March's Daily Duels

[Martin Gardner]

Apterous went down last night at about 12.15 as I was doing the duel, I'd done about 7 rounds. Assuming the site comes up again today, can I have another go?

[Julie T]

Apterous went down last night at about 12.15 as I was doing the duel, I'd done about 7 rounds. Assuming the site comes up again today, can I have another go?

From my past experience, it might come up again automatically. If it doesn't, maybe PM or email Charlie.

I want to know just how badly I did on yesterday's duel. I'm expecting my placing to be pretty bad, since I seemed to fall apart on the final numbers round and the following letters rounds.
Annoying, since I had the solution, unlike the other 2 nos rounds, but had a crisis of confidence when inputting the method.

[Julie T]

The final standings for March don't seem to be shown.

[Neil Zussman]

However, there will be plenty of people that are only able to log on at certain times, ie in the evenings if they are at work all day. Unfortunately, access is disabled on my work laptop so I can only play in the evenings from about 7pm. I guess it is a matter of opinion as to whether it is bad luck or not if apterous is down at that time.

I agree, Lee.
And there are others, like me, who tend to log on in the morning or afternoon, who are rather left out if apterous is down then, if the DD doesn't roll over.
If Charlie is considering it, I certainly think there should be a vote before the rollover rule (whether it works every time or not) is abandoned.

Fair point. However, consider two hypothetical people: One logs in from 7-9 every morning. The other logs in 9-10 every morning. If apterous is down from 4-9 one morning, then 7-9 the next, the first person will miss out on two duels, the second won't miss out on any, if the first one rolls over. This seems unfair, since the first person is on apterous more (in general).
Essentially, any time limit you put on the downtime will be totally arbitrary. If you say the duel will only roll over if the site is down for more than 4 hours- that can be really unfair if on one day, when I cannot log-on due to other commitments say, it is down for 4 hours 1 minute, then the next day, when someone else cannot log-on, it is down for 3 hours 59 minutes. Why should I be able to do both days' duels, but not the other person?
I know I've explained things very badly. In all honesty, I'm not that bothered if it rolls over, so if it pleases more people than it irritates, let it continue!

[Charlie Reams]

Fair point. However, consider two hypothetical people: One logs in from 7-9 every morning. The other logs in 9-10 every morning. If apterous is down from 4-9 one morning, then 7-9 the next, the first person will miss out on two duels, the second won't miss out on any, if the first one rolls over. This seems unfair, since the first person is on apterous more (in general).

Well, that swings both ways. Say one person is available 23 hours a day and the server happens to be down all that time. Then another person logs on for the other hour and plays the duel. If there's no rollover, the person who is more "dedicated" loses out. It's just luck of the draw.

I know I've explained things very badly. In all honesty, I'm not that bothered if it rolls over, so if it pleases more people than it irritates, let it continue!

It is a hassle for me, so if people don't explicitly want it then I'd rather not bother.

[Neil Zussman]

Well, that swings both ways. Say one person is available 23 hours a day and the server happens to be down all that time. Then another person logs on for the other hour and plays the duel. If there's no rollover, the person who is more "dedicated" loses out. It's just luck of the draw.

That was kind of my point, if it's just 'the luck of the draw' then there's no reason for it to roll over.

[Neil Zussman]

Having thought about it some more:
Am I right in assuming that the whole reason people are so anxious to do the duels is because it's a good opportunity to test yourself against everyone else on the same selections? If that's the case, could you not just have two duels everyday? (And I don't mean one morning and one afternoon, I just mean two running all day). That way, everyone has at least the same number of duels in which to test themselves as before. Also, though correct me if I'm wrong, this seems like it would be an easier solution for Charlie than the current system. So everyone wins!
In fact, you could go further and have one standard duel, and one variant duel each day, and keep two separate leaderboards. That way, people who want more variants in the duels are kept happy, as are those who don't.
Thoughts?

[Lee Simmonds]

Having thought about it some more:
Am I right in assuming that the whole reason people are so anxious to do the duels is because it's a good opportunity to test yourself against everyone else on the same selections?

Yes and No (or at least in my case). I make a point of doing the duel every day because I would like to be ranked as high as I possibly can be. If I miss a day for whatever reason, then it is likely that someone will go above me in the table so the hard work of getting to that place previously is undone a little.

[Charlie Reams]

In fact, you could go further and have one standard duel, and one variant duel each day, and keep two separate leaderboards. That way, people who want more variants in the duels are kept happy, as are those who don't.
Thoughts?

This has been suggested before but I've so far been resistant to it. The good thing about the Duel is that everyone plays it, so there's significant prestige in being amongst the top players. Once you have multiple Duels then that prestige is inevitable diluted.

That said, I'm starting to think that running two Duels - one always in Standard 15, and one pot pourri - would give me a lot more freedom to have crazy formats, play around with stuff and generally be inventive on the pot pourri side, without fear of annoying the purists. I'll put it to a vote, but I suspect that it'll be pretty one-sided.

[JimBentley]

I don't really mind if I miss a Duel, it's just bad luck if the server's down when I'm around. Charlie has been kind enough to let me have another go when the game's gone down mid-Duel a couple of times in the past, but I don't expect it and if he'd told me to fuck off, I wouldn't have been overly bothered.

That said, I'm starting to think that running two Duels - one always in Standard 15, and one pot pourri - would give me a lot more freedom to have crazy formats, play around with stuff and generally be inventive on the pot pourri side

This sounds like a super-excellent arrangement if it isn't any additional hassle to set up.

[Ian Volante]

I don't really mind if I miss a Duel, it's just bad luck if the server's down when I'm around. Charlie has been kind enough to let me have another go when the game's gone down mid-Duel a couple of times in the past, but I don't expect it and if he'd told me to fuck off, I wouldn't have been overly bothered.

That said, I'm starting to think that running two Duels - one always in Standard 15, and one pot pourri - would give me a lot more freedom to have crazy formats, play around with stuff and generally be inventive on the pot pourri side

This sounds like a super-excellent arrangement if it isn't any additional hassle to set up.

I agree, the more chances I get to fight for 19th place, the better.