Board 8 > The Show EP 11 - Wrapping Up CBX & Looking Ahead to GotD! with Leon and Advo

Topic List
Page List: 1, 2
Ngamer64
12/20/18 6:53:34 PM
#1:


No season would be complete without The Show taking both a look back at the last three months and a look ahead to the next three (plus) years of GameFAQs Contests, so that's just what we did. Our expert Leon returned alongside this year's Guru Champ Advokaiser, and it was a heck of an event!

http://board8.speedrunwiki.com/interviews/theshow/20181220-TheShowEP11.mp3

We continued the recent international theme by calling down to Mexico for all Advo's hot takes, which was quite fitting as he was one of the brightest stars of the whole Contest season (he also won the Streak Contest, plus had a great showing in the Oracle).

* what was your favorite thing about Character Battle X?
* breaking down all SB's new twists; were they good or bad, should they return, what could improve them
* looking forward: something small in 2019 like Best System or Best Series II (run over one month), then Game of the Decade in early 2020
* looking WAY forward: 2021 Best Character of the Century (since Jan 1 2000), 2022 Best Game of the 90s, 2023 All Fictional Character Battle, 2024 Best Game Ever ULTIMATE Edition
* breakdown of Zelda/Cloud/Link matches and picking our overall Stars and Turds of the bracket
* our final grades for CBX and where it falls on our all time rankings

Turns out there was TONS to discuss as all four of us had lots of great ideas for how these Contests could be improved and where to go with them next, I hope you'll enjoy our discussion!
---

To catch last week's episode, or anything from the past, visit our home on the web

https://board8.wikia.com/wiki/The_Show
---

PS - Here's the links to those Cool Things Happening on the Board I promised:

Best Game of the 90s Bracket by greatone - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77312325

Ranking the Strength of the CBX Characters by MetalMind - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77318792

Best Series II Bracket by MetalMind - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77293630

Most Important Matches In History by tran - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77315604

The Board 8 Chatroom - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77112790


---
Advo bested even The Show hosts in 2018, yowza!
board8.wikia.com | thengamer.com/xstats
... Copied to Clipboard!
Logience
12/20/18 7:01:04 PM
#2:


2017s Best Year was the best contest we couldve had last year, since the board needed a palate cleanser after Draven and Undertale
Ha ha, controversial opinions in the first five minutes.
---
>unironically playing video games
... Copied to Clipboard!
LordoftheMorons
12/20/18 7:03:00 PM
#3:


Whoops, still need to catch up on the last 1.5 episodes...!
---
Congrats to Advokaiser for winning the CBX Guru Challenge!
... Copied to Clipboard!
KamikazePotato
12/20/18 7:10:21 PM
#4:


tag
---
Black Turtle did a pretty good job.
... Copied to Clipboard!
LeonhartFour
12/20/18 7:33:31 PM
#5:


As I said during recording, it's always an honor to be part of these big episodes, so big thanks to Ng and yoblazer for letting me be part of it again.

also at least it wasn't 4 hours this time...!
---
... Copied to Clipboard!
ZeldaTPLink
12/20/18 8:31:27 PM
#6:


Tag
---
The largest bracket ever was not a problem for Advokaiser. Congratulations!
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 8:41:33 PM
#7:


I agree that four matches a day are a good thing, but we could probably stand to reduce the amount matches per day a little sooner than we have been doing. 2015 was especially hampered by this as we didn't go 1 match a day until the semi finals.

The execution made a bit more sense in this contest since there were more brackets after the division finals, but there was that weird point where we went 1 match a day in legends, but then went to two for losers, and it got really confusing, especially when you're trying to have match pictures submitted in time.

(also, bring back real match pictures, but you knew I'd say this already)
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 8:55:17 PM
#8:


On the note of requiring votes in all four matches as a counter rally measure, I don't agree that it would work much at all in deterring rallies. Mostly because Undertale's rally bumped up vote totals in its surrounding matches.

