Trivia Suggestions

NickelbackLuver · October 2010

First of all, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining or anything, and I do appreciate that the trivia event was held and such nice prizes were handed out and whatnot. ;D However, that wasn't exactly how I thought it should have ran (I'm not saying I own VP or anything and should make these decisions...I'd just like to point out what my original idea of this whole thing was) 1. The prizes were too big - everyone was very tense, no one was having fun because they were all too worried about winning the big prizes, that it really wasn't the community event I had hoped for it to be. 2. Speaking of community events, I didn't care for how the questions were ran... they were shot at us, we weren't allowed to talk, etc. Half the reason for it being held, in my idea of it, was for people to actually come into chat so everyone could get to know each other and have a good time together. Yes, I understand it has to be somewhat orderly, but the fact that no one was allowed to talk (or had the time to talk) I think made it more of a bad experience. We were all hostile, we never even got to say congrats to each other for getting questions right because we had to get ready to answer the next one 5 seconds later. I think it should have been hosted by an actual person, not a robot that wanted our brains to explode with how fast it was shooting out questions. If this was held monthly, I'm sure players would be more than happy to sit out one night to host the questions and not participate. I know I would. If it was hosted by an actual person, there could be breaks between questions for people to actually talk and whatnot. The whole speed of the event made it seem like it was intended to start and be over as soon as possible, which didn't seem friendly at all to me, and really took away from what the point of the whole event was originally supposed to be. Also, in accordance to this, I think it should be ran more like the Halloween trivia had been ran. People who got an answer right, had to sit out the next question. This helps ensure that more people will win prizes, so that not one person is getting all the glory. 3. Prizes that I had intended should have been handed out, were new breeds specifically made for Trivia nights. They are breeds you can't get anywhere else BUT from trivia nights. There could be 10 or so, and 2 pairs could be handed out of each every trivia night, which would equal 20 questions total. These breeds could be determined by players coming up with some of them, and then they could be voted on by players, and the top 10 chosen could be made into breeds for this. That would be another community building exercise. Or! Create a post, have people who want to help invent some breeds post there, and throw them into random groups together to help come up with a breed together. Obviously, I don't think people will want to toss their desired personal breeds into this, because, they don't have a 100% chance they will be owning it at all, so I don't think that would be an issue. Only have a few prizes is what really made this event go downhill, I think. People were too concerned about getting -something- that they didn't have fun. I know I wasn't having any fun, instead I was a ball of nerves. The whole thing just seemed too uptight, when I think it should feel comfortable for everyone. Anyway, those are my main points ;D If anyone else has anything to add on, feel free to. I just thought I should point this out before they were ran next time, because really, I don't think having huge, fancy prizes was a good idea. It was nice, and I thank Nate and Ari for doing such a thing, but I don't think that's the way it should be ran all the time..maybe for like, a Holiday special or something. Plus, if it was just special breed imports, then it could be ran more often as well ;P Thanks for reading ;D

Maxxy · October 2010

I agree with a lot of your points. The whole time it was going on, it was rapidfire questions and seemed kind of chaotic. I was on the edge of my seat trying to type as fast as possible. My only disagreement with your first point is that I feel there will be a lot more arguing on who got the question right, it was really close, etc etc.

Kazuko · October 2010

1. Yeah, everyone was very D< at each other. And it lasted for DAYS. I got about a week of people throwing snide comments at me and talking behind my back about how I cheated. It was to the point where I wish I hadn't even participated, much less won. 2. I like the idea of having it where if you answer a question, you get a prize, rather than a points-based system. I also approve of the sitting out on the question after you win something. I wish we'd been given more time to speak. Oh, and I also wish we hadn't been threatened from the very beginning with "If you say anything non-trivia related, you will be disqualified." That just made everything more tense and much less of a community sort of deal. 3. I like this idea as well. I didn't like winning such a huge prize just to be attacked for it by my "friends". This would discourage that much sheer outrage at losing. >_> And more community events is what VP needs. We're a totally competition run environment right now. There is NOTHING to do on VP than beat everyone else. It's turned into a game of egos. I didn't have fun. Yeah, I appreciated the event, and I liked the prize (ignoring the angry mob, that is), but I was freaking out, snapping at my husband when he joked about me missing the obvious questions (I totally blanked out in regards to the one where the answer was panting). And it was way way way too fast paced. Half the time I was like "Slow down! My brain can't comprehend yes no true false German shepherd false green! CRAP!"

