Origins:
It all started in the last quarter of 2013 when George Bates floated the idea of an Asia-Pacific ASL Championship as a means of creating a regional focal point for ASL.
Naturally,
as the founder and organiser, George was looking to host the event in
Singapore, a somewhat central location for the Asia-Pacific Region, given the
then-known player bases active in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the
Philippines. Initially, like several
Australian-domiciled ASLers, I was lukewarm at the thought of travelling
overseas for just 3 days of ASL and the attendant costs involved, particularly
as it would occur soon after Cancon, which for many Aussie ASLers is their one
ASL event of each year.
However, once
I looked into the details of potential expenditure, Singapore did not seem out
of the question. As long as I could find budget accommodation, eat on the cheap
(it’s Asia after all), four nights was very doable. I did a quick comparison with what the last
CanCon cost me (around $1000.00 to cover travel, accommodation, food and absence
from home) and Singapore was looking very attractive.
The
original idea for Malaya Madness was for a hotel to act as the venue, but
understandably for a new event and committed attendee numbers at a premium, the
cost of a Hotel venue was just too high to be borne this time around. Instead
the local Singaporean gaming community rallied around and George was able to
secure a venue and location that enable him to focus on dealing with the usual “helpful
suggestions” from prospective attendees and regional commentators regarding
format, scenario choices and sundry opinions on ASL.
George
provided a playlist of tried and true official scenarios, taking into
consideration that the majority of the attendees would be relatively new to ASL
and didn’t have access to the ASL libraries that some of us have accumulated
over almost 30 years of addiction. There was some fairly robust discussion back
and forth on Gamesquad and via email regarding the initial choices and some of
the less stellar choices were eliminated or substituted for alternates that
better reflect ASL as it is played and designed today.
The format
was to have 5 rounds of play including the Friday evening "Mulligan" round to
break the ice. With twelve confirmed attendees, the format was originally single-elimination,
but this was quickly done away with, much to the relief of those coming in from
overseas.
NB: This was written some 7 months after attending Malaya Madness so there are undoubtedly some errors in my recall of events and discussions.
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