The Season, 9/8

liljol · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:41 pm **Posts:** 2497

From the results of this 1st week, seems like the difficulty of this game has been ramped up a lil, as there were only two scores over 50k. Part of that could be due to the glaring absence of The Concert Pub.

IIRC there was at least one question on each of the 32 NFL teams, though I didn't go so far as to check them off. :roll:

Wondering if anyone may have saved the game play records from last year. I'd guess that the game play is more than a lil down due to the inexplicable decision to move The Season to Saturday.

One of the more distasteful things noted from this week's results was the most unwelcome reappearance of the deeply loathed CMUNKE (formerly POMOJO) from Horribly Site-Poor Southern California.

Hopefully this was a one time thing.

Gogetem · **Joined:** Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:31 am **Posts:** 788

If I were a real monkey, I'd feel insulted.

liljol · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:41 pm **Posts:** 2497

Gogetem wrote:

If I were a real monkey, I'd feel insulted.

Well, hell, there was plenty of reason for several FPMOJO accounts back in the day. :lol:

AARDVK · **Joined:** Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm **Posts:** 554

liljol wrote:

[color=#000000]From the results of this 1st week, seems like the difficulty of this game has been ramped up a lil, as there were only two scores over 50k. Part of that could be due to the glaring absence of The Concert Pub.

We were also surprised no one we know from Houston was playing. I guess the Concert Pub folks just decided not to add another night of playing. And although we do play on Saturdays, because we stay late for karaoke, we decided not to lengthen the evening by going out an hour early (the new "Prairie Home Companion" season opens next week, and I'd rather hear most of it than struggle through a sports-oriented game) when we've got Playback, Tuned In, Speed Freaks, 3 CD games, and as many LS games as we can stand ahead of us).

Brooke/AARDVK

tiefly · **Joined:** Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:54 am **Posts:** 1665

My stats show me answering 5 questions while playing for the CHIEFS?!...EGADS!!!

Yet another hour long gap gone from my memory.

lewser · **Joined:** Mon Jan 11, 2010 2:25 pm **Posts:** 1028

liljol wrote:

Gogetem wrote:

If I were a real monkey, I'd feel insulted.

Well, hell, there was plenty of reason for several FPMOJO accounts back in the day. :lol:

Ahh, the original ROGUE and FSHMN.

slotek · **Joined:** Thu Feb 11, 2010 10:12 am **Posts:** 41

AARDVK wrote:

liljol wrote:

[color=#000000]From the results of this 1st week, seems like the difficulty of this game has been ramped up a lil, as there were only two scores over 50k. Part of that could be due to the glaring absence of The Concert Pub.

We were also surprised no one we know from Houston was playing. I guess the Concert Pub folks just decided not to add another night of playing. And although we do play on Saturdays, because we stay late for karaoke, we decided not to lengthen the evening by going out an hour early (the new "Prairie Home Companion" season opens next week, and I'd rather hear most of it than struggle through a sports-oriented game) when we've got Playback, Tuned In, Speed Freaks, 3 CD games, and as many LS games as we can stand ahead of us).

Brooke/AARDVK

I can't speak for anyone else, but scheduling The Season at that time is just stupid. I personally don't have much interest in trying to get to the bar by 6pm (Central) on a Saturday in the middle of college football season. Furthermore, if I am at there at that time, I'd rather have the CFB games on rather than trivia. I'd have probably played if it came on after Playback.

Really it's just a bad day and time for me. I wonder if the player count was more or less than last year (Friday 7pm Central)

AARDVK · **Joined:** Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm **Posts:** 554

slotek wrote:

I can't speak for anyone else, but scheduling The Season at that time is just stupid. I personally don't have much interest in trying to get to the bar by 6pm (Central) on a Saturday in the middle of college football season. Furthermore, if I am at there at that time, I'd rather have the CFB games on rather than trivia. I'd have probably played if it came on after Playback.

Really it's just a bad day and time for me. I wonder if the player count was more or less than last year (Friday 7pm Central)

I remember last year either telling BT or posting here that I thought they could do a lot better on the time slot than sticking a sports game in the middle of the Friday entertainment-focused lineup, and might have mentioned Saturday or Sunday. But that would have been before we discovered that the split would result in Playback being moved earlier. We also would have played it this year if it had been put after Playback, or even before Playback if Playback moved back to the slot it had last year.

Brooke/AARDVK

-BO- · **Joined:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm **Posts:** 2295

347 players in the west feed out of the 2424 nationwide. 14% for a game starting at 5 mountain and 4 pacific. For comparison purposes, when Glory Daze started at 530m/430p the west feed accounted for 16% of the total. BB at 6m/5p was 19%, SD at 630m/530p was 22%.

