FFVII CHARACTER SMACKDOWN - The Neutrals Championship

[f a n c y]

Sup? Are you ready for...?

If this is your first time hearing about 'Character Smackdown', feel free to refer to this thread here.

In short, it's my pet project where I'm attempting to put a spin on character battles done in the past in a fun and engaging way. All members are free to join and drop out at any point after a round.

The Rules•••
The gist of the game is this: you, the player, are going to be assigned to a team at random and then given a character at random. Then, using your creativity, you, along with your teammates, will present arguments as to why the character you were given would win in a theoretical fight against the opposing character.

There are going to be 55 champions, but only one can win.

For each round of the game, we're using a randomiser to pull two champions, one location (which will be the 'arena'), and split the participants into three groups: Team Chocobo, Team Moogle, and The Spectators.

Rules for Team Players

1. Be Persuasive
   Your job is to use your creativity and argumentative skills to persuade the Spectators why the champion you were given would win in a theoretical fight—even if you happen to dislike this character. The cleverer (and funnier) the reasoning, the better.
   
2. Be Creative
   Again, this is all about creativity. Take the character you were given and the character you’re up against and really consider their profession, their surroundings, how they behaved in-game, what they’re wearing—everything! Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box!
   
3. Be Cooperative
   You're typically working in teams, so do try to bounce off what your teammates are saying and build on each other's arguments. If your teammate makes a totally ridiculous statement, just roll with the silliness. DO NOT bully your teammates or try to dictate their arguments.
   
4. Be Reliable
   Once you've decided to be a participant, you are making a commitment to your teammates. Don't just up and disappear and leave a teammate to fend for themselves. If you want out of the game, let me know after a round is over (best time to say something is whilst the 'Spectator Voting' period is happening).
   
   Participants who fail to participate after 1 round will be asked if they want to remain in the game. If they say no, they will be taken out of the pool but are free to be put back in in the future if they ask. If I get no response at all from them, they will be removed from the pool, but are free to be put back in in the future if they ask. If they say yes and fail to show up the round immediately following the one they were absent in, they will be taken out of the ‘pool’, no questions asked, but are free to be put back in in the future if they ask.
   
   
5. Be Active (or not )
   Every round lasts 48 hours and you can make as many posts as you'd like in this span of time in order to drive home your advocacy for your champion. Any posts made after the time limit won't be considered.
   
6. Be Communicative
   After a round (during the Spectator's voting period), you can choose to opt out by clearly stating to me that you'd like to be out of the 'Pool'. Otherwise, I'll give you another role. You can jump back into the 'Pool' at any time by, again, stating that you'd like in and I'll assign you a role in the next round.
   
7. Be Adaptable
   Again, after a round, you will be reshuffled into a new group and, thus, might be given new teammates.
   
8. DO NOT Be A Jerk
   This is a smackdown, but the forum rules still apply. Be respectful to other members (including your teammates—don't lambast anybody for not forming an argument in the way that you'd like), don't threaten Spectators, don't use hate speech in attacking the other champion, and just, you know, don't be a dick. (I know this won't be a problem because you're all such a cool bunch but... formalities ).

Rules for Spectators

1. Spectate
   During the 48 hours in which a round is going on, you can watch, but...
   
2. Don't Partake
   Spectators aren't allowed to make suggestions, arguments, or post anything to dictate or 'help' one team or another. You can, however, feel free to express your appreciation for a good post.
   
3. Appreciate
   Which side is making the more persuasive argument? Which side has you rolling with laughter? Which side needs to get their shit together? Take it all in.
   
4. Don't Hate
   Try to keep the atmosphere lighthearted and chill and don't start tearing down people in the middle of the game for making what you perceive to be a 'weak' argument. Just Don't Be That Person™. Again, at the end of the day, this is all about fun, fun, community fun.
   
5. On Voting
   After the 48 hour period of the team players making their cases, Spectators are given 24 hours to cast a vote for either Team Chocobo or Team Moogle. Any vote cast after that period of time will be discounted. If all Spectators fail to vote, I'll decide the winner. If 2 of 3 Spectators fail to vote, the one spectator who did vote will decide the winner. If 1 of 3 Spectators fail to vote (assuming the 2 voting don't come to the same conclusion) I'll step in and be the third spectator.

After all the spectators have cast their vote, the winner of the round will be announced along with the new teams and new champions in a post.

Notes

• All spectators are voluntary. The only incidence in which someone is assigned a spectator role is when no one else is volunteering to be one.
• There only ever really needs to be 1 Spectator at any given round, but the ideal number is 3.
• Audience members (those who have not signed up to be spectators but plan on watching anyway) are free to cast their votes in the voting period.
• DO NOT TRY TO PARTICIPATE IF YOU HAVEN'T VOLUNTEERED TO BE A PLAYER.
• Picture are provided with locations. I tried to pick only the locations with visible items in them.
• After each round, everyone’s reshuffled into new groups.

