Split Games?

whales · **Joined:** Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:57 pm **Posts:** 267

I suggest everyone opposed to the east-west split who has an avatar, switch their avatar to all-black in protest.

Akbar71 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:08 am

whales wrote:

I suggest everyone opposed to the east-west split who has an avatar, switch their avatar to all-black in protest.

Nice thought, but the overlords at BT would actually have to get out to bars to see the protest in action. They obviously don't do that, or they wouldn't have made this decision.

whales · **Joined:** Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:57 pm **Posts:** 267

Avatars are all over the website, the HOF listings and any of this "data mining" they are so keen on.

TOOTS · **Posted:** Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:14 am

I laughed out loud when the Facebook NTN page was asked how they plan on preventing cheating...the answer was, and yes he/she actually wrote this..."to mitigate cheating we are randomizing answers." WAY TO GO Buzztime! That'll stop em!

-BO- · **Joined:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm **Posts:** 2304

TOOTS wrote:

I laughed out loud when the Facebook NTN page was asked how they plan on preventing cheating...the answer was, and yes he/she actually wrote this..."to mitigate cheating we are randomizing answers." WAY TO GO Buzztime! That'll stop em!

Sweet! Here's an example:

East Coast Network: Q: What's the capital of Canada? A: Montreal
West Coast Network: Q: What's the capital of Canada? A: Toronto

This is what we have to look forward to, it's gonna be awesome!

BO

tchoiniere · **Posted:** Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:33 am

This is beyond pathetic and is an awful idea.

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

whales wrote:

I suggest everyone opposed to the east-west split who has an avatar, switch their avatar to all-black in protest.

EGADS!!!

Mine is already all black, but fuck that.

My thought is that the premium games in the east are still going to start at 8:30-9:00 pm, or did I miss something.

That's still past TOLLE's bedtime (and mine during the school year), so how the hell is that going to help?

It's is discriminatory to not let me get my ass kicked by west coast sites (as well as getting it kicked by east coast sites).

I'm SOOOOOO glad I didn't commit myself to a WVBTO this year. What would the point have been when we wouldn't be competing against the anti-WVBTO groups out west.

Thanks, BT, for making me feel better about my decision...DUMBASSES!!!

poman · **Joined:** Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:05 pm **Posts:** 1514

-BO- wrote:

The best teams get together for the big games in all time zones no matter what time they air. Period. I'd suggest an apology to the CA team

Agreed. If you can't beat Mr. B's in Spotlight, then it's not really a win. It most certainly cheapens the win for the East/Central time zone #1, as the winner will most certainly be marked with a "Yeah, but..." asterik in the minds of players.

I can't speak for Fletchers or Cadi Jacks (or wherever they play now, given that they seemingly rotate each week now), but we at Getaway certainly enjoyed Mr B's entering the mix for the weekly Playback crown for the past year or two. It won't be as fun without them. And I'm sure they'll now rack up the West coast #1s in Playback, but just like I mentioned in the above example... if you can't beat Fletchers in Playback, then it's not really a win.

I just can't understand why buzztime refuses to learn from its past mistakes. Seeming every time they get new management in there, they're completely oblivious to their mistakes of the past. Everyone (meaning all serious trivia players) HATED when the half hour speciality games were split up into different time zones. Everyone rejoiced when all the time zones simultaneously got the same game again.

And now here, once again, here's buzztime repeating its same d*mn mistake...only this time it's an even worse mistake since they're doing it with premium games as well. As TIEFLY likes to say, this one calls for a loud EGADS!

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

Well, amongst all of the negative comments on both NTN Buzztime's Facebook page (okay, okay) and their On Tap blog, was this lone positive comment from a Bill Wellman in Farmville, Virginia:

"How many players really want to go head-to-head with the whole nation?

I'd suggest that fewer than 100 teams nationwide really care. Candidly, that's only around a thousand people...great people and great players joined by community, but only a thousand players. The other players, whether it be the 5,000 to 10,000 other players for any given Premium Game or the 200,000+ other registered players or the hundreds of thousands who play without accounts, are either happier with a smaller group giving them a chance to win a medal or ignorant of the larger competition outside the bar where they sit. I think that most of the paying customers don't care about national competition.