Undertale's match with Mass Effect 3 drew 55380 votes, while Fallout 3 vs. Life is Strange drew 52185. The day before, Uncharted 2 vs. TWD drew 35938 votes as a comparison. So, most of the people that came for Undertale voted in all four matches, and it's probable they would have done so if they had to do so.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
Advokaiser
12/20/18 8:59:43 PM
#9:


40 minutes into the podcast at the moment. I don't sound nowhere near as bad as I thought I would, especially considering the talking part is my by far my low point when communicating in English (sometimes I had some slight blackouts and stuttered a bit by not finding the right words to keep it going); but I gotta give props to Ng for saving my opinions for last out of everyone since it gave me some time to elaborate my ideas better. Maybe I would've had the microphone closer so I wouldn't sound so quiet, but overall I really liked the outcome.
---
It's an honor being part of Board 8's community.
... Copied to Clipboard!
LeonhartFour
12/20/18 9:19:03 PM
#10:


You did a great job, dude. Your responses were very well thought out, and you weren't afraid to disagree with us when need be.
---
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 9:22:10 PM
#11:


I liked the idea of a break, but I think in addition to it being shorter, run some no stakes bonus matches or some other form of content relating to the contest so people aren't cut off guard when it returns.

This should have been a bigger deal than it actually was, considering the break most likely flipped a match (with a Noble Niner losing!) just by existing in the form it did.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
Ngamer64
12/20/18 9:23:41 PM
#12:


In case the thought of a Series Contest II intrigues you, I posted my full preds + thoughts on Trends & Stuff in MM's thread just now:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/77293630#47


---
Advo bested even The Show hosts in 2018, yowza!
board8.wikia.com | thengamer.com/xstats
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 9:29:45 PM
#13:


Of course, Luster makes my exact same suggestion in absentia. So, here's a relevant rejected match picture from GotD.

GK1O0rA
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
LusterSoldier
12/20/18 9:46:05 PM
#14:


Downloading this episode right now.
---
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as Advokaiser, Guru Champ!
... Copied to Clipboard!
Advokaiser
12/20/18 9:46:46 PM
#15:


LeonhartFour posted...
You did a great job, dude. Your responses were very well thought out, and you weren't afraid to disagree with us when need be.


Thank you very much, Leon. I really appreciate it.

It was a pretty fun experience all around and I'm happy with the outcome.
---
It's an honor being part of Board 8's community.
... Copied to Clipboard!
LusterSoldier
12/20/18 9:55:00 PM
#16:


As of right now, I have just started listening to this episode.
---
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as Advokaiser, Guru Champ!
... Copied to Clipboard!
Ngamer64
12/20/18 9:55:16 PM
#17:


_SecretSquirrel posted...
Undertale's match with Mass Effect 3 drew 55380 votes, while Fallout 3 vs. Life is Strange drew 52185. The day before, Uncharted 2 vs. TWD drew 35938 votes as a comparison.

So 19,442 of the people rallied to the front page bothered to cast a vote in the main match, and of those 16,247 voluntarily chose to vote in another match that day as well. Which comes out to about 83%.

I'll admit that makes our Lock Out The Rallies theory not look so hot. HOWEVER... I'd imagine 95% of those 20k voted for Undertale first, and when they saw that go through they were happy and more willing to continue contributing by voting in the other three as well. Whereas if their UT vote had been initially rejected lots would have said "well then efffffffff this, Mister Marvin!" (because that's how UT players talk) and closed the tab.

Also for Monika specifically, the whole meme was based around Just Her so I'd bet the turnoff rate on hitting that roadblock would have been twice if not thrice what we would have seen in a similar situation for Undertale.


---
Advo bested even The Show hosts in 2018, yowza!
board8.wikia.com | thengamer.com/xstats
... Copied to Clipboard!
Ngamer64
12/20/18 9:57:10 PM
#18:


_SecretSquirrel posted...
So, here's a relevant rejected match picture from GotD.

GK1O0rA

This was a triumph!
---
Advo bested even The Show hosts in 2018, yowza!
board8.wikia.com | thengamer.com/xstats
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 10:03:26 PM
#19:


Ngamer64 posted...
_SecretSquirrel posted...
Undertale's match with Mass Effect 3 drew 55380 votes, while Fallout 3 vs. Life is Strange drew 52185. The day before, Uncharted 2 vs. TWD drew 35938 votes as a comparison.

So 19,442 of the people rallied to the front page bothered to cast a vote in the main match, and of those 16,247 voluntarily chose to vote in another match that day as well. Which comes out to about 83%.

I'll admit that makes our Lock Out The Rallies theory not look so hot. HOWEVER... I'd imagine 95% of those 20k voted for Undertale first, and when they saw that go through they were happy and more willing to continue contributing by voting in the other three as well. Whereas if their UT vote had been initially rejected lots would have said "well then efffffffff this, Mister Marvin!" (because that's how UT players talk) and closed the tab.