Will be using these numbers and the ones from The Pulse to accurately predict player count in the west if the network was reunited at the times currently played in the east. Have got a pretty good idea already how the numbers will shake out, the 14% figure above was almost exactly where it should be. Just wasn't sure what kind of effect the weekend would have on them, it appears as it had no effect whatsoever.

poman · **Joined:** Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:05 pm **Posts:** 1513

Friday was probably the best fit for The Season. IIRC, it routinely pulled in 7000, 8000, 9000 players per week last year. (Granted, Friday is the best night for player count). It would fit in better on Monday, but that's the worst night of the week for player count. So it would drop off considerably (even worse than what it pulled in with this week's 4777 at last check) if it was on Mondays.

But if it's going to be on Friday or Saturday, it should clearly be on Friday. By Saturday, people are in college football mode. They're going to the games, watching the games at home, they're not thinking NFL on Saturday afternoon or early Saturday evening. If you're watching college football (even at home on TV), I don't think you're going make it a high priority to leave what you're doing to come out to a bar at 4pm or 7pm to play The Season. As an East coast person, I was watching a college football game this past Saturday that ended right around 7pm, I stayed 'til the game was over, then got in my car and arrived at the bar around 7:45pm. On Friday nights, I would get to the bar before The Season started. Now, I have no incentive to do so.

My point? Here's a game that's going to nosedive in player count, simply because of the decision to move it to a worse time slot.

But buzztime also got player counts to nosedive in the speciality games by putting them on after the premium games. We have one guy on our team, for example, that immediately leaves after the premium game is over. He always played the speciality games before the premium game. Now, he makes no effort to stick around.

My point? There's another example that caused player count to nosedive, simply because of the decision to move those games to a worse time slot.

And now QB1 is no longer default... which means its numbers are now microscopic (even compared to what they were before). Yet buzztime is (presumably) paying someone to be QB1 referre(s) for these games.

Buzztime says they want to increase player count, but their decisions are counterintuitive of that goal.

It just seems like it's inevitable that buzztime is moving to internet based play (as a chase for more players), which, as we all know, will be the nail in the coffin for buzztime itself

AARDVK · **Joined:** Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm **Posts:** 554

poman wrote:

Buzztime says they want to increase player count, but their decisions are counterintuitive of that goal.

It just seems like it's inevitable that buzztime is moving to internet based play (as a chase for more players), which, as we all know, will be the nail in the coffin for buzztime itself

One wonders--if they really don't want to be dealing with the locations anymore why they don't do two things: stop investing whatever money and effort they're putting into the "tablet" playmaker, and spin off the current location play to a company that wants it for the established infrastructure and could grow it. Instead by making disastrous decision after another that all drive down the player count, BT is ensuring that there won't be any locations interested in the tablets because there won't be any players to go with them.

Brooke/AARDVK

ranger · **Joined:** Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:27 am **Posts:** 630

I have to disagree about the new playmaker. The blue boxes are basically at the end of their useful lives. The game as we know it probably won;t survive long without reliable playmakers.

-BO- · **Joined:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm **Posts:** 2295

ranger wrote:

I have to disagree about the new playmaker. The blue boxes are basically at the end of their useful lives. The game as we know it probably won;t survive long without reliable playmakers.

The most recent blue PM is very reliable, long battery life, quick response, etc.

The blue PM's have been around since either 1999 or 2000, and they've been a very stable tool. Sure, sometimes the batteries go bad, sometimes the antenna goes out, sometimes the keys go out. Just the same as any other piece of equipment. Now, factor in how many people use them, how many people treat them like crap, how many servers casually toss them into the chargers, how many people drop them on the floor, and I think you'll see just how reliable these blue boxes are.

Now, many locations do have bad PM's, but whose fault is that? A site sends in a bad PM, within 10 days a working PM arrives, pretty simple. And the same thing will happen regardless of how fancy a PM is.

Now, let's examine this proposed tablet PM. Will the battery go bad over time? Yep. Will the antenna go bad over time? Yep. If you drop one on the floor, what's going to happen? It's going to shatter, rending it useless. What happens when a blue box is dropped on the floor? Not a damn thing, it still works. If you left an iPad in a bar for others to use at their leisure, how long do you think it would be before it no longer worked?

And don't even get me started on how a tablet doesn't have a raised keypad for answering questions.

Quite simply, a tablet would be a regression over the current blue PM we use now as far as answering trivia question goes. And isn't that all we care about? Who gives a shit if we can access the internet with them? If I wanted to access the internet I'd stay home instead of going out to compete.

Lastly, the game won't survive without reliable PM's? Hell, right now there's 20 times the number of PM's out there than there are players. The problem isn't the PM's, it's getting people to play the games. Do you really think the west coast gives a shit currently if they can access the internet from their shiny new PM tablet?

