WE NEED YOUR FEEDBACK- Memory League World Tour and ML World Champion 2021

Memory League
#1

Hello everyone,

a team of organizers, competitors and arbiters were working on a draft of a potential Memory League World Tour 2021. Now we want to get your feedback! Please share your thoughts and ideas and let us know if you like it! Together we might put Memory Sports on a new level! :slight_smile:

Please watch the video first before you check out the images.

On the following images we summarized additional thoughts:

  1. How the scoring of the Qualification Leaderboard could look like
  2. General requirements for competitors
  3. A short to-do-list how we could proceed

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16 Likes
What are Your New Year's Resolutions and Goals for 2021?
#2

Hi Hannes, love the concept! You guys have clearly done a lot of work on it as well, it seems largely very well thought out from what I can see.

There is only one obvious point to me, which is if someone wins a slam they shouldn’t just get the ranking points, they should automatically qualify for the world finals. Two big benefits: firstly, it gives a more obvious weight to the slams themselves. Secondly, a top competitor will still be able to qualify for the world finals even if they are so strapped for time that they can neither enter any of the regular memory league seasons nor enter all of the slams (maybe because they’re a doctor in the US?). I’d recommend that this doesn’t get given to second place in the slam if first place has already qualified, instead add one to the number of people who can qualify by ranking points, else getting automatic qualification may seem a little cheap.

You asked if there should be 8 or 16 people in the world finals. It might not help but don’t forget it doesn’t have to be a conventional knockout. A group stage or a bye for 1 or 2 people could help you move this, so you could have any number in between. I know you want more specific feedback on this number from us fans though, so for me, I’d want it to be the sum of people who would have more than a 20% chance of beating the world number 1 over the duration of the final. You will be able to judge this far better than I could.

More minor points: I love the qualification score system and the way that maps to world points, but the other league points distribution seems a bit strange. Surely getting promoted from division 2 should be worth more points than getting relegated from division 1? Also, having the world finals in December isn’t ideal, I respect that congestion means you might not be able to move it much earlier, but people do tend to be busier this time of year, even a couple of weeks could make a big difference

Overall, though I love the idea, look forward to seeing what you guys can make happen

2 Likes
#3

Hey,

thank you for your great feedback. I like your ideas and they are definetly something we should consider!

Regarding the Qualification:
You are right. The intention was that someone in Division 1 does not have an advantage regarding the points if he/she would be relegated to Division 2 and next season wins that Division.
Maybe like this:
Not beeing relegated to Div 2 = 100 points
Relegated to Division 2 = 0 points
Promoted to Division 1 = 180 points
That way it is worth more points to stay in Division one for two seasons than going down and up again. Also it gives more value to the positions in the lower Divisions which could be handled in the same way.
But: Is 0 points for beeing relegated ok?

2 Likes
#4

I think this idea is really really exciting! It’s complex but I like that. One thing I noticed though: the points that are gained during the regular season (if I understood correctly) come from a formula applied to the actual scores achieved in matches. However, in these matches we don’t always go for our best scores - we go for a time that’s safe enough to beat the specific opponent, or we might take the full 60 seconds if we know our opponent is really strong. It might change the dynamic of matches if our actual scores were going to count for something other than beating the opponent. (Even if it’s only our 3 best scores and 4 best disciplines that count.) Not necessarily a bad thing, but just something to think about perhaps.

4 Likes
#5

Hi Katie,

thanks for your feedback. Yes, I’m absolutely aware of this fact. However, as you already mentioned, that must not be a bad thing and might be just something else to consider. Also if we play against 6 opponents we would play 36 games overall which gives a lot of opportunities.

The reason why we came up with that idea:
We want to give everyone the same opportunity to qualify for the Slams. That way we would have everyone playing the same amount of games under the same conditions. This is given through the league.
If we would open that ranking for all rated games then people with more opponents or training partners have a huge advantage since they can go over and over again.

But other ideas are welcome!

