Z-I-v: Tower of Eight Panels

Hello everyone! Nice to see you again after the wild roller coaster ride that was Summer Contest 2020. I'm excited to present a brand new contest format for this fall - the Tower of Eight Panels. As the name suggests, this is a doubles-only contest (AFAIK the first here). Themed after an RPG dungeon, this contest awards players who gain the most XP over the course of five rounds.

OVERVIEW
Participants participate in fortnightly (every other week) rounds. Each round, players will be taken through a new floor with a different 'scenario' that they must solve through doubles-oriented requirements in their simfiles. Fulfilling the 'main' requirement in a round earns the player 90 XP, while fulfilling the more restrictive 'bonus' requirement nets the player 10 XP.
After the submission period, while submissions for the next round open players must vote for the previous round's files.
The fifth round will feature a different format than the previous rounds, giving players who are behind a chance to catch up.

RULES
- You are required to vote if you enter a file.
- One file per round, so make it count!
- Files must be uploaded by the deadline, NO EXCEPTIONS.
- Files must be uploaded on the contest simfile category, using the title of the theme to sort them into sub-categories.
- All files will be judged as pad charts and by the DDR X-scale. Additionally, autogen steps are prohibited.
- You may submit singles charts, but they will not be judged as this is a doubles contest.
- All songs must be under 3:00 (changed from 2:30).
- You may upload simfiles that are submitted simultaneously to another ongoing contest. (This contest format is deliberately kept loose at 2 weeks for this reason) Additionally, you may upload simfiles that have been previously released on SINGLES only. You may not submit previously released doubles charts.
- Hosts have final discretion on whether files follow the round's requirements or not.
- Suspicious voting patterns (e.g. giving all files a 3 or lower) will be punished to prevent vote abuse.
- You may enter at any point of the contest before Round 5 submissions open.

HOSTING
I will be co-hosting this contest with KexMiX and FoRCeDNaTuRe. KexMiX will be handling scenarios for each round, FoRCeDNaTuRe will be managing votes, and I will be handling announcements/graphics. Please PM FoRCeDNaTuRe on Z-I-v to submit your votes.

VOTING
- Each round, you must rate every other file from a scale of 0-10. Decimals are prohibited for sake of simplicity. Your file will be given an additional rating consisting of the average of your votes in order to balance high and low votes. Then, the average of everyone else's votes for your file, as well as said additional rating, will be taken.
- Players' XP gain for that round is calculated by the following: (vote average x 10).
- This is a change from previous contests, which used a '15 points' system.
- You must submit a file in order to vote for that week.

SCORING
Unique to this contest is the XP (experience point) format. Players gain XP from the following:
- Fulfilling the main requirement in a round (90XP)
- Fulfilling the bonus requirement in a round (10XP)
- Voting (0-100XP depending on file rating)
Thus, the maximum XP one can gain in a round is 200XP.
Players compete to gain the most XP during the contest. There are no eliminations, and participation is optional (although participating every round is advantageous)

AWARDS
Post-contest awards will be given for the following categories:
- Players with the top 3 total experience points
- Files with the top 3 highest ratings
- Hosts' personal favorites
- A special award for Round 5

DEADLINES
- The deadline for submitting files and voting will be (every other) SUNDAYS at 1PM EDT/EST.

SCHEDULE
27 Sep: Registration opens
4 Oct: Round 1 submissions open
18 Oct: Round 1 voting begins, Round 2 submissions open
1 Nov: Round 2 voting begins, Round 3 submissions open
15 Nov: Round 3 voting begins, Round 4 submissions open
29 Nov: Round 4 voting begins, EXTRA STAGE (Round 5) submissions open
13 Dec: Round 5 voting begins
27 Dec: Final results announced

PARTICIPANTS
Entrants will be added to this list as they sign up.


Please PM me here or on Discord if you have any questions. Good luck, everyone!

count me IN

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I'll join, I've never really played doubles before but might as well try it out I guess

I'm down for more competition, let's try to win this time lol

Looks like fun! I'm in

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I played doubles once, count me in.

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It's time. Put me in.

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also if we're gonna be using an x/10 rating system, i think it should also be clarified what is considered "average" (some people say 5, some people say 7, some people say 8, etc) I feel like if that is not clarified a lot of people's personal opinions on what is average will clash, and you will have ratings that are massively different than each other. It may be helpful to create labels for each number, like 10 being Really Good, 5 being Average for example, so that mistakes like that don't happen off the bat

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I wouldn't say we need an anchor for every number, maybe 5 = average, 10 = best ever played, 1 = worst ever played?

Interesting concept. Count me in.

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People receive the average of their votes for other songs, which is factored into their own vote average. I'm thinking this should be enough to counteract variance in how people vote. Of course, the easiest way to solve this is if everyone gave feedback

It technically wouldn't be enough. If someone tends to rate files with a lower "average" than others, it gives them an inherent advantage, even if it doesn't seem like it.

On the other hand, if someone rates files an "average" of 7 or 8, they're at a disadvantage.

I think the best way to solve this is just encouraging an average of 5.

Say your "average" is a 4, you give all files a rating between 2-6, the additional vote you would receive from the average of your own votes would also be ~4, eliminating any advantage you would give yourself or anyone else because everyone votes for each file except for their own.

OTOH, if your "average" is a 8, you give 6-10s, you would also yourself get ~8 from yourself, neutralizing the on-average higher vote you give to other files.

The "average vote" you choose to use impacts everyone on the same level, including yourselves, so everyone can vote with their own "average vote". What actually matters in your vote is which files you give a higher/lower rating than the "average".

Of course, it would be the most logical to just use an average of 5 and give good files a better rating and worse files a lower rating, but this is just to make sure that you don't have to feel bad when giving out higher average votes than a 5 I myself would also encourage an average of 5, but in the end it's not a big deal.

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Is participation in every week mandatory? Or can I come and go.

Completely optional. Participate as much or as little as you want, although if you don't participate in a week before Week 5 you won't be eligible for that round

Let's do this. Good luck guys!

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Double the pads, double the fun!

Count me in!

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Clearly I don't know how to read because I missed this.

Sure, count me in.

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I like writing double charts, so I'm in.
Any general restrictions to charting, i.e. SM features to avoid or whatever, or is it all fair game so long as it's fun to play (and meets individual round requirements)?