I can see why Mario is the SFF king. Everyone has played his games, everyone likes him, so it's easy for him to SFF anyone. Not as many people have played Link's games, but those who have like Link more.

Ganondorf is stronger than Yoshi, yet Link hit Ganon a lot harder thanks to direct SFF. The more the fanbases overlap, the more the SFF. Except in certain cases, when a secondary character is actually more popular than the main character, like Cloud/Sephiroth or Zero/Mega Man.
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DA-DING Da-Ding da-ding-ding!

Except in certain cases, when a secondary character is actually more popular than the main character, like Cloud/Sephiroth or Zero/Mega Man.

I know ya mean well, but watch the wording: Cloud/Mega Man are undoubtedly stronger than Sephiroth/Zero. I know what you're getting at though; Sephiroth/Zero were able to resist SFF.
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Why does it feel like the stats topic has regressed a couple of years?
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Nominate Carmen Sandiego for SC2k6
Currently playing: MMXC, Fight Night R2, Threads of Fate, Jade Empire

How so, exactly? It's clowed down alot, sure, but...well, explain what ya mean, heh.
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Not only clowed, but slowed too.
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I read that as "it's clowned alot", heh. I was just joking at the discussion of how SFF works.
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Nominate Carmen Sandiego for SC2k6
Currently playing: MMXC, Fight Night R2, Threads of Fate, Jade Empire

Last offseason seemed so much shorter, and we had an extra mini-contest this year.

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Explicit Content
Festivus II - Fondling Kittens Since '76

I would be very nice to get word of some type of contest sometime soon.

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No, DNEA! You must not give up so quickly! Think about your love! Your hopes! Your dreams!
Think about the possible three-way man sex orgy, dammit! - Seijun

You would be very nice.

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Explicit Content
Festivus II - Fondling Kittens Since '76

I would... but I clearly meant "it." <<

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No, DNEA! You must not give up so quickly! Think about your love! Your hopes! Your dreams!
Think about the possible three-way man sex orgy, dammit! - Seijun

Aw... no sexy Aitch Emm action?

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Explicit Content
Festivus II - Fondling Kittens Since '76

The Spring 2004 Contest nominations opened in late Febuary. It may not be too much longer until the next contest begins.
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"Those whose memories fade seek to carve them in their hearts..."
"All dreams are but another reality. Never forget..."

Message From Ultima_X at 2006-02-07 01:19:11
Not really a suggestion so much as a question, but... any chance of the poll starting time ever changing back to 1 AM EST like it used to be? It would make watching the beginning and end of contest polls... a lot easier on the sleep cycle, to say the least.
Message From GameFAQs at 2006-02-07 05:52:33
When I travel to the east coast, 3AM is kind of late...

For the love of GOD please let this mean what it implies. The poll starting at 3 AM is damn annoying.

~*ST*~
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Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Deus Ex, Perfect Dark, FFTA, MMXC

Please! Staying up past 3 AM for that last contest has majorly ****ed up my sleeping patterns. Now I can hardly go to sleep before 3:00 hits and end up sleeping late. It's going to be an absolute pain to change my sleeping habits back when I start working.
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Nominate Carmen Sandiego for SC2k6
Currently playing: MMXC, Fight Night R2, Threads of Fate, Jade Empire

Personally, I prefer the current start time. You'll never make everyone happy, but it's nice that the West Coast people are favored for once when it comes to time zones.
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Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

The only match I've ever seen begin was Vercetti/Kite, which is odd, considering I'm not fond of either character.

I would like to see the board vote in action, though...
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DA-DING Da-Ding da-ding-ding!

Yeah! Think of us Western Time Zone people!

Actually, I'd prefer for the polls to start at 10 P.M., so go for it.
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RIP Eddie Guerrero 1967-2005
"I set my ATM card's number to "0001" because I'm number one!" - Manfred von Karma

So, here's a random question for you stats people.

