use our tournament software to impact the CC player ratings, purchase (or not) prizes created by the CC, and (potentially) receive the added benefits of your event being a CC tournament through our various event promotional channels - the forums, a reference in a website article, links on social media, etc.

Unsanctioned by definition, to me is the anti-thesis of all of that. Running a tournament entirely out-of-bounds with the CC's stated Organized Play Guide and Tournament Code of Conduct that is included therein. In the course of business, very few tournaments hosted here are truly unsanctioned yet still supported by the CC. Beirmeister being the only one that comes to mind, simply due to a necessity that we severe the link between playing STCCG and drinking due to legal ramifications. From a rules / format perspective, unsanctioned events would be something like "I can play banned list cards but my opponents cannot," or "I get to play a constructed deck while you have to use a starter deck," etc. For me, the distinction is pretty clear but I recognize I am a crusty STCCG dinosaur and this might not be obvious for everyone. Bottom line: if you want to use the CC's resources, you agree to follow the rules outlined in the OP Guide.

Now, onto the questions themselves...

Recent events have given me pause to consider what is OK and what is not event naming wise. I have before run "not" the world championship events in Sydney when worlds was on somewhere else, but I did sanction it using the CC system, so I guess that gets a pass. I am curious to know if I didn't sanction it what would have happened.

I believe these were all advertised as local events, and the naming was clear that these were not masquerading as the World Championships (or some such) as officially hosted by the CC. These were fine, my friend.

Anyway, main drive of the post. I understand why the CC want to have control over some names. Mainly, they use them, and have built up (or at least continued) the Decipher naming protocols, and if another body uses the same name, to an untrained or naive eye they could mistake a Championship as being run by the CC, and not others (especially when the event is advertised on these boards.)

Correct. Sanctioning by the CC invokes registering an event here, advertising it here, using the rating system, prize system, etc. These expectations are all laid out in the OP Guide. If there are any questions about them I would implore the community to reach out to a member of the OP team directly for guidance.

On the flip side, I am not sure I am OK with having something called "The North American Championships" censored. As Armus pointed out, the CC hasn't run an event under that name for some time, if at all. I would guess that Regionals, Masters, Continental and worlds would be off the menu also. And I get that.

This was censored because it did not meet the criteria you stated above - that to the untrained or naive eye it could have easily been mistaken for a Championship-level tournament being sponsored by the CC. This is in direct conflict with the Organized Play team's decision to cancel all in-person high-level events in 2020 due to COVID-19. For what it is worth, we ran afoul of several names pitched for what ultimately became the Subspace Championship Series for similar reasons (i.e. a name sounding too similar to one used previously for an in-person event.)

But say I wanted to run an unsanctioned event, call it the New South Wales Open, or CHampionship, or Invitation or some other higher level title. What would be the situation then?

This defaults back to sanctioned vs. unsanctioned. We cannot stop anyone from hosting tournaments and calling them whatever they want to call them. But to consider an event sanctioned by the CC, the respective tournament director is agreeing to abide by the OP Guide and follow the Code of Conduct. I would hope naming rights is not a strong enough deterrent to forgo all the various benefits of having an event sanctioned by the CC, especially in light of how simple it is to avoid confusion. (e.g. the ongoing "not" World Champioships online.)

For those running the Vegas event, could you call it The Vegas Open? The Vegas Challenge? Vegas Championship? The Vegas Chainsaw Massacre? And if the Tower people did this, what would be the response?

None of those names are easily misconstrued as one of the CC's officially sponsored high-level tournaments. I would have no problem with any of them.

Thanks in advance for your responses. Some guidelines appreciated!

Thanks for the questions, and I hope this clears things up a bit. All the best down under, KO!

That is quite comprehensive. Thanks Brother

[Honest]

Being one of the bad and dangerous green badges I think I might bring a simple and easy solution to this without forcing every interested player to read the entire OP guide to get to know if the tournament they want to participate is a "CC official event" or not, without harming anybody:

Just add the initials to the announced event!!! So if named "ToC - North American Championships" it would be clear for everybody what this event is about.

To make it clear, this is my personal opinion and NOT an OFFICIAL one my colleagues of the CC could be forced to follow...

That sounds like a fine solution.

Honest

[sandy]

Being one of the bad and dangerous green badges I think I might bring a simple and easy solution to this without forcing every interested player to read the entire OP guide to get to know if the tournament they want to participate is a "CC official event" or not, without harming anybody:

Just add the initials to the announced event!!! So if named "ToC - North American Championships" it would be clear for everybody what this event is about.

To make it clear, this is my personal opinion and NOT an OFFICIAL one my colleagues of the CC could be forced to follow...

That sounds like a fine solution.

Honest

I'd be 100% behind this. This is an official statement and my personal opinion - benefit of being a dictator

[Boffo97]

You could even play with this solution a bit.

If there's no attribution listed, it's assumed to be sanctioned by whatever venue the ad is posted on.

If there's cross promotion, advertise it as "ToC/Dojo: The War For Who Pays For The Beer" (just as one example).

Disclaimer: Taking my advice for what to name your events is probably dumb.

[Armus]

I will point out that the aforementioned-then-deleted poster did specifically say that the event was being presented by the Tower of Commerce.

I would post it here to illustrate my point but I've agreed not to repost it so you'll have to take my word for it.

[Honest]

I will point out that the aforementioned-then-deleted poster did specifically say that the event was being presented by the Tower of Commerce.

I would post it here to illustrate my point but I've agreed not to repost it so you'll have to take my word for it.

If it the same flyer that is on Johns FB page it does say ToC, but doesn't specify that it isn't a CC thing.

To an untrained eye, it could be construed as an official CC event run by ToC (and I'd guess maybe there is 35 people world wide who know or care there is a difference between ToC or CC)

Cheers

Honest