What would be the ideal prize for a gaming tournament

Hi guys,
i would like to know what you would consider as an ideal prize for a gaming tournament... we are not interested in giving hard cash so please do not suggest that.. on a personal basis i would consider giving away mid-tier graphics cards.. your comments please....

100,000 dollars? Heh actually though .. I'd give out something like 2 Radeon 5870's .. or maybe when they come out .. a 5870x2? That would be a pretty darn good prize if you ask me.

LOL now THAT would be a prize, wouldn't it? Get someeee!

A 5850/5870 (XFX)

2 5870's would be unafordable unless someone sponsors some cash.....

...a life?









I mean.... *I* could use one of those, myself!

That would invite trouble. There would be people who will point out that its unfair or you been partial towards some people (who got the better prize). I think its a good idea to have the prizes declared specifically before the tourney starts, to avoid discrepancies. You could however bring out a list of items you want to give as a prize, and you can add, players get to choose from the list, according to their position in the tourney. i.e. whoever came out first, is gonna be the first one to choose, then second and so on.

as someone pointed out..prizes depends on how big is the tournament?
number of participants? just one winner who gets a prize? or team? or 1st -2nd-3rd (individuals or teams).

since you are asking this, i reckon you own a gaming cafe or something. Then your investment would depend on how much advertising or media coverage is your cafe getting? In simple terms, what is your Return on Investment ratio? If it is giving your cafe a high positive publicity, you could mar your competitors by hosting regular tourneys and have good prizes.

Sponsorships matter towards it all as well.

Likely items to be included as a prize:
Graphics Card
Gaming Mouse
Gaming Keyboard
Precision Mousepads
Good headphones
A copy of a new game
Subscription to gaming magazines for 6months/year.
If its your cafe which is hosting, free gaming hours.

Well good luck with that.... If you can't bring your PC to the game there is no point...


It really doesn't matter if someone's PC is faster than the other, as long as the PC don't lag during game it comes down to skill...

I see your point but I have never been to a lan party where someone complains that they lost due to their hardware. Someone who blames their hardware for there lack of skill should not be participating in the first place. Normally there are several rules each person has to follow in order for this not to happen, you just cant show up at a lan party with P4 and integrated graphics and assume that you can beat the guy next to you. If your rig can handle the games being played at the party then there is no excuse whatsoever for your loss. I would love to see the guy next to me complain that his mouse broke or the w key is not working correctly just to embarrass him for being a LOSER. When you go to a Lan Party, you go to meet people and have a good time, not cause confusion and make a fool of yourself. Just trying to let ya know that if you implement the rules correctly you shouldn't have any issue's

I live in India (Bangalore : supposed to be the IT hub).. Well in my place people cannot afford to get high end gaming gear as we get all the parts for a much higher rate as compared to the rest of the world. For eg if a mobo cost you 100$, then it will cost me around 150$. So you can imagine the cost of high end products.

Secondly gaming is still developing in India. So i had a dream to become a professional gamer and in order to realize this dream i would like to provide the opportunity to the others as it is too late for me now.

Thats what this competition is all about.. We do have something like a local WCG known as VIXTURE but the entry fees is itself 350$ per team. So i decided to host something nation-wide but with an affordable entry fee of 30$. So you see the difference.

It's impossible to host a competition over Internet, too many haxxors, try do it on everyone in same room [LAN], so you can find who is haxxoring.

give out few deathadders and lycosas. also a steelseries siberia.

well, a sponsor wants to know about his exposure level for the event. Create a portfolio of the event, with an approx total number of regular players around bangalore. How far is this event reaching out to them. How far are non gamers getting aware of this event, and the products associated with it. Put something about the venue, how popular it is, usually show how many daily customers that place has.

you can then say that you plan to do it regularly (once a year) and how it helps encourage the gaming community. Put up a relation of how improving the gaming community would help in boosting the sponsor's product sales.

try and get atleast some kind of local media to cover your event, there are loads of gaming magazines around in mumbai, contact them to be a media sponsor, and cover your event. Get a local newspaper, which is usually read by the younger generation in that city, to be the media sponsor.

You cannot have rival companies sponsoring you together though. Intel vs Amd, Nvidia vs Ati. If you can manage to get Amd's attention, you can get ATI in as well.

If this is the first time you are starting this tourney, it would be hard to get the big sponsors tied up with the event. Get the media coverage and etc for starters, after a couple of runs, show AMD, Intel or Nvidia how successful this event has been for all these years. That makes getting sponsors easier. Make sure, whatever sponsor you are signing up, you use their hardware. For example, if you are going to AMD, make sure all your comps running AMD and ATI graphics...sponsors don't like sponsoring on competitor products, plus they get more happy when they see a dedicated customer.

Get some I.T shops to sponsor the event for the first couple of times, even try out Pepsi/coke etc.
First and foremost you have to make a portfolio about your event, in a professional and business attire. Then have small portfolios/presentations about the different companies you thinking of tying up.

For example, have a small presentation of how Pepsi Cola can be associated with this event and how they benefit, and present it to Pepsi Cola when you go to them. That way companies are impressed that you are not one of the 10001 guys who knock up to them for a random sponsorship, but actually done your homework and serious about the business.
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Problems faced...well...there are loads, it all depends on how well organized your team is.
First hurdle could be the money. It takes money to host an event, and most of the times, the initial couple of sessions of the event goes sponsor less, or with very minimal sponsors. You have to show the sponsors how successful this event is and how they gain from putting money in your event. No money is free money.

Setting up the infrastructure, which would include but not limit to, configuring the comps, making sure the comps are at its 100% on the event day, have spare comps as backup, creating the tournament structure, proper advertising of the event, working on a participation fee, and getting the people to pay and sign up. Since you are most likely with very low sponsors for the first couple of times, make sure you don't spend too much from your own pocket. Just break even your costs with the participation fee received, forget about profits.

Managing the event is very important, you should have time slots for the participants, and stick by those time slots strictly!
Managing all the participants, that they behave and listen to the authority. You can't be strict and rude, coz you aint teaching kindergarden students, nor can you go easy on them.
Managing the rules of the competition.

Make sure the entire thing looks professional, your team should never look 'lost' at any time during the entire tourney. This affects the confidence level the participants have in returning back to your event next year.
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I am a game designer. I had done a double grads for my bachelors. Studied English Hons from Fergussions and BCA from IGNOU. Studying Masters in Marketing currently.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/siddharthamukherjee
thats my linked in profile.

All the best with the event