I am thinking of doing my own little Guru contest for when the next contest bracket comes out, but instead of who gets the highest-scoring bracket, the contest would be who fills out the closest to a zero bracket. I'd make it so that it would be possible to enter into both contests (like, your zero bracket doesn't have to be for prizes, but you can only have one zero bracket). Also, given my contest history, I thought it would be appropriate to call it the Ed Bellis Award for Excellence in the Field of Ed Bellis... but that might be a little too... self-indulgent. ;-)

So, my question is: do you think something like this could work? Would anyone here be interested in it? I know many people enter zero brackets, but to my knowledge there's never been any formalized competition for them. Would there be any concerns you might have or questions or suggestions about it?

The one thing I haven't been able to surmise an effective way of doing is how to handle a tie, since there's no tiebreaker, so I guess I'll pose that to you guys as well.

Any thoughts?
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This was Ed Bellis.

The poll starting earlier wouldn't affect you westerners in the least; you see it begin even if it's left alone. The poll being where it is now affects the east-coasters a ton, and given that this is an American-based site Ceej should accommodate everyone.

~*ST*~
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Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest
Currently Playing: Deus Ex, Perfect Dark, FFTA, MMXC

It does affect us. Admittedly, it affects East Coast people more. But I'm not always home by 9 or 10, and I'd miss some of the exciting stuff near the end of the polls. Anyway, I wouldn't be too upset if he changed the time, I'm just saying I like the current system better.

Ed, instead of having a separate Guru contest, maybe you could give the Ed Bellis award to the person who scores lowest in the regular Guru contest? Basically, my thinking is that trying for a zero bracket just means trying to pick the first round matches right, which you're trying to do anyway in a regular bracket - so I'm not sure if it makes sense to have a separate contest for it.
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SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

I actually liked it when the match started at 10pm, I got to see more of the early parts and I can go to bed early if the match is overhyped.
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"I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work." - President Bush

Kax beat me to it... 0 Bracket Guru is a "Perfect First Round Guru Contest," which we're all trying for already. If you want to make it formal with an official challenge, go right ahead. The trouble I see there is that alot of people wouldn't actually have submitted that bracket, so by the end you'd have 6 Guru with "perfect brackets" still left, but maybe only 5 on the official rankings, which would be odd.

And actually, I'm one of the few who's fine with the Contest start times right now (2 AM for me), since I don't have to wake up before 10 this semester. But yes, moving back to midnight would be a good move for the majority... First Vote would become an even stronger competition, for one thing. Good to know CJay is considering it.

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the-elite.net congratulates voltch, "Top Ten" Guru Champion!
Ngamer's Contest Archives: http://thengamer.com/gamefaqs/

I've always thought zero brackets were dumb. If you get a perfect zero bracket, all it's saying is that you predicted every first-round match right. That's impressive, but not nearly as impressive as getting some of the Elite 8/Final Four rounds correct.
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DA-DING Da-Ding da-ding-ding!

Some of us West Coasters could benefit from getting to sleep before 1 Am (cause you know you gotta stay up for the first hour)
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Take a hike, and don't forget the trail mix *****. Hijack - MC Chris

When I'm living at home (in the Central Time Zone), 2 AM ain't so bad, plus my summer job doesn't need me getting up as early as college does. When I'm at college, however (in the Eastern Time Zone), 3 AM is killer, especially when I have classes as early as 8:10. Granted, I usually stay up until at least 1:30 anyways, but that extra time is oftentimes crucial.
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Some of us West Coasters could benefit from getting to sleep before 1 Am (cause you know you gotta stay up for the first hour)

Exactly. Now imagine us EAST Coasters having to stay up past 4 just to see the first hour...
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Nominate Carmen Sandiego for SC2k6
Currently playing: MMXC, Fight Night R2, Threads of Fate, Jade Empire

During the summer, I usually stayed up 'til 5 AM. Sure, I worked four nights a week, but it was still pretty crazy.
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Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent.

