World Team Tennis at ITST

[BluudyEEfingaz]

Taking a small break from the tour but I'd like to propose an idea to the ITST team and members. This site is extremely competitive and we spend a lot of times here on the forums going back and forth with one another on different issues we either agree or disagree on. I appreciate all this site has to offer and it's like nothing else, really I've ever experienced when it comes to gaming. Being it that most, like myself, have made it a home here, we introduce something that will not only change things up a bit, but more importantly build greater friendships and appreciation across the board. I feel introducing a World Team Tennis tour would be the thing to do that. Of course I understand it takes a lot of time, interest, and effort in creating something like this, but I really like the idea of choosing captains and picking team names and competing in a team oriented format while following the style and rules of WTT. If we could begin with maybe four WTT-styled tournaments a year. Since Davis and Fed Cup don't seem to be that appealing...somehow this will combine the two. WTT would include Men's and Women's Singles, Women's and Men's Doubles and also mixed doubles. It would allow us to use unorthodox courts and locations that aren't utilized already during the normal season and also the ability to use the Supertiebreak and other interesting scoring methods provided on TS4. I'm presenting this as a possibility and can hopefully get some great feedback from you guys. Thanks for reading.

[emate007]

I like WTT, but doubles will always be a problem without 4 console support.

[BluudyEEfingaz]

This is true...we have a very low doubles sign up usually also. And also I don't think the team liked the idea of using another game for doubles...but maybe that can be reevaluated for this type of tour.

[jayb1988]

I'd love to play doubles and people have asked me a few times but the thing is I don't know any of my friends or anyone who lives by me that owns the game. It's not like Fifa or Call of Duty where every man and his dog has a copy, so a doubles format just isn't a realistic proposition for most.

Could we not just do a Davis Cup style tournament every so often but with singles matches rather than doubles? You could either determine opposition by ranking in their respective countries or to make it more team based and tactical, pick a captain to interact with the team and decide who would be a better match up against a certain opponent.

It would be really nice to have something like this so it doesn't feel like you're playing with yourself all the time!

[SlicerITST]

You could think of switching the doubles matches for pro matches.

What i am most interested in is how do you think teams should be formed? Finding a fair way to do that while still having fun in a team is essential.

Something to think about perhaps:

What about a ladder of some sort. You form a team with other members you would like to play with. Then you can challenge teams for a match anytime you want. If you win, you gain points and they loose points. The higher the ranked team you beat the more points you can gain. This way the team you form can play on the level it wants and avoid teams that are just too good or are dickheads.

We could even still host a few tournaments like you said so teams can get points in other ways.

[Moralspain]

interesting

[BluudyEEfingaz]

You could think of switching the doubles matches for pro matches.

Good idea! Or using the SIM format Djarvik worked so hard on because ultimately Nadal and Serena would be picked pretty much all the time. We could use the SIM player setups he created for Men's and Women's Doubles and for Mixed Doubles randomly select Pros for each competing team.

What i am most interested in is how do you think teams should be formed? Finding a fair way to do that while still having fun in a team is essential.

You're absolutely right! We can go about this the way we did Davis Cup although teams won't be limited to a specific country. We already have budding friendships here and possibly the teams would work themselves out if we could ask for those who are interested in participating, if they would also be willing to serve as captains. I'm thinkin 6-8 teams...that may be reaching a bit, but I'm hopeful, so that would mean 6-8 captains. Each would post their player in each match format. I also love your idea about how points would be awarded. I could really use some help on that. [/b]

[fij and chibz]

I want in

[BluudyEEfingaz]

The division here also seems to be with either console or game...meaning...PS3 players are often shut out due to such little numbers and TE players dislike the mechanics of TS4. If somehow we could implement those players as well I believe that inclusion iand unity is the ultimate goal. So let us say for every WTT tournament there will be MS and WS played by xbox users substitute one doubles match for a PS3 match...the second doubles match would be SIM match on Xbox...the final would be a TE match. So a team would consist of at least one TE player and one PS3 player.

