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RankingsHQ has decided to 1.) stop listing players on the rankings table who dont register on the site 2.) as of Q2 of this year will stop listing anyone in an unsponsored group who doesnt pay 12 bucks a year.

For those that care (and I agree this is a very small subpopulation), I dont think the system they have built will survive this.

Already for the U.S., the number of Warhammer Fantasy players has plummeted from thousands to 300 just requiring registration. Under a "pay to rank" system, the number will be a tiny sliver of the playerbase and uninformative. This also doesnt include the fact that most Tournament Organizers realizing maybe 1 in 25 of the players are paid rankingshq registrants, likely wont bother even submitting the info to begin with.

This reminds of me of the Netflix debacle for those in the US, essentially trying to commoditize a formerly free service that outwardly to me has no chance of success. I know RankingsHQ needs to make $ to survive and Im trying to put forward suggestions but what do Dakka Dakka posters think?

I think you misinterpreted their e-mail. The pay to rank thing is per system and can be sponsored. Right now, 40k and Fantasy, along with WMH and Malifaux, are all sponsored so don't require payment (if I read the e-mail this morning correctly).

Paying to be ranked is ridiculous. For more money can one buy rankings? lol.

However, for those into that stuff. $1 a month really doesn't seem that bad.

 pretre wrote:
I think you misinterpreted their e-mail. The pay to rank thing is per system and can be sponsored. Right now, 40k and Fantasy, along with WMH and Malifaux, are all sponsored so don't require payment (if I read the e-mail this morning correctly).

No.
Warhammer Fantasy U.S. has no sponsorship. As of Jan 1 all new registrants to the site are required to pay 12 bucks.

only these rankings will remain at this point: Warhammer 40K (and only for: USA, UK, AUS); Warmachine/Hordes (UK, AUS, NZL); Flames of War (UK); Malifaux (UK)

but regardless, even just requiring registration has gutted alot of players from the system.

Rankings HQ - Important Announcement
Please Read!
As some of you might know, Rankings HQ recently turned 3 years old. Many of you might not know that I actually starting publishing rankings systems for miniature war-games over 10 years ago. It is amazing how much the web site has grown in that time and that is
something I will always be proud of. RHQ has grown from 2 game systems for 2 countries to 5 game systems across more than 20 countries, and boasts over 8,000 active users. What started out as a small hobby site has turned into a sophisticated rankings
software platform with a vast array of features and millions of lines of data.

Unfortunately the growth of the site has resulted in RHQ becoming a victim of its own success as I am no longer able to effectively process the hundreds of queries, requests and result uploads that hit the site every week. The miniature war-gaming side of RHQ is still very much a hobby indulgence for me; the site is free for all users and tournament organisers, and as such I can no longer
justify the hours each day that I spend on maintaining the rankings for so many gaming communities.

For many of you the site will remain free and nothing will change, as your ranking groups have acquired an Affiliate sponsor. For those groups that do not have a sponsor by March 31st 2013 it will cost players US$12 a year to remain as part of the group.

Before I go any further let me list the ranking groups that have already attracted Affiliate sponsors (listed in the right hand column):
Warhammer 40K (USA, UK, AUS);
Warmachine/Hordes (UK, AUS, NZL);
Flames of War (UK);
Malifaux (UK).

For players of these ranking groups there will be no change for 2013!

What does an Affiliate Sponsor mean?
Essentially, an Affiliate sponsor means a company, organisation, club or group of gamers becoming an "Affiliate" on RHQ, who provides financial support to cover the time/costs required to maintain and publish the rankings for a given ranking group. All affiliates on RHQ have their own customised home page which they use to communicate with users in the ranking groups they "own". An example of an affiliate home page can be seen here:
http://www.rankingshq.com/a/irresistibleforce

Affiliates are able to advertise their products & services through their home page and banners that appear in the relevant game
system forums they sponsor. They are also able to send out communications to the users in their ranking groups. An affiliate does not have to be a retail store, it could be a podcast, a miniature manufacturer or any other company in the miniature game industry.

Ranking groups that are sponsored by Affiliates provide entry for players to that group for free during the term of the sponsorship.

What Happens to Existing Data for Ranking Groups that do not Attract a Sponsor?
All existing data, profiles and rankings will operate as normal up to March 31st 2013. After that date only players that purchase 12 month memberships to the ranking group(s) they are part of will appear in the ranking tables.

Note that players that do not purchase a membership will still maintain their profile which will still accumulate their tournament results, they will just not appear in the ranking tables.

What Happens to Ranking Groups that do Attract an Affiliate Sponsor?

