Welcome to the NDDRA!

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After months of planning, the NDDRA is finally being announced to the public. This is quite a long post, but we recommend that you read every word of it in order to avoid confusion, misinterpretation, and just because it should be quite interesting. If you want to make it easier to read, we recommend that you copy this post into Word and double-space it.

First we realize that most will be interested in what is the NDDRA? The “Advocate” in our name means to advocate, as in improve, DDR within our community. We are working hard to bring DDR back to the state in which it used to be. All of us long-time players can definitely recall the fun which DDR used to bring to us. We must have all had dejavu about DDR before all of the corruption. We want to bring back all of the fun and spirit which used to exist, but today only exists to a very limited extent.

Now to explain how we operate.

· We will run tournaments, which will be posted on our website.
· All PA matches, exhibitions, ironman competitions and qualifiers will be videotaped and be publicly available. (You may opt to not be videotaped.)
· State rankings will start shortly.
· All tournament results, pictures, and videos will be posted on the tournament’s web page within 24 hours.
· There is a lot more information, which may be easily looked up, on our web page.


To give you an idea of the events leading up to a tournament and at a tournament, we will list them below.

1. The tournament will be announced on forums, our website, and we will launch the tournament web page.
2. Pre-registration will be held for three weeks. You must pre-register to enter an NDDRA tournament.
3. In the days leading up to the tournament we will hold public chat sessions where all people will be able to ask questions. We will also hold private chat sessions where the public will not have access to what you say.
4. Registration will last for an hour and on the day of the tournament.
5. Qualifying will begin right after registration. Doubles PA will begin first. Singles PA will follow Doubles with Ironman beginning after Singles.
6. All prizes will be given after Ironman.

§ Water, sports drinks, and energy bars will be provided for free to all competitors.
§ The machines will be connected to either a projector or many TVs around the event location. Our sponsors may opt to advertise with commercials through this system.

That was a very simple explanation of NDDRA tournaments. Now, to briefly explain our state rankings.

1. There is not a limit to the number of people that may enter state rankings. Players of all skill levels are welcome.
2. Players will play a song set which tests the players skills in all aspects of the game (e.g. fast songs, slow songs, off-beat songs, songs with beat changes, songs with lots of air, etc.)
3. All judges will write comments on how to improve your game play skills. All reports will be mailed out to registrants within 72 hours of the end of the rankings.


Well that must have been boring enough. Now to more interesting subjects.

It took months of planning for all of us to get the NDDRA up and running. And throughout that time we made a lot of mistakes. We debated about things for long periods of time, redid our whole web page (which is still below average quality), come up with unreasonable rules, and got fooled by a bunch of April fools’ jokes.

Here are some of the more memorable mistakes we have done.
· Originally, we had a 32-player double elimination bracket for Singles PA and a 16-player double elimination bracket for Doubles PA. The time it would have taken to run the tournaments would have been beyond bearable. The worst thing is we showed a lot of potential sponsors this (more on this later). We now have 16-player double elimination brackets for both divisions. I want an 8-player one for doubles, but I’m not in charge here.
· Our Song Set Format was greatly messed up. I still see flaws in our redesigned format, but I’m sure that will be fixed in the near future (I hope).
· We had the worst website ever at first (designed by none other than me). Potential sponsors actually saw the website, which was not my idea. We may release a page of the old website to the public just for your entertainment.
· We picked a stupid web hosting service at first. We have changed services, but now we must use a .org domain name due to a required waiting period for a transfer of registrar.
· Biggest mistake: We actually released our password-protected website to several potential sponsors. First of all, this was our old horribly designed website. Second, sponsors aren’t just going to agree to sponsor you like that. They had no idea if we would be of high quality or not. A business is not going to risk their name by working along with some yet to be known organization. (None of this was my idea. It was funny because of how much arguing went on before we did this mistake. What was bad was that I was forced to send the emails and assign passwords to the sponsors because I am in charge of all internet and online-related activities of the NDDRA, such as typing this extremely boring post.)
· Originally, for the Ironman competitions we made it so that competitors would have to wear 10-pound ankle weights. It’s not going to happen. While ten pounds may not seem like a lot, it is. We all tested this ourselves after making this rule. Injuries would have become very common. Because of this we lowered the weight to 5-pounds, which we still have concerns over. We have decided to give competitors a choice of a variety of ankle weights to best fit their comforts and needs.

We had many more arguments and disagreements, but some are too stupid to even mention.

About the videotaping, we have agreed to videotape using multiple cameras. One camera will be aimed directly at the screen using a unidirectional microphone to eliminate audience noise. Another will be aimed at the people playing, and a third at the feet of the people. Remember that all videos will be publicly available, but you have the right to choose to not be videotaped.