4 Likes
#6

I like that idea, pushes people and makes more sense going mid range/ high speed, against stronger opponents. And also, something we will see more frequent. More excitement having one going 19s and the other going 22s in Images =)

#7

It shouldn’t be 0 points, since being in higher Division requires some certain skill. Just think about it, you could have won over your opponent 8-6.
Also, coming the last spot in the Division doesn’t mean you get completely stomped 0-6 -36 Diff and only 4 points.

The relegated Div 1 player has a good chance of beating the player who is going to be promoted to Div 2.

Staying in the same Division 2 season in a row makes lot of sense to give off more points than the one who falls and climbs.

Over all this is a great idea to have. Going to be very exciting moving forward. Finally kicking in the online tournaments :sparkles: :sparkles: :sparkles:

#8

I would love for there to be geographical connections to the slams: American slam / African - European slam / Oceania - Asia slam. With competition windows centered around, respectively, GMT+8, GMT and GMT-8. That ans any other way to potentially have them have a “different feel” to them.

Some clarification is necessary for the splitting of athletes between divisions : how are the athletes split between div 2a,2b,2c and does someone have the possibility of “redshirting” one season without having to start in a lower division?

Otherwise looking forward to this and hoping many people (not only the top 30 or so) will find incentives to play regularly, be it people from lower divisions or people from countries that haven’t been so active on ML thus far!

6 Likes
#9

I think reward should be given for participating in this, and in the World ladder. A good recognition system would do the trick.
We do have the IAM Levels, over at that site. A level 10 player on each 5 initial diciplines would roughly have the Levels of:

Numbers: IAM Lv 9 (70)
Names: IAM Lv 13 (18)
Words: IAM Lv 13 (28)
Cards: IAM Lv 10 (44)
Images: IAM Lv 5 (26)

And 1 min with perfect score equals:

Numbers: IAM Lv 11 (80)
Names: IAM Lv 25 (30)
Words: IAM Lv 25 (50)
Cards: IAM Lv 12 (52)
Images: IAM Lv 7 (30)

Having different emoji’s or ribbons, next to someones name in the ladder would be very exciting.
-Like if someone is very kind, then something like this would be assigned next to the name: Player :sparkles:
-someone with steady accuarcy would get like :dart:
-Someone who participates on multiple League ( and now SLAM) :star: :star: :star:

There is currently a “ladder” at IAM site, for the different diciplines played. Roughly 82 have participated so far. There is 5 tabs in total where you can find the different players and achievements.

These are just a few ideas, but I hope you get the point. Recognition moves people and a great motivation factors for others!

Acknowledging the well performing athlets and also those who make a wonderful ambiance would be super. :rose:

#10

I love this idea, and I want to thank all the people who worked on this draft. It would be awesome to have this series of competitions where you collect points till the end of the year. This sounds really exciting.

But I also feel a bit torn. For someone like me (from division 3) it seems to be quite impossible to reach the last round, especially when there are only 8 participants. Please consider to implement the version with 16 competitors, so that some people that aren’t at the top (like Andrea Muzii, Alex Mullen, Simon Reinhard, John Graham & Co.) have a slight chance too when they train like crazy.

Maybe you could also add some badges or a hall of fame thread in order to motivate more new players that aren’t world class yet. There could be a honourable mention for all people that participated in at least one of the nine qualification competitions, regardless of performance, a bronze badge for all competitors with more than 30 world ranking points at the end of the year, and so on.

Just my two cents, from a lower division point of view :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#11

Thanks, Finwing!

Top 16 is something we should consider. But as it was written above we don’t necessarily need to stick to 16 and it could also do something between. I agree that it could be cool to have at least one or two underdogs in the finals.

I also agree that people who are not on the Top should also have something to aim for. Maybe, since November isn’t that packed yet, we could also implement another knockout tournament for competitors between 17-32 (or 9-24). Like in football were you the Champions League but also the Euro League.

