Purpose

The Longshanks is the primary worldwide Guild Ball ranking and event management system. It includes a number of data reporting features that can be used to assess player performance and gaming trends as well as several game tools designed specifically for Guild Ball.

Our aim is to enhance the overall Guild Ball experience for both players and event organizers.

Contact us

Before contacting us, read through this page - you may find the answer to your question here!

The best way to cantact us about any questions or requests is by email or at our Facebook page.

Acknowledgements

Ben Redmond

Ben created the first Guild Ball ranking system and was a significant inspiration for the Longshanks.

Kevin Stewart

Kevin has been instrumental in providing feedback on the functionality of the Longshanks system. He has also provided a number of ideas and suggestions that have been crucial to the site's success.

By default, the Longshanks uses tournament events in the past year when calculating and reporting data. You can use the "data filters" option at the top of most pages to adjust which events and games are included.

R	=	win/loss record
OR	=	average opponents' R
OOR	=	average opponents' OR

Player ranking is based on the rating percentage index (RPI). OR and OOR are also used as the first and second tie-breaker values during tournaments according to the Guild Ball Organised Play Document.

RPI to rating

To reward players not just for winning, but for playing and winning often, RPI is then divided by a term that favors more games being played.

n

=

number of games played

The reduction of player rating by this adjustment is large at 10 games played (50%), small at 20 games (3.4%), and almost non-existant at 30 games (0.1%).

Certainty

This number is a measure of both how well the rating system is estimating player skill and of how consistent each player is.

The certainty level for each player begins at 100%. If a player defeats another player with higher rating or loses to another player with lower rating, the system did not correctly predict the outcome of that game. The certainty level for both players in such a game is reduced.

There is a buffer built into the certainty calculations so that a player's certainty isn't penalized for playing opponents of similar skill.

Accessing your account

If you have attended an organized Guild Ball event, you probably already have a player profile. Search the Longshanks' roster to find and claim your profile.

Follow the instructions on your player profile page to claim your profile.

Creating a new account

If you haven't played in an organized Guild Ball event before or can't find your player profile and want to set up an account, you can:

• Ask an event organizer to create a profile for you when you register for an event.
• Create your own profile by visiting the player list.

Editing player information

Once you have claimed your account and are logged in, you can edit and update your display name, home region, password, and other profile information using your control panel.

Names & nicknames

Display names are used by event organizers to register players and by players to find their opponents.

To avoid confusion and ensure that games are linked to the correct profile, it is crucial that players use their full name as a display name.

Subscribers may choose to use a nickname. These appear with the display name but do not replace it.

Name policy

You may modify your display name as necessary to correct errors or reflect legal name changes.

Names or nicknames that receive complaints, are deemed inappropriate, or attempt to use a nickname in place of a real name are not allowed.

Abuses of the name policy are NOT tolerated. The offending profile may be locked and warnings will not be given.

Local opponents

You may add up to five other players to a list of your regular local opponents. Event organizers may avoid matches between mutually-recognized local opponents in the first round of a tournament.

Modify your local opponents list from your control panel.

Security & privacy

The Longshanks never stores passwords as plain text. However, it is still recommended that you use a different password here than you use for any other online accounts.

A player may hide their profile if they wish to be anonymous. If you wish to have your profile removed from the roster entirely, contact us.

Unclaimed players

Player profiles that haven't been claimed can be registered for events by an event organizer and participate in games as normal.

You must find and claim your player profile to register for events yourself, host events, or change your player information.

Hidden players

Players may choose to hide their profile for privacy or security reasons. Hidden players:

• Appear as an ID number rather than a name.
• Do not appear in the ranking.
• Cannot earn most badges.
• Cannot host events.

Event status

Event types

Tournament Follows the standard procedures outlined in the Organised Play Document.

Team Tournament Events using the three-player team format found in the Mob Football document. Can be hosted by subscribers only

Friendly Side events, alternate game modes, Big Leagues, etc.

Release event Guild release events with special guild-themed rules.

Attending an event

The registration section on each event allows you to manage your registration for that event before it begins and drop from the event after it has begun.

To register for a locked event or team tournament, contact the event organizer.

Once you are registered for an event, you will appear on the event page. You can also see and enter the results of your current game on your control panel.

