cpa
Active Member
Just a postscript:
Games start with rules. Games evolve. Rules change as the game evolves. Sometimes they change because the players "game" the system. Other times they change because the original rules were inferior. They also change for safety and overall fairness.
Read up on the history of baseball's rules. From around 1860-something until the late 1800s, the rules were frequently tweaked. Some were subtle; others were substantial. Other than lowering the mound in 1969 to provide more offense (Gibson's 1968 ERA was a microscopic 1.12), the strike zone, and recent rules to increase player safety (blocking the plate by the catcher and baserunner's slides that are way off the baseline), there have not been that many substantive changes in the rule book since ~1900. But it took them over thirty years! (We won't discuss whether the balls are juiced these days.....)
Ice hockey eliminated the two-line (offsides) pass when a team clears their zone. This increased offense. It also stops play on icing infractions before the puck crosses the goal line to increase player safety.
Football has toughened the penalties, ejections, and suspensions for helmet-to-helmet contact. And the rules committees still tweak penalty yardage and the enforcement spots, seemingly biannually.
In more genteel competition, duplicate bridge tweaked the scoring table in the early '90s, increasing the penalties for doubled undertricks on nonvulnerable contracts after the third undertrick. It also increased the bonus for making a redoubled contract. These changes were brought about by matchpoint players taking advantage of these anomalies in the scoring table. (Gaming the system.)
We have learned from Bighorn's essays that we need to consider safety (Mexico) and fairness (unlimited funds, time, passport).
Our group established a lot of precedent the past few years--precedent that could be argued as arbitrary, perhaps even capricious.
--We only count publicly accessible Superchargers, not restricted ones.
--We do count Superchargers that were temporary like Laguna Seca or that have been closed.
--We count the twinned Superchargers on opposite sides of turnpikes as two locations.
--We agreed that different addresses constitute two locations, even if they are adjacent to each other.
--We concluded that time behind the wheel is the primary determining factor in counting that particular location.
The spirit of this competition is fun and fairness for as many as possible for as long as possible. It is daunting enough to look at the leaderboard with contestants approaching 800. We do not want to discourage anyone from joining the fray and enjoying our good-natured banter.
The rivals will always be rivals regardless of the accounting methods.
Games start with rules. Games evolve. Rules change as the game evolves. Sometimes they change because the players "game" the system. Other times they change because the original rules were inferior. They also change for safety and overall fairness.
Read up on the history of baseball's rules. From around 1860-something until the late 1800s, the rules were frequently tweaked. Some were subtle; others were substantial. Other than lowering the mound in 1969 to provide more offense (Gibson's 1968 ERA was a microscopic 1.12), the strike zone, and recent rules to increase player safety (blocking the plate by the catcher and baserunner's slides that are way off the baseline), there have not been that many substantive changes in the rule book since ~1900. But it took them over thirty years! (We won't discuss whether the balls are juiced these days.....)
Ice hockey eliminated the two-line (offsides) pass when a team clears their zone. This increased offense. It also stops play on icing infractions before the puck crosses the goal line to increase player safety.
Football has toughened the penalties, ejections, and suspensions for helmet-to-helmet contact. And the rules committees still tweak penalty yardage and the enforcement spots, seemingly biannually.
In more genteel competition, duplicate bridge tweaked the scoring table in the early '90s, increasing the penalties for doubled undertricks on nonvulnerable contracts after the third undertrick. It also increased the bonus for making a redoubled contract. These changes were brought about by matchpoint players taking advantage of these anomalies in the scoring table. (Gaming the system.)
We have learned from Bighorn's essays that we need to consider safety (Mexico) and fairness (unlimited funds, time, passport).
Our group established a lot of precedent the past few years--precedent that could be argued as arbitrary, perhaps even capricious.
--We only count publicly accessible Superchargers, not restricted ones.
--We do count Superchargers that were temporary like Laguna Seca or that have been closed.
--We count the twinned Superchargers on opposite sides of turnpikes as two locations.
--We agreed that different addresses constitute two locations, even if they are adjacent to each other.
--We concluded that time behind the wheel is the primary determining factor in counting that particular location.
The spirit of this competition is fun and fairness for as many as possible for as long as possible. It is daunting enough to look at the leaderboard with contestants approaching 800. We do not want to discourage anyone from joining the fray and enjoying our good-natured banter.
The rivals will always be rivals regardless of the accounting methods.
