trivia

Category: Zone BBS Suggestions and Feedback

Post 1 by laced-unlaced (Account disabled) on Thursday, 07-Sep-2006 16:06:20

i think it will make the game more fun, and give people an insentive to play.

i also think there should be levels, perhaps easy with multiple choice, medium and then hard where you have to give a straight answer. each level could have like a diffrent catogory.

the only other thing, how about choosing the catogories you want before you start? a bit like on mastermind

Post 2 by KC8PNL (The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.) on Thursday, 07-Sep-2006 21:28:22

I don't see how we can categorize things in to dificulty levels, since what may be an easy question for u may be a dificult question for someone else. As far as categories of questions goes, I'm not sure if we can do that given the amount of questions in the question pool. That's something Chriss or J would have to answer.

Post 3 by maddog (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Friday, 08-Sep-2006 17:27:54

I think personally, that the trivia game is just fine right now. We don't need multiple choice, because the questions have pots. So, they're supposed to be harder by default. I also don't think it's practical to allow people to choose categories, because then they'd only answer quesitons they're best at answering, which would again, make having pots for the questions useless, because it would make it easier for people to get points.

Post 4 by yankee g wolverine (Account disabled) on Friday, 08-Sep-2006 17:35:45

did anyone but me completely not get the first part of this board?

Post 5 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Friday, 08-Sep-2006 18:07:24

I do like the idea of having multiple choices.

I have missed several questions because either I did (or did not) capitalize an answer and the database of answers had it the other way around.

Let's say the question was: "who was the sixteenth president of the United States?" and you answered "Lincoln" and the correct answer was "abraham Lincoln". You'd still miss it, though you got it.

So, multiple choices would make this problem never happen. But, I don't think multiple choices will ever happen because it would take a radical re-structure of the game.

Anyway, I like trivia as it is.

Thanks,
Bob

Post 6 by maddog (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Friday, 08-Sep-2006 19:53:34

It's your fault if you don't give the full name. We could give you a hundred different Lincolns. As for capitalizing, when it comes to a name, you should know, even a kintergardner knows, that you have to capitalize it.

Post 7 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Saturday, 09-Sep-2006 11:45:32

I really didn't want to get into an argument here, because, as I said in my previous post I like trivia as it is. However, I thought the point of trivia was to test your knowledge, not your typing or capitalizing ability. Multiple choice answers would do just that: test your knowledge of trivia, rather than your ability to communicate that knowledge effectively.

For example, if you are given the question
"What is a child who attends a preschool or kindergarten called?"

If you answered "kintergardner", misspelling kindergartner, as MadDog did in his post, you would lose the points, though you would be correct.

I am not advocating a change to the game, as I know it would take a restructure of the whole game, and am happy to play it as it is, I just think a truer test of our knowledge of different subjects would be better served by multiple choice questions.

Bob

Post 8 by maddog (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Saturday, 09-Sep-2006 11:55:28

on the contrary, if you have multiple choice questions, it's not really testing your knowledge, seeing as a true test of your knowledge, is the ability to spell the words correctly as well. Besides, most people know, that if you have a multiple choice question, you'll probably answer at least 55% of those questions from guess work. Maybe not you, but lots of other people on here.

Post 9 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Saturday, 09-Sep-2006 12:27:58

Well put.

Thanks.
Bob

Post 10 by Blue Velvet (I've got the platinum golden silver bronze poster award.) on Saturday, 09-Sep-2006 19:27:56

I thought in an earlier board topic designed to complain about the trivia game that someone said capitalization doesn't matter in this game. And as for me, I have never gotten an answer wrong because of capitalizing or not capitalizing a word or name. I tend to just use all lower case letters in the game, and this has never been a problem.

As for multiple choice, well I play a lot and get some of the same questions repeatedly. If the answers were in multiple choice form, then you would almost be guaranteed to eventually get the correct answer just by guessing if you get the same question again. As it is there are several questions with a yes or no answer or where there are clearly only one or two possible answers (i.e. right or left; north or south, etc.). And the fact that some incorrect answers are listed for us helps in these types of questions.

Post 11 by blbobby (Ooo you're gona like this!) on Sunday, 10-Sep-2006 0:01:40

I agree that the mistakes of others helps, but sometimes it shows what people did wrong, not what they know.

For example, I had a question last night that required a numeric answer. I thought the answer was five, but 5 was one of the incorrect answers. I pondered it for a long while and finally wrote five, and was right.

The reason the other person was wrong was that they had put a number 5 instead of spelling it out. The question clearly stated that words were required, but jaws didn't make a distinction between the number 5 and the word five. Lucky for me, I got it. But, if I hadn't it would have reflected my ability to follow instructions (a skill I've never had), rather than my knowledge of the correct answer.

Bob

Post 12 by Blue Velvet (I've got the platinum golden silver bronze poster award.) on Sunday, 10-Sep-2006 0:41:42

Hi Bob

I have noticed that sort of thing a lot. I have gotten into the habit now of reading the incorrect answers because people often do have the correct answer but they spell something wrong or put a number where a word was required. Using your JAWS keys to check spelling can be a great help.

Post 13 by DancingAfterDark (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 11-Sep-2006 20:05:53

"i think it will make the game more fun, and give people an insentive to play."

What, exactly, was that in reference to?

Post 14 by yankee g wolverine (Account disabled) on Monday, 11-Sep-2006 21:44:24

that's what I was asking chelsea, I didn't get that at all
as for the game. it's quite fun, but sometimes it's a pain in the ass because it sometimes wants more than one word, but it doesn't tell you that. and sometimes it says right there, 2 words

Post 15 by Blue Velvet (I've got the platinum golden silver bronze poster award.) on Monday, 11-Sep-2006 22:29:12

I agree Garret. There are some inconsistencies with the game. When I first started playing I didn't immediately realize answers had to be one word unless otherwise specified. That was never spelled out in the instructions. Then recently as they have added more questions, the rules seem to have changed somewhat because sometimes the answer can be more than one word, but I think they should either always tell you when they want more than one word or never tell you, but they should be consistent.

Post 16 by maddog (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Monday, 11-Sep-2006 23:39:39

ok, now that, I can agree to...that perhaps, we should try to include whether the answer is 1 or 2 or more words depending on what the answer is, or not have it in at all. Personally though, I do like the idea of telling the users how many words an answer has, and I will bring it up with the others.
Thanks all for your suggestions, and keep em comin'!

Post 17 by Blue Velvet (I've got the platinum golden silver bronze poster award.) on Monday, 11-Sep-2006 23:50:57

Maddog, now if you could just give me the answers to those questions that have several billion bonus points I'd be your slave for life. LOL