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The News
Okay, mea culpa – I didn’t actually have anything interesting for you yesterday. I was out sick, and concentrating on keeping my brain moored to its tether. But today I have a response to allegations of unfairness being brought by certain unhappy parties.
I’ve already explained that no human is involved at any point in the tournament seedings – it’s a straightforward matter of the most-propped rig going against the 128th, the 2nd against the 127th, etc. At the beginning of the month, I set up a tournament. This involves me selecting the number of battles in Round 1 (64) and setting the start and end dates for each round. After that, the computer handles everything else. There is no way for me or anyone else to alter the tournament, whether by deciding which rigs are entered, whose rigs they battle, or any other means. I had nothing to do with the coding, nobody who runs the site on a day-to-day basis has any access to that code, and to suggest otherwise is personally offensive to me. This system occasionally causes frustration – some rigs are set against other rigs by the same author, some are set against rigs that their owners assume they have no chance against, but this is a sign that the computer is impartial, not (as some assume) weighted for or against any rig or modder.
We are considering altering the tournament process so only one rig per user makes it to each tournament, but really, I don’t see how that would be more fair. The vast majority of our modders have more than one rig, and some – like Wolverine and Slipperyskip – have a huge number of them. Without allowing multiple rigs per user, I don’t think we’d have enough rigs per month to make for a very large tournament. Nevertheless, it’s an option we’re investigating, though code-wise I don’t know how easy would be. It can be a little discouraging to some modders to see people win multiple places per month, but I’d venture to say that it’s a testament to their modding abilities and fan base rather than any nefarious goings-on on our end.
If you have questions or concerns about the tournament seeding process, would like to see changes to the way the tournaments are seeded and run, or any other comments, please leave feedback on this post. Or, if you prefer, send it to me privately at nathan at maximumpc dot com.
Hello everyone!
Round Two ends tomorrow night, so be sure to keep voting. Sorry I don’t have more interesting things today. Tomorrow will be better.
Check it out; we’ve got a new How-To guide from mlwilkins on the joys of Bondo. We’ve got a gold-leafing primer from thechoozen in the works, too, and something from 1500W on using LEDs. Those should be ready soon, so keep your head up!
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Submitted by XcaliburFX, 4 hours 20 min ago
“”“different classes is cool but I think it’s fun to see different style’s go Mano e Mano.”“”
Hence class 5 :)
5. Open Invitation : Class open to all extremely nice mods from stock to Pro Modified.
But folks the whole idea here is to have fun. I have read in the past about having an even playing field, well the field may be even, but the rigs are not. We have every kind of mod out there from mild to wild, and it is quite hard for a rig that was entered under the paint job category to win against a full blown scratch build rig like Doom3 for instance. Thus the need for some sort of category or class to not so much distinguish the rigs from one another, but to give all rigs a chance to compete and win at a level equal to their abilities.
A lot of folks I have talked to do not like the vote once a day thing to begin with. I myself do not like it. Votes get padded and it just seems cheesy. I think it should be like it used to be in the beginning you enter your rig and it gets voted on, but only 1 vote per person – per battle – per round, I myself like the little meter that showed how the war was going also, I’d be like.. “Their pulling ahead! come on gang help me out here!!!” lol Although the meter could have been a bit closer to the actual totals than it was, I believe it was spread too far out lol.
Finally, Nathan mentioned a key factor in his post earlier, in the last sentence of the third paragraph are two little words that spell out a a very big role in these battles … fan base. Yep, believe it or not it is also a popularity contest out there. If you have a huge following or support group that is willing to join the Modshop and vote for you then well you have it dang near made. Think not? Do the math people. Round 1 = 7 days, say you have 10 people who will without a doubt vote for you each day there is 70 votes plus anyone who might actually like your rig well enough to vote for it, 6 days the next round = 60 votes and so on. It adds up. lol So, yeah FanBase …. I got to get me one of those!!! lol
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Submitted by Lazarus, 4 hours 26 min ago
Excellent work Bro (I’m a member of X’s clan). Also, DW was a fitting recipient for the case.
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Submitted by Sheldog23, 6 hours 9 min ago
My personal feeling is that if you win a tourney, As in you come in first, second or third your rig shouldn’t be able to compete again that year. It just gives other modders a chance to shine.
As for how the system is seeded and everything I think it works just fine. X’s idea of different classes is cool but I think it’s fun to see different style’s go Mano e Mano.
Either way I’m thankful for the cool venue. I’ve seen tons of mods I’ve never seen before and that’s what it’s all about.
The Mod Shop is the ultimate community resource for PC hardware hackers of all experience levels, and home to our monthly hardware deathmatch, where you can pit your best rig against all comers in gladiator-style battle to win a share of our $2000 monthly prize pool! Are you ready to join the battle?
April Winners
by Sheldog23
Congratulations to Sheldog23 for winning our sixth official monthly tournament! Sheldog takes home the $1200 purse and a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, while WPA-Wolverine, the second-prize winner, gets $400 and a copy of Vista Ultimate.
Here's the full list of winners (and prizes courtesy of Windows Vista Ultimate). Congrats to the winners, and thanks to all who participated!
- First place - $1200 + Windows Vista Ultimate
- Second place - $400 + Windows Vista Ultimate
- Runners Up - $200 + Windows Vista Ultimate
- Honorable Mention - Windows Vista Ultimate
"How To" Guides
by 1500W
How to wire and control LED's individually, as an array, or string. Read More
by mlwilkins
A brief explaination of the use of the automotive body filler on cases. Read More
How To: Use a spare power supply to test fans, lights etc
by Bruce
Safely mod a PSU, without opening it up, to supply power for testing equipment and supplying a range of voltages Read More
acrylic airbrush aluminum AMD Antec army Blue Car Mods case Case Fabrication case mod case mods Cooler Master Cooling Cube Custom dcmm dremel HTPC intel Krylon lcd led LEDS lian-li lian li Lighting mnpctech mod mods nVidia overclock overclocked paint Paintjobs PC in a ? plexi Server SFF SilverStone Small Form Factor stealth thechoozen UV ValhallaArms water Water-Cooled watercooled water cooled water cooling Watercooling waterjet wolverine wood www.austinmodders.com www.babetech.de www.bit-tech.net www.bods-mods.com www.forgedfx.com www.modders-inc.com
Maximum PC
- It's been a while now...
- Biocon - From the Desk of Ryan
- Welcome to Rapture Worklog
- It is Complete!
- Post 10 - Finished
I have another question. What is the system behind the “Popular Rigs” section of the front page? How is it measured and how often is it updated?
I could swear that the same four rigs have been there since its inception six months ago (or so). I would have thought that the actual monthly winner would crack the top four now and then.