This document is to delineate the entirety of the ruleset, and definitions of terms herein, for the Great Debate Tourney.
- Response
A 'response' is the reddit-based comment in which a debater creates their argument for why their team or characters win a specified matchup in the debate tournament
1a. Responses are limited, as of the most recent Great Debate Tourneys (heretoafter referred to as "GDT") to a specified character limit within each round of the tournament
1b. Any response going over the limitation stipulated by Verlux (or Chainsaw__Monkey, or Po_Biotic, or British_Tea_Company as they may step in) will be discounted by any and all judges of the round at the exact specified character count
- Victory
It is assumed that all competitors will be debating their team to a 'Victory', that is to say, how their characters or team dynamic overwhelms the opposition to a state wherein they are victorious
2a. Victory is achieved via the death or incapacitation of the opposition under the specified limitations of the current debate tourney iteration
2b. "Incap" as it is commonly referred to, or incapacitation, is the state by which any singular pick is no longer able to meaningfully influence the match in a positive way for 10 relative seconds
2c. Relative seconds in this context refers to the length of time it would take a character at their respective reaction time to experience what would be equivalent to 10 seconds to a normal human
2d. Inability to move, inability to affect the opponent, inability to harm the opponent, inability to contribute to the match, and inability to be on the battlefield are all common examples of "incap"
- Judges
The victory condition of any debater is determined by a pre-selected panel of persons who read each debate, consider all arguments, and make a final adjudication as to who wins the debate
3a. Judges are ordinarily selected based on prior capabilities and their willingness to provide in-depth thought as to their decisions
3b. Judges are not expected to be on-hand for every judgment reveal nor are they to be expected to reveal every detail of every decision
3c. Judges are not immune from criticism, but it is expected that those who lose do so with some semblance of grace and don't arbitrarily blame the judges: a majority of them agreed with one another, after all
- Combatants
Combatants are those persons utilized by the debaters of the tourney to argue vicariously through to achieve victory under the given guidelines and stipulations of the current tourney set-up
4a. Every combatant must have a Respect Thread that showcases all feats that one plans on utilizing within the GDT
4b. Any additional feats that may come out in the source material post-GDT-starting are inadmissible in a debate
4c. Any Respect Thread must include feats that showcase how a character fights
4d. Any Respect Thread must include feats that are only in English (or have an appropriate translation readily accessible to all persons)
4e. Any Respect Thread must give a faithful representation of a character's capabilities and in-character behaviors; Respect Threads that are in violation of this will be inadmissible, even post-fact, thereby effectively removing the character entirely from GDT
4f. Any additional feats not included in Respect Threads upon sign up are admissible if and only if they do not alter the base combatant's fitting of tier (see Rule 7)
- Combatant Knowledge
It is presumed that all combatants in all iterations of the GDT know they are teleporting into the chosen battlefield with the sole intent to kill or incapacitate an opponent, with failure to do so resulting in their own death
5a. This knowledge of their goal does NOT give any combatant foreknowledge of the situations or stipulations of the current iteration of the tourney; line-of-sight, arena, etc must be assessed in each round by each combatant i.e. no knowledge carries over
5b. Combatants do, however, know the general abilities of their allies for any given team match
5bi. This extends to enabling synergistic strategems for those characters capable of rapidly developing such things i.e. a pyrokinetic on a team with one who produces hydrogen gas would both instinctively, given adequate intelligence, know they can blow up the arena
5c. Combatants have no knowledge of their opponents, only that their opponent is realistically able to be defeated and MUST be defeated under any and all conditions or their own life is fully forfeit
5d. Combatants are generally aware of most rules of GDT that would not involve a meta-level of knowledge e.g. they do not know they are ficitonal nor do they understand what it is to be Out of Tier (see rules 7-9), yet they understand their powers will not harm their allies (see Rule 12)
5di. For the purposes of GDT, meta-level knowledge extends to include any-and-everything that a debater might be tempted to include that could affect a debate opponent's in any negative manner e.g. "Deadpool starts rattling off the rules my opponent is breaking thereby breaking the will of his characters"
5di1. Utilization of this rule to create meta-debates will be heavily frowned upon; this document is meant to be succinct, and any issues herein are to be resolved outside the confines of a debate
- Combatant Motivation
A corollary to rule 5c. is that combatants are fully motivated to win the fight no matter the measure taken; they are in a do-or-die scenario and will fully behave as such
6a. If a combatant is shown to never kill even in a do-or-die scenario, that is a limitation knowingly undertaken by the debater in question who ran that character
6b. In most scenarios, it is presumed that a combatant shall utilize every and any means necessary to win in a debate
- In-Tier
A combatant is deemed 'in-tier' and thus fits the specified standards of the current iteration of the GDT if they are found to be capable of beating a designated character (The Tier Setter) under the specified conditions of the current GDT
