New Scaratings

That is simply not true, if only a handful of individuals decide to cheat, which they most certainly will.

I think what he is implying is not necessarily the cheating, but rather the fact that the rankings will only show western teams, which means that without all the Eastern and Central time zone teams out of the mix, it will be much easier to make the top twenty. Some of us have suspected that this was one of the rationales for the decision: to give more locations a chance to see their names "up in lights," particularly in the premium games. The top 50 in Showdown, for example, will really be a top 100: 50 in E/C and 50 in M/P.

_________________
Anon
"He may seem like Mr. Rogers but a dark spirit lies beneath."

I believe that is what he was saying as well, and I still disagree, because the top 20 will have 20 cheaters up there, making it impossible to crack the top 20 without cheating, despite playing against only 20% of the competition.

Then why didn't that occur the last time BT tried the split on the specialty games? The split was exactly the same in terms of what time zones were still playing each other, and the specialty games ended up in the West zone in the 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. time slot that BT views as its prime time. Yet it was much easier to get into the West zone rankings on particular games than it was in the East zone. I recall especially Sci-Files, in which our score that would only have ranked somewhere in the East towered over the West competition (Sci-Files is the one I particularly noted when we played in Vegas, but it was true of other specialty games as well). And the proof is in the pudding--after a few months, BT dropped the split and we went back to network-wide games. So this is the one element of BT's strategy that has already been fully tested--and fully found to fail.

So less competition/greater ability to "see one's name" in lights does not translate into more players. Three possible reasons come to mind: first, the specialty games previously subject to the split appeared after the premium game, and there's ample evidence that people tend to leave after the premium no matter what is put on after it. Therefore, what does BT do along with the split? Move the specialty games back into this underperforming position not only in the West, but in the East. Second, the type of person who is good enough to get in the top 20 even with diluted competition is probably also the type who recognizes the difference between getting one's name in lights on Broadway from getting one's name in lights at the local community theater. Third, perhaps the West zone people realized they were getting the same games the East had played earlier and weren't interested in repeats, realizing that they might be playing against someone who already had the answers.

Brooke/AARDVK

Looks like this move by Buzztime could be the beginning of the end perhaps?

The beginning of the end has been forecast for years. This is more like a survival-mode move that will allow them to continue in the East and forget the West.

I speculate they secretly don't even want to be in Carlsbad anymore. Their location there is a relic of their long-gone founders.

Just curious. Has it been stated on the split games that the West Coast rankings shown after the game will only be the West Coast ?

They could combine East and West, as they plan to do on the HOF.

I asked KK.....
She just told me that the ranking will be on the feed you play on. And it will be labeled as such.

Since I don't go on Facebook.... Probably a shot in the dark here, but can you ask her if they can plan on dividing the HOF into drop-down menu options for everyone, East/Central and Mountain/West. Kind of like how they do right now with what state you play in. You can see the rankings nationally or by state.

It seems like that would be easy thing for buzztime to do...so I figure they probably won't.

I am emailing her personally.
Anyway at first it will be a east six or what ever game and west six game or what ever. Yhey are working on it to do several other options.

IIRC NTN signed a new lease in Carlsbad last year. I have long contended they should leave California for someplace where the rent is cheaper and employee costs are less.

Yes they moved within Carlsbad to a smaller location. And bragged about how great it was to be moving to a smaller location! (By the way, companies are supposed to grow up to need larger locations, not smaller ones, no?)

Maybe they just weren't quite ready to regionalize (east) at that time. They had to accomplish this west-ectomy first.

They purchased that live trivia jockey company in the northeast. There are such companies out west here as well. But I would be surprised if they bought one here.

I like that.

The Buzztime Groups feature has been pretty much lame and useless since it began. (Although the Scaratings fans group, at 80 is the second largest non-Season group and that's mighty good)

But I was just over there and was mildly surprised that no one had yet used it to make an editorial comment opposed to the split or their other monkey blunders. We need to walk down every avenue we can think of.

