What I think should have happened rather than a "first to sign up, you snooze you lose" way of doing things, is let the sign ups go for at least 24 hours to let those players that could not be on at the specified time, have the chance to sign up. Sure, you'd get way more than the 1,600, but then you could load all the names into the computer and have it randomly generate a list of 1,600 participants. That would ensure a fairness for everyone. And to the players that think lb players should have gotten an automatic enty: how is it fair for a player that bought their way to the top (no, not all of them have, but there are plenty) to have a better chance than someone who has worked their ass off to get to the top?
I just want to clear up that this is not a case of "errors". We had clear directions on what tag to use. Judging by the signups we have, a large majority of players understood this. This is a slippery slope, if we allow "#ASW 2012", then do we also allow "#A S W 2012"? Where do we draw the line? Unfortunately the fair thing is to allow players who did follow the instructions to participate. This would have been the case regardless of whether we did all this by hand or via a computer. I understand your frustration, and I know it can be very disappointing. The only thing I can say right now is that we will have more regular events like this, so rest assured, you will definitely not have to wait a year to participate in a fun and meaningful event.
If you know of a player with more than one account registered you may report it anonymously to me and I will pass it to the developers. You may use a popular 3rd party chatting app to make your anonymous report. You can find me in a group called [KAW Mods]
Here's my idea for signups for next year. Open the signup's for a full 24hrs. Who ever is eligible and has registered within that 24hrs goes into a pool. The first 50% of places available (eg this year 800 out of the 1600) go to those players in the pool who are highest ranked on the overall LB. The second 50% of places are drawn at random from the remainder of the pool. That way, it puts the "all star" back into ASW as the higher your rank the more chance you have of getting in, but also includes everyone else who is eligible, with no bias for sleep time etc.
There was several days of advanced notice of when the signup would be. When how to signup was announced early people still signed up before the allotted time. So the signup method was kept dark until about an hour before the allotted time. I think they went to great lengths to making sure everyone knew the time of signup and where to look for how to signup at that time. I even posted timezones for people who were too lazy to check an on-line time zone converter. I would hardly call it a shambles or last minute. A lot of effort goes into this.
Drgnfire, it's quite fair to say the best players get priority in "All-Star War". I don't care if you spent a billion dollars in this game. Everybody has equal opportunity to grow. If somebody spent more money then others, they're still stronger as far as the game statistics are concerned. If one person was allowed to spend more money, or had any unfair advantage in the game, then they shouldn't be allowed to participate. As the oracle is a part of the game, I consider it a real life benefit. What I am saying is when you create an elite competition, designed for the most powerful players, you should have the most powerful players compete. If somebody cheated, they'd be banned. So the point of "unfair advantage because they payed the developers money" is absolute bile.
Wulf - to clarify. By shambles (wrong choice of word) I was referring to the fact that we didn't find out the sign up method for sure until an hour before the signup. This wasn't ideal for some timezones hence I understand some people's frustration. I did make the point that the devs were forced into it by people not reading the rules and signing up early when told not to. Your timezone guide was very helpful but the BST/GMT issue does bring up the Kaw World Clock debate.
If it took 3 hours to fill 10,000 spots, why am I on waiting list? I signed up at approximately 12:20.
@Augustus, I thought I would clarify, but I have a feeling there's no point. You think what you want, I'll think what I want. Bile or not.
I love the idea of a KAW World Clock. Its a popular idea but poses a UI (user interface) issue. There is very little room for new features to be crammed into the interface.
Can't believe that filled up in less than a hour thought I had a for sure seat signing up 45 mins into it
Can i ask why my name is not on the #ASW2012 coz i already applied on the 1st day of registration itself? Pls look into this matter