Hi,I have a question about a "cheat". It's not a real cheat. So, I tell you what I mean:
I start a map with just a creep for 5minutes or so. Only I know the necessary tactic. To create this tourney kost less than I get, because it is so short. And I get a bit experiece.
Unfortunately, I get no GT.

You ask, how I know?
I did this "cheat" here:
http://www.beatthegeek.com/games/TowerDefence/tournamentResults.asp?tournid=2338


Now I ask you if this is a cheat or a trick that should be blocked. Sparticus can add in the editor something like "your tournament must be at least 2 hours or 10 geeks invite"

(I hope that my english is correct. Google translator helped me)

So you made a tournament that lasted only 5 minutes. You entered it and basically no one else entered so you win first place. You get some geek points and some experience.

In my opinion, that's okay. It did cost you 500 or so geek points to make the tournament.... so in the end it's actually costing you more than you are gaining.

Have you really watched the tournament ? It has cost me 123GP and I won 163GP. I have made a profit of 40GP.
For example: It took me 5min to create this tourney and win it. This is a profit of 480GP per hour.
Next example: There are holidays, I have a lot of free time. Let's say I repeat this for 5 hours. I win a total of 2400GP.

You see, this is a boring but efficient way to level up ang get rich.

Oh, I didn't realize it was that cheap to create that tournament. Yes, then that is not allowed and would be ban worthy.

Nice oxymoron.

Anyways. I forgot how many people are required for a Golden Ticket to be offered as the prize, but Sparticus clearly didn't since you can't use this method to farm GTs. Being able to farm GTs would SUCK.

One option I can think of would be what njulian already suggested: A minimum on the player/time limit so people can fight for the money you're trying to earn. However, the host could start you off with NO money at all, making Extra Gold a must and locking out anybody that doesn't have two points of Extra Gold or the two levels and 50 GP required to assign them. For a map with a player requirement, this could be a cheesy way to fill up some of the player slots should the player not know beforehand.

As such, I'm going to propose a minimum GP cost for a tournament. I know, a minimum of 120 technically exists via the name and map, but I can think of two ways to execute the one I'm thinking of:
1. If your tournament doesn't cost at least x, you can't make it.
2. If your tournament doesn't cost at least x, then its cost is raised to x.

Unfortunately, either option could lock low-level players out of tourney-making, but to seal up this cheat, I'm actually not sure I can think of another way.

raceBandit is right with the requirements, but there is one more thing, that can be looked for: a reasonable duration of a tournament... i can't think of a legit tournament, that needs to be no longer than, lets say, 2 hours (or longer, just a duration, in which other players have a chance to compete in the tournament)!
Tweaking the duration would make creating fake tournaments little less effective!

Actually, njulian and I already suggested the player/time minimum requirements.
What I saw when reviewing those requirements was the case where you started off with minimal gold and would need Extra Gold in order to stand a chance.

I just realized that if the host were to slap an entry fee onto the tournament, it could mean extra money in his/her pockets via the first-place prize. As such, I might have to also suggest an increase in the minimum initial gold.

Geez, I might be putting too much thought into this if I'm noticing that snag.