Will other speed solving methods gradually die out?

Rubuscu

Rubuscu

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Hi there!

As we know, CFOP is the most popular 3x3 speedsolving method. What prompts many cubers to opt for CFOP is its sheer simplicity and algorithm-based approach. However, is the massive percentage of CFOP users the result of its own merits, or are there other factors involved. In my opinion, CFOP will continuously become more and more popular and kill other methods like Roux and ZZ. As there are better sources to dive into CFOP, and since majority of cubers already use CFOP, this drags new cubers towards CFOP. So, if it continues, it is very likely CFOP will eventually dominate 3x3 speedsolving.

I think more or less all of us want diversity in the cubing community and so, do not want this to happen. What are your predictions and opinions?
 
Rubuscu said:
Hi there!

As we know, CFOP is the most popular 3x3 speedsolving method. What prompts many cubers to opt for CFOP is its sheer simplicity and algorithm-based approach. However, is the massive percentage of CFOP users the result of its own merits, or are there other factors involved. In my opinion, CFOP will continuously become more and more popular and kill other methods like Roux and ZZ. As there are better sources to dive into CFOP, and since majority of cubers already use CFOP, this drags new cubers towards CFOP. So, if it continues, it is very likely CFOP will eventually dominate 3x3 speedsolving.

I think more or less all of us want diversity in the cubing community and so, do not want this to happen. What are your predictions and opinions?
Click to expand...
I hope they don't, but if they do, they will never be completely dead.
 
I definitely don't see CFOP making other methods go extinct - Roux has grown a lot in popularity in the past couple years and it's still growing, and in my opinion it has more potential than CFOP in the long run.

On a separate note though, all methods we have right now leave a lot to be desired. I feel that speedsolving methods are still extremely young and will undergo a lot of evolution in the future. I think someday we'll be using significantly fewer moves to solve the 3x3 in a way that CFOP and Roux can only dream of!
 
Rubuscu said:
it is very likely CFOP will eventually dominate 3x3 speedsolving.
Click to expand...
hard disagree. CFOP has been dominating, but it's slowly been being worked away at. From speedcubing being revives in the 00's where Jessica Fridrich's website for CFOP was practically the only resource, CFOP has been dominating. And it's not hard to see why, that website played a significant role in the entire hobby coming to exist again. The percentage of Roux, ZZ and perhaps Petrus (though I'm not sure) has only increased over time. When I started cubing, CFOP was the only world-class method and you were a clown for using anything else. Yes, the big 4 existed back then, but nobody was at a high level with even Roux, and I remember seeing Roux solvers being told to switch to CFOP. I take a break and when I come back, Roux is widely accepted as a viable method at the highest levels, and it has massively grown in popularity.

Yes, CFOP is dominating, And it has been dominating for years. But over time, CFOP has been progressively becoming less and less dominant. The CFOP monopoly is falling, and I only predict that to continue.
 
Well i can say it can be CFOP keep more dominant but other method just still alive,
or other method getting more dominant but CFOP still more dominant
or other method getting more dominant than CFOP and Big 3 still the same(or there gonna be added for Big 4)
And there should be no way Roux and ZZ died because CFOP
 
Rubuscu said:
Hi there!

As we know, CFOP is the most popular 3x3 speedsolving method. What prompts many cubers to opt for CFOP is its sheer simplicity and algorithm-based approach. However, is the massive percentage of CFOP users the result of its own merits, or are there other factors involved. In my opinion, CFOP will continuously become more and more popular and kill other methods like Roux and ZZ. As there are better sources to dive into CFOP, and since majority of cubers already use CFOP, this drags new cubers towards CFOP. So, if it continues, it is very likely CFOP will eventually dominate 3x3 speedsolving.

I think more or less all of us want diversity in the cubing community and so, do not want this to happen. What are your predictions and opinions?
Click to expand...
CFOP will not kill off the other methods. There are reasons why the other methods exist: people find them more comfortable with them than CFOP.
CFOP is algorithm-based; roux is more intuitive with only 42 LL algs, and ZZ allows you to orient all of the edges with so that no rotations are required with 42 algs also. People may be more comfortable with intuition or orientation than an algorithm-based approach.
And a lot of the other methods simplify or enhance the big 3, or are their own special method.
 
I fail to see how other methods will die out, if anything CFOP will begin to lose its dominance as other method are further developed. The reason the CFOP is dominate is because that's the method most people use, those people usually don't recommend or/and experiment with other methods thus, when people just getting into cubing look for a method, they just assume CFOP is the safest bet and will give them the best results. While it is the safest method to go with as there is a ton of optimization in algsets, tons of resources, loads and loads of channels with or dedicated to CFOP content, thousands more users than any other method (i:e bigger community) that doesn't mean you can't succeed with a lesser method, take Roux. Not only does it have the WB 3x3 OH Single, WB 3x3 OH Ao5. WB 3x3 single, and a sub-WR 3x3 Ao5 (despite a DNF). All of this was done by one person (Hello @UNO_FASY) which clearly shows that it doesn't matter what the majority says, CFOP isn't necessarily the best path.

I believe cubing will continue to gain more diversity and more cubers will begin to switch to other methods after seeing the potential and uniqueness of other methods. As more experienced cubers begin to use these other methods (Roux, ZZ, ZZ-CT, APB, Mehta, Nautilus) it will start to reach more and more cubers/new cubers and will in turn cause them to gain interest. Along the way some of those will switch to those methods and help spread it even more until one day it will have a very big influence and CFOP is no longer the default (Roux is quickly getting to this level).



I'll share my story: When I started cubing all I knew was CFOP so naturally I switched from LBL and gradually went to CFOP. Once I joined these forums, I discovered that there were other methods with users. I kept using CFOP because that's what I was used to and didn't see a point in switching although I did start using FreeFOP because doing a cross every time is stupid. I first began to really notice other methods when I saw @Cubing Forever using Mehta and making pretty good progress with it and considered switching but I was hesitant because of the weird ergonomics and out of all the different alg sets none of them really sounded that interesting.

When Nautilus was reintroduced I seriously considered switching to it because it looked really cool, I even learned NCLL and planned to switch to it on New Year's 2022, but I wasn't a big fan of NSB and NLS isn't much better than, say CFOP LS. I began searching for another method and when APB was proposed I began to do some solves with it and it began to grow on me until I eventually decided to switch to it, I believe I was the first to main the method (@Athefre correct me if I'm wrong) and I really enjoy it. I personally like variation in my solving and I use a lot of less common method, Lin for squan, Top-first for pyra, APB on 3x3, Hoya on 4x4-5x5, and I'm hoping to switch to LEOR-b for OH.

So no, I don't think other methods will die, they'll just get more popular.
 
I would say that maybe partly the opposite could happen, which is that CFOP loses popularity (definitely won't die though). In the past, CFOP was and partly still is the only well documented method, so it would've been very hard to actually learn any other method. Now we have things like the ZMS and multiple other discord servers for other methods, and the methods themselves are constantly being worked on and improved.
I can see a future where about an equal number of people use CFOP, Roux and ZZ.
 
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