The Participants•••
This is everyone who’s volunteered to participate! Again, it’s never too late to join in and you always have the option of opting out (after the round is over, please. Don't leave teammates hanging—it's rude ). Just please make it clear to me so I know whether or not to assign you a role after each round.

• BforBrigitta
• Channy
• ChipNoir
• Clement Rage
• Elessar
• Fancy - spectates when necessary
• Joe - spectating
• LicoriceAllsorts
• Minato
• Ergo Proxy (Moss)
• Mr. Ite
• robotwarui - spectating
• solo player sab

The Bracket

A live bracket of the tournament is being hosted here if you're interested in keeping up with the winners and future matches!

Shoutout to Tel for putting things in the right words. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Shortcut to Battle Posts
> Set 1

• Round 1-1
• Round 1-2
• Round 1-3
• Round 1-4
• Round 1-5
• Round 1-6
• Round 1-7
• Round 1-8
• Round 1-9

> Set 2

• Round 1-10
• Round 1-11
• Round 1-12
• Round 1-13
• Round 1-14
• Round 1-15
• Round 1-16
• Round 1-17
• Round 1-18

> Set 3

• Round 1-19
• Round 1-20
• Round 1-21
• Round 1-22
• Round 1-23
• Round 2-1
• Round 2-2
• Round 2-3
• Round 2-4

[BforBrigitta]

YouTube Video

[Joe]

me eyeing up Mr Dolphin in the bracket

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I made a prediction.

[f a n c y]

Hahahaha I was just reading through it. I had a similar outcome when I was fiddling with the predictions. Dunno why I hadn't saved it.

ooooohhh ooooohhh less than 24 hours 'til the first battle post is made. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[f a n c y]

Round 1-1

Your Teams...



Minato
ChipNoir
BforBrigitta
Clement Rage
Elessar




LicoriceAllsorts
solo player sab
Ergo Proxy
Mr. Ite
Channy


Your Champions...


VS


The Location...


Cid’s House

Chocobo Carriage Driver - He steers a Chocobo-drawn carriage through the streets of Sector 6, chauffeuring eligible young women to Don Corneo…
Are you ready Team Chocobo?

Luxiere - A 2nd Class SOLDIER and one of Zack Fair’s earliest fanboys…
Are you ready Team Moogle?


The countdown begins when the first team player posts!

[Minato]

Well, looks like we've caught an easy one.

[ChipNoir]

Do not underestimate my capacity for spinning head canon and game theory. I intend to right by Team Chocobo to the bet of my abilities.

But how exactly are we supposed to confer with each other? Forgive me if this is already covered somewhere. Still balancing my last week of school, so I'm gonna be a 'little' helter skelter till after the 9th, but I'll give my input for my team!

[f a n c y]

I haven’t stated any rules about conferring with teammates! I think it might be easiest now to just message your teammates privately if that’s how you want to go about things

Pardon me for the weak answer LOL, this is all still very much an experiment

By the by, I know I said the countdown starts when a team member posts, but I don’t consider the 48 hour period for the battle to have started since there’s yet to be a post stating any sort of argument.

[Clement Rage]

(NOT AN ARGUMENT)

I totally thought Chocobo Carriage Driver meant the guy in the Corel Desert.

[ChipNoir]

Clement Rage wrote:

(NOT AN ARGUMENT)

I totally thought Chocobo Carriage Driver meant the guy in the Corel Desert.

Shhh. We'll discuss that in private. I have plans. :3

[Mr. Ite]

I have no idea who that is. We're gonna kick your ass.

[solo player sab]

BRUUUHHH LETS GO TEAM MOOGLE FUCK YAAA!!!!!!

[Channy]

Joe wrote:

me eyeing up Mr Dolphin in the bracket

me eyeing to steal Mr Dolphin from Joe in the bracket


--

wooooo go Team Moogle, we got Ite, so I feel like we've already won in any respect.

[f a n c y]

Elessar has asked to join the game and, because the battle has not *technically* started, I'm putting him on Team Chocobo for an even number of five players on each team.

I'm excited to see how this turns out! Best of luck to everyone. Again, when the first argument is made, I'll make a post announcing when the 'battle' is going to be over.

Oh, and because I suspect that some folks are confused about this...

For each new round of a game, you will be put on new teams. The teammates that you have now will more than likely not be your teammates for the next battle.

In short, after each round, everyone’s reshuffled into new groups.

The reasons being:

1. To keep things new and interesting each round.
2. To keep teams balanced (say that, hypothetically, 4 of the 5 members on Team Chocobo decide they don't want to play anymore after a round. Welp, we have a problem, don't we? ).
3. To make it easier for folks to leave and join at will.
4. To challenge you to work with different folks and their argumentative styles.
5. Fancy said so

I don't know if this changes folks' mind about forming private chats and coming up with different strategies since you'll likely not be working with the same exact group of people again and you'd have to make new private groups for every round which seems exhausting, but I ain't about to dictate how you want to tackle this!

Hope this helps and I apologise for the mixup.

also shoutout to tel cuz i stole some of his wording (specifically, about reshuffling folks)