Is it just a matter of promising to support someone in exchange for their support? Or is it a complex web of I'll vote this way on event A if you vote my way on events B and C?

In person, it can be anything.

I think it would be difficult to leave it that open ended for bots, as they don't have a language

Maybe in this implementation it could be as simple as saying "I plan to vote this way" and then the others would know if you are trustworthy or not based on what you actually do.

it might be easier just to give them access to the past votes and let them vote bearing in mind that others will judge them based on how they voted previously

Ah that would work

But that would be a lot of information to keep track of.

It would be a lot, but it would be very simple to process. Only the prediction would be complex, and each entrant would decide how to approach that

Writing a naive bot would still be very simple

Then they could get gradually more sophisticated

I've been having a bunch of ideas for KOTH contests recently, but I haven't actually completed one.

I should probably try to focus on a single one.

I would definitely focus on just one as you'll have to run all the entries - I wouldn't want to be running 2 contests in parallel

I'm working up the courage to try one myself. People here have been very encouraging. I like the idea of something like Geobits' Hunger Gaming where any language can enter using stdin and stdout. I just need to get comfortable with calling other programs from python first.

I already have another KOTH in sandbox about the game Morra.

Nothing wrong with having several in the sandbox in parallel - it might give you an idea of which has most support to help you decide which one to tackle first

Since the pattern-recognition/prediction KOTH competitions have been pretty common lately (like the RPSLV competition), I think the Morra challenge could wait.

I'd like to be able to complete the tank battle challenge spec.

I think having a visualisation program for it would increase participation

It would, by a lot.

Is there a visualization program for the discrete dogfight yet?

There is, yes. There's a video posted online too

Once you have the tank battle how you want it, I'd wait for the dogfight question to run its course before posting

That's fancy.