Proposed New Online Play Guidelines for the Optishot Online Tour - final draft

[JohnMeyer]

The other option with so many rules is just maybe when a newbie looks at all these rules it will be so over whelming that they just won't join. There's alot of informaction to take in.

I know when I first started a couple months ago I thought that there was a lot to take in. And that's half of what there is now.

Most of it is essential though, Club Settings especially. I know when I joined i felt there was a bit too little info and had to ask questions and read multiple forum posts to get what was going on. It was fine, but then hopefully things have moved on now and trying to make something better.

Putting settings - Ill just go with

When putting, players must hit either a real or foam ball, however this is not dependant upon the ball type you use throughout your round. However, if you play No Ball Setting for your normal Round may you putt without a ball Eg, If you use a foam ball normally, you may putt with a real ball if you prefer, with no need to change the ball setting in software.

I think that will provide enough cover. If you tap in from 2 inches without a ball then i cant imagine anyone would mind, or even be able to tell. i just dont wanna go down the setting distance rules etc etc. Really if you take a stance you should use a ball but i think common sense would prevail here.

Will edit opening post again

[Buckeye]

Im happy with whatever as fully agree important to make sure people following the rules, just not sure it has to every player every round uploaded but if thats whats decided is required to ensure validity of results then will have to comply

You bring up some interesting points and valid reasons not to have a stream or video available. I guess I am conflicted on this. I feel strongly that each round should be viewable but anyone in order to keep the integrity of the game intact. On the other hand I understand the predicament you are in, using your phone as a hot spot and data limits, as well as the youtube upload time.

What about the incentive to stream / record idea I have been tossing around? The "bonus points" for doing so do not necessarily have to be double as I previously mentioned in example. What about a simple 10%-20% (or whatever number we come up with) bonus to your points for the tournament for streaming?

Another idea I guess would be to make adjustments to the handicap based on streaming? Say something like you get half your handicap if you don't stream or record and the full amount if you do?

I don't know what the solution is here, these are just ideas. I strongly encourage the idea of having video available for review. With out it how will we know if all of this time with settings has been worth it or not?

Like I said I understand your problems, I would like to find a reasonable way to resolve them. Perhaps we could lean on the ProTee guys and see how they handle streaming / recording rounds. Is it required? If so how do they handle people with limitations? Perhaps, like the club settings, if one could prove to the board they legitimately can not stream they could get a waiver to record all rounds and upload them on demand while leaving the rule in place that streaming / recording is mandatory for those who are able?

Just talking out loud...

[Willymakit]

I am going to disagree with you slightly on this one Jason. I don't see a problem yet. There are a lot of rules to a lot of things. Golf itself has a lot of rules. If we are trying to treat this as "not just a computer game" then we welcome people with similar interests. These people will understand even if it is a lot to take in. I am confident that the rules are necessary. As long as we can keep it at 1 or 2 sheets of paper then it won't be a problem.

The other reason why I say this is because if you ever go to online matches. You see lots of names that I don't reconize.

So either they don't know about the tourney or just won't bother joining or being overwhelmed by to much information.
After reading all the rules there's alot to take in.

But I do under stand there has to be guidelines or else people will take advantage of the situation.

[JohnMeyer]

Obviously i wouldnt be happy with being disadvantaged be it by handicapping or points because of circumstances outside of my control but I see your logic. To be fair if its just a matter of uploading then I will.

I think with this one for the time being we should leave it as is in the guidelines as a minimum record, and ill see if I can find some low speed stream settings.

i am gonna have a play with OBS settings and see if on lowest quality it will stream.

[Buckeye]

When putting, players must hit either a real or foam ball, however this is not dependant upon the ball type you use throughout your round. However, if you play No Ball Setting for your normal Round may you putt without a ball Eg, If you use a foam ball normally, you may putt with a real ball if you prefer, with no need to change the ball setting in software.

I think this is a bit to complicated.

Shortening to this would make more sense to me:

When putting, players must hit either a real or foam ball

We also should discuss penalties I guess. 2 strokes for all violations I assume? I log in and play 9 holes and realize my drive is set to 100% & 100% I assume 2 stroke penalty for each time I hit the driver? Same for loft and putting issues?

[Buckeye]

Obviously i wouldnt be happy with being disadvantaged be it by handicapping or points because of circumstances outside of my control but I see your logic. To be fair if its just a matter of uploading then I will.

Sure and it was just a suggestion. I was looking for a long term solution for all players, not just yourself.

I like an incentive for streaming or recording. Sort of a"bonus" if you can do it, but not game changing if you can't. That would encourage people to stream instead of discouraging those who can't. Rather be a positive than a negative even though the results are the same.

One issue may be how the points are calculated. I am not sure if the main ****************** site will allow "bonus points" and if it will, I can only imagine (after watching the handicap videos) how complicated it would be to change everyone's points every tournament.

