Board 8 > Serious question: why do some people actively hate our contests?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I was looking at that thread about Bacon's AMA, and I saw something that I felt deserved its own thread. Somebody decided to drop this on him:

Can you please for the love of God, stop with the never ending character battles? Or at least put them on a separate part of the site. There is nothing worse than seeing them take over the PotD for months on end. They are awful and boring.

And if the post-contest polls are any indication, there are actually a lot of other people who feel this way.

My question is this: WHY? I get that not everyone is going to dig the contests as much as we do. And I definitely understand that some people won't find brackets fun to make. But why would they actively hate the contests? If they're not interested in them, then the contests should do absolutely nothing to bother them. All they do is replace the "Got (system)?" and "Do you brush your teeth every morning?" polls - who gives a damn about that?

Normally, I wouldn't care about these party poopers, but Bacon's made it increasingly clear that it's not always easy getting prizes for the contests. Over the past few years, CBS Interactive has been eager to support the GameSpot contests, but ours... not so much. And if people keep posting stuff like the comment above, and voting for the "KILL IT WITH FIRE" option in every post-contest poll, then it's just going to get harder and harder for our CBs to be greenlighted.

So, to all of you who vote for each contest to be the "last one ever," and rant about how much our contests suck... seriously, chill out and step down. Nobody likes a buzzkill.

--
Hey, you ever coming back?
You kidding? I am Queens Boulevard.

Because the winner is pretty much predetermined at this point.

--
Fast Falcon ate my bracket for dinner in the guru contest.

From: dethfdddddh | #002
Because the winner is pretty much predetermined at this point.
So the problem is because of 1.5% of the contest.

--
http://i.minus.com/iH9vIGOBoyTQ2.gif

From: LeonhartFour | #003

From: dethfdddddh | #002
Because the winner is pretty much predetermined at this point.
So the problem is because of 1.5% of the contest.

But 95% of the people on the site don't even make a bracket so the only thing they care about and notice is the winner.

--
you just can't live in that negative way...make way for the positive day

I totally want to know if people got the n-gage than to see Missingno vs Sonic

--
Boko United - Geriatric Titanium Mustache
Guru Taken Miraculously by SuperNiceDog

Well, Bacon could bust out the obvious solution and retire Link, but that's apparently not a feasible option for some reason or another.

--
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8516/whatisdesiresig.gif

If people feel like it's predictable and not worth their time, okay. I definitely disagree - the journey IS the destination! - but they have the right to their opinion.

But getting up in arms about the CB polls taking up a tiny portion of the site? That's the quintessential first world problem. After thinking about it a little more, I'd bet that a decent chunk of them are butthurt Link haters - which is still a silly rationale for the negativity, but hey, it's better than "WAAAH I WANNA VOTE FOR MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK".

--
Hey, you ever coming back?
You kidding? I am Queens Boulevard.

LeonhartFour posted...

Well, Bacon could bust out the obvious solution and retire Link, but that's apparently not a feasible option for some reason or another.

Nah man, we gotta try a Rivalry Rumble instead!

--
Hey, you ever coming back?
You kidding? I am Queens Boulevard.

how well would it go over if we go someplace and actually ask them

--
Boko United - Geriatric Titanium Mustache
Guru Taken Miraculously by SuperNiceDog

Did anyone take the time to ask him about anything contest related? I did, but I feel like it got buried and it probably won't get an answer.

--
Well played, SuperNiceDog. Well played.

Some men just want to watch the world burn

--
K | H | A | Q | Q | A | H | K
"we're about 50 years behind the rest of western society." -icon on B8

He just needs to take a break from doing them. If we had 5 years between the last character battle and the next one, I'd be hella excited for it. We'd have so many new characters in the mix and it would probably be much harder to gauge the strength of the older contest vets. 5 may be a bit much, but I'd like to see at least 3.

--
http://soundcloud.com/thundersheep/verr-ckt-nach-liebe
http://soundcloud.com/thundersheep/lunatic-asylum

It's already been 2.5 years since our last legit Character Battle.

--
"I can set you free, mate."
"My freedom was forfeit long ago!"

From: LeonhartFour | #013
It's already been 2.5 years since our last legit Character Battle.
I'm really talking about any contest involving video game characters put against each other. But if that is true, then make it 5. I honestly don't even know who won the Rivals contest because I never paid attention to it, but I'm sure I won't be surprised when I look at the results.

--
http://soundcloud.com/thundersheep/verr-ckt-nach-liebe
http://soundcloud.com/thundersheep/lunatic-asylum

game/allfictional next

--
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr345/Rakaputra/pjbasis.png
SuperNiceDog - 1, pjbasis - 0

ling always wins

--
http://i49.tinypic.com/bj92rl.jpg http://i48.tinypic.com/2i9t8v6.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2h7m3p5.png http://i29.tinypic.com/2s0zr0y.jpg

Nobody's gonna say it?

lol potders

i think people hate on them because they have been getting very stale for quite a few years now

Because CoD characters, Gordan Freeman, and Master Chief are mid to low carders and most of the N9 are either characters that haven't been in a legitimate game in over a decade (Cloud, Sephy, Crono), Kiddy (Nintendo, MM, Sonic) or Solid Snake. The results of this site are different than what agrees with the typical gamer, so they get upset. Still, there's not really a reason to hate something that you can easily ignore.

