Lighting Problems at Comps!

[abcs9]

Hey guys,

I was at SacCubing 2 yesterday and it was a great comp. My only complaint is that the lighting was horrible! You couldn't tell the difference between orange and red, especially becuase half the people were using GAN full bull brights. Is there some sort of regulation on this and is there going to be a rule for changing the lighting? Thoughts?

 

[Mike Hughey]

Regulation 7c already covers this. Organizers are supposed to try to provide good lighting if possible. But since we generally operate on a not-for-profit volunteer basis, sometimes bad lighting can't be helped - you have to learn to deal with it the best you can. It's part of the competition experience.

I'm convinced that, as an older cuber, I tend to be more affected by lighting than the average younger pair of eyes. I've been to a number of competitions where I was significantly affected by the lighting. But generally when this happens I'm still just grateful that the organizers did the best they could.

 

[One Wheel]

I know that head-mounted cameras are ok, but what about head-mounted lights, or even on a stand like a camera on a tripod? I thought I'd seen somewhere they weren't allowed, but I can't find that in the regulations. My only official feet solve was slowed down because I inserted an f2l pair with a red in place of an orange. I would certainly use supplemental light if I knew it was allowed.

 

[Underwatercuber]

I know that head-mounted cameras are ok, but what about head-mounted lights, or even on a stand like a camera on a tripod? I thought I'd seen somewhere they weren't allowed, but I can't find that in the regulations. My only official feet solve was slowed down because I inserted an f2l pair with a red in place of an orange. I would certainly use supplemental light if I knew it was allowed.

I saw this mentioned somewhere but it's considered an unfair advantage unless you provide one for every other competitor.

 

[JustinTimeCuber]

just get better eyes

 

[Mike Hughey]

I know that head-mounted cameras are ok, but what about head-mounted lights, or even on a stand like a camera on a tripod? I thought I'd seen somewhere they weren't allowed, but I can't find that in the regulations. My only official feet solve was slowed down because I inserted an f2l pair with a red in place of an orange. I would certainly use supplemental light if I knew it was allowed.

2i) While competing, competitors must not use electronics or audio equipment (e.g. cell phones, MP3 players, dictaphones, additional lighting).

 

[One Wheel]

Hmm. Any chance that could be reconsidered? I mean, you're obviously allowed to resticker your cube with shades that you can see better, or use corrective lenses, or modify your cube to improve its performance, and all of those could be considered unfair advantages if you wanted to. Additional lighting, unlike, say, an mp3 player, would just be used to correct a deficiency in the venue, not add anything to the solve. If everyone were allowed to have one if they wanted then it wouldn't be unfair any more than allowing stickerless cubes would be unfair (one of the original justifications for disallowing stickerless cubes, I believe?)

 

[Kit Clement]

Hmm. Any chance that could be reconsidered? I mean, you're obviously allowed to resticker your cube with shades that you can see better, or use corrective lenses, or modify your cube to improve its performance, and all of those could be considered unfair advantages if you wanted to. Additional lighting, unlike, say, an mp3 player, would just be used to correct a deficiency in the venue, not add anything to the solve. If everyone were allowed to have one if they wanted then it wouldn't be unfair any more than allowing stickerless cubes would be unfair (one of the original justifications for disallowing stickerless cubes, I believe?)

How is anyone supposed to know what a venue's lighting situation would be in advance? Should competitors bring lighting equipment to every competition they attend, even if they might be traveling a long distance? If allowed in practice, some very few competitors would be prepared, and most would not. Just because everyone can potentially use such equipment does not make it a fair rule. The things you mention (re-stickering, lenses, etc.) are things that some competitors do regardless of lighting at a competition, additional lighting is entirely circumstantial.

 

[SpeedCuber71]

Bad lighting, reminds me of 'Maharashtra Championship'. You have no idea how BAD that competition was. Everything about it was, bad.

 

[One Wheel]

How is anyone supposed to know what a venue's lighting situation would be in advance? Should competitors bring lighting equipment to every competition they attend, even if they might be traveling a long distance? If allowed in practice, some very few competitors would be prepared, and most would not. Just because everyone can potentially use such equipment does not make it a fair rule. The things you mention (re-stickering, lenses, etc.) are things that some competitors do regardless of lighting at a competition, additional lighting is entirely circumstantial.

I'm not talking about big tripod lights, just a flashlight no bigger than an extra cube. Most cell phones have flashlights built in. Personally if extra lighting were allowed I would bring a headlamp to every competition and hope that I didn't need to use it. There are differences in eyes that make light more of an issue for some people (mostly older people) than for others, and for that reason I would argue that disallowing lights is actually the unfair position.

 

[Mike Hughey]

There is another problem with allowing personal lighting, though. That is the problem of introducing shadows for other competitors. Your light might suddenly create shadows for someone next to you, and an increase of light from just one direction can mess up perception of colors as much as dim light can. And to make matters worse, these lights from neighboring competitors would go on and off mid-solve, since different people start at different times. I think allowing personal lighting would be a very bad idea for this reason.

If we allow personal lighting, there's really no reason anymore to prevent people from using flash photography.

 

[Gomorrite]

Regulation 7c already covers this. Organizers are supposed to try to provide good lighting if possible. But since we generally operate on a not-for-profit volunteer basis, sometimes bad lighting can't be helped - you have to learn to deal with it the best you can. It's part of the competition experience.

I'm convinced that, as an older cuber, I tend to be more affected by lighting than the average younger pair of eyes. I've been to a number of competitions where I was significantly affected by the lighting. But generally when this happens I'm still just grateful that the organizers did the best they could.

It seems to me that regulations (or rather the guidelines?) include many requirements for competitions that are recommendations rather than strong requirements. So I wonder if the WCA has considered creating categories of competitions, so that those for which organizers are willing to hold higher standards (recommendations become requirements) could get some special rating by the WCA which could also attract more competitors (could also include min venue size and min number of puzzles).

 

[VenomCubing]

Honestly, since bad lighting is a disadvantage to everyone, it is fair. It is only unfair if some stations had better lighting then others.

 

[GenTheSnail]

Let's say that Feet is being held and I really want to do well, but the lighting sucks. Can I set up a few lights for everyone who is competing in Feet? This gives the competitors the same benefit of good lighting, allows me to at least have the potential to do well, and doesn't create extra flash-shadows since the lights will be on for the whole fifteen minutes it takes to hold Feet.

Or would I only be allowed to do this if I provide additional lighting for everyone throughout the entire competition, as opposed to one event, since I would have been excluding which events I provide light for based on whether I like the event or not? Would providing extra lighting for everyone even be regulation legal assuming the staff is okay with it?

 

[One Wheel]

There is another problem with allowing personal lighting, though. That is the problem of introducing shadows for other competitors. Your light might suddenly create shadows for someone next to you, and an increase of light from just one direction can mess up perception of colors as much as dim light can. And to make matters worse, these lights from neighboring competitors would go on and off mid-solve, since different people start at different times. I think allowing personal lighting would be a very bad idea for this reason.

If we allow personal lighting, there's really no reason anymore to prevent people from using flash photography.

The issue of creating shadows for other competitors is a serious one that I hadn't considered. It would be nice to figure out a good solution. @GenTheThief 's solution seems like a reasonable one, albeit probably very expensive for that competitor. Could it work to specify that only head-mounted lights are allowable, since they would be more narrowly focused on one station?

 

[efattah]

I think it is a serious issue. Either you should be able to bring your own lamp, or if electronics are really not allowed, then your own candle! This creates a fire problem though so clearly LED lamps are a better option.