Recently, there was a Splinterlands proposal Reintroduction of Leagues to Splinterlands by @inobody. While the draft proposal did not pass, it sparked many interesting discussions and ideas. These were expressed in the comments on the post, which I won't repeat here, and on Discord.

For the record, here are the results of the draft proposal.

Ideas from Vugtis

While @vugtis did not respond on Hive, there was a thoughtful response posted on Discord with several interesting thoughts and ideas. Here is a direct link to his Discord message.

Image created with Chat GPT. Prompt: use the image of Vugtis from this post but have Vugtis in a thinking man pose.

The rest of this post is mostly a copy-paste of Vugtis' Discord message. I've added some formatting and made minor editorial changes to the wording, fixed typos, etc. Again, I recommend reading the Discord message if you want to see the exact response.

Response to Reintroduction of Leagues Proposal

Hi, everyone. Regarding the proposal:

I agree with you guys, there should be a place for people to be competitive and have fun. But ranked is not where it should be. Ranked should be simple, battle, buy more cards , win, until you hit a wall, then repeat until you reach the top (or not).

So, where is this competitive place I am talking about? It should be 'tournament'. The problem is the current tournament format is a complete mess. It doesn't do what it is supposed to do.*

Tournaments are simply a reward-farming place for a select few people. It doesn't reach enough of the player base, due to the way it works. It worked several years ago when Splinterlands started with only a small player base, but not now.

Bad Timing

I [Vugtis] would say this proposal has bad timing. I just told Dave (@davemccoy) maybe a week or 2 weeks ago that I am planning to draft a fairly comprehensive guide on tournament rework.

I have collected ideas for months, and I hope that I can turn them into a detailed and executable plan for the team, not just a random idea. I am not sure how long it will take, or if it will ever finish to the quality that I am hoping for. My initial plan is roughly 1 month, but it depends on my workload. Remember, I am not a team member, I have other things I need to take care of. But I personally think that is way better than changing the current ranked format. So, it's not about me hating leagues, it is never how I felt, but to me, ranked is not the best place for a highly competitive environment.

Tournaments and Events

I'll give you guys a rough idea of what I am currently trying to draft. Remember, this is my personal idea.

1. Tournaments will be renamed to 'event.'
2. The current tournament format will be something that is held every once in a while. For example quarterly, and/or annually. This essentially makes tournaments a real tournament, and possibly more fit in the e-sport category.
3. Events will consist of a different game mode, with a different time frame, for example, seasonal, 3 days, or one off.
4. The events game mode will try to give utility to all card editions.
5. There will be bracket/grouping system (e.g. a group of 8, 20, etc) with leagues, meaning there is a winner per bracket for a game mode. This allows multiple winners per bracket as opposed the current tournament format which only allows a small number of winners.

This is the big overview of what I am trying to do, there are other mechanics involved so all of these make more sense in terms of reaching out to a larger player base, scalable, utilizing our current assets, including the older ones.

So, with this thought, I have to vote AGAINST the proposal. I think there are better solutions. With that said, feel free to vote however you guys want.

End of Vugtis' Comments

That is the end of the comments from Vugtis on the Discord message.

Personally, I love the idea of adding events as outlined above. I also wish we would bring leagues back in some form or fashion. I'm sure this will get more traction eventually and I wanted to draw more attention to the topic.

What do you think about the idea of modifying how tournaments are handled and adding events?

Bonus Image of Vugtis

As a bonus, here is another image I generated of Vugtis with Chat GPT. I don't like it as much as the previous image but wanted to include it anyway.

Image generated with Chat GPT 4o. Prompt: Make an image of an ultra-wealthy and powerful character inspired by the username 'vugtis'. The figure is dressed in an extravagant, futuristic suit adorned with gold, platinum, and diamond-encrusted details, radiating unmatched opulence. They sit in the thinking man pose in a lavish penthouse atop a towering skyscraper, surrounded by high-tech luxury—gold-trimmed furniture, holographic stock market displays, rare art pieces, and piles of cash and digital wealth symbols floating around them. Include the SPS token symbol from Splinterlands. A futuristic city with neon lights and flying cars spreads below through massive floor-to-ceiling windows. Their expression is one of absolute confidence, exuding dominance and supreme success.