What can Splatoon do to break Splatoon's problem with Splatfest in America?

[Vitezen]

That's an absurd argument.

If you take away showing the Popularity stat for the next Splatfest, it doesn't take away what people already know. Or instead of seeing it as "which will more people like" you'll see it as "which will kids be more likely to pick" which you can ask with or without the popularity statistic.

How do people know the popularity unless it says so? All you can do is assume without a game confirmation. I've seen plenty of people being mistaken about popularity until the game gives the actual numbers. Of course the assumption of which side has more kids is impossible to avoid.

 

[Flareth]

Fair enough. I myself don't like the predictability of Splatfests either, I just get the impression that wins being the main factor was/is one of the issues at hand.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

Fair enough. I myself don't like the predictability of Splatfests either, I just get the impression that wins being the main factor was/is one of the issues at hand.

Yeah, what I have an issue with is that I want to pick the side that I agree with more, but it shouldn't have to be the "wrong" side. If my preferred team happens to be the winning one, I will coast effortlessly to victory. If my preferred team is the losing one, however, I will struggle no matter how well I play.

It shouldn't be this way. I should be getting some comparable amount of struggle no matter which team I'm on. I don't care if I lose a Splatfest; I want a good time. Neither of those are really that good a time. The former sucks the feeling of accomplishment out of winning, and the latter is just plain frustrating.

 

[PrinceOfKoopas]

How do people know the popularity unless it says so? All you can do is assume without a game confirmation. I've seen plenty of people being mistaken about popularity until the game gives the actual numbers. Of course the assumption of which side has more kids is impossible to avoid.

Because right now the game only gives popularity numbers at the end of Splatfest after everyone has played.

Right now, people don't know the popularity when they choose teams.
How will removing the reporting of the statistic after Splatfest is already over change how people pick their teams?

 

[SpaceCanary]

I know that this is a pipe dream now that the last patch update is coming out, but what would happen if we did a four-way Splatfest? Popularity would be taken out of a whole, but win percentage would be out of the games your team played. That way, it would be hard to pick the "less popular" team, there would be few same-side matches, and no team would really dominate (I hope). Like I said, it's a pipe dream, but I thought I'd say it amyway.

 

[Zombie Aladdin]

Wouldn't that require two more idols?

Wait a minute...that's where Octolings come in, isn't it?

 

[ct22.w]

i definitely agree nintendo should probably be putting more thought into their north american themes

if they have to, i would be okay with having themes that don't exactly appeal to younger kids either way, so that a choice would either be arbitrarily made (by younger kids) or the choice would be made by people who are older and are more likely to win games

I know that this is a pipe dream now that the last patch update is coming out, but what would happen if we did a four-way Splatfest? Popularity would be taken out of a whole, but win percentage would be out of the games your team played. That way, it would be hard to pick the "less popular" team, there would be few same-side matches, and no team would really dominate (I hope). Like I said, it's a pipe dream, but I thought I'd say it amyway.

Wouldn't that require two more idols?

Wait a minute...that's where Octolings come in, isn't it?

that would definitely make it more interesting and balanced, but it also raises the question of what themes you could make with a four-way splatfest? especially since the past splatfests have all (even across regions) been, for the most part, dichotomies - art vs science, past vs future, cats vs dogs, etc. though i suppose it would make nintendo have to make their themes more creative, and even if they did have themes that had one side be more popular with kids, it would be less clear who would be the 4th place team (and thus the "best" option) which could help balance it out some more

 

[Bazbot]

Wow...

Alright. Let's say that, 1/6 of 1million players are extremely competitive, and the other 5/6 aren't, according to the x6 multiplier, it would be exactly even, it wouldn't matter if the less competitive team won even 50 games, (pretty absurd) but then again not only are we trusting Nintendo to make two popular themes, were also trusting Nintendo not to over-popularize Callie, since she seems to be the one winning all the time, (what I mean by "over-popularize" Callie is by giving her a team we know more competitive, and amateur players will pick) let's compare Dogs vs Cats

38 + 51x6 < 62 + 49x6

Now let's compare that too when Nintendo really didn't care about Marie. (Past vs Future)

39 + 55x2 < 61 + 45x2

(What I'm doing here is switching the multipliers of each Splatfest, showing that as the multiplier goes up, the popularity value doesn't really go down, in stead it makes the even bigger number have a higher value once it's multiplied) The popularity part of splatfest wasn't ever broken XD it's just that Nintendo gives Callie more popular and just better overall themes to most people with Splatoon. #StopMarieAbuse2k16

 

[Of Moose & Men]

People will always find a way to exploit the system, regardless of what the multiplier is, regardless of what is added, taken away, doesn't matter.

The only solution is to get the people to choose according to their preference. We live in the States, where we will try to find a way to win in the easiest way possible. I can damn near guarantee if they drop it to x4 there will be a system people find that leaves us in the same position we're in now. Yea we may have one good one, but soon after people will figure it out.

Remove the try hards who feel they need to exploit the system to be successful, you remove the problem.

Until then, deal with it.

 

[BlackZero]

if they have to, i would be okay with having themes that don't exactly appeal to younger kids either way, so that a choice would either be arbitrarily made (by younger kids) or the choice would be made by people who are older and are more likely to win games

How about a three-way Splatfest between Team Drugs, Team Sex, and Team Rock & Roll?

 

[Vitezen]

Because right now the game only gives popularity numbers at the end of Splatfest after everyone has played.

Right now, people don't know the popularity when they choose teams.
How will removing the reporting of the statistic after Splatfest is already over change how people pick their teams?