3 Likes
#12

YES!! It’s really important to cater for those in division 3-4-5-…-10!! Division 1 and 2 are already sold on memory sports and training and competiting regularly!

4 Likes
#13

Glad I could help :slight_smile:

1 Like
#14

I love the idea of geography tied to the slams. Or maybe that would have to be a separate thing? Maybe a winner or finalist in a separate national or continental event could earn an invitation or something like that. I did watch the video so I know there’s a lot of scoring across multiple events to consider, not just the results of one event. So I’m not sure how that’d work or look like, but I really like the idea of doing at least one event that is more geography based, if nothing more than for bragging rights (also time zone considerations obviously).

1 Like
#15

Is the idea to let people also play in the night according to their time zone? I.e. 2 am or something like this?

1 Like
#16

That’d be the idea, yes. I feel it’d be cleaner this way than trying to tinker with starting times, tailor them to the competitors’ list, etc. That gets complicated very quickly. One of the slams will have very inconvenient times for everyone at some stage in the year, but if not all the slams are counted in the end-of-year results then that’s mitigated by this. Also there’s enough top competitors from all continents in order to guarantee that many top competitors will be in a favourable timezone at each of the slams:

Centered around GMT+8: China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Australia, India not too far, etc.
Centered around GMT: Africa, Europe, Middle East
Centered around GMT-8: North America, South America would be a bit off though …

1 Like
#17

Bildschirmfoto 2020-12-15 um 10.41.39

What do you think about the following changes to the Points for the World Ranking you can get in a Memory League Season?
I significantly increased the points for the lower divisions. However if you go down to a lower division and win this in the next season you can only become the same amount of points as if you would stay in the higher divisions in the higher division.

4 Likes
#18

@sylle I created that poll to get a bit of feedback from more people.

Argument 1:
The idea ist to arrange the matches in a way that everyone can play their matches between 8am and 8 pm in their local time zone. That means that someone might play in the evening on day X and someone else would play in the morning on day X+1. That way everyone would play in a convinient time zone without the consequences of playing in the night.

Argument 2: It is cleaner to play the three Slams with geographical connections to the slams: American slam / African - European slam / Oceania - Asia slam. With competition windows centered around, respectively, GMT+8, GMT and GMT-8. That ans any other way to potentially have them have a “different feel” to them. It’s hard trying to tinker with starting times, tailor them to the competitors’ list, etc. That gets complicated very quickly. One of the slams will have very inconvenient times for everyone at some stage in the year, but if not all the slams are counted in the end-of-year results then that’s mitigated by this. Also there’s enough top competitors from all continents in order to guarantee that many top competitors will be in a favourable timezone at each of the slams:

Centered around GMT+8: China, Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Australia, India not too far, etc.
Centered around GMT: Africa, Europe, Middle East
Centered around GMT-8: North America, South America would be a bit off though …

For the Slam tournaments: What would be your favorite aproach?
  • Try to arrange all matches so that no one has to play before 8 am or after 8 pm in their individual time zone.
  • Play slams centered around different time zones. -8 GMT, GMT, + 8 GMT. In one Slam you might have to play at 2 am and in another, you might play at 1 pm.

0 voters

1 Like
#19

I like the idea of having people from national tournaments qualified for a Slam directly. It could work like this:
The winner of a National ML Championships qualifies for the next Slam (or a potential last qualification round) that takes place after that National Competition. Maybe with a 2 weeks deadline. So if the National tournament would be to close to a Slam, the winner would qualify for the Slam that comes next in the year. (or next year)
For that some rules for the National Competition should apply:
Only the best National Competitor can qualify for the Slam.
There can only be one National Competition/year
A minimum amount of competitors must participate in the National Competition.

In addition people who join national tournaments can earn points for the WR. Maybe around the amount of points you get in Division 2? Or between 1 and 2?

2 Likes
#20

Staying in Division 1 is worth the same as Division 2 runner up. I’m not a fan of that