Online Cubing Competition

[LarsN]

I appreciate the initiative. I don't think we have to be hostile just because someone wants to hold a non-WCA competition. Especially since we are talking about puzzles which are not part of the WCA events. That's how I understood the outlines of the competition anyway.

I doubt that people will want to pay for an online competition. I know I wouldn't. Maybe you should let the competition run for a while with no entry fee and no prizes. People rarely cube because of the prizes.

 

[CubingCompetitions]

I detect a note of sarcasm, lol
however, it's true, I don't need to have anything to do with it. It doesn't add or detract to the way an online competition is run.

Two things:
One, if your going to hold an online CUBING Competiton then perhaps you should be familiar with the World Cubing Assosciation
and Two, It adds to your credibility, there really is no real incentive for people to compete.
Sure there are prizes, but what are they again? Maybe instead of giving two certain prizes you could let the winner choose?

And if you only detect a note.... You will soon be drowning and not know it...

I am familiar with it, but so what? and you people are not getting it.
1. there will be 10 events per competition
2. There will be a prize for 1st place of each event
3. contestants are only allowed to win 2 events
4. A winner can choose either the QJ dodecahedron or QJ Trajber's octahedron (atleast for this event)
does that explain anything?

and about the sarcasm talk: settle down dude, me saying "i detect a note of sarcasm" was MY sarcasm,

 

[CubingCompetitions]

I appreciate the initiative. I don't think we have to be hostile just because someone wants to hold a non-WCA competition. Especially since we are talking about puzzles which are not part of the WCA events. That's how I understood the outlines of the competition anyway.

I doubt that people will want to pay for an online competition. I know I wouldn't. Maybe you should let the competition run for a while with no entry fee and no prizes. People rarely cube because of the prizes.

Yes, that's what I have decided to do. there will be no entry fee for atleast the first competition. I'm hoping that someday when I have enough contestants and a professional website, to have all competitions free, and cover the costs by selling add space on the website. but that is a long way in the future

 

[Deleted member 4527]

very impractical idea. no point paying if you can compete for free...

forgot to reply to this one, the only reason to pay is because there are prizes, hopefully, I will get a professional site in the future and advertisements will pay for the cost so that there will be no admission fee.

I appreciate your enthusiasm and taking initiatives, but people don't compete for the prizes, and they get prizes at WCA competitions too, where it's an actual competition that you can also meet new people etc. And it's funny how someone who isn't into speedcubing is trying to host a cubing competition. There will be a lot of details to work out and cheating is very possible. How do you know they are using the scrambles provided? What if people were afk-ing when the scrambles were given? Things like that make online competitions difficult and people will definitely be reluctant to pay for a competition like this. And what events are you exactly hosting?

 

[Bryan]

1. there will be 10 events per competition
2. There will be a prize for 1st place of each event
3. contestants are only allowed to win 2 events
4. A winner can choose either the QJ dodecahedron or QJ Trajber's octahedron (atleast for this event)
does that explain anything?

So, if you have three events, and first and second place are:

Event 1: Alice and Bob
Event 2: Alice and Charlie
Event 3: Alice and Daniel

If you limit Alice to two prizes, how do you decide who's going to get the third prize?

 

[Dene]

You keep telling people to "calm down" and the like, yet I don't see anyone being not calm. Am I missing something here?

 

[CubingCompetitions]

1. there will be 10 events per competition
2. There will be a prize for 1st place of each event
3. contestants are only allowed to win 2 events
4. A winner can choose either the QJ dodecahedron or QJ Trajber's octahedron (atleast for this event)
does that explain anything?

So, if you have three events, and first and second place are:

Event 1: Alice and Bob
Event 2: Alice and Charlie
Event 3: Alice and Daniel

If you limit Alice to two prizes, how do you decide who's going to get the third prize?

I have been pondering this problem, and so far I can't come up with anything fair. The only way I can think of is not giving away prizes, but then if someone amazing won all 10 that wouldn't be fair to anyone. The best thing I can think of right now is who was closest to the first place time. With a ratio not a time, I'm not sure that was a good explanation though.

 

[CubingCompetitions]

You keep telling people to "calm down" and the like, yet I don't see anyone being not calm. Am I missing something here?

ummm........ I just think it's kind of stupid that people keep commenting about grammar and sarcasm, it's rather pointless,

 

[jms_gears1]

You keep telling people to "calm down" and the like, yet I don't see anyone being not calm. Am I missing something here?

ummm........ I just think it's kind of stupid that people keep commenting about grammar and sarcasm, it's rather pointless,

Well from what ive read there has been one(?) comment on sarcasm.
And grammar is kind of important in this context. If you are going to run a competition, especially one you plan on charging someone, how can people expect you to run it right if you cant even use the right grammar?

