Forum challenges

[celerystalker]

I know a lot of game-centric forums like to do yearly challenges like trying to beat a system's entire library together, high score challenges, most games beaten in a year, etc. Anybody feel like trying something like that? Taking on something more esoteric like the Neo Geo or Dreamcast library? Maybe like a weekly $5 game challenge or a monthly $20 to see who can get interesting stuff on a budget?

I dunno. Just trying to think of something that might be fun and keep folks interested this year.

[Cornelius]

I'm interested. For me, something that is in a cooperative spirit is more likely to get me involved, as I'm never going to 'win' a most played/best score type challenge.

[celerystalker]

I'm interested. For me, something that is in a cooperative spirit is more likely to get me involved, as I'm never going to 'win' a most played/best score type challenge.

I could be game for one of those team tackling of a console library or something of that nature. I think a lot of us like reasons to dig into our backlogs.

[bb_hood]

I could be game for one of those team tackling of a console library or something of that nature. I think a lot of us like reasons to dig into our backlogs.

Interesting, but you might not end up with enough participants to even stand a chance at beating an entire library. Unless maybe Virtual Boy..

Maybe you could do a competition where each participant suggests a game, then we play those games over a month, and at the end we post the scores or best times for all the games. Then points are awarded for the top 3 placers of each game, and the person with the most points wins.

[Emperor Megas]

Sure, maybe...I mean, depending on what we're talking about.

[FieryReign]

Name something. I need motivation these days.

[celerystalker]

Well, we could do a modest library like Dreamcast, Neo Geo, or N64... I'm thinking something where there are only a couple hundred games. If we did something like that, I'm thinking emulation would be allowed with no save states, and if it's something like Neo Geo, compilations and 32 bit and up ports would count, like the Fatal Fury Battle Archives on PS2 or Last Blade 2 on Dreamcast. I'm open to suggestions or if we want to take a vote over the course of the week and go from there.

If we want to do something smaller like bb_hood suggested, we could do something like a game of the week challenge for completion and/or scores.

[Emperor Megas]

How about doing some sort of letter challenge? One of the biggest gaming issues I have is not being able to pick something to play (I'm sure I'm not the only person who has this issue). Maybe we can do something like take a random (or ordered) letter a week, or biweekly, and pick games starting with that letter to play.

Or, maybe have someone pick a letter to start the game off, and everyone plays something that starts with that letter, and posts their game, then each week pick a participant's game and whatever the last letter of the game they played is becomes the new letter of the week. I suppose if someone was a moderator of the game they could use some hidden criteria that the rest of us don't know to choose the 'winner' whose game will be used for the next week. Like if celerystalker was moderating the game and decided that he's going to pick the first poster whose game is a 'shooter' to be the person whose game to use for the next weeks letter, but of course no one would know that but him (until he reveals it).

Is that confusing? I'm just brainstorming here.

[FieryReign]

How about doing some sort of letter challenge? One of the biggest gaming issues I have is not being able to pick something to play (I'm sure I'm not the only person who has this issue).

That's my problem. Oftentimes I'll pick something to play that just won't interest me for very long and bail on it quick. Not just an emulation "list of roms" thing either. Went thru the same shit when I was doing the collecting thing . I'd spend more time deciding what to pick off the shelf than actually playing the damn things.

That sucks. Not like being a kid and having no choice but to play what you got, all day everyday.

[celerystalker]

That's kind of my thought process here in regard to focusing game selection. One of the things my friends always like when I hold tournaments is that they are made to play games they probably wouldn't have just plucked off of the shelf on their own, and it's nice to have some direction and focus sometimes. I just want it to be fun and not stressful.

Maybe we do something combining Megas and bb's ideas here. I can post a selection of two or three games a week of the same starting letter through the alphabet, and maybe attach a point system, like a point per completed game and a bonus point for completing all of them in a week, maybe a bonus point for high score on one of the games per week. I could track it and put up some kind of prize for the end of the year champ and maybe runner up

How's that sound? Any more suggestions?

[bb_hood]

That's kind of my thought process here in regard to focusing game selection. One of the things my friends always like when I hold tournaments is that they are made to play games they probably wouldn't have just plucked off of the shelf on their own, and it's nice to have some direction and focus sometimes. I just want it to be fun and not stressful.

Maybe we do something combining Megas and bb's ideas here. I can post a selection of two or three games a week of the same starting letter through the alphabet, and maybe attach a point system, like a point per completed game and a bonus point for completing all of them in a week, maybe a bonus point for high score on one of the games per week. I could track it and put up some kind of prize for the end of the year champ and maybe runner up

How's that sound? Any more suggestions?

Well, if you want to tackle the Dreamcast library there is no reason you couldnt simply start a topic about that, then also do some other sort of competition every week or every 2 weeks.

We could do Zen Pinball tournaments... its a really good pinball game with lots of different tables. Ive got it on PS3 (its Zen Pinball 2 actually). It shares the high scores with the other people on your friends list.

[FieryReign]

Enough talk, pick a game already.

[Gameguy]

Well, if you want to tackle the Dreamcast library there is no reason you couldnt simply start a topic about that, then also do some other sort of competition every week or every 2 weeks.
I would hope the challenge would be fun instead of painful. The Dreamcast is one of the worst systems I've played in terms of the US library. I sold my console when I couldn't find one game I enjoyed enough to justify keeping it.

[Aussie2B]

I think the scope of this forum is too broad for a system-based challenge to work, at least given the low activity we get these days. You can pick any system and you'll lose participants to the fact that they dislike the system as a whole. I mean, just look at the topic where people name systems they have no desire to ever play again. Even with systems that have a mostly positive reception, like the Dreamcast and Neo Geo, the libraries aren't exactly the most diverse. If the genres people tend to play are lacking on the chosen system, they're not going to join in. And then there's the fact that some people stick almost exclusively to certain generations.

[Emperor Megas]

I would hope the challenge would be fun instead of painful. The Dreamcast is one of the worst systems I've played in terms of the US library. I sold my console when I couldn't find one game I enjoyed enough to justify keeping it.LOL


I think the scope of this forum is too broad for a system-based challenge to work, at least given the low activity we get these days. You can pick any system and you'll lose participants to the fact that they dislike the system as a whole.Yeah, I agree. That's one of the reasons I was thinking to base it on letters rather than games, because it doesn't matter the system.

[celerystalker]

Ok, I'll start a thread tonight with games and rules. It won'r be perfect, but it'll at least offer a bit of diversity in game selection to offer some flexibilty while still providing focus and such. We'll run it throughout the year, and I'll provide a small prize incentive for the top two or three at the end of the year.