Board 8 > Is Character Battle 10 going to do anything different?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Some two dozen best character/game/series contests over the last 20 years have resulted in only 2 possible outcomes:

1) Some external community floods the polls and a relatively obscure character/game wins (L Block, Draven, Undertale). Happens less than 20% of the time, but when it does, lots of brackets get screwed over, and controversy erupts.

2) No major outside influence means Link/OOT/TLOZ wins for the 100th time. Plenty of B8 representation on the leaderboard but then everyones bored of the same outcome.

Is the management going to do anything different this time, by implementing rule changes to discourage the above two outcomes? Ive noticed the enthusiasm for these contests has largely diminished outside of B8 and its contest statisticians. While B8 may salivate over the opportunity to compute extrapolated stats for recently debuted characters that will never make it past Round Two, the rest of the site is eager for something new.
---

Management seems to be doing something about problem 1 (hope it works) but I don't think problem 2 can really be solved.

It's a popularity contest, people will keep voting for what is popular. If you remove Link it just means some other classic popular character like Mario or Cloud or Snake will take over.

I think what makes this fun is caring about matches other than the last one.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

I think what makes this fun is caring about matches other than the last one.

And with B8 having such agency over the bracket, having a chance in hell at seeing your niche favorites on the front page, even in a gigantic blowout against, like, DK or something.
---

If you only care about the winner and that makes it boring for you, you're never going to like the contests
---

INTERWEBUSER posted...

While B8 may salivate over the opportunity to compute extrapolated stats for recently debuted characters that will never make it past Round Two

can't fuckin wait
---

Issue 2 can't be changed short of overhauling GameFAQs entirely to somehow bring in a ton of new users. The average age of this site is surprisingly high, since it really only appeals to people who got into gaming when text based FAQs were the best source of help you had. Younger people tend to just use youtube for everything, or go on reddit when they actually want to read stuff. So the GameFAQs userbase is mainly people who got into gaming ages ago, and for whatever reason that crowd tends to not like anything they didn't first experience when they were 10
---

the contest hasn't even started

and the whining has already begun

Panthera posted...

Issue 2 can't be changed short of overhauling GameFAQs entirely to somehow bring in a ton of new users. The average age of this site is surprisingly high, since it really only appeals to people who got into gaming when text based FAQs were the best source of help you had. Younger people tend to just use youtube for everything, or go on reddit when they actually want to read stuff. So the GameFAQs userbase is mainly people who got into gaming ages ago, and for whatever reason that crowd tends to not like anything they didn't first experience when they were 10

We have less time.

And also our tastes evolved, and it was easier to make us love a game with a cliche story/gameplay when we were 10 than it is now. Yet, most new games still have cliche story/gameplay.

Panthera posted...

Issue 2 can't be changed short of overhauling GameFAQs entirely to somehow bring in a ton of new users. The average age of this site is surprisingly high, since it really only appeals to people who got into gaming when text based FAQs were the best source of help you had. Younger people tend to just use youtube for everything, or go on reddit when they actually want to read stuff. So the GameFAQs userbase is mainly people who got into gaming ages ago, and for whatever reason that crowd tends to not like anything they didn't first experience when they were 10

I don't really think that's true at all

It's just that most of the stuff we liked when we were 10 is still around and had no real reason to have us stop liking it or be replaced
---

I was being kind of jokey with the exact wording

My generation doesn't hate everything new, we just refuse to think anything new could ever be on par with anything old
---

2) can be handled by limiting entry to original characters that debuted within the last X years. Or has appeared in no more than X number of games.
---

INTERWEBUSER posted...

2) can be handled by limiting entry to original characters that debuted within the last X years. Or has appeared in no more than X number of games.

In other words, a field full of 90% turbo fodder and Nathan Drake probably wins?

Actually let's do this.
---

INTERWEBUSER posted...

2) can be handled by limiting entry to original characters that debuted within the last X years. Or has appeared in no more than X number of games.

INTERWEBUSER posted...

While B8 may salivate over the opportunity to compute extrapolated stats for recently debuted characters that will never make it past Round Two, the rest of the site is eager for something new.

So salivating about stats for weak characters who can't make it past round 1 is bad, but an entire contest about them is great?

If you limit the contest to characters people don't care about, you'll just get a contest people don't care about.

I think one plausible solution would be trying to host contests in a site other than gameFAQs.

I don't mean that we should stop doing ours, but it would be interesting to also see someone trying to do it on say, Reddit, and then geeking about the different stats it would produce.

Probably not, but hopefully they can at least arrange the bracket so Mario or Snake can face Cloud for once. Maybe then the final would be Link/Snake or Link/Mario which would probably end the same, but at least it would be a different final and I dont think Cloud has ever faced Mario at all

As a Link hater, I would love somehow for something to be done about number 2. But the reality is that he's the people's character, whether I like it or not. And I don't. That's why the L-Block victory was so satisfying. It was the only organic rally and I loved it. These outside rallies are another thing and should be stopped if possible.

Like others have said, I guess try to enjoy the journey and not the final result.
---

The only thing that will ever change the LAW is Nintendo somehow producing a string of atrocious Zelda games that drives everyone away from it.

I can totally see that happening.
---

L-Block started internally here on GameFAQs, actually - and quickly spread across the Interwebz. So while that result was heavily influenced by external forces, it was people bandwagoning on what started here. Draven and Undertale were all the outsiders, though - and that's largely why we haven't gotten a proper contest in 3 years.
---

@SBAllen
---

ZeldaTPLink posted...

So salivating about stats for weak characters who can't make it past round 1 is bad, but an entire contest about them is great?

If they're not forced out of Round 2 by Link, Cloud et al you can compute much more meaningful xstats for them.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

If you limit the contest to characters people don't care about, you'll just get a contest people don't care about.

People outside of B8 already don't care about the contest as it is right now. It's obvious Link will win, especially with BOTW just released last year.
---

Hmm, what if we separated Link in to like 16 different Links from 16 different Zelda games, and you were only supporting the version from that game? Would it just be all Link vs Link matches from round 4 on?
---

It would be more like 8 Links, because most Links have appeared in two games.
---

norenxaq posted...

the contest hasn't even started

and the whining has already begun

Are you new to iGen topics?
---

swordz9 posted...

Probably not, but hopefully they can at least arrange the bracket so Mario or Snake can face Cloud for once. Maybe then the final would be Link/Snake or Link/Mario which would probably end the same, but at least it would be a different final and I dont think Cloud has ever faced Mario at all

Yeah, we really need to have Snake, Mario and Cloud opposite of Link.

Mario and Cloud met once, all the way back in 2002 where Mario pulled what later has looked like an all time upset.
---

jp: no. the point needed to be made regardless

JonThePenguin posted...

norenxaq posted...

the contest hasn't even started

and the whining has already begun

Are you new to iGen topics?

I didnt realize who this was. Thank you for that.
---

norenxaq posted...

jp: no. the point needed to be made regardless

For the record, jp, JonPen, and I are all very different people.
---

jp: they aren't posting. you are