Unless someone already has and Buzztime scrubbed it for being subversive. Anyway, I made one that maybe can survive on their books by being not too impolite but still very clear with its Group Statement. I figure it has until at least Monday before Buzztime would scrub it.

Meanwhile I invite all to check it out, it's Public, find it among the newest 100 and it is called All One Feed.

I found and joined the group, but how does one get to the posts? (You can tell this is my first experience with the BT website's group function.)

Brooke/AARDVK

There are no posts or anything of any value with the BT groups. The only use is to support a cause like the return of Passport.

_________________
BUD - Stained Glass Pub Silver Spring MD
OC BUD - Grotto Pizza DE near Ocean City MD

LET'S GO ....Orioles and the 9 and 5!!

I never read my horoscope, but I happened to stumble on mine today when I was reading something in the paper.

Almost positive buzztime wrote this one

Reistance to change might be futile. New technologies and gadgets may complicate your life, but you must be willing to bend with the winds of the lastest trends

Except that, for the West Buzztime is pretending that the latest trends like smartphones and wifi don't exist. Buzztime isn't bending to the technology. They are willfully ignoring it, voiding question security, and destroying game integrity in the process. If they "bent" to it, they wouldn't be doing what they are doing.

TFM

"Reistance"? "Lastest"? You're right ... a Buzztime employee wrote it. Maybe the same person who wrote a certain question for last Wednesday's Six.

_________________
"...It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED...."

Last chance for a drink of Buzztime Classic tomorrow

_________________
/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?

I hope that you are wrong on this, Lewser, but the lack of a positive response to the call for an organized boycott seems to indicate that you may be right. Several individuals have indicated that they will not play, but unless there is a coordinated effort, that seems unlikely to have an effect. I am willing to join a one or two week boycott of the premium games, but not to do it myself if no one else is. I would suggest that we see what happens this week, if the decline is as Bo suggested, then organize an all out effort for the following two weeks if BT does not respond.

It would be important to let site managers know why we are doing it, and to get them to complain as well if possible. I doubt that many of them would be seriously harmed by our absence for two weeks, but players concerned about that could still go to their sites to eat or drink, and simply not push buttons for that period.

_________________
Wayne Neily
Tremont, Kings Co., N. S.

"What mighty contests rise from trivial things!" - Alexander Pope, 1712.

"Beauty is truth, and truth beauty", John Keats, 1820.

Guys, we can't boycott for a couple of weeks and then return. BT fully expects player count to decline initially, and then to slowly grow as more people start playing because the games are (supposedly) on at better times. If we boycott, they then have their decline. Then a month later when everybody starts playing again they see the increase and declare these changes an immediate success.

If the numbers are as I expect, we don't have to do anything. The numbers will decline naturally and BT has to take notice when they don't get new players in a couple of months.

BO

That's my belief as well, and also the way I felt about the various discussions re: posting answers: if we're right, everything will happen as we predict without our having to do anything but document and analyze it. The cheaters will take that activity on themselves; the people who don't like the new times or lack of full-network competition will stop playing. As an East zone person, I'll keep playing because a) it's still 80% as enjoyable as it was before, b) I don't have to worry about my scores being questioned, and c) the new times are anything but convenient, but I can adjust to them. All of this to wait out the time until BT realizes it didn't trade in its established player base for a larger new one--it just lost a lot of established players and locations. When that time comes, I want my locations to still have the system, so boycotting doesn't work for me.

Brooke/AARDVK

I just thought of another inconsistency with the split. If it is truly in Buzztime's best interest to have the game air at a primetime hour at each location, and that is far more important to the majority of players than the ability to compete nationally, why would they have only two feeds? Why wouldn't each time zone have their own feed and have it start at 7PM, or 8PM, whatever Buzztime thinks is the peak time?

Obviously I would not want this, but if the primetime airing really is the most important, why would they just split it into two feeds?

Maybe the same reason I don't brush my hair and teeth at the same time?

_________________
/°v°\ • Every time Linux boots, a penguin gets its wings
I'm a solipsistic conspiracy theorist. I'm sure I must be up to something, and I won't stop until I find out what
Why not downgrade Plutonium to a dwarf element?