7a. A character is only in-tier if they beat the tier setter (heretoafter referred to as the tier-setter matchup) a specific numerical times out of ten, ordinarily between 30-70% of the time
7b. Any character who is found to be argued in the course of the GDT to be incapable of fitting that 30-70% of the time (also referred to as Unlikely, Draw, or Likely Victories) shall be found to be Out of Tier
- Out of Tier
A combatant is Out of Tier, or no longer eligible for GDT, if they are argued under a set of circumstances that find them incapable of winning or losing the tier-setter matchup
8a. Combatants who are 'objectively' in tier, which is to say their objective feats as presented put the character within that in-tier margin, can be deemed out of tier (heretoafter referred to as OOT) in any round
8b. To call a combatant OOT, one's opponent in the GDT must make a separate request to call attention to this fact and specifically make mention of the GDT Head Judges (Verlux, Chainsaw__Monkey)
- Out of Tier Requests
An OOT request is the act by which a debater makes an individual, specific response solely dedicated to the act of calling a combatant OOT; said response is not subject to the overall GDT response limitations
9a. OOT Requests automatically incur an OOT rebuttal, which is an opportunity for one's opponent to spend a response individual of the overall tourney's limited responses, wherein said person defends their combatant's being in-tier
9b. OOT Requests (and responses) are to be limited to 6k Characters of a single Reddit comment, with no additional input allowed via text overlaid onto Imgur albums or similar proxies
9c. OOT Rebuttals are to be held to the same standard as rule 9b.
9d. OOT Requests posted at any time during a debate must be responded to by the end of that debate; it is acknowledged by the judge staff that OOT Requests can be utilized to shoehorn a character into a very specific argumentative style to avoid being OOT, and judgments will reflect this realization post-hoc
9e. Any OOT Request which is not responded to will be adjudicated in an objective manner with either Chainsaw or Verlux heavily playing Devil's Advocate on behalf of the opponent so as to ensure a fair, even judgment is levied in the event that a debater is incapable of responding for themselves
9f. All debaters start the tourney with 3 OOT Requests: making an invalid or not-upheld Request costs said debater 1 request
9fi. A valid and upheld OOT Request does not result in the loss of any of the 3 original OOT Requests
- Team OOT
10a. An entire team can, individually, be perfectly in-tier yet be OOT as a collective depending on various synergistic traits or capabilities
10b. If one believes an entire Team to be problematic, the time to bring this to the attention of the judge staff is during Sign-Ups when debaters are submitting combatants to fit the current tier
10c. No Team OOT mechanic (such as those seen in Off-Tourneys) shall be utilized as of the 15th GDT due to the fact that three versions of a Tier Setter realistically cannot be argued 'in-character' so to speak, so any guess at to battle actions is mere hearsay
- Debate Evidence
The only permissible evidence for use in debates are those feats utilized in the requisite Respect Threads
11a. Screenshots of DM's with other debaters, with judges, or from the past are inadmissible in debates and will be ignored by judges as such
11b. Any necessary discussion of rules and their handling within a debate shall result in debaters being referred to this document; if necessary, Verlux shall talk to both debaters to reach an amicable and fair conclusion to any unanswered queries
- Combatant Interactions
For the purposes of GDT, it is presumed that lethal abilities of combatants do not harm allies in most cases since the purpose of running a combatant is to have fun while arguing the character as-presented. Any beneficial or non-harmful passive abilities function as normal e.g. power copying, healing auras.
12a. "Most cases" in Rule 12 above means passive abilities, i.e. any ability that is not consciously, actively turned on or utilized; a character having an aura of decay constantly would be a prime example that does not interfere, as would one that passively disrupts technology
12b. Activated abilities, such as utilizing a nuclear device or activating a self-destruct that turns oneself into a red dwarf star, will be considered lethal to a combatant's allies
12bi. Likewise, a combatant's abilities that affect the terrain of the arena in some way, shape, or form shall also inhibit/help their allies accordingly e.g. a combatant summoning 100,000 gallons of water into an enclosed arena does not preclude their allies from needing to breathe and now swim
12c. If one's own combatant is hijacked or mind controlled or otherwise has their free will overridden within the confines of a debate, that combatant no longer benefits from the effects of rule 12a as they are now considered an extension of the opposing team
12ci. Similarly, redirected attacks, reflected attacks, and anything similar are to be considered viable candidates for harming one's allies, extending to passives as well
12d. Regardless of any rules delineated under section 12, combatants will remain fully in character and therefore might not operate efficiently together due to moral qualms
12di. Rule 12d. does not, however, mean that combatants will fight one another: they are motivated to win. But mortal enemies simply might not operate efficiently
12e. Allied combatants intuitively understand the intent of their allies, but language barriers will factually impede cohesive action e.g. King Kong cannot talk to Captain America to coordinate a plan
12ei. Any English-translated source is presumed to enable said character to speak in English to their teammates, regardless of country of origin for said source material
- Combatant Stipulations
Combatants are able to be stipulated to be in any viable position upon entering the battlefield, be it actively utilizing a power, wielding specific weapons, etc.