--
http://i.imgur.com/Aj7qk.gif

There was nothing stale about Game of the Decade.

And it was 4-ways before that which, love it or hate it, at least injected freshness and only lasted 3 contests.

--
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr345/Rakaputra/pjbasis.png
SuperNiceDog - 1, pjbasis - 0

Game of the Decade was pretty damn stale

the 4-ways were ok, and l-blocks run was fun for a single contest.

Game of the Decade was pretty damn stale

From: Metal_DK | #021

Game of the Decade was pretty damn stale

I suppose at this point all manners of measurements become subjective.

--
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr345/Rakaputra/pjbasis.png
SuperNiceDog - 1, pjbasis - 0

From: pjbasis | #020
And it was 4-ways before that which, love it or hate it, at least injected freshness and only lasted 3 contests.
Lasted two contests too many.

Gimmicks are fun. Once.

--
"Stay with me until the end. Please."
"Not until the end. Always."

TheCodeisBosco posted...

I was looking at that thread about Bacon's AMA, and I saw something that I felt deserved its own thread. Somebody decided to drop this on him:

Can you please for the love of God, stop with the never ending character battles? Or at least put them on a separate part of the site. There is nothing worse than seeing them take over the PotD for months on end. They are awful and boring.

And if the post-contest polls are any indication, there are actually a lot of other people who feel this way.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=4574

If you remember that poll, I would be willing to bet that a lot of people chose the last option because they don't have the option to vote for "Please, no more Character Battles". I don't think that poll is an accurate way of judging the site's interest in future contests, unless the poll has an option for "No, I hate the contests".

--
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as SuperNiceDog, Guru Champ!

Got PS3?

--
http://www.smkgp150cc.com/images/toadspin.gif
SuperNiceDog ate all my bananas.

The quote seems pretty self-explanatory...The contests are bad because they replace the polls. Personally, I find the contests relatively boring, and I find myself never caring about any of the matches or results. All the matches are pretty much the same. The polls, however, are unique and interesting, and it's nice to be able to see a new a new fun result every day. And, unlike with the contest, there is a different subject every day, whereas with the contest, it's as if the poll of the day is replaced by the same question every day: "Which character do you like more?" instead of the more varied polls we usually have. Every time a contest starts, I am always dissapointed, because it means no more polls for what feels like forever.

From: Delseban | #027
All the matches are pretty much the same. The polls, however, are unique and interesting,
Almost every POTD is a re-run of one that's been done before. Some multiple times before.

--
"But you have been given freedom. Freedom to be...outside."
"I am lightning...the rain transformed."

--
It's F-Zero. F-ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERO!
http://img.imgcake.com/RedShifter/falconpngyt.png

I don't get how anyone could think Polls are fun at all.

As far as things go, knowing what games or character people like is way better than...what time they wake up.

Hell, there really is no reason why they can't coexist anyway.

--
http://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr345/Rakaputra/pjbasis.png
SuperNiceDog - 1, pjbasis - 0

I agree that we should have both polls and a contest running at the same time. The only thing, the contest must be located above the non-contest poll. Even though the non-contest poll will have lower vote totals than usual, it will satisfy the people that hate the contests.

--
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as SuperNiceDog, Guru Champ!

GOTD was the best contest I've been here for. Just because Rivalry Rumble sucked doesn't mean the contests are getting stale, it just means we need to get Link away from them. There are at least 4 feasible winners if he's retired.

--
I sold my sig for gas money.
SuperNiceDog just kicked my ass.

LeonhartFour posted...

Almost every POTD is a re-run of one that's been done before. Some multiple times before.

Actually, out of all of the non-contest polls last year, there were 209 original poll ideas out of 301 non-contest polls. Only 92 polls last year were considered re-runs. That means only about 30% of the polls from last year were re-runs.

--
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as SuperNiceDog, Guru Champ!

pjbasis posted...

I don't get how anyone could think Polls are fun at all.

As far as things go, knowing what games or character people like is way better than...what time they wake up.

Hell, there really is no reason why they can't coexist anyway.

why can't we have that?

doing so would shut down that last dumb reason why people actively hate the contests

--
all you need

LeonhartFour posted...

From: dethfdddddh | #002
Because the winner is pretty much predetermined at this point.
So the problem is because of 1.5% of the contest.

If you're a CSD guy, sure. It's just another match with trends and analysis and guru and oracle. To most people, that is not the case.

--
Donny: Are they gonna hurt us, Walter?
Walter: No, Donny. These men are cowards.

we want the damn bracket

--
http://img.imgcake.com/newaccountjpget.jpg

How about we take the character battles and move them over somewhere else.

Then we only do game specific contests on the main page.