Okay, the last couple of paragraphs have been a little off topic. We, at the NDDRA, have all talked about the “generations” of DDR players. We have come up with four generations. It’s a little hard to explain all of the reasoning over it, but we have agreed that the first two generations of players are who are most important to us (not that generation 3 and 4 aren’t). Those two generations have had great times, and we wish to bring the great times back to us. It’s going to be just like the old days again. We have put a lot of time, effort, and money in creating the NDDRA. We want you all to enjoy it. The first event or two may not go as smoothly as possible, but we believe that it will be enjoyable.

Also, what is really bad towards us is that we don’t have a single person with us from the West Coast. We will start to hire new people in a short time, but a lot is needed to be part of the NDDRA. We will post new information about this shortly.

We will also post new information on our first tournament and state ranking location within a couple of days. We have all agreed that Albany would be a great location for our first tournament. It is kind of like a “testing ground” for DDR, and we believe that it would be great to run our first tournament there. Look for a thread in the New York Boards shortly. We believe that Rhode Island state rankings will be great for our first state ranking location (Wouldn’t Tokyo Game Action be a great location).

We have also agreed that Bemani-related merchandise may be sold at NDDRA events. For example, people making Bemani controllers (there are a few well known ones) may use NDDRA events as a marketing tool to sell their merchandise. It will allow players to have an easy way to buy this sort of merchandise.

We know this has been a very long post, and we appreciate everyone for taking his or her time to read it. We’d like to finish by saying that the community is what makes DDR what it is. You can make it great, like it used to be. You can also make it not so great, like it is now. This is obviously not everyone’s fault, and we appreciate this. We are doing this just to have fun again, like we used to. Many have forgotten what it feels like, and we wish to bring these memories and feelings back to you.

And one last quick note, we just want to make it clear that we do have the right to ban anyone from the NDDRA. We wouldn’t worry about this though. We hope we will never have to exercise this power.

Thank you,
The NDDRA

[Phrekwenci]

A few questions before I take out the links to your website for advertising.

Where is the NDDRA based (location-wise)?

Who are the people currently in the NDDRA?

How are you going to get the funds (other than sponsorships), to accomplish what you want to do? Many of the things listed seem a bit expensive.
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Best thread on DDR Freak winnar | Second best thread | Posting and You...

[Pantera]

If they don't sponser DDR already (I don't know if they do or not), but you might want to check MLG...they might be able to help you out...er something
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I apologize for the link. The NDDRA is not for any sort of profit.

The NDDRA does not have one fixed location. We are a group of people spread out amongst the East Coast.

Sorry, but I can't actually release the names of people at the NDDRA. We do have head members. For example, I am the head of all online and internet-related activities. We have people in charge of working with sponsors, setting up tournaments, etc.

It's true that it is expensive to operate. We already have most of the equipment such as the laptops and camcorders. The entry fees are to be slightly greater than the cost of running the tournaments. This will help us to maintain other parts of the NDDRA (such as the website and costs of communications between members).

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[Pantera]

No problem
Sounds like a great idea to me, what's your website? (if you have it up...couldn't tell if you did or not from your post )
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[lildrchris25]

nddra, maybe putting the link in your signature might be a good idea, since that is allowed.
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[Neemo]

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[DDRmom]

Kind of hard to take any of this serioulsy when both here and on your site there is now real information. Can you at least answer the questions Phrek asked for starters. Also you talk about old school and I see where you are coming from there was a pretty cool atmosphere before this game became so popular but there are some newer players who deserve recognition too so I'm not sure how you are planing to target one group over the other. DETAILS on who you are and what you are planning would be greatly appreciated.-Mom-
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Last Count=37! Arcades in 5 States!

After about the 20th tournament I stopped counting...

check us out at www.musicboxrocks.com

www.myspace.com/musicboxrocks
www.myspace.com/ddrmom

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[starcrafta]

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[gL.Karl]

what a gimmick.
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Can't stop get it get it, uh.

[DDRmom]

well the last big tourney I was involved in cost close to $3000 for a regional event and with $20 entry fees it didn't even break even so I hope you guys know what your in for. just because you aren't "well known" doesn't mean that you can't let people know who you are. do you guys have tourney running experience? "laptops, camcorders, cameras, bracket posters, name tags and wrist bands..." do not a tourney make you know.i'm not trying to be negative-just realistic-mom-
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Last Count=37! Arcades in 5 States!

After about the 20th tournament I stopped counting...

check us out at www.musicboxrocks.com

www.myspace.com/musicboxrocks
www.myspace.com/ddrmom

[______________]

Okay guys, this is getting a little messed up. I think we're going to have a public chat on our website to answer questions.

The last two tournaments I went to, the organizers actually profited from it.
We realize there is a greater chance of losing money from running a large tournament than there is a chance of gaining money.

DDRmom, which tournament was this that cost $3000 to run?

Andrew

[b-aki]

please tell me that we can keep the ankle weights. i dont want to use a reused one, especially since theres a few DDRers in NY with lots of stamina.

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