World Amateur Mahjong League
The World Amateur Mahjong League (WAML) is a Tenhou.net league hosted by Osamuko under the direction of Senechal.
History
First iteration
The first iteration of WAML was a participative league where players took part in playing as many games as possible in order to compete in a running tally with other players. Those who played often were readily near the top, as well as players with great averages. Seasons 0 through 3 lasted from November 2012 to June 2013. In 8 months, WAML encouraged the playing of 7244 hanchan in Lobby 7447 alone.
Eventually, there were issues with both participation, the intended goals and the back-end coding that led to the end of WAML as it was then.
Current (second) iteration
Plans are underway to revive WAML as a more league-like structure, resembling leagues run by JPML and NPM Kyoukai, with a few obvious differences accounting to the global nature of the player base. With a planned start for April 2015, players will engage in 6 sessions of 4 hanchan each, in groups of 4 or 5 players for each session. Rankings, league divisions and even dan points are to be featured in the new iteration.
Seasons
Procedure
Players will start in the lowest division, and will complete assigned matches within two-week intervals. Players may also freely engage in future sessions' matches, as long as they endeavour to complete their required matches in time.
Session dates and times
Sessions will start with the first matches due the first weekend of April/July/October/January containing a Saturday. The specific time limit is the first Saturday (1st to 7th) at 23:59 UTC, which equates to Saturday (1st to 7th) at 18:59 Eastern Standard Time, or 19:59 Eastern Daylight Time. Any group has until then to start playing their games, as long as they finish their group games immediately following the deadline (players can continue for 3 or even 6 hours, but by then they should be done). Future sessions are due for 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks after. (edit: Changed from Sunday 00:00 to provide clarity that we mean Saturday night, not Sunday night.)
Scoring
Players will record the scores of their matches, as played directly on Tenhou.net or live with Tenhou standard ari-ari rules and will be tallied.
Dan points
Players in WAML will be designated to have earned the rank of 1-dan. At the end of a season, players are then awarded dan points according to their power ranking. 500 points are necessary to earn the rank of 2-dan. 1000 more for 3-dan, doubling for each successive dan level.
Points will be awarded by dampening the power rating with a padding value of 100 per league division, ensuring players earn more dan points in order to cover for the exponential rise in points required to earn a promotion.
| Division (example) | Power Rating (0-1000) | Factor | Value | Padding | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze (15th out of 34) | 575.8 | 1.0 | 575.8 | 0 | 575.8 |
| Silver (3rd out of 19) | 888.9 | 0.9 | 800.0 | 100 | 900.0 |
| Gold (12th out of 15) | 142.9 | 0.8 | 114.3 | 200 | 314.3 |
| Platinum (15th out of 34) | 575.8 | 0.7 | 403.3 | 300 | 703.3 |
| Diamond (12th out of 15) | 142.9 | 0.6 | 085.7 | 400 | 485.7 |
There may be alternate ways of earning dan points due to special events or for covering losses. Such methods are not padded and are at the sole discretion of management.
League divisions
Players will be placed in a single division for Season 1 (Bronze). Should a sufficient number of participants be available for Season 2, the top 10 shall be placed in a new Silver division. Future divisions would include Gold, Platinum, and Diamond, should we reach that level. Higher divisions may benefit from a padded bonus to their dan points awarded.
| Division | Max Bronze | Max Silver | Max Gold | Max Platinum | Max Diamond |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bronze | 13+ | 18+ | 26+ | 34+ | 42+ |
| Silver | --- | 10 | 18 | 26 | 34 |
| Gold | --- | --- | 10 | 18 | 26 |
| Platinum | --- | --- | --- | 10 | 18 |
| Diamond | --- | --- | --- | --- | 10 |
| Absolute minimum | 13 | 28 | 54 | 88 | 130 |
Penalties for absences
Players who do not complete their matches in time and who are not present to finish at the deadline will suffer a penalty to their scores, consisting of:
- -10% points earned over the season;
- +10% points lost over the season;
- -100 dan points.
If a player would finish a season with +20 points, but won +150 and lost -130 in various hanchan, the actual point penalty would be -15 and -13, a subtotal of -28, giving a player a total of -8 points.
Should a 5-player group complete individual matches, but not the whole group, the levy shall be 30% of the amounts above per player per missed match. Any such group missing matches with players present at the deadline on IRC will not be penalized and will be proposed alternate matches with alternate players. Substitutes will earn a token +20P and 20 dan points for covering, minimizing repeat participation as much as possible.
Player requirements
A player must submit by the deadline (March 15 for Season 1) the following:
- An avatar (minimum size to be determined, 150x150 seems to be the accepted format).
- Their current Tenhou.net name.
- Their handle or pseudonym, the short handle must not contain more than 16 characters or 12 full-width characters. The short handle refers to what the player is comfortable with being called. Examples of acceptable handles are:
- Senechal
- 'Senechal' Duhaut (use single quotes for the usual part, only that will show in rankings)
- Senechal "Trundle" Duhaut (use double quotes for an actual pseudonym, the name itself can also be fictitious)
- DeShaun "sixteencharacter" Johnson (very long example, as long as it isn't abusive and the quoted section complies)
- A place and country identifier. (While fake countries are accepted, it may cause us problems later justifying participation to external stakeholders. Default is Mozambique.)
- Players will have a 10-digit identifier. The first 3 digits are reserved, the other seven can be what you want. (Default is also Mozambique, 508.)
WAML Competitive Rulings
WAML management may impose penalties, adjustments or suspensions for violations at the sole discretion of management. Such decisions will be made public with the relevant circumstances explained in order to maximize trust from participants. The basic rule applies: should something really nasty happen, the fact that it isn't written in the rules does not preclude us from acting.
Broadcasting plans
While this is still tentative, the goal is to be able to record, replay, and comment league matches for broadcasting on Twitch or uploading later to Youtube.