Matt W. writes, "maybe there are people out there who, even knowing that they can't win, would have a great time playing questions designed to punish knowledge..." This begs several questions. (I've seen so many misuses of "begging the question" lately that I had to jump in once the phrase actually WAS appropriate.) Data point: I thoroughly enjoyed CBCI regionals and nationals when I played. Probably not enough for their fee structure to withstand a cost-benefit analysis but still, I had fun. I suspect enough other people had/have fun that you'll have a hard time persuading them of anything with the language that I quoted. Going back to freshman year of high school, nearly every tournament I played in was greatly enjoyable for its own sake. The only exceptions I can think of are Panasonic's high school tournament (I don't like the format, though the location more than makes up for it :-)) and a couple of ACF Nationals. In both cases, I disliked the long, dry questions. Your mileage may vary; my personal format tastes don't say much about tournament quality. IKIOKIJNMK. In a later post, Anthony DeJesus mentions studying for quizbowl, CBCI in particular. Well, just as my friends read a lot of books, I happened to read a lot of newspapers and magazines (these days, 'zines and 'blogs). Little of this related to what I studied in school but it still dovetailed really well with CBCI-specific preparation. Or, more directly, I did in fact find my "knowledge" rewarded rather than punished. (As for schoolwork--I was a math major. I found that my studies helped me very little in quiz competition, mainly since I could never remember what particular theorems were CALLED. Knew what they were, but alas nobody ever asks for proofs in quiz-bowl math questions. :-)) I'd like to think that NAQT has found a good balance, asking questions that reward academic knowledge but keeping things brisk and interesting. (Not to mention that I strongly believe NAQT easily offers the best value for cost in quiz-bowl.) That said, if people do knock other formats, I'd just as soon that the criticisms seem reasonable. Matt (speaking only for myself)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:45 AM EST EST