--
Burning Spies is one of my Specialties!

POTD is completely, utterly brain-dead boring and I refuse to believe there is anyone, ANYONE, who could be a fan of them. You say the contest is predictable, so that at the least puts it on-par with the polls of the day. It's zero-sum at that point, it shouldn't really matter to you if the contest replaces potd's since they are both bad (from that point of view, I like contests).

Liking the poll of the day is like liking the Top Ten Wanted FAQs list. They are both a sterile function of the site with no character or personality.

--
You beat yourself up with your past. Don't blame yourself, blame the world. Blame God. Blame me.

Like the dude said at the beginning, we know the winner. The average user on this site is not an autist who cares about the morning vote guru trends of ness vs banjo kazooie

--
MRNICEWATCH - Somebody call the Brinks Truck!
I INVENTED POSTING - It cost me a lot...my chain and my watch...

MISTERNICEWATCH posted...

Like the dude said at the beginning, we know the winner. The average user on this site is not an autist who cares about the morning vote guru trends of ness vs banjo kazooie

Great post, would read again.

--
Blitzball fan? Try Captain Tsubasa II (in English) for NES!
Game reviews/articles by me: http://betweenlifeandgames.com

Thanks, I probably would post it again.

--
MRNICEWATCH - Somebody call the Brinks Truck!
I INVENTED POSTING - It cost me a lot...my chain and my watch...

But how can the average user care about a random poll on GameFAQs? How could ANYONE care about that? Now obviously, people who obsess over the contests are weird, but that pales in comparison to what is apparently people who obsess over poll of the day. It's just insane to me.

--
You beat yourself up with your past. Don't blame yourself, blame the world. Blame God. Blame me.

i mean if it allowed characters like Batman, Superman, Spiderman, etc i think it would be more interesting

at this point its the same characters + whatever new characters that come out from new games that people have played since the last contest and i mean it been a long time since a new character has been awesome from a video game and none of them are Link tier on this site. Debatable matches make for good contests and those don't happen too often for my tastes.

--
http://img.imgcake.com/palmerjpgan.jpg
http://img.imgcake.com/Punny/Palmersspritepngqe.png

Because a significant minority of people just want to destroy things.

--
We are living our lives
Abound with so much information

I usually forget what the POTD is about 5 seconds after voting in it, results are always predictable, so I really can't see the majority taking much interest in it.

--
Bah... forget it, i'm not creative enough to think of a clever sig, I'll just write this.

Official character/game battles via message boards, anyone? Maybe it would be better if such polls were no longer plastered on the GameFAQs homepage.

--
"Ah, a party! We haven't had one of those! It could be fun! So... what is a party?" "Well, you drink punch and eat CAKE! ...I think."

MISTERNICEWATCH posted...

Like the dude said at the beginning, we know the winner. The average user on this site is not an autist who cares about the morning vote guru trends of ness vs banjo kazooie

why actively hate when they can just ignore?

seriously, nobody's forcing them to vote or take part in the contest!

the only reasons to go to gamefaqs anyway are if you need some help with a game or if you're into a community here in the boards

people can skip the entire contest by going straight to the search bar or by clicking the links to the platforms or by clicking the boards link

all of which are in the home page

does seeing a banner showing a bunch of video game characters or a boring title and a small picture or two on the POTD box really bring about hate in certain people?

it's a harmless activity that gives away free stuff and takes away nothing from your normal GameFAQs experience! unless you consider the normal POTDs as integral to that but who actually cares if those are there or not?

--
all you need

some of us take on the burden of trying to improve this world

--
Donny: Are they gonna hurt us, Walter?
Walter: No, Donny. These men are cowards.

Do you guys realize how hypocritical you guys are being? Think about all the people who say "The contests are dumb and pointless and forgetable, who cares about them?" And you think the people who say that are obviously stupid, because the contests are actually really interesting, right?

Now, just replace the word "contest" with the word "poll" and that's what everyone in this topic is saying. And believe it or not, there are those of us who find the polls to be interesting. That is the ONLY reason to dislike the contests: because they replace the polls. So, if you're someone who finds the polls interesting, and the contests boring, then that means contest = bad.

To the guy who said the polls are "predictable": Don't people say the same exact thing about the contests? And the response to those people is always "Then why aren't you winning?" I bet that if I asked you to predict the results of every poll, there's no way you'd be able to. So don't call them predictable.

To me, it's interesting to see a new statistic every day. How many people own X, how many people make X life choice, etc. It's not interesting to me to see that some random character is more popular than some other random character...for 2 months.

GANON1025 posted...

But how can the average user care about a random poll on GameFAQs? How could ANYONE care about that? Now obviously, people who obsess over the contests are weird, but that pales in comparison to what is apparently people who obsess over poll of the day. It's just insane to me.

Seconding this. I don't particularly care about the contests. But at the same time, I can't imagine caring enough about the PotD to object to contests on that basis.


--
You put your RESOLVE HAT back on, which conveniently is the same hat as your NORMAL HAT.
{Drakeryn}