Yearly Purging of Scores

[UnLeaded]

It would seem practical to offer yearly purging of song scores.  Not only would this help run the game smoother (less data to filter, etc) it would take care of all the cheating scores that have accumulated over the years, for which no real solution has been offered.  It would also encourage the new players, as they don't have to feel the frustration of attempting to compete with all the 5-yr veterans that have sit on their asses and played one song for the last 5 years, just to get non meaningful recognition that not even their moms care about frankly.

If you cleared the database once a year, you solve a lot of problems with cheating, frustrated players, and all the false data that has accumulated over the years, and make the game run smoother.  I personally have over 500 top scores, and I'm more than willing to forfeit all of them for a reasonable solution such as this.

And the addicts really have no reason to whine, because if they are good enough to get a top score, they can certainly do it again.

[blue_h3x]

Would open up old throne wars again, which are always good.

[Razaeria]

Hey this sounds like a really good idea

+1

[chimaeraUndying]

And the addicts really have no reason to whine, because if they are good enough to get a top score, they can certainly do it again.

Except for all those Vegas players who rely on m21+red splat+x7 multiplier to get on a board

In any case, I support this.

[Mincus]

Yeah, I agree.
However I'd suggest another round of balancing and 3 months of release from that result before a board reset to make sure, as mistakes were made by the playtesters (of which I was one, I'll add) about just how powerful some of the changes are.
Assuming everything is more balanced (doesn't have to be perfect) after the 3 months release phase, then a board reset would be a good idea. If it's not then another month of internal testing + 3 months of release would be a good idea.
It might seem long-winded, but testing game mechanics properly always is.

Currently Vegas is over-powered. It should be able to get high scores based on luck, but not to the degree it currently can.
In short it should require as many plays to get a luck-based high score as the other characters require to get a skill-based high score. That varies per player and I suspect someone else has a better idea for exactly how to do it (indeed we have threads full of them).

Eraser is slightly over-powered, but not to the degree Vegas is. It needs a little nerf, not a big one.
The current problem is that nerfing any character would require a full board reset. During a beta test phase this wouldn't be a problem, but for the confirmation it would. A simple solution would be to increase the score of the blocks by 1 across all characters for the confirmation phase. There's probably others, I've not thought too deeply about.

I don't think the others need changing from what I've seen on the boards, but I only tend to play Mono and DV, so I'm not the best source on that.

I think overall this is a good idea, but I suspect they'll be a lot of people who complain about it. There always are on board resets, unfortunately.
An alternative to a full board reset might be to keep the +1 boosts of each block used during the release phase, which should see the old scores slowly filter out, although I do think some of the more ridiculous Vegas scores would still need removing.

[Cadiuro]

I suggest we would keep an all-time top 3 though. It will bring the cheater problem back, but most thrones still are acquired legitimately, and this way the player will still get some recognition for what he achieved. If some of the top players drop out, the scores would drastically drop, but the newer players competing for the new throne would still be able to see what is possible, while they can race against eachother trying to get to that score.

[blue_h3x]

I suggest we would keep an all-time top 3 though. It will bring the cheater problem back, but most thrones still are acquired legitimately, and this way the player will still get some recognition for what he achieved. If some of the top players drop out, the scores would drastically drop, but the newer players competing for the new throne would still be able to see what is possible, while they can race against eachother trying to get to that score.

I disagree, leaving the top unreachable scores there just maintains the current throne block and negates the whole process.

[Cadiuro]

I think it would really just increase the challenge. After all, you'd still be the current champion, get dethrone mails, be ranked on top of the scoreboard where everyone would see your name and such. You just would be able to see what has been achieved in the past and know how you compare to then.

I forgot to mention that you shouldn't let these scores at the scoreboard as "regular throne": they should be put in an apart frame, maybe visible on scrollover or something.

It's just like F1, for example, where racers race eachother on a specific track - the fastest racer wins, although in a slower time than it was on the same track last year. It doesn't matter that he is slower: he still won, he just knows that it is possible to do it faster.

[Pouet]

I'm not against having a specific YB scoreboard, but i really don't like this idea.
For me it's not frustrating to not have good scores relatively to best scores from best players, it's motivating. People who are frustrated and whine about that should rather stop playing this game and play a game where everyone is the winner (there should be a non-ironmode freeride scoreboard for them).
Also if the game become less popular, or on less popular songs now there will be absolutely no challenge on most of the songs because best scores from previous years were removed. I find amusing to know you get high score on a song and maybe in 10 years if the game is still up you'll have to play again to get the throne back.

This idea really sounds like "We don't care about best scores but we'd like best scores ever from best players and cheaters scores to be removed so we can compete for best scores". I don't understand why best players will have to get their scores removed so less good players and whiners can compete. It's frustrating and unfair to have a god-tier score removed on a favorite song because it's too high, there are cheaters on other songs scoreboards and some people are mad not being good at this game.
And I'm not even sure cheaters will stop caring if this idea is accepted. But some of the best players ever certainly will.

[blue_h3x]

Though some of the top players have since stopped playing.
On top of that, if you play and your score is 400k below that of the throne, it's such a crushing defeat that many give up, because they simply can't 'win'. The competition should be between those playing now. It would be like the Olympics having the best times for each event and you don't get gold unless you beat the all time high, regardless of winning the race etc. Similar to what Cadiuro said.

There's several games where leader boards are reset yearly.


It's a choice between pleasing old (and possibly no longer) players and keeping the competition going for new players.

[Uupis]

I agree with Mincus' idea of balancing before implementing the yearly wipes.

[h4c0rBG]

It's a good idea overral. 

[Pouet]

Well I still think that great scores from inactive players still deserve to be on scoreboards.
I don't think the comparison with Olympics means something, there are Olympics and there are world records. Audiosurf was defined as a world record game and i think that it's better like that. And Audiosurf doesn't have to adapt it's scoreboard system to less good players who discourage themselves just because they're less good than old players.

But like i said I'm not against having a fourth scoreboard containing top year scores.

[UnLeaded]

Well here's a summary:

Pros:

* Clearing of cheaters
* Clearing of false data (all the random songs that have no information, scores posted to wrong scoreboard, etc)
* Encourages new players (as they have to compete less with cheaters and 5-year addicts)
* Game will run 10x smoother as old data is purged, as there is less data to be filtered by the game
* Any game needs constant new players, when new players are discouraged by cheaters and addicts, then the game won't retain any new players that try your game, he/she will move on to another game.  The point is to offer incentives for new players to stay.  The majority of new players do not play a game 5 years, only addicts do, so you are losing your majority base by keeping both cheater top scores or the scores of 5-year addicts.
* Encourages players that are playing currently, as they are more important than players that played the month the game came out, put up some impossible score (whether it be a cheat score or legit), and then left.  The current players right now are determining the success of the game, not players that have left.

Cons:

* The 5-year addicts, people who have left the game, and cheaters will lose their thrones.  If you're a good player it should not be impossible to to achieve a top score again, and it will also help to prove your legitimacy as well. 

[blue_h3x]

Well said UnLeaded.