Type Race Announcements

Status:

The Type Race thread leader selection process has been changed. Learn how the new system works and how you can get involved! Historically Type Race Team Threads have been run by "whoever makes the thread first", but this has occasionally led to issues. To address this, the system has been changed. The basic idea is, at the start of each month any player can submit their proposal for a Type Race Team Thread. Then, one of three things may happen: 1. Nobody applies to be leader for a team. In this case, the SYSTEM will auto-create a thread for the team. 2. Only one person applies to be leader. Their thread will be chosen and they will be leader for their team by default. 3. At least two people apply for leadership. Members of their team may then vote on which thread they want. The winner of the poll becomes the leader. Full details can be found here, including the schedule. This post will be updated with the "status" line at the top indicating what is going on. We hope this new system will encourage further participation in the Type Race event!

Please note that, as with all "new/updated" features on this version of PFQ, there may be unanticipated bugs in the code. There's a lot of "shenanigans" when it comes to manipulating the forums to automate the management of these Type Race threads, and it's entirely possible I have made a mistake somewhere. Most automation should take place at 00:01 on the corresponding days, as per the schedule linked above. However, I will be asleep at that time since I'm currently in France where the time is an hour further ahead. In the event that the automation fails for whatever reason, I will endeavour to fix it and re-run the code as soon as possible, which may end up being as late as 9AM Server Time. Your patience is much appreciated!

I really like the idea of SYSTEM creating the new team threads each month, but a couple of thoughts come to mind: How does the first post get updated with things like a click list, what team members are breeding/hatching, what breeding pairs are available to borrow, the team raffle (if there is one)?

If nobody steps up to lead and the system has to create a thread for the team, then organisation has already kinda failed, but someone can probably step up to make a click list later.

Makes sense =) I'm guessing there's also not any good way to assign a mod per team, and have the mod create/manage the thread. Too busy with other mod duties?

Well that, and the fact that it's very unlikely to have mods spread out across all teams. If a mod wants to play in the Type Race, it'd be on their own team, after all.

would like to point out that this does not allow time to borrow a breeding pair and bring up their happiness.

while i'm glad the staff are wanting to make it more fair + have more people participate, this feels like such a weird system. i don't know if it was actually the best way to fix this? voting turns it into a popularity competition. looking at the teams that have two threads so far, i don't see why someone would pick one thread over the other. except "i like this person so i'm going to vote for them". people who are popular or post on the forums/discord a lot are going to be voted for most months imo. i think the same general idea except a raffle instead of voting would be more fair? i'm happy to see how we go with this system for now but i get the feeling it will ruffle feathers more than the old system did. not getting to lead because you were too late is one thing, but not getting to lead because no one votes for you is depressing and discouraging

Part of the idea of a vote is to weed out low quality threads. We have had a few occasions where someone gets their thread in first but it's really bad, or the individual was not a good leader, and the team struggled as a result. So to some extent it kind of is a popularity contest on purpose, as the team votes for who they want as leader. Generally, friend groups are going to be too fragmented across teams to be able to coordinate votes, so it should in theory come down to who makes the more appealing thread, or is known more widely in the community.

I agree, it's now nothing but a competition of who the most well known user is. Before, everyone had a chance, now, only the popular people have a chance. I also don't understand how this is supposed to encourage people to participate more in TR. I imagine, like myself and some friends on here, a lot of people won't bother because they know they aren't well known enough on the website. It's just going to turn into the same handful of users hosting the threads every single time. I don't think "a few occasions" is worth overhauling an entire system and turning it into a high school popularity contest when they could have been dealt with individually. This also harms participation, as another user started previously that you completely passed over; this doesn't give users time to prepare.