Also for Monika specifically, the whole meme was based around Just Her so I'd bet the turnoff rate on hitting that roadblock would have been twice if not thrice what we would have seen in a similar situation for Undertale.


If I remember the format for Games 2015 correctly, you still highlighted all the games and then submitted your final vote. The only difference was that you could skip to the vote button if you felt content with not voting for every match. I think it was easier for them to vote for everything at once, as opposed to voting Undertale, and then going back and voting for Life is Strange or Mario World which would require additional effort. That's another reason I don't think requiring votes for every entrant works out well, because I think a lot of them in past already operated under that assumption.

Now, the Just Monika meme is a bit of a special case that only applies to Monika, so who knows if that turned anyone off. Either way, I'm not sweating Doki Doki Literature Club! in Game of the Decade 2020 just because that would be less likely to apply.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
LusterSoldier
12/20/18 10:06:36 PM
#20:


Ngamer calling out The Show as his favorite part of the contest.
---
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as Advokaiser, Guru Champ!
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 10:08:25 PM
#21:


Now that I'm hitting the picture portion of the show, if we are doing some form of Games contest, I would say that even needing to disclose the entrants ahead of time is not neccessary, because I'd rather Allen use boxarts for early rounds.

Mostly because this was something we ran into in 2009, where I would spend a good amount of time composing a good Round 1 image, but then Allen would give front page credit to some idiot who just cropped the box art and put no effort in. So, doing that like he did in GotD 2010 and Games 2015 was a good call, but I think in 2015, he didn't turn it over to us until Round 3, so we were stuck at looking at the stale box arts a little too long.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
LusterSoldier
12/20/18 10:10:36 PM
#22:


_SecretSquirrel posted...
If I remember the format for Games 2015 correctly, you still highlighted all the games and then submitted your final vote. The only difference was that you could skip to the vote button if you felt content with not voting for every match. I think it was easier for them to vote for everything at once, as opposed to voting Undertale, and then going back and voting for Life is Strange or Mario World which would require additional effort. That's another reason I don't think requiring votes for every entrant works out well, because I think a lot of them in past already operated under that assumption.


That would be a bad idea for the next GotD contest because we're dealing with games that generally have low playrates outside of the elite games in the contest.

In a Games Contest, it's much harder to sell people on the idea of voting for a game they never played, so this forced voting in every match on a particular day will be a bad idea. The casual voters won't be pleased if they had to vote for a game they never played just to vote for another game in a different match that they really love. Especially in the upcoming GotD contest, the average voter probably hasn't played all of the games in the bracket and some voters may be confronted with matches where they have played neither game.
---
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as Advokaiser, Guru Champ!
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 10:16:26 PM
#23:


LusterSoldier posted...
_SecretSquirrel posted...
If I remember the format for Games 2015 correctly, you still highlighted all the games and then submitted your final vote. The only difference was that you could skip to the vote button if you felt content with not voting for every match. I think it was easier for them to vote for everything at once, as opposed to voting Undertale, and then going back and voting for Life is Strange or Mario World which would require additional effort. That's another reason I don't think requiring votes for every entrant works out well, because I think a lot of them in past already operated under that assumption.


That would be a bad idea for the next GotD contest because we're dealing with games that generally have low playrates outside of the elite games in the contest.

In a Games Contest, it's much harder to sell people on the idea of voting for a game they never played, so this forced voting in every match on a particular day will be a bad idea. The casual voters won't be pleased if they had to vote for a game they never played just to vote for another game in a different match that they really love. Especially in the upcoming GotD contest, the average voter probably hasn't played all of the games in the bracket and some voters may be confronted with matches where they have played neither game.

Oh I agree, requiring votes for every game is a bad idea for a theoretical GotD for the 2010s. But at the same time, I'm not sure it was readily obvious you could skip matches in 2015 either, because it didn't seem like there was much variation on same day matches at all.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 10:32:11 PM
#24:


@Advokaiser Which division winner draws CD-i Link?
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
LeonhartFour
12/20/18 10:33:07 PM
#25:


It'd have to be Ganondorf, of course.
---
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 10:34:40 PM
#26:


LeonhartFour posted...
It'd have to be Ganondorf, of course.