AARDVK · **Joined:** Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:30 pm **Posts:** 554

-BO- wrote:

ranger wrote:

I have to disagree about the new playmaker. The blue boxes are basically at the end of their useful lives. The game as we know it probably won;t survive long without reliable playmakers.

The most recent blue PM is very reliable, long battery life, quick response, etc.

The blue PM's have been around since either 1999 or 2000, and they've been a very stable tool. Sure, sometimes the batteries go bad, sometimes the antenna goes out, sometimes the keys go out. Just the same as any other piece of equipment. Now, factor in how many people use them, how many people treat them like crap, how many servers casually toss them into the chargers, how many people drop them on the floor, and I think you'll see just how reliable these blue boxes are.

Now, many locations do have bad PM's, but whose fault is that? A site sends in a bad PM, within 10 days a working PM arrives, pretty simple. And the same thing will happen regardless of how fancy a PM is.

Now, let's examine this proposed tablet PM. Will the battery go bad over time? Yep. Will the antenna go bad over time? Yep. If you drop one on the floor, what's going to happen? It's going to shatter, rending it useless. What happens when a blue box is dropped on the floor? Not a damn thing, it still works. If you left an iPad in a bar for others to use at their leisure, how long do you think it would be before it no longer worked?

And don't even get me started on how a tablet doesn't have a raised keypad for answering questions.

Quite simply, a tablet would be a regression over the current blue PM we use now as far as answering trivia question goes. And isn't that all we care about? Who gives a shit if we can access the internet with them? If I wanted to access the internet I'd stay home instead of going out to compete.

Lastly, the game won't survive without reliable PM's? Hell, right now there's 20 times the number of PM's out there than there are players. The problem isn't the PM's, it's getting people to play the games. Do you really think the west coast gives a shit currently if they can access the internet from their shiny new PM tablet?

Amen.

Brooke/AARDVK

liljol · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:41 pm **Posts:** 2497

Well, if there's one feature of the current generation of Playmaker that I wish NTN BT had kept from the prior generation, it's the ability to check the % of charge left. :roll:

Assuming for the moment that some sort of iPad device will become the next generation of Playmaker, that could be the only desirable addition, based partly on what BO has said and partly on my very limited lil looks at both iPads and other similar tablets.

-BO- · **Joined:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm **Posts:** 2295

For the record, I currently have no special knowledge of the design of the new PM. Like others, am simply assuming when they say tablet, it's similar to an iPad with no attached keypad.

Nunz · **Joined:** Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:56 pm **Posts:** 38

The Playmakers we test-drove this spring had the questions right on the display, which negated the need for raised buttons although made playing more than two rather cumbersome.

-BO- · **Joined:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm **Posts:** 2295

Nunz wrote:

The Playmakers we test-drove this spring had the questions right on the display, which negated the need for raised buttons although made playing more than two rather cumbersome.

That helps, but you still have to move your eyes in order to answer. And there is still no response from the display on a pad when you answer as there is with a physical keypad.

Quick question, did you find it easier to answer questions and score points with this new pad or the current PM?

Also, this would change the dynamic somewhat during team play. Currently, everybody is watching the same display which is at eye level or higher. This makes it quite easy to exchange information with teammates during the question. But if the question was displayed on the pad, everybody would be looking down into different area making the exchange of information somewhat more difficult. After all, you don't talk to people with your head down.

Nunz · **Joined:** Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:56 pm **Posts:** 38

-BO- wrote:

Nunz wrote:

The Playmakers we test-drove this spring had the questions right on the display, which negated the need for raised buttons although made playing more than two rather cumbersome.

That helps, but you still have to move your eyes in order to answer. And there is still no response from the display on a pad when you answer as there is with a physical keypad.

Quick question, did you find it easier to answer questions and score points with this new pad or the current PM?

Also, this would change the dynamic somewhat during team play. Currently, everybody is watching the same display which is at eye level or higher. This makes it quite easy to exchange information with teammates during the question. But if the question was displayed on the pad, everybody would be looking down into different area making the exchange of information somewhat more difficult. After all, you don't talk to people with your head down.

A couple of good points there, Bo. It's hard to say it was easier, but it was a good interface that worked well. There did not seem to be a lag issue, but this was just with maybe 12 boards running. I did like having the display right in front of me, but I agree this is an issue for both team play and multi-boxing. The facing down thing, I agree that that can be an issue. And those blue Playmakers can withstand a lot of abuse. When we did the testing, I was prepared to really dislike the system, but I found it pretty intuitive. One thing you don't have to worry about is an overzealous server with a remote changing channels and blowing your game.

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The Season, 9/8

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