Changing the time slots for Premium Games makes it easier for players in every Continental US time zone to purchase a meal with their Premium Game. I'd expect that to be a huge factor in this decision. Showdown players in the East often eat before hitting the bar. Showdown players in the West go home after a couple of beers. Now both of those time zones' players will be more likely to eat at the bar...that'll be big bucks for Buzztime sites. Big bucks for Buzztime sites means more sites and greater financial security for Buzztime. I like both outcomes.

I understand that the elite teams will be upset. I'm not lucky enough to live near an elite team. I like these changes."

I shudder to think that NTN Buzztime has apparently decided to listen to players like this. Then again, maybe their intent is, in fact, to drive longtime players like us away. They may very well succeed with this.

Jim · **Joined:** Sun May 08, 2011 9:39 am **Posts:** 294

I'm thinking the smart people left Buzztime when they spun-off the pager group.

scar · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:57 pm **Posts:** 2218

Well, if I cared enough I'd resurrect my rankings of premium games, then eliminate the west coast network.

TOOTS · **Posted:** Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:44 am

liljol wrote:

Well, amongst all of the negative comments on both NTN Buzztime's Facebook page (okay, okay) and their On Tap blog, was this lone positive comment from a Bill Wellman in Farmville, Virginia:

"How many players really want to go head-to-head with the whole nation?

I'd suggest that fewer than 100 teams nationwide really care. Candidly, that's only around a thousand people...great people and great players joined by community, but only a thousand players. The other players, whether it be the 5,000 to 10,000 other players for any given Premium Game or the 200,000+ other registered players or the hundreds of thousands who play without accounts, are either happier with a smaller group giving them a chance to win a medal or ignorant of the larger competition outside the bar where they sit. I think that most of the paying customers don't care about national competition.

Changing the time slots for Premium Games makes it easier for players in every Continental US time zone to purchase a meal with their Premium Game. I'd expect that to be a huge factor in this decision. Showdown players in the East often eat before hitting the bar. Showdown players in the West go home after a couple of beers. Now both of those time zones' players will be more likely to eat at the bar...that'll be big bucks for Buzztime sites. Big bucks for Buzztime sites means more sites and greater financial security for Buzztime. I like both outcomes.

I understand that the elite teams will be upset. I'm not lucky enough to live near an elite team. I like these changes."

I shudder to think that NTN Buzztime has apparently decided to listen to players like this. Then again, maybe their intent is, in fact, to drive longtime players like us away. They may very well succeed with this.

My main concern has always been "When am I going to fit in my dinner while playing Buzztime?" REALLY person? If you knew anything about a large lot of BT players, they DRINK their dinner (above poster not included

). I know I do. :lol:

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

I beleive "Bill from Farmville" is a member of this site, and has played at a buncha different locations, so I'm sure he has seen his share of players "drink" dinner.

Seems like a nice guy, but I disagree with his blog post. Much rather keep things the way they are in regards to national games.

wonk · **Posted:** Fri Jan 27, 2012 11:14 am

If Buzztime goes ahead and implements their split premium games decision I think I'm through playing. I'm really surprised that Buzztime would make this move without surveying their most-active players. Clearly they didn't bother to ask any of us what we would think of this change. I mean, they've got to know that we've been organizing continent-wide tournaments the last decade+ and participating in their network-wide competitions, like the Smartest Bar tournament. These events bring players out to the bars, and we in turn bring our friends, family members, co-workers and anyone else with a brain we know along with us. Those of us who participate in these tourneys are some of the best ambassadors of the game that BT has, and we're more likely to bring others along with us when we're worried about beating some bar across the country than if we're just getting together on a cold Wednesday in January. Splitting games makes these competitions impractical, and it's going to hurt turnout among some of BT's most loyal players. I'm not going to play under these conditions. I'll let my "last played date" speak for itself.

otoh I think it's important to put BT's move in perspective. Most of the games they broadcast each the day, like Appeteasers, Buzztime Trivia & Countdown, are not usually simultaneously broadcast over all four time zones in the continental USA. In the Eastern Time Zone,for example, Appeteasers will include either ET & CT, or only ET, depending on the time of the broadcast. On weekends, none of the Buzztime Trivia or Countdown games are broadcast across all four domestic time zones until 4pm ET. (They run at least 4-7:30pm ET, but sometimes later depending on the premium game sched) National Buzztime Trivia & Countdown games resume after 10 or 10:30 ET, depending on the night. So we're not getting national games all the time anyway.