NickelbackLuver · October 2010

Maxxy wrote:

I agree with a lot of your points. The whole time it was going on, it was rapidfire questions and seemed kind of chaotic. I was on the edge of my seat trying to type as fast as possible. My only disagreement with your first point is that I feel there will be a lot more arguing on who got the question right, it was really close, etc etc.

It's gonna have to be determined by who shows up on the hosts screen first, that's the way it was for the Halloween event, and if people can't enjoy themselves and feel the need to argue, they should be kicked out *shrugs* I had several questions on the robotic version that my answer came up first on my screen, but someone else got it right. It's going to happen regardless, and you just have to deal with it. I never complained ;P I think everyone should have the maturity level to not complain and just congratulate someone, or they really don't deserve to play. This was another thing about the robot version... if you didn't type out the answer -exact- you got it wrong. I think there should be room for typos and stuff so long as they aren't HORRID because, I think it should matter if you know what the answer is more than if you can type it fast AND right, because I was more worried about spelling and getting the perfect answer, than anything else. It was too nerve wracking.

Alabama · October 2010

Some of these are already being looked at for the next trivia night. Try to keep in mind that admin2 and admin1 had never hosted a trivia night before and took the suggestion as a way for them show their own appreciation to the players of VP, so they offered big prizes. The speed of the questions was noticed as being too fast within the first 5 questions. admin1 tried resetting the timing by which time at least 10 of the questions were already gone. The only way to make the timing take effect would have been to stop the bot and restart it, meaning the same questions would have been asked again and been unfair. In testing, with just Ops participating, the timing actually seemed slow LOL. They were also going by what Ops had pointed out had happened in the past, the last time Nef hosted a trivia night with players calling foul and getting upset because they thought they'd answered first and got missed. The same problem happened when an Op hosted a trivia night. The bot does not miss who answered correctly first, regardless of what the chatters or the host sees on their screen. Even the host may be having a slow internet connection. It sees and keeps track of the first correct answer posted to the chat room, so again, the host isn't accused of missing a correct answer amongst the multitude of incorrect answers. There were also a lot of complaints, in the past, that players didn't get a chance to answer because there was so many extraneous conversations going on that they missed the question, so conversation outside of the questions wasn't allowed. Which is also why it wasn't hosted in the main chat room. The quick questions (though a bit too fast) also kept conversation to a minimum. It's kinda a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. The problem is trying to find that line between how much time to allow for answers and when too much time is allowed that conversations get in the way of the trivia game. We also wanted trivia to be how much the player knew, not how well they could google the answer. The problem with player hosted trivia with the host deciding who gets what prizes is that there will always be hard feelings and accusations that such and such a player is the host's friend and had the answers previous to the competition or that the host "changed" the answer to their friend's answer. The bot also keeps this from being an issue since the answers are pre-programmed and can't be changed without stopping and restarting the bot. Ops were not allowed to participate in this trivia for the exact reason that some of the questions and answers were provided by some of us and posted in the Op section of the forums where all of us could see them. This is also why players weren't asked to provide questions. As for dealing with typos and answers that are close...How do you determine how much of a typo is allowed and how much isn't. If the answer is Labrador Retriever, if three people answer, Laborador Retriever, Labrador Retriever, and Labrador Retrieve, who is correct? The first person didn't typo, they thought the name was Laborador, not Labrador, should they win? They could certainly claim they typoed. The last person is a typo, they hit enter too quickly, but the correct person didn't, so who's fault is that? If the answer is the "pads on their paws" and someone answers pads on their paws, another bottom of their feet, and someone else pads, who is correct? They all are technically, but only one is the answer that was wanted. If the answer is changed, it will lead to cries of favoritism, as has happened in the past. Now, this is just my personal opinion, but I can't imagine the amount of work that would be involved in keeping track of individual prizes for each question. The time taken to compile the questions, program them for the bot, the time to mark down who got the answer correct, the time taken to ascertain which account/dog is getting each prize, getting the prize to the correct account/dog. Seventy-two questions means Seventy-two prizes if a prize is given for each question. I just don't know that this is feasible.