On that note, Tifa has to draw Linkle.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
LusterSoldier
12/20/18 10:42:40 PM
#27:


What we should have done during the Thanksgiving break is run some bonus matches to keep the site interested. One idea I came up with is taking all of the division losers and putting them into a mini 8 character bracket. This allows us to run one match per day during the break.
---
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as Advokaiser, Guru Champ!
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 10:50:33 PM
#28:


My opinion on Best System Ever relies on whether or not something truly game changing could happen, and it all depends on the eligibility of a certain system.

Will the Soulja Boy Game Fuze be allowed?
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
Advokaiser
12/20/18 11:03:24 PM
#29:


_SecretSquirrel posted...
@Advokaiser Which division winner draws CD-i Link?


Missingno., so joke votes can cancel each other out.
---
It's an honor being part of Board 8's community.
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 11:37:13 PM
#30:


Advokaiser's take on Game of the 90s actually gets to why I really wanted to push for it and make a mock bracket for it. We saw a lot of the tippy top of the field in the past contests, but the problem is that the tier after that has been severely untested in the past.

All of the past contests having divisions by era means that a lot of the midcard for this format has either been snubbed entirely, or been stuck in SFF matches. Games that have strong potential on this site like Yoshi's Island, Donkey Kong Country, Mortal Kombat, Star Fox (both SNES and 64), Resident Evil, Link's Awakening, Mega Man 3, Mega Man X1-5, Doom, Mario Kart (Super and 64), Sonic 1 and 3, Battletoads, Secret of Mana, any of Kirby's games including Kirby Super Star, Half-Life 1, Final Fantasy 4, 5, 8, and Tactics. This is scratching the surface of what would be the meat of the bracket, so you have the chance to see an overall field that would be oozing excitement. Remember that Street Fighter II was a snub for BGE 15, and it's one match in 2004 suggests it could have made the semi-finals, and that even a lower tier game like DKC2 had a run because that's how strong this 10 year period is.

And then even the fodder would be interesting, and that's actually where I had some of the most fun composing the bracket. A bracket that has games like Donkey Kong '94, Twisted Metal 2, some of the extensive cult RPG classics like Lunar:SSSC and Lufia 2 in its bottom floor would be exciting. And they might actually win matches now that they aren't being stuck in cramped division by eras against the leaders of their own genre. Remember that Suikoden II of all games won a match in 2015 and showed that it was devauled in drawing FF7 in round one and only being able to take 15% there.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/20/18 11:51:38 PM
#31:


My restriction for an all fictional bracket would be one outside character per division, and that's it. At least for the first one.

I feel like anymore would be diluting the very identity of the contest as a video game character contest and into something that would look like the inside of a Hot Topic store. It would also have the benefit of keeping the characters that do get it in as ones with legitimacy as far as video gaming goes. Darth Vader, Spider-Man, Batman, Wolverine, James Bond, Donatello, maybe one of the Simpsons. We only need characters that have been in important, critically acclaimed games that stood the test of time. Limiting it to under 10 forces us to stay focused away from current mobile F2P trash and all of the mass-marketed shovelware that haunted past generations of gaming.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/21/18 12:36:59 AM
#32:


Turds: Metal Gear Solid. It seemed like none of them rose to the occasion in the debated set-ups they had, and Ocelot even lowered himself to nearly getting KOed by Dedede. Snake could have been made noise in the loser's bracket, but instead just towed the line by beating Sonic and that was about it. Oh, and Quiet being one of the weakest characters in the bracket is shockingly bad even for a character I had no expectation for.

Stars: Zelda, Bowser, Alucard, and the hentai rallies.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
LusterSoldier
12/21/18 1:14:11 AM
#33:


I found it amusing that an account called "Fart" made it on the leaderboard for the main contest.
---
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as Advokaiser, Guru Champ!
... Copied to Clipboard!
LeonhartFour
12/21/18 1:42:58 AM
#34:


_SecretSquirrel posted...
Ocelot even lowered himself to nearly getting KOed by Dedede.


hey now Ocelot actually winning a close match regardless of who it's against is praiseworthy
---
... Copied to Clipboard!
LusterSoldier
12/21/18 1:47:19 AM
#35:


I just got done listening to this episode. A few days ago, I sent private messages to both Ngamer and yoblazer with some possible discussion topics for the next Game of the Decade contest. They did talk about most of those topics at some point during the episode, but this was never really discussed in any way:

4. When to run the contest - Early 2020 (before April), or mid/late 2020 instead?

Relevant poll for this discussion - https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/poll/7428

The poll I linked to has some implications for a GotD contest. Looking at the entire history of that poll, we clearly see that a growing percentage of the site does not buy new games at launch anymore. The "on sale/used" option has also gone from about 30% in 2011 to 45% in 2018. The "on sale/used" option also had an impressively low 11% in 2002, so there's been a huge jump for that option even between 2002 and 2011. This means it takes longer for newer games to take off on this site, and longer for newer games to build up a large playrate. It could also be a telling sign that a larger percentage of the site is less willing to pay the full $60 price for a major game release.