13a. Combatants may not be stipulated to be performing acts that manipulate the opposition, opposition's abilities, opposition's awareness, or the terrain of the arena
13b. Combatants must be stipulated to be in a form or state that they canonically have been in e.g. a combatant can not be stipulated to be wielding all weapons ever showcased wielding if they have not all been wielded simultaneously
13bi. As a corollary to the above, debaters must be cognizant of the fact that combatants cannot be stipulated to overcome their own limitations: one cannot stipulate an Army private carrying 47 different guns as well as an 80 pound field kit and 4 different bullet proof vests packed with 20 pounds of C4 per vest, for instance, due to physical limitations
13c. Combatants may be stipulated to specific mindsets, provided there are reference scans in the provided Respect Thread that showcase when and how they behaved in such mindset
13d. Combatants may not be stipulated to be actively performing an action upon debate start such as "drawing their sword" or "casting this spell as per Page 12 of Chapter 84 of their series"; their physical selves simply appear in the stipulated position, mindset, and with whatever powers/gear active one stipulates
- Debate Round Length
Debates shall last, roughly, from Sunday night to Saturday at noon CST
14a. Debaters shall have 48 hours to reply to their opponent, or they forfeit
14ai. Extensions to this window shall exist only if both debaters and the head judges agree to it
14b. If neither debater opts to start off the debate within 48 hours, both shall be disqualified
14bi. If one debater showcases a good faith attempt to begin the debate or showcases an agreement wherein they were not expected to begin, they are exempt from 14b
14bii. Simply stating 'you go first' does not constitute adherence to 14bi and will result in disqualification if no acknowledgment of this is made by one's opponent
- Debate Comment Length
Debates shall get progressively longer as GDT progresses throughout each season, to wit: Round 1 - 3 10k comments, Round 2 - 1 10k comment, 2 15k comments, Round 3 - 3 15k comments, Round 4 onward - 3 full 20k comments
15a. Any comments made over this length will result in the judges outright ignoring any and every bit of the comment made above the character limit count
- Debate Album Feats
For those cases when entire imgur albums (or similar website hosts) are utilized as evidence in debates, the following will apply: if the album is a single continuous fight, there is no limit to their length
16a. One cannot use Rule 16 to simply link several comics or chapters, since a chapter break is a cessation of the fight
16b. No added text or titles may be used to aid argumentation in albums
16c. Albums are limited to 4 images to showcase variety of feats.
- Debate Rosters
Debaters shall have a roster of 4 combatants to utilize in tourneys, with 3 in the 'main' slot and 1 as a backup in case of successful OOTs
17a. Debaters also shall have a one-time option throughout the entirety of a given GDT of swapping their backup with one of their main slot combatants
17ai. This swap must be communicated with Verlux prior to the start of the next round
17b. If a combatant is deemed OOT, the combatant in question is removed from the roster, and the backup replaces that combatant
17bi. In the case of multiple valid OOTs, the roster simply shrinks by that amount
17bi1. In the instance this occurs and it results in a mismatch e.g. there is no viable pick in individual matches to match up against, the person down a roster pick simply forfeits that match
- Debate Roster Selection
Debaters shall get their combatants on a first-come-first-served basis; whomever comments in Sign Ups first gets that chosen combatant
18a. The only exception to this rule is if the creator and current owner of a standing Respect Thread that is posted on the subreddit r/respectthreads opts to choose a combatant: their decision supercedes rule 18
18ai. If the creator of a Respect Thread waits until within the last 72 hours of the Sign Up window, rule 18a no longer applies and their priority is forfeit
18b. Combatants can only exist once per tourney; this means that no duplicates of the exact same character shall be considered as legal submissions
- Collusion
At no point will it be acceptable to utilize arguments that a debater has fed to them from a source outside the scope of GDT; breach of this will result in expulsion from all tourneys
19a. "Fed to them" in this context means the debater willingly seeks out aid on how to debate their current or future opponent, and utilizes said aid directly
19b. A debater who is idling in a discord chat or similar messaging medium and suddenly has an argument on how to beat their opposition thrust upon them will not be found to be in breach of this rule
- Other Rules
All other rules are to be found within the actual posts of the GDT itself
20a. Questions on these rules is to be expected, as this will be treated as a living document; questions mid-round in a tourney will be ignored
20ai. Any issues on rulings or rules herein are expected to be debated within rounds themselves if they arise during an ongoing tourney. It's the Great Debate, sway the judges to your side and watch the rules be amended post-hoc.