Dont get me wrong, Its not about ability, its more about presentation.

 

[CubingCompetitions]

Ok, yes only one comment on sarcasm, but my only grammar error was leaving out one little word that should have been there. and I'm getting tired of defending myself against this stuff and I don't know why you people care so much. lol.

 

[LewisJ]

Ok, yes only one comment on sarcasm, but my only grammar error was leaving out one little word that should have been there. and I'm getting tired of defending myself against this stuff and I don't know why you people care so much. lol.

We care so much because you appear not to. You're handling yourself completely wrong to be taken seriously as if you've got everything figured out and can run this thing well - you're brainstorming for how to run the competition in the same thread where you were trying to get people to pay you for the competition! You're obviously not very involved with the speedsolving community. Most people are not here to make money and win prizes, most people are just here to have fun and compete once in a while. For every person here who actually wins events in competitions there are several who are nowhere close to that.

Also, a further display of your separation from our community:
"I don't have to be part of, know about, or care anything about WCA. I don't know anything about it"
~24 hours later:
"I am familiar with [WCA], but so what? and you people"
Calling us "you people" is distancing yourself a bit, don't you think?

And let's analyze your money proposition with some elementary probability/game theory.
Say we have 20 entrants all paying $1, and a $20 prize.
Say a dozen entrants haven't much of a shot at the prizes, say 1%. Expected value of competition:
-1 + 0.01*20 = -$0.80
Say we have five each with a 3% chance.
-1 + 0.03*20 = -$0.40
Say we have one with a 10% chance.
-1 + 0.10*20 = $1.00
One with a 20% chance
-1 + 0.20*20 = $3.00
And one with a 43% chance
-1 + 0.43*20 = $7.60
Of course this is just madeup data, but 17/20 participants expect to gain nothing out of this. You can't use prizes as incentive to pay.

 

[Dene]

Ok, yes only one comment on sarcasm, but my only grammar error was leaving out one little word that should have been there. and I'm getting tired of defending myself against this stuff and I don't know why you people care so much. lol.

You are also missing an awful lot of capitalisations out of your typing. That looks very messy, and is tantamount to "noob".

 

[CubingCompetitions]

Eeeekkk!! the grammar Nazis are after me!!!
If you want to talk about grammar, start another thread please. BTW, nice misspelling of capitalizations, unless that's a British spelling or something. And to let you know, I think you would be hard pressed to find a majority of posts that have perfect spelling, grammar and punctuation.

 

[Rune]

Eeeekkk!! the grammar Nazis are after me!!!
If you want to talk about grammar, start another thread please. BTW, nice mispelling of capitalizations, unless that's a British spelling or something. And to let you know, I think you would be hard pressed to find a majority of posts that have perfect spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Do you know the difference between "capitalisation" and "capitalization"?

 

[riffz]

BTW, nice mispelling of capitalizations, unless that's a British spelling or something.

Nice misspelling of misspelling. LOL.

 

[cincyaviation]

Eeeekkk!! the grammar Nazis are after me!!!
If you want to talk about grammar, start another thread please. BTW, nice mispelling of capitalizations, unless that's a British spelling or something. And to let you know, I think you would be hard pressed to find a majority of posts that have perfect spelling, grammar and punctuation.

I would find it very odd for Dene to start a grammar thread, to be honest. It just doesn't seem to fit his personality.

 

[CubingCompetitions]

Ok guys, this discussion has wandered a long ways. I will probably not answer anyone else on this thread. I will be back with a honed, perfected, and better organized website, rules, and way of running this competition. If you have any serious stuff to say CONCERNING THE COMPETITION, you can PM me I guess. Lol, how was my grammar? (That was rhetorical, don't answer)

 

[Dene]

It isn't a matter of being perfect, but making those small efforts to make a post look nicer. It's the difference to being seen as a noob with a dumb idea, and being seen as someone who has a serious and legitimate idea. I'm actually trying to help you, believe it or not.

 

[shelley]

Lot of posts in this thread but only a few have touched on (and you have not addressed) what I think is a huge concern: how will you prevent cheating? If you're letting people do their solves and report their times from home, people can cheat, particularly if they have something to lose/gain. You can ask for a video, but people can still practice scrambles beforehand.

You probably weren't around for this, but a long time ago the Sunday Contest was much smaller than it is now. It was and still is free to join, but the winner of each week's contest used to get a small prize (a set of Cubesmith stickers). Eventually some people started reporting really fast results just because they wanted a free set of stickers, and now the Sunday Contest no longer awards prizes.

If you're asking people to pay $2 to join and only one or two people actually have a chance of winning the prize, it is very likely that there will be cheating (well, given that anyone actually decides to enter that is). How will you prevent it? Until you can satisfactorily address this nobody's going to pay to enter a competition that someone else might unfairly win.