|
|
 |
Frequently Asked Questions |
 |
|
General questions
Q: What is this site for?
A: This web site has been set up to allow players to form teams, and to track matches.
Q: Who can participate?
A: Anyone can of course. You're welcome to join the league, no matter whether you have just started playing BZFlag or are a living legend and smite mere mortals with a single mouse click. You will have to register for the tournament, though. You should be using an up to date client.
Q: I detected a bug on the site, who should I report it to?
A: Look into the Contacts menu.
Q: In the other sections of this F.A.Q., you use phrases like "in the near future" or "real soon now". How long is that?
A: Time is all relative 
Q: Can I send messages to other players or teams?
A: Yes! Just click the "Send a message" button where applicable, that is when you display a player or a team's details.
Q: How do I make smileys in forums?
A: If you enter "x(" the characters are replaced with  . This is true for:
x( :D  :\  }>  :+  :)  :*  :7  :(  :o  :p  ;) :9 
Automatic Site Maintenance
Q: When will teams be deleted?
A: ANY team (even if matches have been played) will be deleted if no member of that team logs into the site for a period of 3 months or more. These teams CAN be revived by a site administrator, but the team name can never be used again for a new team.
Q: When will teams be permanently deleted?
A: Teams which have never played a match and are more than 2 months old will be permanently deleted. These teams can not be revived, although the team name can be reused ("create new team").
Q: When will a team be listed as "inactive"?
A: Teams will be marked as inactive if they have not played a match in 45 days or more.
Q: When will a player be deleted?
A: Any player who is not a member of a team, and who has not logged into the site for a period of 2 months or more will be deleted.
Managing player
Q: How do I connect to the league system?
A: Use the Login menu, and enter your login and password here. If you don't have those, register yourself.
Q: How do I register?
A: Just use the Register menu, fill the fields, and press Ok.
Q: I've just registered, when will my acount be available?
A: Your account is available immediately after you register. Once you have registered, you are even logged on!
Q: I forgot my password, how can I recover it?
A: You don't and we can't either. Passwords are encrypted. Just drop us a mail (see the Contact menu), and we will reply with your new password.
Q: I want to change my callsign, how do I do that?
A: You can now change your callsign in the edit form.
Q: I'd like to unregister myself. How?
A: Contact a site admin, who can delete players.
Q: How do I change my personal information?
A: Browse for your callsign in the Players menu, or just click on the [Profile] link next to your name in the banner (top of page), then click the "Edit Profile" button.
Q: Ok, now I'm registered, I want to join an existing team. How?
A: Choose Teams from the menu. The teams that you can join have a "Join" button.
You can also display the information for a team, and from there, click the "Join this team" button.
Q: I am already a team member, just I want to join another team. How do I do?
A: On the Teams menu, you have an "Abandon" button. Use it. Note that leaders can't abandon their team.
Q: How large can my player logo be?
A: The maximum size is 400 pixels width and 300 pixels height.
Q: What can I put in the Comment field?
A: Put whatever you want to introduce yourself to the community. You can put HTML tags in there.
Q: What is the  in front of some players names?
A: It means that they are team leaders.
Q: What is the  in front of some players names?
A: It means that they have a player logo.
Managing teams
Q: How do I create a team?
A: Use the "Create a new team" button in the Teams menu.
Q: What is the admin password field in the team creation form?
A: It's a password that can be used by a team member to modify the team logo, or the description.
Only team leaders can change the admin password, or ban players from their team. A team leader can decide wheter or not disclose the team password to the team members.
Q: How large can the team logo be?
A: The maximum size is 400 pixels width and 300 pixels height.
Q: What can I put in the Comment field?
A: Put whatever you want to introduce your team to the community. You can put HTML tags in there.
Q: How many players can I have in my team?
A: Up to 20, including you. You can prevent other players to join your team even if it's not full by closing it.
Q: I created a team, players joined it, but now I want myself to switch to another team.
A: Assign a different team leader using the team edit function, then you can leave the team.
Q: An unwanted player joined my team. How do I remove him from my team?
A: If you are the team leader, use the "Ban" button on your team's page. That won't prevent the player from joining again, but meanwhile you can close your team.
Q: How can I change my team's name?
A: If you are the team leader, you can change your team's name in the edit form. A BZmessage will then be sent to every team member, informing them of the name's change.
Q: What is the in front of some teams names?
A: It means that they have a team logo.
Q: How can I invite other players to join my team?
A: When displaying a player's detail, if you are a team leader, just can click the "Invite" button. On the invitation page, follow the instructions.
Rating / Ranking
Q: What is Ranking?
A: In addition to doing events (tournaments), the idea is to have an all-time ranking of teams. This is basically a list sorted by each team's rating. The rating of each team is calculated based on all official matches in the league. Official matches can be either tournament matches or challenge matches.
Q: How does rating work?
A: We are using a simplified ELO rating. ELO is the system used to estimate the strength of chess players. After a match between two teams A and B, both A and B's ratings are adjusted. The winner's rating will increase while the losing team will lose points. The amount by which the ratings will change depends on the difference between the team's ratings: If a very high rated player loses against a low rated newbie, the newbie will gain significantly, and the other player will lose lots of points. If it's the other way around (higher rated player wins), the changes will be much smaller.
Thus, after time, each team's rating should reflect its relative strength quite accurately. Of course, a team's strength - as well as its rating - is not a constant and will possibly vary over time. Expect major fluctuations in the ranking after a major tournament.
Q: What's the exact formula used?
A: Using the old ratings oldA and oldB, the win probability for team A is calculated:
prob=1.0 / (1 + 10 ^ ((oldB-oldA)/400.0));
score= 1 if A wins, 0.5 for draw, 0 if B wins
The change in the ratings is then calculated by:
diff=50*(score-prob);
After that some rounding magic to integer is applied and the new ratings are calculated:
newA=oldA+diff, newB=oldB-diff;
|
|
