News / RCT Olympics Results!

I agree the screenshots of the "themed" RCT3 coasters don't show any themeing... but those were the only screenshots I received (not having RCT3 myself) and I had to use what they gave me. Given the stress our judges were under I didn't want to ask them for more work. If I can get better screenshots of the entries, I'll update their pics on the site.

And yes, the winners had been determined before the old forums went down. However the details of the other entries (including scores, reasons for disqualifiaction, etc.) were lost when the forums went down. Having spent 4 hours that morning prepping the posts for the winner announcements, I was livid when the forums went down. I have yet to find OJ in AIM or MSN or receive a response to my emails since the forums went down, so I have no idea what's going on with that. I was never given FTP or Admin access to the old forums, so my hands are tied.

I'm trying to get feedback on this year's events (and a few other issues) over at the Official forums. If you've got the time, please stop by to give us some constructive input.

http://www.rctolympics.com

Thanks.

The main thing I personally didn't like about the results were the scores given to the winners. For as few entries as they probably recieved, the scores are way too close together. Often the scores differed by only a few .01, almost always only by about .1 or so. I think if this is done again, you'll need some of the following: more judges, more discriminating judges, and more exact scoring methods. Because as it is, it looks like you have 5 judges who all gave nearly the same scores for every entry in a category. With scores that close, it's almost like everyone tied, which shouldn't be the case.

Anyways, I hope this happens again, but with a lot of changes.

I'd like to point out, right now, that if anyone deserves blame, it's OJ. Hawk and Midwestboy worked their asses off to salvage this, and for their efforts, I sincerely thank them. If either of them felt that I was belittling them, I apologize, because that was not my intention. And I hope everyone realizes that without them, this would have failed spectacularly.


At the same time, I am still pretty hesitant to enter a next one because of all the difficulties associated with it. I'm also not too thrilled about judging, not because NE didn't sweep, but because it seemed that a lot of better parks didn't receive proper recognition. And if that was due to DQ's, well, then add me to the list of people who want to know what the heck OJ was thinking.

However, I will give you some suggestions. To be honest, I want to get an idea of how next year's games will be run before I even consider it, and frankly, it'll take a lot of effort to convince me to enter NE in this.


JUDGES:
- At least one judge should be selected from each participating site
- Rather than ban admins from judging or seeing parks at all, allow them... all of them. Bias can be offset if one admin from every site judges. Given that site admins are probably the most experienced in critiquing parks, this would also give credibility to the contest, and even if one admin is totally biased, the others would not be.
- And you'll need five judges at least IMO to get an accurate score. Seven if you want to throw away the highest and lowest scores.

EVENTS:
- More variety in RCT-oriented events. Parkbuilding can probably get the boot, since few will be able to finish a full sized park and make it look awesome within the span of a month. Minipark-making can stay, but for coasters, broaden the range. Maybe have "best adventure ride," then have "best steel coaster" then have "best wooden coaster." Different people can work on their specialties. Comparatively, it'd be like the hurdles vs dashes.
- Better constraints. "Use at least 15 wall pieces?" That's a pretty dumb requirement. It'd be much better to randomly select a theme and make everyone do it. Sure, some people may luck out and get a theme that's their strength, while others get aren't as good as the selected theme, but this then tests well-roundedness in that you need to be prepared to make anything.

OTHER:
- Post updates on time.
- Clear communication. This year's games were delayed a good week because OJ's parents "suddenly dragged him on a trip and he couldn't do anything about it." Well, unless it was literal, I think he would have had plenty of time to post a quick message before he left. Being the coordinator of all of this, it's his responsibility. Unless the delay is immediate and severe (i.e. relative goes to hospital; have to leave right that second), notifications should occur.

OJ called me pretentious. And I'll agree that I was being rather condescending to him, especially towards the end, when I had had enough of this ineptitude, but when you take on a task this daunting, you sure as hell better do a good job, or else you don't deserve my respect. Don't bite off more than you can chew, and certainly don't wait until the last moment. You gotta nag and nag and send emails and PM's and IM people all the time to make sure everything is clear and works.


So I'm not going to consider entering unless I get a clear outline of how the next one will work. I agree that the idea of this is awesome, but it's ridiculously hard to pull off. I wouldn't even say that I'm capable. I'm not that confident that I could work out this monumental deal, so this is no knock to Hawk or Midwestboy. However, it needs to be done well to work. Even an average job sends the house of cards tumbling. So give me a clear outline that plans EVERYTHING and I might reconsider my decision. Until then, these Games have left a rather sour taste in our mouths, and unfortunately, I don't think there would be much support for another entry (at least right now; give half a year and maybe people won't be so bitter) into another games. And even if I were to support it, without athletes, I can't do much (other than enter myself, but that wouldn't be fair.... for you guys... j/k).

Again, major props to Hawk and MidwestBoy for getting this together. I'm leaving the open, but that crack is mighty tiny right now.

I'm amazed I didn't place.

Guys, please be sure to post your comments on the official site. That way we don't need to hunt through all the participating sites to find feedback.

