LogFAQs > #940675691

Post-Contest Thoughts

Its been another fun ride thats as always over before we know it despite how impatient we can get with getting matches rolling at times. The contest began right as the whole world was in lockdown and it was perfect timing. It has been very enjoyable to have a contest on GameFAQs to follow while being at home as much, Im sure Im not the only one feeling that.

The first Game of the Decade was probably the best contest we have had, at least its up there. This one was good for a lot of the same reasons. Most of the games being untested and leaving our usual big games out for more interesting matches. This time, our winner was a whole lot more obvious and contests are so far in between that its not as necessary to remove our usual big games, but it still made a fun contest. I dont think it made for as good a contest as the first one though.

The bracket was very diverse and very chalky. It makes for better results to not have a low tier Nintendo game beat over-seeded games of little strength, but it doesnt make for a better contest. Despite having four matches a day for the first two rounds, a lot of the days had no exciting matches at all. Its one thing to not have close matches, they just went as everyone expected most of the time and thats not just because weve been doing these things for a long time. Its been suggested this should have had 64 entries instead of 128, but I dont think thats the main problem. I just think we should have had slightly less diversity and maybe not created so many Nintendo SFF matches. I know the series cap isnt confirmed and not everyone believes in it, but theres just no way I can imagine some of the lower seeded games receiving more nominations than some of the snubbed games. Its also possible Metacritic is having a bit too much of a say in this.

The amount of matches a day is also up for debate. In general, multiple matches is a much better solution than the day and night matches we had a decade ago and I like that were getting through the contests at a quicker pace, but sometimes it feels too quick. It was a good step in the right direction to only have two matches per day in round 3, but we need to switch to one match sooner than we do. Forcing us to vote in all matches doesnt help in this regard. In general, despite the impatience, I dont mind the contest lasting a bit longer than it does. We used to have a good bit longer contests than this and it was fine. The mid-contest break is a huge part of that problem. I know what the purpose of it is, but it does more damage. It felt so weird to have a break that long and then rush through the remaining part of the contest.

The big problem is of course our votals. Theoretically, that shouldnt influence how fun the contest is, but it does without a doubt. Trends disappearing is partly because of smartphones allowing everyone to vote wherever, but its also due to a lack of new and younger users and in general less people voting overall. I appreciate all our anti-rally measures for their intent, though I dont agree that theyre all nice. The registered user bonus is fine even without these votals, but its crazy to me that we did that to help votals before many other more obvious things.

The average GameFAQs user is not old because were on some old site, its because we doesnt move with the times and thus most of the people here and the ones that were here when it wasnt as outdated. The votals had become a major issue between 2010 and 2013, but Allen assured us site traffic was good, but that it was simply down for the frontpage. I believe that, but if it mostly comes from answer pages and such dont we need to attract users here to keep having the info they need. Video guides should have become a thing here forever ago. There are lots of improvements than can be done and/or should have been long ago.

In regard to our contests though, I dont understand why we havent taken better measures to improve votals and participation. The promotion is very minimal. Thats one thing on other sides due to rallies, but even here its very easy to miss. Its up on the front page for a surprisingly short amount of time and your window for noticing on any page is smaller and it doesnt look attractive.

Then as soon the contest gets going, its only visible on the front page. Why? I dont understand why its not visible on every page. When someone googles something and is directed to GameFAQs, they should be able to see the match pictures and vote in the poll regardless of what part of the page they were directed to. I realize not everyone here cares for the contests as much as us, thats obvious, but it doesnt really change the experience of being here in any way that theres a poll at the side of page. Theres plenty of unused room there. Not on mobile, but then put it at top or bottom or whatever, it can still easily be done without annoying anyone. This was a Game of the Decade contest in place of yet another Character Battle, it would have been the perfect time to try it out.

Our six-digit votals are long gone, but our five-digit votals are even in danger at times now if not for the registered bonus. I know all this is not first site priority, it just seems like it would take relatively little effort and Im sure that a bunch of users would help with it for free. I honestly dont see why not.

It sounds like a lot of negativity. Dont get me wrong, I had a lot of fun this contest, I just think theres a simple way to make things better. It has been enjoyable though and Im glad Allen gave us the contest we hoped we would get every since last time. Im excited for next time too, and speaking of next time, its fun to think of what would be. On the day of the bonus match, we also had this fun poll:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/8091-what-would-you-like-the-next-gamefaqs-bracket-battle-to-be

Its pretty clear from the results that the more times weve seen something, the less interesting in it we appear to be, though at least everyone correctly recalls Rivalry Rumble is bad. Im open to something completely different, but only if someone actually has a good idea. I doubt its that people actually want something different as much as its just the stand-in for the usual I dont care about them option. Character Battle is the obvious next one, but its not highly requested. Villains doing that well is a bit sad. If we really wanted another Villains contest, couldnt we just do Character Battle by villainous level or something stupid like that. I dont think itd be much fun, even though the winner would be less obvious. Series contest would not be that great either. Its a shame Best Game Ever has so few votes when the bonus match hyped that, but theres another option probably stealing its votes.

Game of the Decade 1990s is a great idea. Its a very GameFAQs idea, by why not? It would be a good contest, lots of our strongest games are from that era and it will give us most of the matches we didnt get in 2015 but hoped we would. Ocarina of Time is an obvious winner there, but Im sure some people will buy bite and pick Chrono Trigger. Ill have fun with regular Character Battles and Best Game Evers too, but if were to try something new, lets do this one.

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Guinness Book of World Records is the name of the diary that belongs to azuarc, the winner of the Game of the Decade II guru contest.