Switching topics a bit, I want to talk about the Guru Contest. For me, it seems like a simple sig bet just isn't enough anymore. Upping the stakes would definitely spice up the contest and make for a more competitive atmosphere. In addition to the sig bet, how about we require every loser to nominate one character of the winner's choosing for the next Summer Contest?
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Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

I forgot to mention, one thing I don't like about changing the poll time is that it reduces the second night vote, which I think would generally make close matches less interesting. Frog's comeback and both of Starcraft's comebacks would have been smaller.
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SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

Yeah, but would the beginning of the poll cancel that out or not? The match still progresses through 24 hours regardless.
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Nominate Serge (Chrono Cross) for SC2K6!
Nominate Seifer Almasy (Final Fantasy VIII) for SC2K6!

If memory serves me right, we've still seen two Mario/Crono matches (the good ones), Mega Man/Sephiroth, Mario/Cloud, Sonic/Samus, Tidus/Ganon, Ganon/Magus, Kefka/Pac-Man, DK/Vercetti, DK/Duck Hunt, and Halo/Starcraft before the switch of time-zones (and we might have gone the entire Game Contest before switching, I forget). I ain't worried about it cutting down on close matches, especially since it's not like only about four matches this past year were as closer or closer than Tidus/Ganon.
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You're thinking of the site layout, the time changed, I think was in between 2k3 and Sp2k4
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"I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work." - President Bush

I would participate in a zero bracket guru contest... as for a tiebreaker, maybe choose the character who you think will recieve the least amount of votes overall in the first round, and then specify the number?

As for the start time of the contest, 3 AM is pretty ridiculous for us East Coasters, and I don't see why pushing it back to 1 AM for us or 10 PM for westerners would be bad at all. In the summer I have no problem staying up from 3-5 to watch the beggining of a match (if it's good) or just 'till 3 to see the beggining, but once school starts up it's a pain in the arse.

Upping the stakes for the guru contest, as in getting everyone to nominate a character of your choice for the next contest would be amazing, I'd love it if that were to happen.

And as for the time change "ruining" close matches, it wouldn't have any real affect on it, instead of a first night vote and the second night vote, the first one would just be larger and the second one smaller. Same result, different totals at different points in the day.

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Explicit Content
Festivus II - Fondling Kittens Since '76

Do you think it would help vote totals if the starting time was moved back to 1 A.M. EST? Maybe I'm making a false correlation here with the starting and ending of the poll with vote totals, but it's curious to think about.
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Nominate Serge (Chrono Cross) for SC2K6!
Nominate Seifer Almasy (Final Fantasy VIII) for SC2K6!

Not really, the only difference we're going to see is that we'll have a longer 1st night vote and a shorter 2nd night vote.
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"I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn't work." - President Bush

Not at all Leon... I just think we'd see much bigger leads gained in the night by characters who have good night votes, and larger comebacks throughout the day.

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Explicit Content
Festivus II - Fondling Kittens Since '76

Switching topics a bit, I want to talk about the Guru Contest. For me, it seems like a simple sig bet just isn't enough anymore. Upping the stakes would definitely spice up the contest and make for a more competitive atmosphere. In addition to the sig bet, how about we require every loser to nominate one character of the winner's choosing for the next Summer Contest?

That would be pretty awesome.

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"Now I realise.. I wasn't pursuing Sephiroth.
I was being summoned by Sephiroth"

The thing about that new Guru stipulation, if it were ever put into place, is that it almost-certainly need to be done on a Spring Contest so it's still in the memory of people come summer-time. I don't see a summer-time Guru getting his nomination say-so followed through the next year.

Besides, it's not like we have 100% on people giving their sigs anyways. I assume it'd get less people joining the Guru contest or more people not completing the deal.
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The only way I could see vote totals being affected by an earlier poll time is if there's vote rallying at the end of the poll. I doubt it would make much difference, if any.
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SC2k5 and SpC2k5 First Vote Champion
Nominate Aeris for SC2k6.