Just some quick comments: At the beginning all participating sites were asked to submit judges. Not all did. When judging started I emailed all those who HAD agreed to judge and some backed out. We then had to scramble for more judges. We tried to find people we knew and knew were knowledgable in the events, but in the end we had 7 judges (at the most - not all had RCT3, etc.). It wasn't ideal, but we did the best we could. Plus you have to realize not all site owners have time to judge things... nor the desire to do so. So automatically expecting each site owner to be a judge doesn't work either, unfortunately.

I agree that this years's events were weak. I'd never heard of "The 15 wall rule" before seeing that. With a little more creativitity and planning I think better events can be determined.

I'm hoping someone from NE will offer to be part of the discussion on how these games can be better organized for next time. If you want, please PM me at the Olympic forums as I'm sure we'll be putting a new organizational committee together soon.

I'm hoping someone from NE will offer to be part of the discussion on how these games can be better organized for next time. If you want, please PM me at the Olympic forums as I'm sure we'll be putting a new organizational committee together soon.

I nominate Corky

I think they got an error trapper when they tried to open my park the first time and so they gave up on it...

ride6, you were disqualified because your screen name was in the park's file name as well as when you opened the park for the first time. The entries were supposed to be anonymous and not identifiable as to who the athlete was.

Personally, I scored your park as a tie for second with another entry. Don't know which one, nor do I care.

As for anyone getting an error trapper when they tried to open the park, couldn't say if that happened to me, but that didn't stop me from opening the park. If I could open it the second time, I scored it.

There were two RCT2 parks that I couldn't open because the parks' creators didn't check the 'export custom objects' box. Sorry guys, I won't go searching for objects that I don't already have loaded. Plus the file sizes on those two indicated that the creators didn't 'include' the custom objects.

I couldn't open either of the RCT1 parks. One of them is that I didn't have access to the scenario. Sorry guys, I had to install RCT1 just for this so I didn't have access to anything other than a clean install. The other one I got an error saying the file contained invalid data. Don't know if a trainer was used or not, don't care. If I can't open a park for any reason, I can't judge it.

If you guys compete next year, please be aware that this same situation may occur again.

I don't understand how you guys would be able to disqualify an entire park because of one line when the park's open. After all the work ride6 put in you let some petty bullshit like that disqualify it? That's just retarded in my opinion, I'm sorry. Not that it matters becuase if you guys had that park slated for second place after marinersfan's park (which is nice, not trying to bash that...but really it doesnt compare to ride6's) then I don't think ride6 should even feel bad. I mean God only knows what ride6 would have had to do to get that extra .02

This whole thing is looking worse and worse with every post I see. You guys penalized people for missing .DAT's? That's absolutely ridiculous. It's not the parkmakers fault if he has certain files that you don't. If anything, I'd say that it's the judges faults for not having them, ESPECIALLY when you don't allow the parkmaker to send the files out. How the hell are they supposed to know which files are missing? Pathetic. The whole premise behind being a judge is that you're supposed to be the most qualified people to decide on the park's fate. Seems to me like these judges have no idea what the hell they're doing.

As for the DQ of the LL entries, that's literally pathetic. So because you guys don't have the scenarios, hours and hours of work that someone else does goes down the drain? And stop with the "i don't know, I don't care" routine, it doesn't make you sound cool or tough, it makes you seem like an arrogant asshole who got in way over his head and didn't know what to do. I wonder who was the genius who decided that people that only play RCT2 should have any say in judging LL parks as well. Continuing on, you couldn't open parks cause you didn't have the Drexler? I can't even put into words how pathetic that is. Takes what, 20 seconds to download one? So because you couldn't be bothered to take 20 seconds, someone else's monthful of work is automatically DQ'd.

I can personally guarentee that next year NE will not be entering this competition. Whether or not other sites do, I "don't know, I don't care" because I think it's pretty damn clear that we don't have to prove ourselves. Great competition guys.

Congrats to all those from our site who did win, thanks for all the time and effort you guys put into it. And God only knows what you guys had to do for those extra thousanths of a point

I couldn't open either of the RCT1 parks.  One of them is that I didn't have access to the scenario.  Sorry guys, I had to install RCT1 just for this so I didn't have access to anything other than a clean install.  The other one I got an error saying the file contained invalid data.  Don't know if a trainer was used or not, don't care.  If I can't open a park for any reason, I can't judge it.

If parkmakers were told they could use trainers it's ridiculous to dq someone because your too lazy to install the drexler patch which is a standard for LL parkmakers.

I couldn't open either of the RCT1 parks.  One of them is that I didn't have access to the scenario.  Sorry guys, I had to install RCT1 just for this so I didn't have access to anything other than a clean install.  The other one I got an error saying the file contained invalid data.  Don't know if a trainer was used or not, don't care.  If I can't open a park for any reason, I can't judge it.

Sounds like you needed Posix's guide and, uh, the Drexler?


edit - toon wins

Oh yay!

Makes me glad that the Depot never put a team together.

Makes me glad that the Depot never put a team together.

^ I don't get this?

My translation would be: it was that big of a waste of time.

