Hi all,

So some of you may remember that I asked for participants to take part in an interview for my undergraduate dissertation. Well that dissertation is being reworked into something that could be academically published but unfortunately that means a lot of my discussions have to be cut out for later research or just thrown away. There's a lot that was discussed that I think would be an interesting read so I've made a public release of the paper. Note: it hasn't been peer reviewed so bear that in mind when reading.

I wouldn't recommend trying to read through this in one sitting, since it is over 50 pages, perhaps one section at at time would be the best way to approach this. This isn't "how to solve comp tf2" or anything like that, so please don't treat it as such.

Also to add on to this so I don't spam threads, I am stepping down from League Admin and Project Leads on future events with Essentials, as well as "attempting" to quit the game as a whole to focus on my real-life commitments, full write up below. Still be up for random mixes though.

That being said, enjoy the read and thank you for the past 5 years.

Nerd Essay: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i4CJHE3ZRWQXEIrzh7mM28tmxTkGNX0na_GQ5GDMC2w/edit?usp=sharing

Nerd Leaving: https://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sr0ddo

Shoutouts to ArchRhythm and Soda for helping make this possible with me, wouldn't have happened without you!
Shoutout to Geel for the sponsor allowing us not to pay out of pocket this time
Shoutout to Jon Kelly from Belong.GG for being incredibly responsive and helpful as much as he could
Shoutout to the production team for a fantastic stream
Shoutout to the Admin team for dealing with nearly 200 TF2 gamers and server issues
Shoutout to the guy who broke his arm whilst arm wrestling, thats commitment right there
Anti-shoutout to the hospital where we waited 5 hours for fuck all
Shoutouts to Ascent and Ma3la for helping bring an NA team to LAN, honestly the best choice in the end

Shoutouts to everyone who's been thanking me or saying nice things about me, I'm always awkward about that sort of thing, but your kind words have made the months of prep and all the grey hairs worth it.
As always, shoutouts to the TF2 community for always being such an amazing bunch of people!

There is a reddit post up now with stream schedule and such. Whilst it is mostly focused on the casual audience, there may be information there that could be of use. Check out LAN.TF for the most up to date information.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tf2/comments/ct7zty/insomnia65_schedule_discussion/

With that being said,
cu@

As the person who was a tournament admin for i63, having designed that schedule, I believe that it was nice for all invite teams to play together but meant that myself and Aoshi was spread super thin. For context, Aoshi had to run the entire open tournament (~25 teams) completely by himself as I was solely busy dealing with Invite. Two invite groups with varying times gives invite teams that come off the back of a BO2 w/GCs have more than a 3-5 minutes breather; less invite matches per round means more time can be spent administrating the open tournament and fixing issues that may arise like servers. There were a couple of complaints and confusion that could have been avoided last time on the new Invite schedule, but the schedule which I put in place didn't give us that luxury.

Heny has spent a significant amount of time working this into a feasible and comfortable event for everyone involved, Staff included. In regards to the concern about seedings, I can agree that it plays a significant aspect, which is why we have asked for invite teams to sign up as soon as possible to allow the most amount of time for both admins to seed the groups in an acceptable way. At the end of the day, we cannot change the format this late in the day, it would be reckless and create more problems than not being able to play everyone. We will consider this discussion for future events as and when they happen.

The full tournament schedule can be found on our Toornament page here, as well as rules etc. https://www.toornament.com/en_US/tournaments/2587533425695768576/information

Please make sure that you familiarise yourself with match times to prevent delays during the event, especially if you are in the Invite Groups. Invite groups are split between A & B, with separate match times for each group, so check the website for more details.

The open tournament schedule is as follows:
Round 1: 12:00
Round 2: 13:15
Round 3: 14:30
Lunch break: 15:15-16:15
Round 4: 16:30
Round 5: 17:45
Round 6: 19:00
Round 7: 20:15
Slot for tiebreaker matches: 21:30

Adding on to this, it is really helpful for the admins that you sign your teams up in advance of the event. Invite groups need to be seeded and such, so giving them as much time as possible to get that all in place will make Heny happy.

You don't want to make Heny cry, do you?

We have an AMA up over at the r/tf2 subreddit, if you want to ask more casual questions about the event that is where to go. For more important questions, like how to get to the event, ticket related questions, etc. please keep them here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/tf2/comments/cqptqx/we_are_essentialstf_and_we_are_producing/

Apologies for the delay in announcing the map pool. Insomnia65 will feature the following maps:
cp_granary_pro_rc8
cp_gullywash_final1
cp_process_final
cp_prolands_rc2t
cp_snakewater_final1
cp_sunshine
koth_product_rcx

If you have any questions, contact me.

I would disagree very much with that. When a developer states something or promises an update or whatever, you are resigning yourself to fulfil that promise. While that seems like a good thing, it becomes extremely limiting and for a company as volatile as Valve, change is a constant. By becoming more transparent, you risk a larger amount of your player base will become hostile to the changes put forward.

People freaked over "Neato" for Christ's sake, let alone a insight into the developers' mentality and goals. If Valve came out with "We're working on a MvM update", the competitive scene would believe that they have completely abandoned competitive. If competitive is the focus, casual players will claim that the focus is killing off what made the game popular. By not speaking at all, they ideally could listen to what people are saying or reading feedback from emails, etc and work on delivering that through updates and such, which has been the method of communication from Valve for the entirety of the games history.