You can see the results of this right now. The only reason people can predict that the less popular team will win is because the game itself proves it by saying which team was less popular. This is what leads to people assuming that the less popular team will win, and purposely picking that team. If this wasn't proven, no one would have the information needed to make that choice.

 

[Succubusty]

There are plenty of non-copyrighted, non-trademarked themes that have ardent supporters of roughly equal quantities among all age groups and are interesting. Here are a few I can think of that haven't been done as Splatfests:

Coffee vs. Tea
Chocolate vs. Vanilla
Urban vs. Rural
Travel to Another Place: State/Province vs. Country or Country vs. Continent
Science Fiction vs. Fantasy
Movies vs. Television
Fast Food vs. Family Food
Cooking: Done by Oneself vs. Done by Someone Else
Learn Many Languages vs. Master One Language
Comedy vs. Drama
Sweet Foods vs. Savory Foods
Taiyaki vs. Takoyaki (whoops, wrong region)

I just wanted to say... these are pretty easy to predict for NA, due to cultural differences from other countries. xD

Coffee. Because America. Most kids probably don't even know what tea is.
Chocolate. Because America.
Urban vs Rural is a toss up, because they also probably don't know what this means.
Country.
Fantasy.
Movies vs. Television; toss up
Fast Food
Cooking by Oneself vs someone else; toss up, though I suspect oneself, because overconfidence
Learn Many Languages
Comedy
Sweet Foods
Taiyaki vs Takoyaki; toss up, because 'murica.

I guess there are a couple toss-ups in there. But yea, it's alot harder than you'd think to think up truly ambiguous themes.

 

[Award]

I agree with all the others here, the themes do make it fairly easy to predict what way kids will go, but I have to say some are easier than others and in hindsight we didn't think it was "obvious" until after the results told us.

Past v Future. We debated lots about that. Kids love dinos. Kids love robots. Past, future wasn't a clear "kids choice" because kids like both. I did figure kids would go future, but I didn't have high confidence.
Naughty/Nice: Kids want to get toys from Santa so they like nice. But kids also like being naughty when given the chance. Many of us felt the kids could go either way.
Burgers v. Pizza. Both are kid favorites - it was impossible to me to pick what way kids would go.
Coasters v. Waterslides: Again pretty impossible to not get a split.
Hot dogs v. Marshmallows: Kind of obvious kids would go sweet (and so would I) but hot dogs are a kids favorite, so that assumption could have easily been wrong.
Pirates v. Ninjas: Again, I don't see an obvious kid choice in that. Kids like both. Pirates actually seemed the more likely kid choice to me by only a tiny bit.

I was one of the people after naughty/nice suggesting the themes were lopsided, in expected results, however I don't think the themes are obviously kid skewed. IMO it's easier to pick what one will be more popular than it is to pick which one kids like. I can see the skew in popularity for each being shared by kids and adults alike.

However I do think some of the topics they pick are FAR too obvious in popularity split. Burgers v. Pizza? The universal food against any other food? What were they thinking? Hot dogs, a cheap processed meat vs a spongy sugar blob of universal appeal? Some of these are ill thought. But naughty vs. nice had a bigger split than I imagined, it seemed close to me. Pirates v Ninjas had a WAY bigger divide than I'd ever have imagined.

 

[Award]

How about a three-way Splatfest between Team Drugs, Team Sex, and Team Rock & Roll?

The kids choose the first one. The don't know what the second is, the latter is dead, but they're all drugged out of their little hyperactive minds.

 

[Award]

if they have to, i would be okay with having themes that don't exactly appeal to younger kids either way, so that a choice would either be arbitrarily made (by younger kids) or the choice would be made by people who are older and are more likely to win games

Lang Lang v Liberace
Constantinople vs Alexandria
Was Yalta Beneficial yes/no
Can dedicated consoles survive long term in the modern data-driven information economy, you decide?

I can't wait for the next Splatfest!

 

[ShinyGirafarig]

The Lady or the Tiger?

(I hope people get this one)

 

[PrinceOfKoopas]

You can see the results of this right now. The only reason people can predict that the less popular team will win is because the game itself proves it by saying which team was less popular. This is what leads to people assuming that the less popular team will win, and purposely picking that team. If this wasn't proven, no one would have the information needed to make that choice.

Look at the conversation around you.

People are NOT picking "oh what's the least popular thing" people are picking "what will kids pick?"

You can have that discussion about which team will have LESSER-SKILLED PEOPLE without the Popularity stat existing.

I'm STRONGLY for working on the right problem, and not eliminating things that aren't part of the problem.

 

[SpaceCanary]

Wouldn't that require two more idols?

Wait a minute...that's where Octolings come in, isn't it?

EXACTLY!

 

[Gameboy224]

Look at the conversation around you.

People are NOT picking "oh what's the least popular thing" people are picking "what will kids pick?"

You can have that discussion about which team will have LESSER-SKILLED PEOPLE without the Popularity stat existing.

I'm STRONGLY for working on the right problem, and not eliminating things that aren't part of the problem.

Is there really big difference between the two ideas. Kids (or less experienced players in general) make up the majority population. If you are choosing the less popular side you essential are picking the team kids aren't picking.
The greater problem is the number of people with said mentality, take a look at our first Splatfest, completely lopsided popularity but the win difference was of only 2%.

 

[ShinyGirafarig]

Is there really big difference between the two ideas. Kids (or less experienced players in general) make up the majority population. If you are choosing the less popular side you essential are picking the team kids aren't picking.
The greater problem is the number of people with said mentality, take a look at our first Splatfest, completely lopsided popularity but the win difference was of only 2%.

I think that is because people are far more defensive of their pet of choice than anything. Also this was towards the beginning before people were really "meta"ing seriously. Now we got tons more people who play better than at the very beginning.