Paradise Lost

After much consideration, these are the guidelines that will be used to govern rankings and championships. These are obviously subject to change as situations arise and feedback from the members is made known.

Rankings

At the end of September, rankings will be posted for each of the three divisions.

The most important criteria will be a character's Point total within said division.

Points are earned for...

Completing and publishing a monthly PL match=1 point
Draw in a published monthly PL match=1 point
Win a published monthly PL match=3 points
Publish a Confession promo in PL=1 point(Max 1 per month)
5 Likes on a Story or Confession promo with your character in a featured role=1 point for every 5 Likes(Max 2 per month)
Win Story of the Week with a PL match or Confession promo=5 points

In the cases of ties, the first thing that will be looked at in order to break said tie is the length of time since the PLAYER'S last title match(either challenging or defending). This will look at other divisions. If a player has multiple characters within the fed and recently got a title match with Character A in The Pit, it will affect their tiebreaker in Elysium with Character B. This is really in place to ensure people are not constantly passed over for title matches due to any number of other factors. Hang around the top of the rankings by keeping your Point total up, and your time will come. This is also measured in months, not days or weeks. If two players had title shots in January, I will not look at publishing date for this tie breaker. It is considered equal.

After that, I will look at head to head matchups. If two characters have the same Point total and their players have been waiting the same length of time for a title match, it obviously makes sense to take a victory head to head into consideration.

If those criteria can't break the tie, then I will try to subjectively break the tie based on fed activity, writing quality(Upvotes on Stories, Story of the Week, etc.), current character storylines, reliability, flexibility, fair play, and feedback from other members(positive and negative).

Championships

Each division will have it's own champion. In January, the Top 2 highest ranked characters in each division will.face off to crown the inaugural champions for Paradise Lost. If one or both characters in a division should decline the title match, it will then move down the rankings list until we have two willing participants. Titles are initially expected to be intergender, however F/F and/or M/M only titles may be instituted if membership grows to the point where I feel they will be logically sustainable and there is interest among the members.

The champion for each division is expected to defend against the highest ranked contender within the division each month, though no-one is forced to face any specific opponent within Paradise Lost. The champion may choose to vacate the title instead of defending, and is free to come up with a storyline justification for this(injury, personal issue, world needs saving, etc.). In such a case, the top two contenders would then face each other for the vacated championship. The top contender may decline a title match, as well. In either case, said character is expected to not take another match within Paradise Lost for that month, though they may be active in other ways(Communion, Confession promos, etc.). If the champion and challenger cannot find a time to do "session" writing together, they are expected to complete the match as a "reply as you can".

After a title match, the loser's character will have their Point total reset to zero. This represents "going to the back of the line". A champion who chooses to vacate their title will have their Point total halved. This is to serve as a deterrent to vacating a title, but also.provides a shorter road back to the top in case IRL or other issues necessitate it.