Nowadays though, the TF team don't have the manpower to sustain that method and because of that, the game feels abandoned and crucial fixes seem like they haven't been patched in years (Det Bug). You can't blame Valve for focusing on more lucrative or innovative ideas, especially due to their transition from Games to Hardware/Software.

Transparency only works when there are enough people there...and even then can do more harm than good. See: Overwatch.

Won't lie, we used your format due to it containing all relevant information for the event.

I believe some more rentals may have been made available

Hi, we've heard from a few individuals about this issue and will be contacting the supplier to see what would be possible/when more are expected.

If you mean the audience, then we have one here: https://imgur.com/a/3JnHts7

If you mean BYOC, thats something you guys would have to arrange i'm afraid.

EDITED: 16/08/19
Hello all, just throwing a thread out for all relevant information to be posted.

Birmingham NEC
North Ave
B40 1NT
United Kingdom

Start: Friday 23rd August
End: Sunday 25th August

Tickets: https://insomnia.seetickets.com/tour/insomnia
If you wish to compete in the tournament, you will need to order a BYOC Ticket which will provide access to the BYOC area. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THIS TICKET YOU WILL BE UNABLE TO COMPETE! If you are a spectator only, we would recommend that you get the Weekend pass which allows access to the Esports area after the main exhibition has closed.

What is the closest airport to the NEC?
This would be the Birmingham Airport (BHX) which has a connecting shuttle to Birmingham International Train Station and the NEC.

What are the available accommodation around the area?
There are various hotels in and around the NEC and Airport which is closest to Halls 1-4 which is the site of the event. That being said, there is also the option of Indoor Camping for a less expensive option.

How can I sit with my team?
Seat Picker can be found here, but you must have a BYOC ticket to make a reservation.: https://seatpicker.seetickets.com/belongbyoc/account/login

Information about the seat picker can be found here: https://insomniagamingfestival.com/byoc-seat-picker/

Rentals
Rentals are only available for BYOC Ticket Holders and can be booked here: https://insomniagamingfestival.com/rentals/

Fundraiser
We are running a fundraiser for the prize pool and to send Ascent.NA to represent North America at i65. Details here: https://matcherino.com/t/i65tf2
__________________________________________________________________________

TOURNAMENT DETAILS - BEING WORKED ON
How can I register for the tournament?
https://www.toornament.com/tournaments/2587533425695768576/

What will the Prize Pool/Payouts be?
This is still in the works, but initial predictions are around £6,000 depending on signups. The more signups we get the bigger the prize given to the tournament by the organisers.

I am a sponsor and I am interested in supporting the event, who should I contact?
We would love to hear from you! Contact me over at charlie.smith@essentials.tf

When does the Tournament start?
Round 1 of Open Tournament will start at 12:00 BST on Friday, please be ready beforehand. Full schedule can be found here: https://www.toornament.com/en_US/tournaments/2587533425695768576/information

What is the format of the Tournament?

• Open - Swiss. Groups and matches dependant on signups
  
• Invite - Two 4-team Groups
  
• Playoffs - 16 team double elimination bracket
  
• Open B-Tournament - Info and schedule will be posted during the event and will be based on signups.
  
• Schedule can be found on the tournament page above.

Rules
Full rules listings are on the tournament page, or on LAN.TF.

Maps
cp_granary_pro_rc8
cp_gullywash_final1
cp_process_final
cp_prolands_rc2t
cp_snakewater_final1
cp_sunshine
koth_product_rcx
___________________________________________________________________________

Any updates will be posted here and on our Twitter. We aim to answer any questions as quickly as possible.
Insomnia FAQ
https://twitter.com/TF2Essentials - Twitter
http://discord.gg/yWN93tx - Essentials Discord
https://discord.gg/igfestuk - Insomnia Discord (Thx Sami)

This is legitimate progress, nice work from RGL for this. Going forward, working with the leagues to work towards centralizing other parts of the game like Map Pool and Ruleset. Whilst it would have been nice to see a closer map pool/ruleset, I do understand that NA is in a state of moving leagues per ESEA's closure so perhaps efforts could be made in the future once things have settled.

That being said, as always, only time will tell whether this was the right move.

This notion that the Global Whitelist and centralization of rules leads to bureaucracy nightmare and stagnancy within the esport is close-minded at best. The key factor that creates friction between leagues are discrepancies and the unwillingness to compromise. RGL has yet again demonstrated, to my understanding, a complete lack of advocacy towards working with other leagues to work on a cohesive map pool, whitelist, and ruleset.

As Dreamboat rightly said earlier on, and I must clarify that this is my own opinion and not one representing anything to do with EssentialsTF, but a lack of a centralized method of play proves difficult when determining how events are to be played. Things like time and winlimits can be shaped to fit the LAN setup, but Map Pools and Whitelists prove to be tricky since we wish for all teams to not be disadvantaged when attending an international event. However, due to the difference in how regional leagues approach their ruleset, there has been a consistent discrepancy between key rules and such.

It is disappointing that one of the game's best opportunities to take a step towards progress is hampered by this short-term mentality of rapidly iterating rules without giving them a chance to truly see their effects. For people who want to implement change, forcing people to quickly adopt new ways of playing the game and such month by month is risky and historically has proven unsuccessful. Gradual implementation based on consistent feedback over longer periods of time globally would be far more effective than throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks.

Your consistent alienation of the community, leagues, and current players makes me concerned for the scene as a whole should RGL be the main choice post-ESEA.