That said, I've always thought that the national premium games were sacrosanct. Playing against everyone else on the continent is really what it's all about. I don't pay attention to the local leader board. It's nice if I see a player or site from Parma or Elyria among the national rankings, but I'm not really playing against them. I want to know how we're scoring relative to everyone else out there, from New York to Alberta and from Houston to LA.

If BT wants to replay the national premium games in Alaska or Hawaii, for their convenience, I really don't care, as long as those sites don't wander into our rankings.

But BT, for the love of interactive trivia, don't take away our national premium games.

TCHCNB · **Joined:** Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:19 pm **Posts:** 284

tiefly wrote:

I beleive "Bill from Farmville" is a member of this site, and has played at a buncha different locations, so I'm sure he has seen his share of players "drink" dinner.

Seems like a nice guy, but I disagree with his blog post. Much rather keep things the way they are in regards to national games.

I totally disagree with his post as well. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and everyone seems to look at things in different ways, but I think the vast majority of players would prefer not to see the nation split into zones

stevej84 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 27, 2012 11:49 am

1. I told my bar manager I was going to quit playing and explained why. I told the other regulars last night. The bar manager told me he would cancel his contract if the other players quit as well. Unfortunately, they are taking a wait-and-see attitude. I emailed my contacts at my Showdown site.
2. I also asked BT to delete my account. I explained why in detail.

I'm not going to wait until it is ruined. I've stated my case to BT and my bar and walked away. Unless we voice our objections AND vote with our feet in substantial numbers (at least temporarily), Buzztime will not listen

So long and thanks for all the fish. I'll check in here periodically to see what happens.

Tolle · **Joined:** Sun Jan 10, 2010 9:15 pm **Posts:** 607

Bill from Virginia is a little off base. Has he ever been to a bar that doesn't have a regular team playing? You look at the leaderboard at one of these places and you'll see it is usually just 1 guy beating the shit out of any casual player that happens to wander in. There is generally no local competition amongst solo players.

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

tiefly wrote:

I beleive "Bill from Farmville" is a member of this site, and has played at a buncha different locations, so I'm sure he has seen his share of players "drink" dinner.

Seems like a nice guy, but I disagree with his blog post. Much rather keep things the way they are in regards to national games.

He is WB_TANAKA, seems like a nice guy. But, he was also the guy from the old BT Board that kept asking why can't premium games come on for afternoon players. Looks like he will get his wish. He also asks which player wants to compete against the whole nation? Well, I do and I hang pretty well. He also states that West Coasters have a couple of beers and leave, making the games later makes them stay longer, wrong. I really like being able to play all the specialty/premium games and still get home before prime time TV. Now I will stay home. Just like WONK if this thing comes to fruition I also will be done, but first I will play every single premium game the first week and score perfect. I know I have threatened to stop playing before, but this decision is beyond asinine. The MOuntain and Pacific Time ZOnes are getting screwed bad, none of our scores matter from that day forward. And that makes it not worth my time. I will be playing in the Learned League and some other online trivia competitions that are against nationwide competition.

Another thing, the players that want a chance to earn medals against smaller competition, will have no better luck against EST and central timezones. The only way those players start winning is if every single good player stops playing.

Like I said before, if this happens I will never step foot into a bar that has BT for the rest of my life. As WHALES said, "I want a divorce."

Jethro · **Posted:** Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:19 pm

scar wrote:

Well, if I cared enough I'd resurrect my rankings of premium games, then eliminate the west coast network.