NickelbackLuver · October 2010

Hm. I remember conversations, and being able to have the trivia without issues. I thought the room got muted right before a question, so people were given plenty of warning there was a question coming up. Then it was un-muted, and the question asked a few moments later. Maybe not, but I could have sworn that was how it was run (this was so long ago, I really can't remember how that all went) I guess an OP who was working at that time would be able to answer that better (Can't remember if you were there or not xD) And, also, it was because of Trivia night that I started coming into chat ;P If my first trivia night had been like this past one, I don't think I would have come back because there was no socialization at all. The bot, to me, feels like it's a race and no one is there to be friendly, but to "get it done and over with" sort of a thing. *shrugs* And, people call foul regardless of who it's being hosted by. Even with the bot, there was unnecessary anger for a long time after the trivia was even over =/ The people complaining should just be ignored xD It's free stuff, they should lose a lot of respect for complaining about things like that, but I do see the issue with it. But, people are going to complain if they don't win anything (or even if they do). It's what happens all the time. And the whole thing with friends I understand as well, but I think that would be pretty easy to pick up on. Especially if one 'friend' hosted it one night, and the next time the other did, I'm pretty sure they would be allowing each other to win, and it'd be an easy determination xD But, I'm sure there are OPs who would be happy to volunteer their time to it, it wouldn't have to be regular players necessarily. I suggested twenty questions, not 72. I don't know why the trivia needs to be completed in 20-30 minutes like it was last time... that was rather unfun and too quick. The Halloween one, prizes were given out for every question, so it's entirely possible. The time taken to give the prizes to the winner, gives the other players time to sit and relax and talk for a couple minutes before the trivia has to go on. It's all suggestions, of course.

Aziu · October 2010

I understand the desire for community building events - I agree that we could use more. However, trivia is rather competitive in itself. Everyone wants to get the answer right first and win. So I don't think that's the best avenue to building community while avoiding a competitive nature. My view is that if players want to come into chat exclusively for trivia, and don't hop over to regular VP chat, they're just there for the chance at free stuff and not the social aspect. After trivia concluded, players could have transferred to the main chat room and had their social time, using the trivia as an excuse to get them into chat in the first place. I didn't see many new faces in regular chat after the trivia. Players have ample opportunity to engage in the social aspect of the game be it via forum, chat, or ingame messages. We can't control whether they take advantage of it or not. As far as the timing, and allowing time for regular chatting in between, it does become an issue. I recall the last trivia, there were a lot of impatient people wondering when the next question would be asked. It couldn't come fast enough. There was also a lot of spamming and rule-breaking. Now it's going too fast. Muting and unmuting the room for every question is just one more step that makes it more complicated to host. There will still be those who take the downtime as more than it is, go off and do something else, come back and are upset they've missed the question(s). At least with rapid-fire, there's no question of when the next one will come.

NickelbackLuver · November 2010

Yeah, rapid fire just got everyone going more though, I think. It didn't give time to relax between questions. Whether people talk or not between them, there should still be more time between the questions. I ended up missing a lot because I was so frustrated with having to try to spit out answers to fast. People got more competitive because of it, like I said, they couldn't congratulate each other or anything, and it made everyone more anxious. The halloween one years ago couldn't have been too bad... I started joining chat thanks to it. People aren't going to join chat from the trivia when it isn't friendly. I wouldn't have went to the normal chat after the last trivia. As I said before, everyone was rather hostile the whole way through it. But, just my opinion on it.

HollyWood · November 2010

Nickelback__Luver wrote:

Yeah, rapid fire just got everyone going more though, I think. It didn't give time to relax between questions. Whether people talk or not between them, there should still be more time between the questions. I ended up missing a lot because I was so frustrated with having to try to spit out answers to fast. People got more competitive because of it, like I said, they couldn't congratulate each other or anything, and it made everyone more anxious. The halloween one years ago couldn't have been too bad... I started joining chat thanks to it. People aren't going to join chat from the trivia when it isn't friendly. I wouldn't have went to the normal chat after the last trivia. As I said before, everyone was rather hostile the whole way through it. But, just my opinion on it.

I agree, mabye it should say like: 'Next question starting in 20 (or even 30) seconds' Some answers I knew but because of everyone throwing out answers mine was delayed, alot

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