Haha. I think I could have been a GREAT judge. Really. I can open LL parks!!!!11


Congrats to NE winners.

If parkmakers were told they could use trainers it's ridiculous to dq someone because your too lazy to install the drexler patch which is a standard for LL parkmakers.

I never said that the park was DQed. I just couldn't open it. From the time we got the entries until the time the scoring was due, we had about 72 hours to get it completed. That included at least one workday if I remember correctly. I didn't have the time to go looking for the Drexler patch or posix's guide. And yes, it probably takes only 20 seconds to download Drexler. But how long does it take to find it? Since I haven't played RCT1 in well over a year, I certainly haven't been keeping up on that by any means.

Nic was supposed to be a judge too, I can't recall seeing his scores being posted at all. But then, he would have scored only the RCT1 parks anyway.

iris, the rules stated that the entries were to be anonymous. I'm sure you know what that means. Like I said, I still scored ride6's entry anyway. Whether Hawk, MidwestBoyinLA and the other judges decided that this warranted a DQ, I had nothing to do with that.

ride6, I don't recall if any of the other judges scored your park or not. I only said that's what I scored it as.

As for me not having some of the objects needed to open a park, I'm sorry for you that I don't download every little object that gets created. I certainly don't want to have some of the shit that I've seen being created lately in my objdata folder. That even includes objects that I don't want to have for whatever reason. I refuse to clog my PC with junk that I don't want or need.
The two RCT2 parks that I couldn't open had file sizes of 499 and 467 KB. Based on this, the creator didn't export custom objects with their park. Whether a contestant could or couldn't include those files in the entry, I can't answer, I didn't read that part of the rules that closely. Nor did I have access to what was actually sent in by the creator. I have no idea what might have been different between that and what I received to judge. And unless the creator used a provided bench to work from, which there wasn't one, then he should have checked the box. I certainly wouldn't make the assumption that anyone had every object out there.

mantis, Toon doesn't win, he just voiced the opinion of NE. Whether I agree with it or not isn't material. Everyone here at NE thinks that their asses should be kissed by the rest of the community. Sorry, I can't seem to do that because I don't see any reason for your arrogance.

Whether or not you enter the competition next year, if it happens again, is totally up to you iris. But if you do, make sure that you have at least one judge that will judge all the entries that come in. I at least made the attempt which is more than I can say for Nic.

mantis, Toon doesn't win, he just voiced the opinion of NE.  Whether I agree with it or not isn't material.  Everyone here at NE thinks that their asses should be kissed by the rest of the community.  Sorry, I can't seem to do that because I don't see any reason for your arrogance.

No, I voiced my opinion. I don't think anyone should kiss my ass, but obviously you don't know me very well. I do think NE has the best parkmakers (which is something I know that some take exception to), but it also has the most egos. What I don't think is that I'm arrogant. Just because Iris went off on you, doesn't mean that everyone at the site feels the same way. But I do think if you volunteer to judge LL parks, you should at least know enough about the game to know you'll need the Drexler patch and take the time to find it. All you needed to do was ask someone. If you hadn't have been so dismissive about the complaints in the first place, no one would have cared about whether you were even a judge or not.

I think I could say a lot more, but it comes down to this.

No matter what excuse you have, I find it ridiculous that people like ride6, etc. worked their asses off for a park, spending hours of their time, when they could have been doing other stuff, all for one purpose: to win a medal and gain recognition. The fact that his entry was disqualified because it had his name in it, after all of that work, I'm sorry, but that's just wrong. You could have always ignored it, and judged objectively. Or give him some recognition of some sort.

I also disagree with a lot of the judging. I just don't get how, for the unthemed coasters for example, Titan's coaster, which put forth the most effort with landscaping, etc. lost to a completely bare coaster that apparently was designed in 2 minutes it looks?

Maybe I'm overreacting. But I just am quite frustrated with this, even though I myself wasn't involved in it. Many thanks to MW Boy in LA, etc. for getting this thing finished though.

If anything, this "Olympic Commitee" should ban OJ from the Olympics. I mean come on. He made the damn thing and can't even finish it. Even if the inevitable comes up, he should have a back-up plan. He needs to apologize to all of the athletes for his shit organization.

No matter what excuse you have, I find it ridiculous that people like ride6, etc. worked their asses off for a park, spending hours of their time, when they could have been doing other stuff, all for one purpose: to win a medal and gain recognition.  The fact that his entry was disqualified because it had his name in it, after all of that work, I'm sorry, but that's just wrong.  You could have always ignored it, and judged objectively.  Or give him some recognition of some sort. 

there were alot of other people that worked their asses off for this competition. ride6 was not the only. And rules are rules. You people think that the rules should be pushed aside for you and you only. That is sad. Very sad.

And it is not the judges fault if they couldnt open a file. Come on people, get real!! You think that they should take all their free time to go HUNTING for objects when the creator should have check the export object thingy?? That is just not reality.

You all need to get off you high fucking horses. Your parkmakers are good (I admit) but there are a great deal of other excellant parkmakers out there dont come here.