That would be a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Which is why this sucks so much for those of us in the west, despite this decision being "for our benefit." Maybe if you or Don continue the rankings, you can combine those of us in the west who commit to playing fair and avoiding answers with the other rankings. Or maybe Buzztime should just not make this incredibly asinine decision.

By the way, thanks to Dante for providing all of Buzztime with a new asshole on the comments of their Facebook page. Impressive work.

-BO- · **Joined:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm **Posts:** 2304

Jethro wrote:

By the way, thanks to Dante for providing all of Buzztime with a new asshole on the comments of their Facebook page. Impressive work.

Could you repost it here please?

BO

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

Well, as I sit here on my poor tired lil old grumpy ass, on a not so TGIF, the following occurred to my increasingly decrepit and deteriorating fragile lil mind:

As much as most of us here and a few others elsewhere have bemoaned and decried NTN BT not listening to us, maybe they have after all, though not in the way we'd want them to. Given what I sense has been a good response to their FB games, the wonderful (though, to say the least, horribly misguided) idea of trying to integrate the FB games and the network is currently not viable, in part due to team play. By splitting the network, NTN discourages team play and make integrating FB and the network more viable, since the individuals whacking away at the FB games will then have a more level playing field.

Further, they just might also drive away a good number of us longtime (and, generally, higher scoring) players, thus giving more of those other individual players better chances to win or at least place higher in the standings. I'm already getting the godawful, ugly sense that others (including lil old grumpy me) are giving more than a lil consideration to walking away at the end of February...which may well be what NTN Buzztime wants, if only to better attract the demographics they think they need to have.

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

-BO- wrote:

Jethro wrote:

By the way, thanks to Dante for providing all of Buzztime with a new asshole on the comments of their Facebook page. Impressive work.

Could you repost it here please?

BO

"The people above are all being far too kind and reasonable. Let me put this a different way for you, Buzztime: You are a bunch of motherfucking idiots. What in the name of God is wrong with you? Are you trying to ruin your company?

Be very, very glad I am no longer a shareholder, or I would be bringing a lawsuit over your recent decisions (including devaluing your shares with a special subscription that Ms. Berger didn't even know the rules for!).

I feel horrible for your employees who have worked so hard for you, only to watch upper management make consistently bad decision. You got rid of the cards, which actually drove people to play, and replace them with the very thing that caused insane upset in the past regarding "lesser games."

So, back to the clinical definition -- DSM-like: You are motherfucking idiots."

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

-BO- wrote:

Could you repost it here please?

BO

No, you have to succumb to the Dark Side to view them yourself...

Dante's comments are awesome. I was impressed, I thought about saying it, but decided not. I may change my voice and start doing it again..

clavin · **Joined:** Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:11 am **Posts:** 30

Quote:

Can someone from the EAST Coast send me all the answers for a week to all the premium games, not just numbers, but answers

We can make this happen for Showdown and Spotlight. I was thinking about posting the answers to these games on Brandy's Facebook page, since she has a lot of Facebook friends playing during Pacific time. The more perfect scores that we can generate, the better our point will be made to the morons in Carlsbad.

-BO- · **Joined:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 3:20 pm **Posts:** 2304

liljol wrote:

-BO- wrote:

Jethro wrote:

By the way, thanks to Dante for providing all of Buzztime with a new asshole on the comments of their Facebook page. Impressive work.

Could you repost it here please?

BO

"The people above are all being far too kind and reasonable. Let me put this a different way for you, Buzztime: You are a bunch of motherfucking idiots. What in the name of God is wrong with you? Are you trying to ruin your company?

Be very, very glad I am no longer a shareholder, or I would be bringing a lawsuit over your recent decisions (including devaluing your shares with a special subscription that Ms. Berger didn't even know the rules for!).

I feel horrible for your employees who have worked so hard for you, only to watch upper management make consistently bad decision. You got rid of the cards, which actually drove people to play, and replace them with the very thing that caused insane upset in the past regarding "lesser games."

So, back to the clinical definition -- DSM-like: You are motherfucking idiots."

Oh that is so awesome! I love the Kendra Berger comment.

Thanks for the repost. No love for LEWSER.

BO

New Scaratings

Split Games?

Who is online