Tips on Running an Effective StarCraft II Tournament

Tips on Running an Effective StarCraft II Tournament

Community-driven tournaments are essential to the health and growth of StarCraft II as an eSport. Follow these steps to make sure that your StarCraft II tournament kicks off flawlessly.

License your event -- Obtaining a license to run a StarCraft II event is easy (and free for the vast majority of applicants) and the application only takes a few minutes of your time! Head on over to our Tournament Submission Form to start your licensing process now. Approval time will vary; most events will be approved automatically after your submission, and others will take up to a couple weeks, depending on the complexity and level of licensing required for the event.

Follow the rules -- Head over to our Video Policy and StarCraft II EULA pages to find out more about what’s permissible when it comes to broadcasting and running your event.

Help us whitelist your IPs -- This is a very important step, especially if you're running a mid-sized or larger tournament. The reason for this is because if Battle.net detects large numbers of StarCraft II players trying to connect from the same IP, the IP range could get temporarily blacklisted, making it impossible for your event’s participants to play. If you’re running an on-site event that will have lots of people connecting at once from a limited range of IPs, send us an email with the subject Whitelist Request and include your event’s information  as well as your venue’s IPs. We will only provide whitelists for licensed events.

If you have any questions about running your event, contact us at sc-tourneyinfo@blizzard.com

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Comments (21)

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Gilligan #274
Gilligan
2/4/2012
On the terms and conditions page, the number one line says "Must be free to enter". I have a charity tournament lined up, set to have around twenty players, with a $10 entry fee to pay for food & drinks and donate to the charity. This is not okay?
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Foxies #574
Foxies
2/7/2012
@Gilligan: I'm sure they do mean free unless with permission, so certain issues wouldn't be breached.
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Drogith #454
Drogith
2/3/2012
You know, as the founder of a regional SC2 league and having over 10 tournaments ran under my belt, I'm disappointed by this article. It's vague at best and doesn't even touch upon running an event. This is only how you get one going from the legal point of view. Has nothing to do with advertising, self promotion, streaming, organization, etc...

Like I said, I've run multiple successful tournaments as the founder of the New England SC2 League (http://www.nesc2league.com), and I could have wrote a better article than this about "running" a tournament. I'm disappointed Blizzard :(
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Chalky #386
Chalky
2/29/2012
@Drogith: How did you do it? I'm interested in getting one set up at some point down the road. Do you have links to a better article?
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MikanForHire #977
MikanForHire
2/3/2012
I demand LAN...but i bareley remember the LAN in BW you dont actually need an account dont u??? also how duz i do vs AI in bw haha sorry for the dumb questions
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OneManArmy #326
OneManArmy
2/2/2012
Here's a tip: LAN support for CUSTOM games.
Keep the requirement for connection to blizzard servers,but allow hosting custom games in LAN mode.These games could appear in players history with a (Lan Mode) tag,or not appear at all.

You still validate the authenticity of the game's license and you allow for a fair lag-free enviroment for tournaments.A Win-Win situation,so why hasn't it be done yet?
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DirtyZenith #529
DirtyZenith
2/1/2012
I feel like...you could just....well, hear me out for a second her.....you could just....give us LAN. you know? that thing that made broodwar amazing ? the lan parties we all had when we were kids? no point now. oh well
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zergeater #510
zergeater
1/31/2012
i'm a nube, give a guy a break! sometimes its better to train others. Help them to learn somethings' instead thereis the rush to kill them off! Will someone help me?
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MikanForHire #977
MikanForHire
2/3/2012
@zergeater: What do u need help with???
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dLDroid #706
dLDroid
1/31/2012
This is GReat! get way more local tournaments around here
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BcFLSquirrel #281
BcFLSquirrel
1/31/2012
tourney of the bacon going global?
:)
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Alpha #553
Alpha
1/31/2012
Here's one tip: MOAR Money!!
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Saphra #731
Saphra
1/31/2012
Nice timing, just as I am organizing the battle.net tourney haha:D.
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ShadowWraith #838
ShadowWraith
1/31/2012
@Saphra: Seems more like they are responding to the E-Peen Tourney :D
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Saphra #731
Saphra
1/31/2012
@ShadowWraith: Ya, that's what I'm talking about, I'm the organizer :D (wolflink is my other account) :P
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Saphra #731
Saphra
1/31/2012
@Saphra: btw If I caused this post I'm honored to have made blizzard post something haha XD.
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ShadowWraith #838
ShadowWraith
1/31/2012
@Saphra: I know you're wolflink and you were talking bought E-Peen(I read it) and yes, you should feel honored to have cause blizzard to make a post ;)
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MNdakota #759
MNdakota
1/31/2012
For some reason, I feel like LAN will come at Legacy of the Void, since everyone will have already bought the game. :P
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Shimauma #936
Shimauma
1/31/2012
"Wealth of info" lol. Three small paragraphs. Thanks nontheless!
@Shimauma: Is size all that's important to you, Shimauma?
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picKLes #743
picKLes
1/31/2012
@Zarhym: I asked my wife and she said it’s always about the size no matter what the women tell you.. :)