[jayb1988]

I think involving other consoles and games could get quite confusing with making sure they all happen. You want the tournaments to be single game and console so everyone knows where they stand. What was actually wrong with doing a Davis Cup tournament in the first place? I thought there was alot of interest?

If a team tournament is created in the same vein as the singles tour tournaments in that you have to play by a certain deadline then it would be possible no? I'm not sure about people teaming up as you would just get the strongest players bunching together and it would all be very one sided, why not do it by the top 4 ranked players of each country? As these are likely to be the players who also play most and are more likely to maintain interest.

[Tamthewasp]

Go bluddy. Think this is a great idea and i think having all consoles and games in a team is class but every team would need the.same.so say 2 xbox a pc and a ps3. Im all for this. Flo has a vood idea with tbe ladder stuff aswell. BOOM

[BluudyEEfingaz]

I think involving other consoles and games could get quite confusing with making sure they all happen. You want the tournaments to be single game and console so everyone knows where they stand. What was actually wrong with doing a Davis Cup tournament in the first place? I thought there was alot of interest?

If a team tournament is created in the same vein as the singles tour tournaments in that you have to play by a certain deadline then it would be possible no? I'm not sure about people teaming up as you would just get the strongest players bunching together and it would all be very one sided, why not do it by the top 4 ranked players of each country? As these are likely to be the players who also play most and are more likely to maintain interest.

You may have a point. We could eliminate confusion by allowing the captain of each team to report the results of each match. Let's say C4iLL is on a team and beats o Sinna o from an opposing team in the TE match. Both players, the winner and loser of the match reports the results to his/her captain, the captain then reports the score to the host of that tournament once ALL World Team Tournaments matches are played.

As far as teams, we want to make this as fun as possible, so if it works that 4 top players are interested in becoming captains then sure, but it may not necessarily.

[BluudyEEfingaz]

Go bluddy. Think this is a great idea and i think having all consoles and games in a team is class but every team would need the.same.so say 2 xbox a pc and a ps3. Im all for this. Flo has a vood idea with tbe ladder stuff aswell. BOOM

Thanks TTW! Yes every team would need at least 5 players and exactly the way you explained. I want to talk to Floris about the point ladder as well. I really need some help on coming up with should we say a tier of points?

[jayb1988]

I think involving other consoles and games could get quite confusing with making sure they all happen. You want the tournaments to be single game and console so everyone knows where they stand. What was actually wrong with doing a Davis Cup tournament in the first place? I thought there was alot of interest?

If a team tournament is created in the same vein as the singles tour tournaments in that you have to play by a certain deadline then it would be possible no? I'm not sure about people teaming up as you would just get the strongest players bunching together and it would all be very one sided, why not do it by the top 4 ranked players of each country? As these are likely to be the players who also play most and are more likely to maintain interest.

You may have a point. We could eliminate confusion by allowing the captain of each team to report the results of each match. Let's say C4iLL is on a team and beats o Sinna o from an opposing team in the TE match. Both players, the winner and loser of the match reports the results to his/her captain, the captain then reports the score to the host of that tournament once ALL World Team Tournaments matches are played.

As far as teams, we want to make this as fun as possible, so if it works that 4 top players are interested in becoming captains then sure, but it may not necessarily.

Yeah that makes sense, you could certainly give the all console and game thing a run out to see if it is logistically possible. If players report results of each match accordingly there's no reason why that wouldn't work and the idea of involving everyone rather than having a several console and game split is a good one in theory.

By the team point I meant that each country would field the top 4 or 5 players (although I'm not sure how this would work for different games) and I guess you could choose who should be captain from those players. I think that would involve pretty much everyone who is active on the site, unless I'm forgetting certain countries which are not very well represented or are over subscribed. If there are too many Brits for example you could split it down to Wales, Scotland, England etc till it worked out.

[Sorauze]

Very good idea !