Welcome to Gaia! ::

Referees make Battle Forest (and any other Anime Style Battling game, for that matter) tick.

A referee serves a storyteller who takes into account the two strategies of opposing battlers and narrates the result the referee sees fit.

Keep in mind, a referee should not decide the battle. The strategies and attacks chosen by the two battlers decide the battle; the referee simply adds life (and a quantity for the loss of health involved) and plot to a set of attacks.

Make sure you ref with quality and you will ascend the ranks of the referee; the ranks are Trainee, Junior, Professional, and Senior. Your rank affects the amount of money you charge (and the battlers must pay from between them) for your services.

I'll decide when to rank up a referee, based on the review I receive from the battlers of their reffing performance.

For the current ranks of registered referees (and their prices), check the 'Ref Tower' in the Battle Arena subforum; this is also where you will request a referee's services.

A couple of things to avoid, if you want to rank up:

1) Random circumstance - Don't just randomly throw in some crazy happening. Ex: If I'm battling someone and you kill my pet with a low-flying airplane

2) Bias - I can tell when someone is reffing with the intention of having one battler defeat the other, regardless of the attacks and strategies chosen.

3) Laziness - Try giving a ref summary of at least a paragraph. Some people will be better at being descriptive than others; just try and give some detail to the current battle situation.


----------------------------------------------------------------
How to referee:

Assignment

NOTE: Referees can now assign themselves to a match if the battlers have agreed on how to pay them (or if the battlers specifically requested them in the forum in which their battle will take place). The below information on assignment from the 'Ref Tower' is now only the case if someone specifically goes to the 'Ref Tower', which will only be when a referee has not claimed their match after a prolonged period of time.

When you are assigned to a match, I will PM you and tell you the forum at which the battle is being held. Assignments come from requests at the 'Ref Tower'. Either you were requested by name, they requested a ref of your level, or they left it up to me to find them a ref and I chose you.

Make sure to add the money for your reffing services to your bank account. (Check the 'Ref Tower' to see how much you earn for reffing.)

Research
Read the following:
- The Weekly Weather Forecast in the Battle Arena subforum (for the weather conditions of the battle and how to use them)
- The 'Campground' thread of each of the battlers in the The Campgrounds subforum (to learn the attacks and levels of the pets involved)

The Introduction
Once you have been assigned to a battle, you must post in the forum named for the battle and engage the match.

Give an introductory paragraph (if you choose), list the weather conditions, each battlers' four pet troupe, and ask the battlers to throw out their first monster.

The battler who posed the challenge (for information on challenging and how battles are originally concieved, see the 'How to battle' thread in the Battling subforum) MUST send out a pet and attack first.

If, for instance, the battler who accepted the challenge jumps the gun and withdraws their pet (and attacks) first, post them a warning that they have to wait for their challenger to withdraw his/her pet next time. Then, let the battle proceed normally once the challenger has withdrawn his/her pet.

Here is a for-instance on how to begin a battle (this post should come after the original topic is created by one battler challening another and after the battler challenged has posted their acceptance of both the battling terms and the referee to be involved, and ONLY in those circumstances):

"The following battle will be Battler 1 vs. Battler 2.

The current weather is 60 degrees, with thunderstorms; it is Morning.

Battler 1's current troupe is Pet 1, Pet 3, Pet 5, and Pet 7.
Battler 2's current troupe is Pet 2, Pet 4, Pet 6, and Pet 8.

All ref fees have been paid; the battle is ready to begin!

Battler 1, withdraw your first pets and attack. Battler 2, follow after Battler 1 has posted."

(Note: It is important that the referee make sure a battler does not switch their battling troupe after this point. It is the ref's responsibility to recognize a battler cheating. How to handle cheating will be discussed below.)

The Battle Begins
At this point, the battlers will withdraw their pets (take into account the level of the pets! High level pets are more powerful than their lower-level counterparts, obviously.) and list the attack they want to use (Note: Make sure to read about the battlers' current pet troupe in their 'Campground' thread in the 'The Campgrounds' subforum of our board. The info included will help prevent a battler from using an attack their pets do not possess. If someone gets away with that, it's the ref's folly and will affect ref ranking.)

If reference is needed for any attack, there is a thread called 'The Battle Technique Encyclopedia' in the Battle subforum that lists each attack and a description for the attacks.

Okay, so your opponents have withdrawn their pets

Battler 1 uses a Level 2 lightning type and has it use a lightning attack.
Battler 2 uses a Level 1 earth type and has it use an earthquake attack.

Start off by listing the health of the pets (in this case, the battle has just begun, so the health -- listed in percentages -- is 100% for both pets. Although all pets, regardless of level, will start at 100% for a battle, not all 100-percents are made equal. Higher-level pets will have better defenses and attack ability.)

"Pet 1 Name (Battler 1 Name): 100%
Pet 2 Name (Battler 2 Name): 100%"

Now, give a description of the occurrences of the battle, taking into account the weather conditions, the elements of the pets, and the attacks used.

For instance:
"Pet 1 braces itself into a crouched position and begins to collect energy. As this occurs, Pet 2 counteracts Pet 1's braced silence with a series of deafening blows directly to the ground.

A fissure opens in the ground and -- bulls-eye! -- undercuts Pet 1 and sends it flying into the air, brutally damaged.

Pet 1 displays resiliency, however, and catches itself in the air. As it falls, the sky roars and Pet 1, focuses its electric energy, draws a lightning bolt from the sky and directs it into the body of its opponent.

Pet 2 is pinned to the ground, underneath a steady stream of electricity flowing like water. Signifigant damage is taken and Pet 2 cannot seem to move as well."

After this, list (in the same post) health, along with any mitigating conditions (poison, paralysis, etc.) of both pets.

For instance, in my hypothetical battle, I would write:

"Pet 1: 84%
Pet 2: 73%, paralyzed"

IMPORTANT NOTE: The health in this hypothetical situation doesn't take into account strengths and weaknesses. An attack by a pet against a pet of an element weak to the element of the attack should receive somewhere around 125% more severe damage; that is, if the attack would normally do somewhere in the 10% area, it should now do around 13%.

If the attack pet's element is strong against the element of the initiated attack, it should receive somewhere around 75% of the damage normally afflicted. For instance, if the attack would normally do somewhere in the 10% area, it should now do around 8%.

Check the 'Battle Arena Encyclopedia' thread in the 'Battle Arena' subforum of our board for details on how much damage an attack should inflict (There will be a minimum-maximum damage range for each attack. Try to stay within the limits of this range.)

For strengths and weaknesses of pet types, check this chart.

Added notes:

Revvi (the King, of course!) messaged me a good point today.

I've noticed some people have been commanding their pets to "dodge", as in "Dodge it and use Flare!"

Now, I don't mind that, per se, but keep in mind, refs, that simply commanding a pet to dodge should hardly ever, if ever, work, and when it does, it should only have a small effect on the damage.

This is because most of the attacks in Battle Forest are highly accurate and wide-ranging. They're extremely difficult to dodge without an attack of defensive magic.

Keep in mind, refs, how you approach the "dodge" commands is entirely up to you (just don't let it get out of hand). I want each ref to develop their own style and do things their way as much as possible.

Thanks, guys.