Tricon 2.5 discussion
- Matt Weiner
- Sin
- Posts: 8145
- Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2003 8:34 pm
- Location: Richmond, VA
Tricon 2.5 discussion
Discuss Tricon 2.5 here.
Cody is banned from writing for the next version of this tournament.
Cody is banned from writing for the next version of this tournament.
Matt Weiner
Advisor to Quizbowl at Virginia Commonwealth University / Founder of hsquizbowl.org
Advisor to Quizbowl at Virginia Commonwealth University / Founder of hsquizbowl.org
- Nine-Tenths Ideas
- Auron
- Posts: 1558
- Joined: Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:14 pm
- Location: MD
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
"this was indeed tricon" - only necessary discussion of this tournament
Isaac Hirsch
University of Maryland '14
Never Gonna Play Again
University of Maryland '14
Never Gonna Play Again
- DumbJaques
- Forums Staff: Administrator
- Posts: 3109
- Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 6:21 pm
- Location: Columbus, OH
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
For people who wrote for Tricon:
I understand it's fun to include some zany stuff, and that this tournament is free, but you're still creating something other human beings are going to be subjected to. This can be a whole lot of fun - and indeed some tossups were - but more often it was overwhelmed by 12-line questions on the weird or unanswerable (and not in the good way).
In particular, Mr. Gupta, despite what I was assured were fervent proclamations on your part that you'd learned from the terrible reception of your packet last year, there was once again a healthy amount of bizarre and unanswerable shit in your contribution. Please stop doing this.
In fairness, many aspects of this year's distribution - to use a technical industry term - sucked the big one. Guess what, things SUCKED in Europe during the dark ages. There was not a lot of good art produced while people were dodging plague rats and fleeing from barbarian hordes (who themselves, really, are almost certainly not interesting enough to warrant a whole category). I suggest we move somewhat away from the origin of Tricon's distribution in the name of creating a more enjoyable event. Specifically, let's replace the "side tournaments" that were actually just terrible ideas various quizbowl idiots posted in the midst of their inane rantings with cool things that could result in hilarity and/or education. Meanwhile, we can keep the flagship testaments to Tricon's better origins, like the hats tournament.
For people who are Cody Voight:
Stop being Cody Voight.
I understand it's fun to include some zany stuff, and that this tournament is free, but you're still creating something other human beings are going to be subjected to. This can be a whole lot of fun - and indeed some tossups were - but more often it was overwhelmed by 12-line questions on the weird or unanswerable (and not in the good way).
In particular, Mr. Gupta, despite what I was assured were fervent proclamations on your part that you'd learned from the terrible reception of your packet last year, there was once again a healthy amount of bizarre and unanswerable shit in your contribution. Please stop doing this.
In fairness, many aspects of this year's distribution - to use a technical industry term - sucked the big one. Guess what, things SUCKED in Europe during the dark ages. There was not a lot of good art produced while people were dodging plague rats and fleeing from barbarian hordes (who themselves, really, are almost certainly not interesting enough to warrant a whole category). I suggest we move somewhat away from the origin of Tricon's distribution in the name of creating a more enjoyable event. Specifically, let's replace the "side tournaments" that were actually just terrible ideas various quizbowl idiots posted in the midst of their inane rantings with cool things that could result in hilarity and/or education. Meanwhile, we can keep the flagship testaments to Tricon's better origins, like the hats tournament.
For people who are Cody Voight:
Stop being Cody Voight.
Chris Ray
OSU
University of Chicago, 2016
University of Maryland, 2014
ACF, PACE
OSU
University of Chicago, 2016
University of Maryland, 2014
ACF, PACE
- Amizda Calyx
- Forums Staff: Moderator
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- Joined: Tue May 18, 2010 9:46 pm
- Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
Hey now, I also contributed to the distribution of bizarre and unanswerable shit! Don't give Auroni all the credit.DumbJaques wrote: In particular, Mr. Gupta, despite what I was assured were fervent proclamations on your part that you'd learned from the terrible reception of your packet last year, there was once again a healthy amount of bizarre and unanswerable shit in your contribution. Please stop doing this.
Joelle Smart
Ellensburg High School, 2006–10
University of Washington, 2010–14
Rutgers University, 2015–20??
PACE
HSAPQ biology editor, 2014–2017
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
Ellensburg High School, 2006–10
University of Washington, 2010–14
Rutgers University, 2015–20??
PACE
HSAPQ biology editor, 2014–2017
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
Fair enough. I'm sending a version of our packet for BABIES to future mirrors.DumbJaques wrote: In particular, Mr. Gupta, despite what I was assured were fervent proclamations on your part that you'd learned from the terrible reception of your packet last year, there was once again a healthy amount of bizarre and unanswerable shit in your contribution. Please stop doing this.
Auroni Gupta (she/her)
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
I don't know if we got Mrs. Gupta's "babies" packet or not, but it was still really really hard.
Look, I don't mind playing really really hard packets, but playing really really hard 35 tossup, 12-line question packets gets grating. Writers should use more restraint on this.
