Z-I-v Summer Contest 2021

yes

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I'm in.

I would like to participate in this competition

I am in

I am in

Bring it.

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I'll join

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Joining, though i'm not sure if i will be able to upload frequently

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Guess I've grown enough to be back here. I'm in, and I hope I can submit steadily. Being a teacher during this pandemic has been extraordinarily exhausting but I want to show how much I've improved.

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Joining.

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I would like to join

Sure, sign me up. I hope to submit some original songs for this one

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UPDATE!

The first theme will be announced in three days! As of recently, we're up to 32 contestants (including KeXMiX and the co-hosts) and counting! Keep 'em coming!

There's also some other topics of discussion:

We made some Pump It Up! simfiles. Can we use them?

The Z-I-v Summer Contest mostly focuses on Simfiles dedicated to ITG/DDR style charts. We don't discriminate against PUI users, but the Simfile must include at least ONE chart under level 16 stepped for DDR or ITG. You are free to include PUI charts for your Simfile as well. The same applies for Doubles charts. However, we will be looking specifically at Single charts for DDR/ITG.

Speaking of, the Summer Contest has always been ONE chart for a song. Why the exception?

As mentioned earlier, there has to be one chart at least below lv. 16 for less experienced players. You can still make a chart over lv. 16, but the one-chart rule will not apply to the Simfile if there is a chart over 16. The reasoning behind this is there has been some discussion (and some frustration) the past few contests of having to play and judge the hardest chart, a majority of them being over lv. 17. Not everybody can play them, and even if they could, they'd probably be fatigued.

This rule is constantly being amended, so if there is any discontent over this exception, please let us know.

There was a funny ruling we had last contest...

We're leaving this up to vote: splitting the voters into two groups.

The last contest had over 50 participants, leading to the whole group being split into two. Contestants could only vote on their respective group. However, as the contest proceeded, contestants dwindled from 50 to at least 30, so the two group rule was dropped. Not only that, but there was some criticism on the two-group rule. Voters were frustrated about not being able to vote on a Simfile they liked that was not in their group.

As of now, we are sticking to the traditional format: ALL Simfiles must be viewed and voted on. However, this rule is also amendable as we are leaving the two-group rule into discussion. Don't let this dissuade you into joining the contest however. We'd like to see more than 50 participants in this contest again.

That is all. Have fun talking about it!

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Yeah sure I guess I'll sign up too.


Personally I'd prefer at least one chart under level 15 since even 15's are still pretty difficult for a lot of players, otherwise I agree with this rule.

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i'd prefer 3 difficulties being required minimum.

keep it as is

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The good thing about two groups is it certainly is less daunting and less of a time constraint to manage. I work a relatively busy job and have a life outside of stepping, and I assume many of you do too. I also felt I was able to distribute points more in line with my preferences as the 15-point rule was still in play, rather than dole out 1s and 2s to a myriad of songs. I think I would not be feasibly able to judge more than 40 files in one round.

Conversely, not everyone gets to be seen by everyone. I'm still a developing step artist and there's a group here whose files I will retain after each round and try to learn from, rather than purge. I missed some quality files with this split. The split also runs the chance of placing the best of the best in one group to cannibalize each other.

In Eurovision, a similar issue happens where geographical neighbors tend to favor each other. To ensure a fair split, they are allocated into "pots" and are divided evenly for semi-finals. One of these pots will usually be the Balkan countries (i.e. Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria), and randomly Croatia, Albania, and North Macedonia would end up in the first semi, while Slovenia, Serbia, and Bulgaria end up in the second.

It might be controversial but worth considering doing that with our group if it becomes too much to have a single group, potentially dividing into tiers of people based on either past contest performance, historical voting patterns, or charting style. Just a thought, but basically I'm more in favor of two groups provided they are somewhat balanced and not entirely randomized.

Actually I was thinking if there are > 25-30 files in a week, I'm proposing two things:
- Extend the voting deadline of each theme to two weeks each.
- Split the theme into groups but two different voting deadlines for each group (similar to the BEST-mix #6 non-anonymous bracket system)

Participants can submit files in the same consecutive weeks. Basically, it's more on the voting deadline that gets extended or separated. If the contest will go all the way into the Fall season because of this so be it.

This should hopefully ensure everyone plays all files with maybe IRL factors considered.

EDIT: To answer what the vote does pertain to I'm more for keeping the traditional pre-2020 voting format. 50 files in one round? Play a few each day then vote on the Sunday.

Oh I was waiting until Sunday to do this but I'm

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Dropping in to say that I am strongly in favor of removing the split groups and having everyone vote on every file. Time constraints are obviously a factor but I do not think it is too unreasonable to request that if you participate in this contest, you take time in your weekly schedule to properly rate each others files. Of course some few people might not be able to do that and it sucks for them but I think the split system has too many problems to retry it again. If there are ~50 files in one week, and you take your time to play each file a couple times, even when factoring in breaks between each file & the time it takes to think of a fair rating, I'd still be surprised if that took more than 5-7 hours. Which honestly is less time than I (and probably the majority of people) take to pick a song that fits the theme, create a chart and graphics. I don't want to say that everyone who has a full time job should just get screwed over but that's how it is IMO.

Alternatively, you could make it like: if there's > (insert set amount of charts, probably 40) files for one theme, the voting time could just be extended to two weeks. But I don't know if everyone would agree to that. It would (hopefully) ensure that everyone would have their time to give ratings to all songs though.

I just think it's most important that everyone gets to vote on each file.


Yessssss!! Let's fucking go dude!!!!

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I agree with the extended vote time for large number of files proposition.