Official confirmation of the removal of Magic and Master Magic events

[Ranzha]

Skewb could be interesting, though. Apparently some people are pretty good at it.

I await the day.

 

[cubecraze1]

I love Master Magic but skewb's cool too.

 

[Kirjava]

I would rather we removed more events before adding others ^_^

 

[tx789]

I really care much about this, now.

 

[Bob]

I would rather we removed more events before adding others ^_^

Yep. Feet, 6, 7, and maybe even 5BLD. :x

 

[Kirjava]

Yep. Feet, 6, 7, and maybe even 5BLD. :x

Multi and 4BLD too.

 

[Cubenovice]

Yep. Feet, 6, 7, and maybe even 5BLD. :x

Multi and 4BLD too.

Is this because these events take a long time?

I do not see this as an issue as these events can be normally scheduled and I think there is not really an judging issue.
Multi and Big BLDs are the most extreme tests of puzzle solving skills and deserve to be officially recognized.

If as an organizer you feel these events take up too much time: do not schedule them.
This is already often the case.

If you do hold them you still have several options:
- Assign a time slot (reference to German Nationals where there is a 90 minute slot to do your 4 and 5 BLD attempts)
- Find a judge and solve whenever you like
- Overlap them in the same time slot; for instance FMC – Big BLD

As mentioned before: I would actually like to see bigger BLD become official.
If you can solve these you deserve the official recognition.
As always it would be up to the organisers to schedule it and they can even set limits / qualifications.
Reference again to German Nationals: to participate in 4 and 5 BLD you need to have an official success on 4 or 5 BLD (probably done to reduce the number of participants as this is a large competition)

I agree on feet though: to high of a “gimmick” factor.

 

[porkynator]

Yep. Feet, 6, 7, and maybe even 5BLD. :x

Multi and 4BLD too.

And then Megaminx, Pyraminx and Clock: it's World CUBE Association and they aren't even cubes. And Square-1, which most of times isn't a cube either. Even better: let's remove everything except 3x3 speedsolve!

Removal of Magics makes sense. I would understand the reasons for removing 6x6 and 7x7: they are big cubes like 5x5 and 4x4, just bigger; you solve in a similar way, it just takes longer, so they are redundant.
But why removing feet? Because you don't like it? Because a feet solve looks silly? There are many people who think the whole Rubik's cube thing is silly. Moreover, I think Feet is there for people who, for some reason, aren't able to use they're hands to solve a Cube; in this way they can compete at the same level at least in that event.
And why removing every BLD event except 3BLD? I don't see any reason to remove them that cannot be used to remove also normal 4x4 and 5x5 speedsolve.

As I said before, removal of magics makes sense, but I don't think we should remove events just because they are long or difficult to judge: we are only loosing something in this way. If an organiser doesn't like an event he can simply not put it into his competitions; if you don't like an event, don't compete in it; if you hate an event so much that you don't even want to see it, look somewhere else when they're holding it.

EDIT: it actually took me quite a long time to write this post (I also had to answer a phone call), so I posted whithout noticing Cubenovice's post, which is similar to mine for some extent.

 

[hcfong]

But why removing feet? Because you don't like it? Because a feet solve looks silly? There are many people who think the whole Rubik's cube thing is silly. Moreover, I think Feet is there for people who, for some reason, aren't able to use they're hands to solve a Cube; in this way they can compete at the same level at least in that event.

.

How many people do you know who compete in feet solving and can't solve with their hands?

 

[porkynator]

How many people do you know who compete in feet solving and can't solve with their hands?

None, and I don't even know if there is anybody in the world who does. The fact is that there might be someone, now or in the future.

 

[Godmil]

None, and I don't even know if there is anybody in the world who does. The fact is that there might be someone, now or in the future.

So it should be an official event, because at some time in the future there may be a person who can't solve with their hands, and this will allow them to compete on a level field with others?
Really?

I like (the idea of) MBLD (as I can't do it yet), but I guess a reason for it to go would be that after one cube all you're doing is getting better at memory games, and there are other competitions for things like that.
Wouldn't it be dramatic if WCA dropped a ton of events like feet, MBLD, 4BLD, 5BLD... etc. There would be lots of room for other exciting puzzles that aren't just extensions of existing ones. Unlikely, but I think seeing them doing bold things like removing Magic shows a very positive progressive attitude for the WCA.

 

[porkynator]

So it should be an official event, because at some time in the future there may be a person who can't solve with their hands, and this will allow them to compete on a level field with others?
Really?

Yes, that's what I'm saying. This was also the first thing that came to my mind when I discovered that solving with feet was an official event. Otherwise, I agree that feetsolves don't make a lot of sense.

 

[insane569]

People need to keep in mind that just cause something was removed doesnt mean that it'll be replaced. If they add something it will only be because they didnt want to wait till next year to add it. If they dont add it now then it'll be next year which means we'll have to wait till 2014. Assuming they add something or consider it.

 

[Kirjava]

There would be lots of room for other exciting puzzles that aren't just extensions of existing ones.

A variety would be nice. 6x6x6/7x7x7 are pretty bad offenders as far as not bringing anything new to the table goes. (If someone says obliques I'm going to shoot them)

 

[Stefan]

(If someone says obliques I'm going to shoot them)

obliques

I have almost 200 of them, good luck shooting them all.

 

[Kirjava]

psh, they hand out guns in america like candy - I'd be wary if I were you

 

[asportking]

People need to keep in mind that just cause something was removed doesnt mean that it'll be replaced. If they add something it will only be because they didnt want to wait till next year to add it. If they dont add it now then it'll be next year which means we'll have to wait till 2014. Assuming they add something or consider it.

We're not saying for sure that it's going to be replaced. We're just saying that, in general, the more events we take out, the more we can add.

On that note, feet, 5BLD, 7x7, 6x6, and maybe 4BLD are definitely up for being removed next (feet being the most likely contender). I don't know if it would be worth removing 4BLD though- the method for solving it is different enough that I wouldn't call it an extension of 3BLD.

 

[Kirjava]

the method for solving it is different enough that I wouldn't call it an extension of 3BLD.

"the" method? There is more than one method.

However, the method used by the fastest people in both events is exactly the same for 4BLD and 3BLD.