Similar to how movies and games have credits, tournaments have a staff list. It is a way to give proper credit and recognition to all the people who helped make the tournament a reality. It also provides transparency towards players about who is responsible for organising and assisting with the tournament. Some may even consider not having a staff list disrespectful or indicative of not caring enough.
Not only that, but having an up-to-date staff list is also a requirement of all officially supported tournaments. Even if your tournament is not going for official support, it is highly encouraged to have a staff list.
For these reasons, we would like to clarify some issues tournament organisers may encounter and offer some guidance to what is acceptable.
Positions frequently credited in the staff list include: hosts/organisers, mappool selectors, mappers, playtesters, referees, streamers, commentators and statisticians. Positions such as graphic designers or music composers do not need to be listed, but you are free to do so if you want.
An up-to-date list of staff is a basic requirement of official support and a complete lack of a staff list may result in a withdrawal of official support, otherwise known as a debadge. However, hosts will always be contacted first during the review process with an email requesting them to update their staff list. In especially egregious cases, if tournament organisers do not comply with this request, a badge prize may be denied.
The list needs to be publicly available in an easily accessible location. This means either the tournament's forum post, wiki page, spreadsheet, website, or a combination of these. Each location featuring a staff list must be up to date, as discrepancies between staff lists make it unclear which list is correct. Please take care to update them whenever changes to your staff list happen.
Forgetting to list only a few members of staff, however, can happen at times, and leniency will be applied where reasonable. Please thoroughly check your staff list to make sure as few members as possible are missing. Intentionally not listing staff members due to them being restricted or tournament banned is immediate grounds for a debadge if no exemption was requested and granted.
[Q] A host/organiser helped with other staffing tasks during the tournament. Do I need to list them for those roles as well?
[A] Yes, it's not always obvious which other staffing duties the hosts/organisers help with, so they should be listed to further transparency.
[Q] A player joined the staff team after being eliminated. Do I still list them the same as everyone else?
[A] Yes, though if you want to make it abundantly clear they were enlisted after they got eliminated, you may add a note next to their name or underneath the staff list to clarify.
[Q] Someone helped ref a match in an emergency, but they are not part of the staff team. Do I need to add them to the staff list?
[A] Of course, they helped out with the tournament didn't they? They deserve to be credited for that.
[Q] A staff member asked not to be listed on the staff list; can I leave them out?
[A] No, that request goes directly against our core ideal of "Be as transparent as possible." and should not be entertained. — with the exception of graphic designers and music composers as mentioned above.
[Q] A staff member didn't do any staffing during the tournament. Am I required to remove them?
[A] You can remove them if you want, but it's not required.
[Q] The host who wrote the forum post quit the game or is unable to update the staff list on the forum post. What do I do?
[A] Please try to get back in contact with them, but if that fails, make sure a different location is up to date and mention it when requesting a badge.
[Q] I want to keep mappers secret until their maps are revealed in the mappools. Is this permitted?
[A] Absolutely! Even World Cups do this. Do attempt to update it whenever new mappools are revealed though.