On the other hand, you could argue that rallying will be more popular with the earlier end time. If Mario starts to make a late push he'd be doing it at 11ish EST when everyone is still awake and everyone could get caught up in the rallying. And if not everyone, still certainly more than you'd see starting at 1AM.

And that's a cool idea for the Spring Guru, where 1 out of everyone else's 10 Summer noms has to the character of choice... With another short nom season, and assuming all the Gurus uphold the bargain, that'd be almost enough to ensure your character making the field right there.

I'd be willing to add that condition to the next Guru, if it's the popular opinion.

Thoughts?

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the-elite.net congratulates voltch, "Top Ten" Guru Champion!
Ngamer's Contest Archives: http://thengamer.com/gamefaqs/

I'm indifferent to the idea more than anything. If people stay true to it like most people with their sigs, then it'll be great for the Spring Contest (though not for summer contests). I just fear that maybe people wn't stay so loyal to it. Then again though, people were loyal for Leonhart's contest and will be for Slow's...

...ya know what, go for it and see how it goes for the spring.
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Oh, or here's a thought. Maybe as part of the new deal, the Guru champ would be given the choice of whether the rest of the Guru's sig advertise him, OR, advertise his character of choice. So for instance, once I win this Spring Guru, for the next two weeks I could either have Ulti's sig read


I'm no match for Ngamer, '06 Spring Guru Champion!
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest

OR

Nominate Joanna Dark for the Summer Contest!
Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest


Imagine the power of 100+ guaranteed noms, plus 100+ of the Board's most influential posters pulling for your character in the sig of all their posts.

Hmmm...

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the-elite.net congratulates voltch, "Top Ten" Guru Champion!
Ngamer's Contest Archives: http://thengamer.com/gamefaqs/

That sounds even better. Go for that one.
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That one, OR, both? (noms + optional rally sigage)

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the-elite.net congratulates voltch, "Top Ten" Guru Champion!
Ngamer's Contest Archives: http://thengamer.com/gamefaqs/

"Thoughts?"

Brilliant.
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Take a hike, and don't forget the trail mix *****. Hijack - MC Chris

Huzzah!
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Board 8: Where people treat each other right.

Noms + Choice of your name OR Choice of your character

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Explicit Content
Festivus II - Fondling Kittens Since '76

It's supposed to be a bet. Stepping it up to the next level is great. Take their sigs AND get the character of your choice into the contest? Now that's a prize.

And, it should be noted, the basis of the contest was to have whatever the winner wanted in the loser's sig (really, aren't all sig bets?). That may have changed due to various factors, but I think they should get the "Nominate XXXX" option anyway.
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Take a hike, and don't forget the trail mix *****. Hijack - MC Chris

Hell, while you're at it, you could have a runner-up get their character of choice a nom from all of the gurus as well. They wouldn't get the sig prize, but it would be nice to have another winner. It might make the competition even more competitive and draw more people to the contest. I WOULD say have 2nd and 3rd place, but tying up 3 noms would be asking too much.
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Nominate Carmen Sandiego for SC2k6
Currently playing: MMXC, Fight Night R2, Threads of Fate, Jade Empire

Second place is pushing it as far as nominations go. As is, we already got Slow's contest that is taking up to five nominations from many board members, then we also have the very favored Jay Solano. Because of those, there's already board members with as few as four left for their own personal tastes. I'm up for first place getting a nomination, but two very well could be pushing it.

Now, I wouldn't be opposed to 1st place getting to pick whether he wanted the sigs or a nomination, then let 2nd place automatically take what 2st didn't pick...and I'm not against there being a runner-up, either. It's just that, with nominations involved and all now, that becomes much touchier to have the top two take nominations. Should that be the case, depending on how Slow's contest goes, I may or may not risk my nominations on the Guru contest.
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