Running GotD in mid/late 2020 could be a good thing because it gives games from 2019 more time to build up a larger playrate. Another positive is that any games from 2019 which have serious rally potential would be less relevant by the time GotD starts in mid/late 2020, and it would be harder to rally them.

There is also a case to be made for running GotD in early 2020. Major games released in 2019 will be more relevant at the time of the contest and they'll be more fresh in the minds of the voters, so they might do a little bit better than expected. The early part of 2020 will probably be dominated by other websites discussing Game of the Decade for 2010-2019, so running the contest in early 2020 allows GameFAQs to be part of this discussion. The contest might also get more outside attention from other websites if we ran the contest in early 2020 when the "trendy" thing at the time is getting into heated discussions about Game of the Decade for 2010-2019.


During the episode, Ngamer did mention that he would prefer an early 2020 start date for the next GotD contest, but he never discussed the pros and cons of early 2020 vs. mid/late 2020. I don't think yoblazer even expressed his preference for early 2020 or mid/late 2020 during the episode.

@Ngamer64 @CaptainOfCrush

I'd like to get your opinion on the issue of running the next GotD in early 2020 vs. mid/late 2020. I already laid out some pros and cons for each option.
---
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as Advokaiser, Guru Champ!
... Copied to Clipboard!
CaptainOfCrush
12/21/18 1:50:47 AM
#36:


I'd prefer early 2020 because GotD is the contest I'm most excited about, so I'd want it as early as possible. I don't think it would hurt any games released in 2019, as a decreased playrate will likely be counterbalanced by increased hype due to their recency.
---
Yoblazer: Rekt by Advokaiser in the Guru Contest
https://imgur.com/gByqgPg
... Copied to Clipboard!
_SecretSquirrel
12/21/18 1:58:56 AM
#37:


A late 2020 start would be fine if we could get another mini-contest in the mix in the meantime. An early 2020 start would be better if it's the next contest to happen.

I would just like to see more contests more often, simply because I think part of the reason votals died is because there were such big gaps between contests (and the space between two of the big gaps was the shitty Rivalry Rumble), so I think having more consistent events going on the front page would help everything in general.
---
Agent Triple Zero at your service!
This line reserved for the true greatone, Advokaiser, the 2018 Guru Contest winner.
... Copied to Clipboard!
KamikazePotato
12/21/18 1:59:20 AM
#38:


24 hour matches with 4 matches at onece is the best contest format we've had so far. Should definitely come back.
---
Black Turtle did a pretty good job.
... Copied to Clipboard!
Master Moltar
12/21/18 1:59:45 AM
#39:


enjoy the wins this time ng

coming hard for you next contest
---
Moltar Status: contest hype
Contest Analysis Crew Archives: http://thecrew.speedrunwiki.com/
... Copied to Clipboard!
KamikazePotato
12/21/18 2:15:29 AM
#40:


I'll say this on the changed start time - as an East Coaster, it was super appreciated.
---
Black Turtle did a pretty good job.
... Copied to Clipboard!
MetalmindStats
12/21/18 2:29:51 AM
#41:


Man, I'm hyped. Also, thank you for the shoutouts on my series bracket and my ranking project. It really means a lot to me that you listed them right up there with greatone's bracket and transience's project,
---
Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!
... Copied to Clipboard!
Ngamer64
12/21/18 3:28:32 AM
#42:


Master Moltar posted...
enjoy the wins this time ng

coming hard for you next contest

Yikes, the 2019 intimidation is starting early!

re: Luster's thing - I want the earliest 2020 start possible. As in, announce (on B8) the Contest is coming at the start of December 2019, have nominations going on the main page by the time GotY polls are happening, start the bracketmaking by the middle of January. That gets us in the middle of GotY excitement and "best game of the decade" lists other sites will be running around that time so it will be more topical, plus it will launch more hyped 2019 releases into the bracket which should increase the unpredictability even further.


