AOF Instructions for Commentators
To All Commentators in the 1st Arimaa Online Festival:
First of all, thank you for taking part!
The commentators will be the voice of the Festival. Your task is to help to make the day a fun and instructive one for everyone who tunes in. But the most important thing of all is not to get stressed, and have fun yourself!
Getting Ready If you can, please get a headset instead of using your PC speakers. This will make a great difference to sound quality and make it easier for you to have a conversation with the other commentators. Also, please download the Teamspeak client if you haven't already and make sure you're reasonably familiar with the features. If you have any questions just reply to this message.
Start First, you will need to come into Teamspeak around ten minutes before your section is due to start. There will be a special room called "Backstage" where you will find the organisers. We will help you if you have any problems. When it's time you'll enter the "Studio". You'll get settled, say hi to the other commentators, and then the event will begin.
During The atmosphere should be a friendly conversation. The commentator is the one who should direct the conversation, with the co-commentators chipping in now and again. But it's good if we hear everybody's voice often, with nobody "taking over". For example, when a move is played the commentator can describe the move that was just played, and talk about his first impressions ("Right, so the elephant has now moved down to the south-east trap to freeze the dog. It looks like a good move to me, I expect Gold will now..."). Then a co-commentator can come in with his own comments. While one is talking the other can monitor the chatroom, and include extra comments on the game from the community.
If there is only one game going on, you will watch and commentate on that. If there's more than one the commentator will decide which one to watch, but of course if the game is not particularly interesting he will move on to another.
Every so often the commentator should remind any listeners who have just joined which game they are watching (even if there's only one game to watch), and briefly explain how to watch it ("Come into the gameroom, and it's x versus y, game number 00000..."). Don't forget that people could be tuning in who are not yet logged into the gameroom and have never even visited the site before.
In Emergencies There must never be "white space" with the commentators um'ing and ah'ing with nothing to say. But what if you run out of things to say?
If you are still able to watch the game, try talking about: - Who you think is winning. - Whether you think this is an exciting game and why. - Anything unexpected about the way the game is going. - What you think about the opening setup. - Compare the way the players are playing to how you play. - Compare this game to a past game you played, and tell us more about that game. - Guess what the players are feeling. - Talk about the other events of the day, what you enjoyed, what you're looking forward to.
If there are technical issues preventing you from watching the game, or the game finishes and you have some time to fill, be ready with something to talk about. It's up to each commentator and co-commentator to be prepared. You can talk about anything so long as it's Arimaa-related. Here are a few ideas to help you on your way: - Think about how you got interested in Arimaa in the first place and why you enjoy the game. - Find interesting points from the wikibook and/or Fritzlein's Beginning Arimaa (but make sure you don't include too many "spoilers" if you are going to talk about Fritz's book, I'm sure he wouldn't want that) - Surf the forum looking for interesting threads (Arimaa-related, of course).
End Wait for the commentators for the next event to come in before you leave. You can chit-chat until the next event starts, and then bow out.