Registering players

You may register players for your events either by ID number or by name. Hidden players must be registered by ID number.

Player capacity

If you set a player capacity for your event, players will not be able to register for the event once it reaches capacity. An event's organizer can always add or remove players, even after the event reaches capacity.

Creating new player profiles

You can create new player profiles for players who don't already have one. Avoid duplicate entries by confirming that players don't already have profiles and by checking the spelling of names before creating new profiles.

To avoid filling the player database with false entries, do not create imaginary players, even when running test events.

Pairings

Game pairings are determined according to the Guild Ball Organised Play Document. Each player is paired at random against another player with the same number of wins. In some cases, players may be paired up or down to a player with a different number of wins if necessary.

You may adjust pairings manually if you wish. If you set a round and discover an error, simply delete the round and redo the pairings.

Pairing errors

Rematches and pairings between mutually-recognized local opponents are highlighted when setting the pairings for a new round. It is recommended that you manually change a rematch if one appears.

You have the option of automatically avoiding pairings between local opponents in the first round of a tournament.

Byes

If your event has an odd number of players, one player will need to sit out each round. The player who gets the bye is determined randomly from among the players with the least number of wins.

This process is automatic, but you may manually change which player receives the bye if you wish.

Finished events

Once a single undefeated player has been found, adding additional game rounds is not recommended. You may ignore this warning if you wish to continue the event anyway.

When your event is complete, use the buttons provided to end the event. Until an event is finished this way, it will not be included in the site-wide ranking, rating, or statistical calculations.

Practice & test events

When you create a new event, it will automatically be hidden. Keep events hidden to practice using the event management system and run test events. Change an event's status to Open or Locked to make it publicly visible.

2019-03-08

• Player list in an event's TO Tools can now be ordered alphabetically or by registration order.
• Subscriber only Printable player list available for checking players in at an event.

2019-03-01

• Miners, Cooks, and third captains added to all site features.
• Featured Matches section added to the home page. Featured matches are between two players in the past 7 days who both have a rating at least 85% as high as the highest-rated player.

2019-02-03

• Added the Centurion award for playing 100 games in a year.
• The Torch award was modified due to player inactivity.
• Guild Purist, Multi Guild Master, Guild Ball Guru, and Centurion awards are now recorded permanantly on a player's profile along with the date the award is first earned.
• A player's highest rating is recorded on their profile along with the date that rating was achieved.
• Event pages now use stored player ratings rather than calculating them each time the page is loaded. This should speed up event pages dramatically.
• Championship events now have a laurel surrounding their event image to highlight them as championships and indicate if they are official or unofficial.

See the full update log

Elevated

Administrator

Administrators can modify player profiles, games, and events created by other users.

New feature tester

Users are occasionally selected to test out new features of the site before they become public. You will be contacted by an administrator before gaining this role.

Restricted

Warning

Users may receive a warning for certain behaviors that are not acceptable. These users retain all standard permissions, but are flagged so that administrators can monitor their activity.

Locked

The profiles of users that receive multiple warnings or exhibit extreme unacceptable behavior will be locked. These users can attend events as normal, but cannot host events, enter casual games, or modify their own profiles.

Data privacy

This system functions through the public sharing of information.

Some information is collected and submitted by users about other people. This typically happens when registering players for an event or adding a casual game.

• This is limited to name, home region, events attended, and match results.
• Event organizers are required to obtain consent from a player to collect and display this information online before registering that player for an event.

Some information is entered by users for their own account.

• This information includes nickname, email address, and password.
• Email addresses are never given out to anyone for any reason.
  • System administrators may occasionally use email addresses to contact users about their accounts.
  • Event organizers may contact the players registered for an event, but are unable to see the email addresses of those players.
• Passwords are never stored as plain text. No one, even the site administrator, ever sees or has access to your password.
• Users may make their player profile anonymous and hidden at will.

If a user would like their personal information removed from the system, contact us.

Data usage

Unauthorized duplication or reuse of the data presented on the Longshanks, either in whole or in part, is prohibited.

This requirement is to allow us to comply with the GDPR's data removal policies. We are unable to delete unauthorized copies of data, therefore they are not allowed.