I am open to suggestions here but I would strongly like to find a way to encourage players to stream or record and upload. To be honest when it became optional we probably lost 3-5 streamers, myself included.

[Maverick]

Like I said I understand your problems, I would like to find a reasonable way to resolve them. Perhaps we could lean on the ProTee guys and see how they handle streaming / recording rounds. Is it required? If so how do they handle people with limitations? Perhaps, like the club settings, if one could prove to the board they legitimately can not stream they could get a waiver to record all rounds and upload them on demand while leaving the rule in place that streaming / recording is mandatory for those who are able?

Just talking out loud...

For ProTee, we require that every round must be played with at least one other tour player. We use turn based online play where you see all of the other guys shots. Streaming is only required if the player can't find anybody to play with and can only get his round in by playing solo. Solo play is not allowed if you're first or second on the leaderboard.

[Buckeye]

The other reason why I say this is because if you ever go to online matches. You see lots of names that I don't reconize..

When I first arrived here I made a big recruiting push. I am not sure how many current members saw my posts or username. I created an "******************" user and spam created rooms to reach those people. I also spammed the OptiShot facebook page with our league information. During the few days I did that it seemed like membership increased by 2-4 people per day. I think there was 8-10 people here when I arrived.

I can go back to doing that, but to be perfectly honest I wasn't sure how long I was going to stick around here with the old rules and drama. However we seem to be past that, so I am not opposed to another recruiting campaign.

[JohnMeyer]

Sure and it was just a suggestion. I was looking for a long term solution for all players, not just yourself.

I like an incentive for streaming or recording. Sort of a"bonus" if you can do it, but not game changing if you can't. That would encourage people to stream instead of discouraging those who can't. Rather be a positive than a negative even though the results are the same.

One issue may be how the points are calculated. I am not sure if the main ****************** site will allow "bonus points" and if it will, I can only imagine (after watching the handicap videos) how complicated it would be to change everyone's points every tournament.

I am open to suggestions here but I would strongly like to find a way to encourage players to stream or record and upload. To be honest when it became optional we probably lost 3-5 streamers, myself included.

Yeah wasn't having a moan, much like yourself just after a rule that can fit with the majority

It all depends on how you view streaming and what purpose it serves.

If its for rule adherence verification then streaming/later upload is no difference I guess, live streaming in my opinion is purely a nicety not a necessity. I personally don;t believe you should be rewarded for allowing someone to watch your rounds live, its just a cool thing to do.

However I do see the need for rounds to be available for others to check on and make sure that rules are being followed. It just comes down to how possible that is. If someone couldn't do it would you say that they prob shouldnt be on the tour.As harsh as that is perhaps that's how its got to be if we are to have a fair tour.

Hopefully Ill be able to get some settings sorted to stream live but if not will just have to make sure I upload rounds overnight if that is the ruling that comes in.

[JohnMeyer]

Opening Post updated, New putting language, and Video Recording Rules

[CatMan]

Opening Post updated, New putting language, and Video Recording Rules

John Looks good bud, but I still don't see a minimum requirement in regards to Video, Are we ok with just Screen Shot, the minimum needs to be stated... Looks Great I hope to get this to the Board ASAP, once video is amended.

[Buckeye]

John Looks good bud, but I still don't see a minimum requirement in regards to Video, Are we ok with just Screen Shot, the minimum needs to be stated... Looks Great I hope to get this to the Board ASAP, once video is amended.

When you say screen shot, do you mean a screen shot of their score card? Like a picture? Or do you mean a screen grab video?

[Buckeye]

For ProTee, we require that every round must be played with at least one other tour player. We use turn based online play where you see all of the other guys shots. Streaming is only required if the player can't find anybody to play with and can only get his round in by playing solo. Solo play is not allowed if you're first or second on the leaderboard.

Thank you.

This might be able to work for us. For those who don't stream or record, to play with another.

I am not familiar with the protee so I don't know how your settings are. I guess at this stage with us, we are being pretty detailed in the settings and it would only make sense to have people verify them, something that could not be done even playing with a partner turn based, but would require video.

[JohnMeyer]

Oops updated pst didnt change it, will redo it now

Im so torn on what to do with the video.

Im pretty sure with some settings tweaks ill be able to stream even with 0.5mbs uploadspeed . Quality may not be great but good enough to provide evidence of my round which is all were after i guess.

I think really minimum has to be an uploaded video if we want to be able to truly verify rounds. However if thats not possible do we really wanna say if you cant do that you cant play on tour.

There are lots of ways to make video file sizes smaller etc etc but only so much you can do.

I just hate the thopught of excluding someone because they have a poor spec pc and poor internet. It just doesnt seem right to me, as nothing they can do about it

Equally though weve got ot be able to properly verify what settings they have and what theyre doing whilst playing, so got to provide a video of full round really

Ill update OP now

[JohnMeyer]

for some reason it wont let me edit the opening post again, will post my current draft below