Hi All,
I believe that the way the Lab Work Flow System is currently arranged is causing some serious problems for many players:
Currently, the way the Lab works is this:
Week 1:
- We start a new lab - create and submit new designs - and begin voting
- We close the voting and select winners for Synthesis
Week 2: - During first 5 days of Synthesis Week - many players continue to create designs WITHOUT the benefit of seeing the results of the synthesis
- Many more players continue voting on all the new design submissions that were created WITHOUT the benefit of seeing the results of the previous round.
- On the 5th day of Synthesis Week, the Synthesis results are published
- Then, in the last 2 days of Synthesis Week, the players who waited to get the benefit of seeing the Synthesis Results have to scramble to analyze those Results, create their new designs, or fix the old ones, and then re-submit.
- However, by this time, most of the other players have spent their votes on the designs created, again, WITHOUT the benefit of seeing the results of the previous round.
This system is bad for several reasons:
- The players devoting the most thought and analysis to their designs are left without time to have their designs be seen, and to gather votes from players around the globe in different time zones.
- These designs, which may have the the most potential for a winning score are being overlooked.
- The players who are doing their designs first, are not getting the benefit of seeing the synthesis results, and being able to adjust for whatever lessons those results may have contained.
- The pool of designs in contention each week are therefore are largely unimproved over the past week’s designs, or at least have not factored in the traits that won, or factored out the traits that lost, or addressed the problems revealed.
I have an idea on how to fix or at least improve this flawed system:
- After the first week of design submission and voting, and after the first group of synthesis candidates are selected and sent to the Lab for synthesis - instead of continuing to create and vote on designs for that Lab without the feedback of results - CLOSE that lab for submissions, and for voting! (until the results are back the the next week)
- INSTEAD, during Synthesis week for this first Lab, begin a NEW Lab. Have players create and vote on the designs as usual - and at the end of the week, when the synthesis results for the last lab are published - then CLOSE this second Lab for both submissions and voting until IT’S results are published.
- When the First Lab’s results are published and the second Lab is closed for IT’S synthesis week, - THEN RE-OPEN the first lab for submissions and for voting.
- This will mean that
a) the entire player community will have access to the previous round results for the entire length of the new round,
b) the players who are quick out of the gate to submit will now have better designs due to now having access to the synthesis results having already been published
c) the players who used to have to wait til the last minute to get the synthesis result feedback, can now also start early, and have an equal chance to get votes.
d) the quality of submissions overall should therefore rise.
I put together a couple quick diagrams to illustrate this idea:
First, the current system:
Now, my proposed system:
After the first week, where there will be an initial gap, there will then always be a submission and voting each week, but on two alternating labs instead of one. The players will all always have complete results of the previous round of both Labs to factor into their new designs, and into their evolutions and fixes of previous designs. All Players will have a whole week to submit, where previously those desirous of previous round feedback had to wait so long it was near impossible to garner any votes at all by the time they received the results, analyzed and created new ones.
This system will fix all of that. The main difference end up being that, although two 3-Round labs will still take 6 weeks to complete, they will progress concurrently in alternate weeks instead of one following the other. But I believe this is a small price to pay for the advantages that accrue.
Thanks, and Best Regards,
-d9