---
Advo bested even The Show hosts in 2018, yowza!
board8.wikia.com | thengamer.com/xstats
... Copied to Clipboard!
LusterSoldier
12/21/18 4:42:25 AM
#43:


Ngamer64 posted...
re: Luster's thing - I want the earliest 2020 start possible. As in, announce (on B8) the Contest is coming at the start of December 2019, have nominations going on the main page by the time GotY polls are happening, start the bracketmaking by the middle of January. That gets us in the middle of GotY excitement and "best game of the decade" lists other sites will be running around that time so it will be more topical, plus it will launch more hyped 2019 releases into the bracket which should increase the unpredictability even further.


Here's a rough schedule that I would like to see:

December 17th - Announce contest on Board 8 and open up nominations to just Board 8.

December 21st - Place a link to the nomination form on the homepage where it will be seen by the entire site.

January 7th - Take the nomination form offline.

January 10th - Release the bracket and begin the contest entry period.

January 27th - First matches of the contest begins.

The dates could be adjusted slightly depending on what SB wants to do, but that's a rough guideline of what I'd like to see.
---
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as Advokaiser, Guru Champ!
... Copied to Clipboard!
ZeldaTPLink
12/21/18 6:06:15 AM
#44:


Advokaiser posted...
40 minutes into the podcast at the moment. I don't sound nowhere near as bad as I thought I would, especially considering the talking part is by far my low point when communicating in English (sometimes I had some slight blackouts and stuttered a bit by not finding the right words to keep it going); but I gotta give props to Ng for saving my opinions for last out of everyone since it gave me some time to elaborate my ideas better. Maybe I would've had the microphone closer so I wouldn't sound so quiet, but overall I really liked the outcome.


I know how you feel. It used to be when I spoke English my mind tried to say something but I felt like my mouth didn't work at the same speed, so I had to speak slowly not to stutter.

But lately it feels like my mouth managed to catch up. I think it was the effect the year I spent in UK in 2014, but also all those years playing online mafia and doing stuff in forums afterwards. Even if I wasn't talking, I feel like my brain got used to thinking in English more efficiently.

Fun fact: in 2013 I tried to listen to The Show but gave up in the first episode because I couldn't understand half of what the guys said. I only tried again this year. Now it's much easier. This stuff is practice and more practice.
---
The largest bracket ever was not a problem for Advokaiser. Congratulations!
... Copied to Clipboard!
MetalmindStats
12/21/18 7:55:17 AM
#45:


My thoughts about 40 minutes in:

On reflection, the biggest highlight of this contest for me was definitely that night I had the very special privilege of guest-starring on The Show along with greatone. If it has to be something more general, though, I guess I could just say the Board 8 community, which would also encompass things like Zen (CBX MVP) and his wonderful gifs. Also, it's not really related to anything else in this post, but poor Kleenex... The only Crew member Ng didn't mention.

As for my thoughts on CBX's format changes:

First off, I really like the format of multiple simultaneous 24-hour matches per day for most of the contest. It's the biggest element in allowing us to get through suitably large brackets without seeing them drag on unnecessarily, while also avoiding the 12-hour disadvantage of skewing results and practically leaving some time zones out. One thing I would say is that the middle rounds (3 and 4) don't need to fly by so quickly. To me, it just doesn't give enough respect to the third and fourth-round characters to hold their own, and I don't like the idea of having multiple divisions' worth of matches in one day. For CBX in particular, though, I felt that this quickened pace was reasonable because of the legends and losers brackets. In future contests without legends and losers brackets, though, I would rather see rounds 3 and 4 elongated a bit. I would reduce round 3 from four to two matches per day and round 4 from two to one match per day, which would produce a 47-day 1v1 bracket with 128 entrants (without legends/losers), versus 39 days with the current format (or 31 versus 23 for a 64-entrant bracket, such as a potential Series II).

Second, and somewhat related, I do like the idea of standardizing early-round match pictures, but for the future, Allen should call on the picsmiths among us to produce the best and fairest possible standardized renders. Having anime schoolboy Joker versus constipated Claire just wasn't right, and that's before getting to the poorly photoshopped pics with obvious artifacts. In my perfect world, a future character battle would have CBX-style standardized pictures for rounds 1 and 2, one match per day of sprites and one match per day of models in round 3 (because I like the sprite round and I really like the idea of characters looking as they do in-game, but I also want to consider fairness), and fairly freeform user-created pictures from round 4 on.