I completely agree with Chris Ray that aspects of the distribution sucked balls. Some writers found creative ways to go about it, others (understandably) threw up their hands and cranked out generic tossups on barbarians and Renaissance art or what have you. These were not overly fun for me. Since this year's distro ignored the idea of "unfinished side events," I think we should just settle on a distro that tries to be the most entertaining and accessible.
I actually found Cody's packet to be enormously entertaining, but it was out of place of course at an event like this. As a bonus trash packet, it was well done.
Look, I don't mind playing really really hard packets, but playing really really hard 35 tossup, 12-line question packets gets grating. Writers should use more restraint on this.
I completely agree with Chris Ray that aspects of the distribution sucked balls. Some writers found creative ways to go about it, others (understandably) threw up their hands and cranked out generic tossups on barbarians and Renaissance art or what have you. These were not overly fun for me. Since this year's distro ignored the idea of "unfinished side events," I think we should just settle on a distro that tries to be the most entertaining and accessible.
I actually found Cody's packet to be enormously entertaining, but it was out of place of course at an event like this. As a bonus trash packet, it was well done.
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota
"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
Formerly U of Minnesota
"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
- Adventure Temple Trail
- Auron
- Posts: 2754
- Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:52 pm
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
Frankly, I'm of the opinion that Tricon has sort of run its course with 2.5 editions already mocking side events past, present, unannounced, and future; the concept isn't inherently fun enough that a version of it has to happen next year or every year, and the issues with people Not Getting It won't go away. Some version of "guerrilla, hard, wacky packets that are actually fun and/or funny, with mega-powers" can certainly recur, though -- I'd suggest shorter rounds, like 24 or 25 tossups, and a distribution that hews much closer to the ACF distribution. Perhaps a mix-and-match, where there's a list of 24 questions by category and 24 funny things which could be done in any category, and packet authors get to choose how to allocate?
Matt Jackson
University of Chicago '24
Yale '14, Georgetown Day School '10
member emeritus, ACF
University of Chicago '24
Yale '14, Georgetown Day School '10
member emeritus, ACF
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
Yeah, the main problems were that some categories were just too difficult to write fun tossups on and that tossup length was variable. As long as tossups are limited to 6-8 lines and certain categories are broadened to allow for more creativity, the tournament should continue. And also, don't include mashups or at least give some warning beforehand.
Tejas Raje
Cornell '14
Cornell '14
- Amizda Calyx
- Forums Staff: Moderator
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- Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
What were the answerlines that were particularly hard in our packet (we're allowed to discuss those here, right?)? We replaced a few of the more ridiculous questions. Also, one of our tossups was posted in the comments of someone's status, without asking our permission and before the set was clear; is this something that matters to anyone?
Joelle Smart
Ellensburg High School, 2006–10
University of Washington, 2010–14
Rutgers University, 2015–20??
PACE
HSAPQ biology editor, 2014–2017
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
Ellensburg High School, 2006–10
University of Washington, 2010–14
Rutgers University, 2015–20??
PACE
HSAPQ biology editor, 2014–2017
It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
I guess you could replace that tossup, but this is really not a very serious event, so I wouldn't sweat it.
Mike Cheyne
Formerly U of Minnesota
"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
Formerly U of Minnesota
"You killed HSAPQ"--Matt Bollinger
- Excelsior (smack)
- Rikku
- Posts: 386
- Joined: Sun Jan 25, 2009 12:20 am
- Location: Madison, WI
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
Cody "subverting [the distribution] to prove a point and inflict misery on everyone else is not [great]" Voight, your packet sucked, and so do you.
Also, the "Kirk Jing being murdered" part of the distribution was not really funny (this is a separate issue from it being in incredibly poor taste). I mean, yeah, the first question you hear on that is kind of almost vaguely amusing: "ha ha man, that guy sucks wouldn't it be funny if serial killers killed him instead of other people", but by the ninth question, it really gets droll.
Concur with Tejas that non-conventional questions like mashups should be heralded by something like "Warning: this question is a mashup" or similar.
Also, the "Kirk Jing being murdered" part of the distribution was not really funny (this is a separate issue from it being in incredibly poor taste). I mean, yeah, the first question you hear on that is kind of almost vaguely amusing: "ha ha man, that guy sucks wouldn't it be funny if serial killers killed him instead of other people", but by the ninth question, it really gets droll.
Concur with Tejas that non-conventional questions like mashups should be heralded by something like "Warning: this question is a mashup" or similar.
Ashvin Srivatsa
Corporate drone '?? | Yale University '14 | Sycamore High School (OH) '10
Corporate drone '?? | Yale University '14 | Sycamore High School (OH) '10
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
Says the person who wouldn't know if something was fun -- or funny -- if it slapped him in the face!Excelsior (smack) wrote:Cody "subverting [the distribution] to prove a point and inflict misery on everyone else is not [great]" Voight, your packet sucked, and so do you.
Cody Voight, VCU ’14.
Re: Tricon 2.5 discussion
I read through the questions. I probably would not have enjoyed playing as much, but I sure did enjoy writing.
I liked that question which was about whether or not Itzhak Hirsch was jewish.something similarly dumb wrote:"this was indeed tricon" - only necessary discussion of this tournament
Gautam - ACF
Currently tending to the 'quizbowl hobo' persuasion.
Currently tending to the 'quizbowl hobo' persuasion.