So a while back, I had a post about
new events the WCA could add to make the competition experience a little more diverse.
Today I want to broaden that subject with the idea of adding ranks to the
competition. I know for a fact that CrazyBadCuber did a video on this a very long
time ago, so I wanted to talk about his ideas, and then give my opinions on
them and my ideas on what might be able to happen.
So CrazyBadCuber’s idea was to have
a ranked system based upon your average time in competition. He thought having
four divisions, A-D with lower times for each division would be best. While I see
his idea here, I think there are a few flaws. One, he says in his video that
you are ranked based on the average of your previous competition. The problem I
have with this that what if you have never been at a competition before, or had
an average of a DNF? Are you instantly put in the bottom, D, division? Another
problem I had was his method for moving up a rank. He said that you started in whatever
level you were at from your average from the last competition, and that if you
wanted, you could go for a faster average and try to move up a division, but if
you did, you would be not be able to come down a ranking ever again. But what
if you have a lucky average, like I did on 2x2 at my last competition? Am I instantly
in the big leagues and can never go back?
I have a few proposed solutions to
these problems, plus a couple extra tidbits to make the process better. To start
with where you get ranked because of your last competition, just simply do a
mean of 3 solves at the start of the comp, for all the competitors who are new.
This will give them practice in competing and determine their ranking. To solve
the other issue of lucky averages, I think if you had time, you could just have
everyone do a mean of 3 for that competition, to get a baseline for their rank.
Then they can compete from there, like normal. Of course that is a lot of extra
time, so one thing you could do is have a sign up for the division you would
like to be put in, and completely exclude time. Instead, focus on the status of
the division and the prize each division winner gets. Make it somehow clear
that if you compete in the top class with a 20 second average, you are still “better”
than the guy who has a 10 second average, but chose class 2 because he wanted
to win. Enforce this by making the prizes decrease dramatically for each
division, so there is more incentive to move up a rank.
I feel like rankings in the WCA
would be very difficult, and even though I haven’t yet expressed this, I don’t
think they are the best idea, because you make people feel like winners who
haven’t done the work. However, I wanted to share how it could be done, and
maybe if some other cubers give their own input, these rankings could be a very
fun addition in the future!
CrazyBadCuber's video on this subject.
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