Ranking Groups that get a sponsor will continue as they have done the last 3 years. Players will be able to join the groups for free and all registered players in the ranking group(s) will appear in the ranking tables each month.

How Can I Help to get an Affiliate Sponsor for My Ranking Group?

There are many benefits for a business in the industry that wants to become an affiliate. If you know a local store, business, club or podcast that might be interested, send them a link to the affiliate benefits page and pass on the RHQ email address(contact@rankingshq.com).

A list of existing affiliates can be found here.

The Best I Can Do

Between now and the 1st of April 2013 I will be doing everything I can to attract sponsors so that Affiliates can be found for
all the ranking groups on RHQ. I want to send out a heartfelt apology to everyone that has supported the site all these years, however I simply cannot devote the enormous amount of time and money required to support the 8,000+ registered users on the site.

I hope you understand this has not been an easy decision to make. I have been deliberating over it for most of this year and
have spoken to many players, tournament organisers and friends about my predicament. The decision to stop maintaining the rankings for free after all this time was a very difficult one to make.

If you have any questions or comments, please make them on the appropriate thread on RHQ (this message will be posted there as
well) or you can contact me via the email address contact@rankingshq.com. I will try my best to answer all questions and will get back to you as soon as I can.

Regards,

Andrew Galea


Welcome to our new Affiliates!
It is with great pleasure that we can announce our new miniature war-game Affiliates for 2013. These businesses have provided a wonderful service for the gaming communities they are sponsoring and I urge all RHQ users to repay their good will by considering them
the next time you make a purchase.

Warhammer 40K (USA, UK, AUS)
Warmachine/Hordes (UK), Malifaux (UK), Flames of War (UK)
Warmachine/Hordes (AUS, NZL)

I will continue to work with various communities to attract affiliates for the ranking groups that do not have them. You can definitely assist by passing on information about becoming an RHQ Affiliate to local businesses and passing on the RHQ contact email address: contact@rankingshq.com

Rankings HQ © 2013

Rankings HQ is an international rankings platform that tracks and publishes rankings for gamers and sports people worldwide.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

Californiagamer wrote:

 pretre wrote:
I think you misinterpreted their e-mail. The pay to rank thing is per system and can be sponsored. Right now, 40k and Fantasy, along with WMH and Malifaux, are all sponsored so don't require payment (if I read the e-mail this morning correctly).

No.
Warhammer Fantasy U.S. has no sponsorship. As of Jan 1 all new registrants to the site are required to pay 12 bucks.

only these rankings will remain at this point: Warhammer 40K (and only for: USA, UK, AUS); Warmachine/Hordes (UK, AUS, NZL); Flames of War (UK); Malifaux (UK)

but regardless, even just requiring registration has gutted alot of players from the system.

You completely read it wrong. If a system gets an affiliate, then non-registered players can be ranked.

I'm sure someone will pick up the sponsorship. Hardly time to get pissy at the guy. He's been doing it free out of his own pocket for years. It isn't like anyone has been paying him and now he's going back on it. He's just asking for help. If you are really invested in the WHF rankings, get some folks together to sponsor them.

Read this from Rankingshq:
player must actually register to activate their profile for the rankings.

"Opt In" vs "Opt Out"

This effectively makes Rankings HQ an "opt in" rankings system as opposed to an "opt out" one. The subject of "opt in" over "opt out" has been discussed and debated at length for many years and in the past the rankings tables have been set up as an extension of a tournament organiser posting the results onto a public forum. However over the years Rankings HQ has evolved, grown and change to the point where such a system was no longer viable on a few different levels.

Therefore from now on we have the system where tournament results are uploaded as normal however only results for players that are registered on the system will be incorporated into the actual rankings.

So Pretre, you are wrong here. I dont want to start an argument and Im not getting "pissy" so chill out.

Im telling you they have already purged thousands of players from the US rankings from all systems for failing to register. Those seeking to get back in now are being charged 12 bucks to do so as of now.

Californiagamer wrote:
So Pretre, you are wrong here.

Im telling you they have already purged thousands of players from the US rankings from all systems for failing to register. Those seeking to get back in now are being charged 12 bucks to do so as of now.

Well, you didn't link to that, but if that is correct and you have to be registered, fair enough. I don't see that as a problem as they still keep non-ranked data and just don't display it if you aren't registered.

Also, again, you won't be charged 12 bucks if you have an affiliate.

The guy explained that this is a hobby for him, one that people from all over the world have been using for free for years. He's asking for some help. Sorry that you can't get everything for free.

 pretre wrote:

Californiagamer wrote:
So Pretre, you are wrong here.

Im telling you they have already purged thousands of players from the US rankings from all systems for failing to register. Those seeking to get back in now are being charged 12 bucks to do so as of now.

