Remove Rubik's Cube as an Official Event

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cmhardw said:
Why should we continue to discuss the removal of events under the current setup of no guidelines from the WCA for their inclusion/removal?
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Probably because of historical reasons. There was a regulation that said:
9e1) The decision to add or remove an event is made by the WCA Board, based on feedback by the community.
So here you are, a feedback by the community.
 
I feel like perhaps I am not putting my thoughts into words very well. Allow me to rephrase:

Would it be an improvement to the WCA to create guidelines about what constitutes an "ideal" official event against which we can compare any future event addition/removal request?
 
cmhardw said:
I feel like perhaps I am not putting my thoughts into words very well. Allow me to rephrase:

Would it be an improvement to the WCA to create guidelines about what constitutes an "ideal" official event against which we can compare any future event addition/removal request?
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I agree with this sentiment, but wonder if it is possible, right now, to create such a set of guidelines without it immediately being interpreted in terms of existing discussion. For example, if someone wanted to add a guideline, "WCA events should all be unique in solve strategy", this would be immediately be interpreted as an attempt to get feet excluded. How can you decouple the fundamental discussion of "how do we choose events?" from the practical discussion of "which events should we choose?" In other words, I feel like a discussion of guidelines would just devolve into arguments like, "You can't include guideline X, because it would exclude event Y", which is backwards from what you and I want.
 
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Proposed Guidelines (Rough Draft):

Definitions:
A geometric sequential movement puzzle is a puzzle whose shape is a three dimensional convex solid. Each side of the puzzle must be colored consistently with the WCA regulations such that every face of the geomtric solid has a distinct color in the solved state. The puzzle must be such that there is one possible solved state out of all possible configurations obtainable by twisting the sides/movable parts of the puzzle. Obtaining the solution from a non-solved state requires repeated manipulation of the puzzle's mechanisms to get the puzzle to the pre-defined solved state.

Guidelines all official events must follow:
A) A geometric sequential movement puzzle must be used.
B) The solution of the puzzle must be timed (see WCA regulations for timing procedures)
C) Exactly one puzzle is to be solved while held in both hands, while the competitor is looking at it. Allowances are made, as per the WCA regulations, for competitors who do not have the use of both hands, or who have partial or no use of their sight.
D) The event must be able to be timed and judged, fairly, without the use of video equipment to review whether all WCA regulations were properly followed during a solve.
E) All official events must be held at a World Championship competition, over the span of 3 official competition days. If a 4th competition day is used only for staff members to compete, then all events must be able to be held for all staff members on the one day allotted for staff only competition. In addition, the total number of events cannot exceed 20 events.

Guidlines official events may follow:
1) Guideline C may be varied. A variation may be exactly one of the following allowable:
1a) The competitor may solve exactly one puzzle with one hand, while looking at it.
1b) The competitor may solve exactly one puzzle with both feet, while looking at it.
1c) The competitor may solve exactly one puzzle with both hands, while not looking at it (after a timed study period)
1d) The competitor may solve multiple puzzles with both hands, while not looking at it (after a timed study period)

The WCA board has the final say in all matters regarding the inclusion or removal of an event. The board is limited to allowing events which are allowed by these regulations, and if an event is not approved by the regulations on this list then it is implicitly denied as a potential event.
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I don't have time to write more right now. So far the problems I see is that the variations are less "theoretical" and are written to allow for the current events. We could allow any portion of Guideline C to be varied (in effect allowing 4x4 multiBLD with feet), but allowing this event to be vetoed by the board for violating regulation E (it would take too long as an addition to the current events, unless multiple current events are removed and that is not likely to be enacted by the board).

I'm sure there are more problems too, but now we have a starting point for some Guidelines.
 
I think FMC should then be removed. It clearly violates guideline B). :p
(and also guideline C) with current rules, but this could be fixed by allowing only one cube instead of three.)
 
cmhardw said:
Proposed Guidelines (Rough Draft):
Click to expand...

Wow!
1) Does this text mean that it is or will be used by WCA Board?
2) Regulation E is vague. It depends on organization skills of a limited group of people, it depends on a competitors count which is hardly predictable, and it can be checked only once in two years. And also you can make a strict time limits and qualifications and "deceive" this regulation. Though I agree some "total time" limit must be set somehow.

TMOY said:
I think FMC should then be removed. It clearly violates guideline B). :p
(and also guideline C) with current rules, but this could be fixed by allowing only one cube instead of three.)
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Yeah, and clock.
 
DrKorbin said:
Wow!
1) Does this text mean that it is or will be used by WCA Board?
Click to expand...

This text is in no way representative of the WCA board, their intentions, or their plans for what to do about adding or removing events.

DrKorbin said:
2) Regulation E is vague. It depends on organization skills of a limited group of people, it depends on a competitors count which is hardly predictable, and it can be checked only once in two years. And also you can make a strict time limits and qualifications and "deceive" this regulation. Though I agree some "total time" limit must be set somehow.



Yeah, and clock.
Click to expand...

I can see that there are a number of problems with the text, but I'm glad it is at least a start. Can other people help me edit it? I'm not going to have time to look at this more for another couple days.
 
Here's an attempt to add to the guidelines. Nothing revolutionary, just getting stuff on the page:

-Events must have a "solve" aspect (i.e. not simply a practiced set of motions like magic or cup stacking)
-Events must be able to be judged based on a clear set of regulations.
-Puzzles should be scrambled and solved within a reasonable time frame.
-Puzzles must have an official scramble algorithm that generates random or quasi-random states.
-Events should have a sizeable user base of people who specifically perform the task with the goal of reduced solve time, and using methods that are tailored to that goal (exceptions- FMC, multiBLD).
-Puzzles should be mass produced and accessible to the general population.
-Event choice should encourage participants to push the boundary of what is generally thought to be humanly possible.
 
ellwd said:
I don't quite understand this one; could you elaborate?
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Hmmmm... Yeah, I don't like the wording. Maybe someone can help.

I basically put it there to give some leeway on the inclusion of difficult events, like 5-BLD or MBLD, which might not have a large base of participants. I'd say these events are important to include because they encourage people to attempt amazing things and are a great face to show to the general public, since they showcase what cubers are really capable of.

I also don't think we can include events simply because they are popular and people like to do them. It ideally should showcase some unique skill. Popularity should be a part of the criteria, but it can't be everything. I'm just not finding the words.
 
EMI said:
I also think it should be removed. Another important reason: We've come to a limit where the Rubik's cube world record can't ever be broken again. It is just too fast.
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This implies that we should only have an event in which the WR can be broken... but this is simply not the reason at all the wca has events.
 
BaMiao said:
Hmmmm... Yeah, I don't like the wording. Maybe someone can help.

I basically put it there to give some leeway on the inclusion of difficult events, like 5-BLD or MBLD, which might not have a large base of participants. I'd say these events are important to include because they encourage people to attempt amazing things and are a great face to show to the general public, since they showcase what cubers are really capable of.

I also don't think we can include events simply because they are popular and people like to do them. It ideally should showcase some unique skill. Popularity should be a part of the criteria, but it can't be everything. I'm just not finding the words.
Click to expand...

Ok I see what you're getting at.
How about something like:

"Events should cover a range of difficulty, from simpler puzzles (to encourage participation) to harder disciplines which showcase the limits of puzzle solving"

Edit at will - I'm not precious!
 
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