Available scrambles from competitions?

[bcube]

Do you think available scrambles from competitions is a good idea? I mean, everybody at home should try the exactly same scrambles that were used in competition then. Is it feasible from technical point of view? If so, why wasn´t created database for this purpose yet? What do you think of it?

PS. Could any organizer of Asian Championship 2010 provide the scrambles from 2x2x2 final round (the round where was broken average world record) please?

 

[Godmil]

I think a database would be a great idea. If I were in a competition I'd love to go back and reexamine the scambles I had, also to see what it's like trying out the scrambles that you see Faz et al. doing on youtube.

 

[Lucas Garron]

This is a WCA topic.

Every time I organize a competition, I *always* save and publish the scrambles. I think it's a good policy, and helps accountability, but the WCA is not ready to enforce it.

There are some projects underway to deal with competition scrambles better, but I'll let their respective authors talk themselves, if they want.

(The scrambles from German Nationals 2010 were going to be thrown away. I have physical copies, the only ones in existence.)

 

[Lucas Garron]

I think a database would be a great idea.

http://www.worldcubeassociation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=820

 

[tim]

Why an extra database? The scrambles should be saved with each solve for each competitor. So if your friend tells you about his awesome 8.32 single, you just go to his WCA profile, click on his single solve and *tada* there's the correct scramble.

 

[EricReese]

I am against the idea myself. Because you know some jerk, when seeing a person he dislikes break a WR, in say, 3x3 speed. He will do the scramble and attempt to show everyone how easy of a scramble it was and try to discredit what said person has done.

I can imagine a lot of drama coming from this, but just my opinion. I don't know anything

 

[Bryan]

Some issues: I use multiple groups in a round. You'd have to keep track of which group people were in (more data to track). If someone's a no-show in group A, I'll just move them to B when they come, but I'd hate to have to update stuff. Also, if someone has a timer malfunction, I need to give them another scramble. Now I have to record that the solve was special and get record the new scramble.

Another issue is security. People always bug me when I haven't gotten the scrambles up. It's because they're not on the webserver during the competition. If people had to publish, someone's going to just upload to webserver.com/competition/scrambles.zip and not link to them until after the competition. Or forget to set permissions, and the scrambles will get out.

If the WCA site allowed you to generate all yours scrambles at once and easily save to a PDF, people might publish more.

 

[tim]

All these issues can be resolved with proper software.

We just need a WCA tool which keeps track of all people (you just drag them around from group A to group B), generates all scrambles etc.

 

[Dene]

I have to agree with what Bryan said. It seems like a lot of work with many impracticalities.

Also, let's be honest nobody cares what the 4x4+ scrambles were, nor can any scrambler guarantee that every cube is scrambled correctly. Personally I think I am one of the better scramblers around as far as getting scrambles right but I'd still hazard that at least 10% of bigcubes that I scramble are done wrong. Now of course this isn't preferable but let us still be honest it doesn't really make much of a difference as far as times for solves are concerned. But what it does mean is that people trying to reconstruct a solve with be screwed because the scramble is different.


Side note just for the sake of it: Perhaps a mis-scramble might result in a World Record (which, let's again still be honest, is a bit of an issue for me as I do a lot of scrambling for Feliks) but it doesn't mean that the cube wasn't scrambled well and the scramble that it ends up being could easily have been the actual scramble anyway.

EDIT: and by "easily" I mean only chance happens to separate the actual scramble from the given false-scramble.

 

[bcube]

Also, let's be honest nobody cares what the 4x4+ scrambles were, nor can any scrambler guarantee that every cube is scrambled correctly.

Agreed. Still, i believe there are events (in my honest opinion major part) people do care about.

Perhaps a mis-scramble might result in a World Record...

On small cubes and other easy-to-solve puzzles it should be perfectly attested and clear (at least in case of fair-play person). That is also a reason why wasnt confirmed this attempt as a world record: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oouuTkBZguY

 

[Dene]

Well yes I was obviously talking about bigcubes.

 

[qqwref]

Sometimes as a scrambler we need to do something quickly (like get a round started/finished) and put someone in another group because it is easier. Sometimes people mess up their timing and we have to give them a new or reversed scramble. If issues like these had to all be recorded, it would take plenty of extra time. Organization is already pretty tricky. I can see publishing scrambles for a competition, but I don't think it's a good idea to ask that every solve has the right scramble saved.