I'm rather positive on registered users gaining double votes. That artificial votal bump does feel nice, and it's a good way to encourage people to register and start engaging more fully with GameFAQs, as well as diluting rallies. I can't think of any major negatives - the registered bonus just isn't something I would mourn too much if it went.

As for forcing people to vote in every match, I tend to agree with the consensus that it's good in character battles and the like, but shouldn't be kept for a GotD II, for example, for the reasons you all stated already (side note: I highly doubt FTL makes such a field - it's not a GameFAQs type of game at all, and not a B8 favorite either). I also disagree with the assertion that this is any sort of effective counter to rallies, excepting the unique situation of Just Monika of course. Even in a match like Undertale vs. Mass Effect 3, the ralliers are just going to redouble their efforts if they're not on pace to win.

Finally, I still think the break was a good idea due to the holidays, but it did kill a lot of CBX's momentum, which was reflected in a permanent votal decrease. What I would do instead is both make the break shorter (Thanksgiving Thursday-Sunday would have sufficed) and continue with bonus matches on the break days, so as to help casual visitors realize there's still a contest going on.

Also Advokaiser, you've been doing great so far! Don't fret about your voice. I bet many of us don't like the way our voices sound to others either - I know I don't!
---
Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!
... Copied to Clipboard!
MetalmindStats
12/21/18 8:07:11 AM
#46:


I meant to touch on the changed match start time, too.

I really think some of us are overstating the role of an early evening match start (in the US) in killing trends. The truth is that, with the explosion of mobile phones, most people will pretty much vote when they want to regardless, and that alone has been by far the biggest cause of the sad death of trends. Next on the list, in my opinion at least, has been the remainder of GameFAQs' userbase aging and thus becoming more set in their tastes, as the Halo fans and the like have mostly departed. I would merely put the start time at a distant third, playing a minor role in securing the demise of trends. To me, the best start time given this is that which allows the largest portion of users to get their votes in within the first hour or so, which would be something like 2 PM PT.
---
Hail the reigning Guru champ, Advokaiser!
You proved yourself more statistically metal-minded than I ever have been - well done!
... Copied to Clipboard!
ZeldaTPLink
12/21/18 8:10:45 AM
#47:


I enjoyed the new start time because it was 9PM to me (10 PM after DST started), which is much better than the 0 AM/1 AM it used to be.
---
The largest bracket ever was not a problem for Advokaiser. Congratulations!
... Copied to Clipboard!
LusterSoldier
12/21/18 8:33:42 AM
#48:


MetalmindStats posted...
First off, I really like the format of multiple simultaneous 24-hour matches per day for most of the contest. It's the biggest element in allowing us to get through suitably large brackets without seeing them drag on unnecessarily, while also avoiding the 12-hour disadvantage of skewing results and practically leaving some time zones out.


Getting rid of 12-hour matches was great because vote totals were getting pretty bad by the time we made it to 2015, so we don't need something like 12-hour matches reducing our already bad vote totals even more.

MetalmindStats posted...
I really think some of us are overstating the role of an early evening match start (in the US) in killing trends. The truth is that, with the explosion of mobile phones, most people will pretty much vote when they want to regardless, and that alone has been by far the biggest cause of the sad death of trends. Next on the list, in my opinion at least, has been the remainder of GameFAQs' userbase aging and thus becoming more set in their tastes, as the Halo fans and the like have mostly departed. I would merely put the start time at a distant third, playing a minor role in securing the demise of trends. To me, the best start time given this is that which allows the largest portion of users to get their votes in within the first hour or so, which would be something like 2 PM PT.


I remember when matches used to start at 3:00 AM EST, which was pretty brutal back in the day as I wasn't able to stay up that late except on weekends and holidays. The 3:00 AM start time could help improve trends somewhat, as it happens when Europe is starting to wake up. This would allow Europe to give some characters/games an early boost before the US morning vote rush begins.
---
Luster Soldier --- ~Shield Bearer~ | ~Data Analyst~
Popular at school, but not as cool as Advokaiser, Guru Champ!
... Copied to Clipboard!
Leonhart4
12/21/18 3:44:39 PM
#49:


... Copied to Clipboard!
NowItsAngeTime
12/21/18 4:27:57 PM
#50:


listening in the car
---
Congrats Advokaiser for believing in Cloud in the Characters 2018 Guru
ISFJ Big on Visual Novels, Anime, Video games. Twitter: superange128
... Copied to Clipboard!
Topic List
Page List: 1, 2