Concepts

GotNext is a Discord bot and web workspace for running competitions. Ranked queues operate directly in Discord. Tournament and ladder management stays on the web, while competitors can complete many routine actions with /gotnext.

Know the moving parts before you tune the server.

Organizations

Every connected Discord server belongs to one GotNext organization. The organization owns staff access, ranked queues, tournaments, ladders, XP, achievements, and billing. Installation creates or reuses an organization before the server dashboard opens.

What is the GotNext bot?

The GotNext bot runs competitive matchmaking in your server and connects competitors to the organization's tournaments, ladders, and progression. You create a queue in a channel, players join it, and the bot creates the match when enough players are waiting.

After the match, a staff member reports the winner. The bot updates ratings, posts a result embed, refreshes leaderboards, and can maintain Discord nicknames and rank roles.

Queues

A queue is tied to one Discord text channel. When a player runs /join in that channel, they enter that queue. Once the queue has two full teams, the bot posts the match.

Queue settings:

• Team size — How many players are on each team. A 4v4 queue needs 8 players.
• Cooldown — How long a player must wait after a match before joining again.
• Idle timeout — How long an inactive player can sit in queue before removal.
• Show queue — Whether players can see names in /queue, or only anonymous counts.
• Parties — Full pre-made teams can queue together when the queue supports party joining.
• Run It Back: Whether every player from a completed match can agree to an immediate same-team rematch.
• Player commendations: Optional positive recognition after a completed match, with server-level public display controls.
• Team voice rooms: Optional private Team 1 and Team 2 rooms created beside the dedicated match channel.
• Queue board: One persistent message with Join, Leave, My Stats, and Active Matches buttons.
• Result verification: Optional or required scoreboard evidence and agreement controls.

ELO

ELO is the rating system GotNext uses to measure skill. Every registered player starts at the server starting rating, usually 1200. Wins raise rating, losses lower it.

Beating stronger opponents is worth more than beating weaker opponents. Losing to weaker opponents costs more than losing to stronger ones.

Server-wide ELO — The main rating that follows a player across every queue in the Discord server.

Queue ELO — A per-queue rating used for that queue's leaderboard and local performance read.

Rank tiers

Rank tiers group players into named brackets such as Bronze, Silver, and Gold. You set the tier names and ELO thresholds in the dashboard.

When a player crosses a threshold, the bot can assign the matching Discord role and update the player's nickname. The GotNext Bot role must be above those roles in Discord for assignment to work.

Queue modes

Queue mode controls how teams are formed when the queue has enough players.

AUTO_MATCH — The bot sorts players by ELO and uses a snake-draft assignment to create balanced teams automatically.

SCHOOLYARD_PICK — Two captains pick players through buttons. If a captain times out, the bot auto-picks the highest-rated available player.

Matches

When a queue pops, the bot posts a generated match card with both teams and a match ID. Team queues use a private dedicated channel by default, with a link from the queue announcement. Moderators and configured roles with Report Results use the channel's Report Result button. /win match:42 team:1 remains available for corrections and exceptional overrides.

After the result is reported:

• Ratings — Every player rating is updated.
• Result card: The bot posts the match result and ELO changes.
• Roles and nicknames — Tier roles and ELO nicknames update when configured.
• Scores channel — Results can cross-post to a dedicated scores channel.
• Run It Back: When enabled for the queue, every original player can opt in to a same-team rematch within 15 minutes.
• Player commendations: When enabled for the server, each participant can privately recognize one other player within 15 minutes.

If a result is wrong, staff can use /overturn-match to flip the winner or /void-match to reverse the match.

Seasons

Seasons give the server a competitive cycle. At the end of a season, the bot archives standings and can reset ratings back to the starting value or partially decay them toward that value.

Season history stays available, so staff can look back at old standings after a reset.

MVP awards

MVP awards let staff give bonus ELO to standout players after a match. The bonus amount is configurable, and MVP count is tracked on player stats.

For multi-map matches, the Report Result flow lets staff select each MVP recipient once and then set how many maps each player earned MVP. Every map MVP counts as one award and applies the configured bonus once.

Awards can be revoked with /revoke-mvp, which also reverses the bonus ELO.

Player achievements

Organization staff can create automatic or manual profile badges. Automatic rules can use Discord queue performance, ladder activity, tournament activity, organization XP, or organization level.

Permissions

New Ranked Queues servers belong to a GotNext organization. Organization roles control web dashboard access: Manage Ranked Queues covers queue operations, players, matches, seasons, achievements, and activity; Manage Discord grants full Ranked Queues administration and server settings.

Billing remains restricted to the original purchaser or current entitlement owner. A staff member's organization permission does not expose another person's Stripe account.

Discord commands use a separate role-based permission system. Discord Administrators can use staff commands automatically. Everyone else gets command access through Discord roles configured on the server's Access & permissions page.

Permission levels:

• Report results — Run commands like /win and /overturn-match.
• Manage players — Run commands like /ban-player, /unban-player, and /set-elo.
• Manage queues — Create and edit queues, configure maps, and manage seasons.
• View hidden queue — Use /queue to see who is waiting when queue names are hidden.