Well, you didn't link to that, but if that is correct and you have to be registered, fair enough. I don't see that as a problem as they still keep non-ranked data and just don't display it if you aren't registered.

Also, again, you won't be charged 12 bucks if you have an affiliate.

The guy explained that this is a hobby for him, one that people from all over the world have been using for free for years. He's asking for some help. Sorry that you can't get everything for free.

link: http://www.rankingshq.com/tavern/post.aspx?Id=19175&RoomId=8 go to page 1 topic.

Okay. No one is asking for a free ride here. Im trying to say there is a far better way to commoditize this great website than trying get otherwise lazy gamers to register and pony up 12 bucks a year to show they are 302 out of 303 players in the US.

Perhaps a webstore? A club registration fee? Im wondering if there are other suggestions out there that might help.

Californiagamer wrote:
Okay. No one is asking for a free ride here. Im trying to say there is a far better way to commoditize this great website than trying get otherwise lazy gamers to register and pony up 12 bucks a year to show they are 302 out of 303 players in the US.

Perhaps a webstore? A club registration fee? Im wondering if there are other suggestions out there that might help.

Are you missing the affiliate thing?

Clubs can sponsor a gaming system, as can businesses, to make it free to be part of that ranking group.

Affiliates

Affiliates are business partners of Rankings HQ that sponsor one or more ranking groups. Each affiliate has a dedicated portal which is used to display the rankings for their groups as well as other information relevant to their business that will be of interest to players. Affiliates are the life blood of Rankings HQ as their support is invaluable to our ability to keep maintaining and publishing the rankings.

Here are a few examples of Affiliates on the RHQ platform:

Firestorm Games (http://www.rankingshq.com/a/FirestormGames) - WM/Hordes (UK), Malifaux (UK), FOW (UK).
Cannons Richmond (http://www.rankingshq.com/a/CannonsRichmond) - Cannons Squash.
Irresistible Force (http://www.rankingshq.com/a/IrresistibleForce) - WM/Hordes (AUS), WM/Hordes (NZL).

So one business and two gaming clubs are listed as examples.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Californiagamer wrote:
link: http://www.rankingshq.com/tavern/post.aspx?Id=19175&RoomId=8 go to page 1 topic.

I can't view it at work since it uses facebook for something or another.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh and apparently, BF is sponsoring a bunch as well:
http://www.rankingshq.com/affiliates/default.aspx

Pretre,

why would a club or business sponsor the rankings now when they just purged the Fantasy players alone down from over 2000 to 300.

That is essentially my point, the registration requirement alone makes the rankings silly. No one now is going to bother to sponsor such a small remaining pool.

I think a lot is being made of a ranking system (by itself and others) where most of the games concerned were never designed or intended for such play, in a hobby where rankings don't really have any meaning

Californiagamer wrote:
Pretre,

why would a club or business sponsor the rankings now when they just purged the Fantasy players alone down from over 2000 to 300.

That is essentially my point, the registration requirement alone makes the rankings silly. No one now is going to bother to sponsor such a small remaining pool.

Ask the affiliates that already did so.

I get rankings for things like video games where there is actually money to be had (and I've actually watched video game tourneys on ESPN), but this sort of thing makes little or no sense to me. If you want to be the best, go and win at national level tournaments like Adepticon or NOVA. a 1st place trophy from a major tournament that draws players from around the world is far more reliable and tangible than some 3rd party website with a minute cross-section of a niche hobby.

 the_Armyman wrote:
I get rankings for things like video games where there is actually money to be had (and I've actually watched video game tourneys on ESPN), but this sort of thing makes little or no sense to me. If you want to be the best, go and win at national level tournaments like Adepticon or NOVA. a 1st place trophy from a major tournament that draws players from around the world is far more reliable and tangible than some 3rd party website with a minute cross-section of a niche hobby.

For most players, I doubt that it is about 'being the best'... It's just a fun way of tracking where you stand in the tournament-going community. As for 'tangible' results, those big tournaments you are talking about are included in RHQ's results.

Personally, I'm all for these changes. If only because my US ranking (from playing in Adepticon last year) just went from 600-ish to 140 in one fell swoop


Actually, I think the affiliate system is, while a clever idea, possibly a little confusing for the average punter. While it's not unreasonable for them to charge for the site, I think the way they've gone about it is going to put people off, and the sharp drop in published stats makes it a much less interesting tool. Being ranked out of all tournament players in the country was interesting. Being ranked out of the couple of hundred who are registered is much less so.

Agreed. I always found it interesting that I was on there but not particularly compelling.

It has been more of a curiousity than anything. I hope he sorts everything out and manages to come out with a good product.