Website idea?

General Yo-Yo
21

It’s totally impractical, but I would check that battle site every day religiously if the rules were that you had to put up the yoyo used in the video in order to enter. Sort of like “Pinks”, but with throws. Winner, by votes, takes both. Might even lead to a very “Pinks”-ish meta strategy game, where regular participants turn to modifying cheap throws or coming up with other ways to perform well while not risking mega bucks. Anyway, that’s just me dreaming.

But, I guess that just leads to a larger idea that it would be excellent if something were at stake from the audience’s point of view. Points for the participants is cool and there definitely should be some sort of ranking system, but ideally there would be some reason I’m invested in the outcome even if I don’t know either person in the battle. If there were, I think the thing could be a total hit in this community.

Anyway, good luck with it. I have quite a bit of experience designing sites from an ergonomics and conceptual point of view, but very little technical so I’m probably of little help for an idea this focused and straightforward. Simplicity will be key. I’m sure you’ll come up with something interesting.

1 Like
22

I think this is a great idea and as stookie mentioned, I think you should also have a ranking system and along with that, you should also let people create accounts just like here a Yoyoexpert. I think you should also have contests for different types of videos and images (eg. most creative trick, best freestyle, easiest to do picture trick) basically come up with random ideas

23

That’s a good idea to have a few skill levels as everyone is at a diffrent level and would get more people involved.

24

Time for an unpopular opinion, I guess.

The largest issue that I see with this idea is that its sole mission is to promote the idea of one person being better than another, a belief to which I do not subscribe, and I think many yoyoers would agree.

First, why do different people win competitions all the time? We have a constantly changing field: we don’t have one clear person who is obviously just much more awesome than the rest (well, except maybe in 2A). That’s because yoyoing is not something that you can really be -better- at. Sure, there are many varying degrees of skill, but it’s much more a matter of expression, interpretation, and preference.

Whenever someone gets on these forums and says “Well, what’s the best yoyo?” Y’all get mad an tell the person that it’s all a matter of personal preference, which is why the market has so many different yoyos. It’s the same thing, but for people. Nobody (or at least, very few people), try to make arguments for one player being the best at something, because that’s the way things go.

Further, I think that this idea promotes an atmosphere where fun and skill are the same. We tell people not to go out looking for sponsorships, that yoyoing is about fun, not winning. But what happens, say, a year or two from now, when a website like this gains traction and becomes hugely popular? People will start yoyoing with the mindset that this is the best way to validate one’s skill, by beating another person. That person, then, feels unaccomplished and will likely get discouraged.

The thing is, if this is very successful (which, judging by the responses in this thread, it may be), people are going to start believing that this is the way to find out how “good” they are. Our current system, one in which people create videos and others watch and critique them, is much healthier. You don’t post a video and have someone respond with, “Yeah, but Augie’s video was better.” They say, “Wow, I like your style and your music choice. I think it would behoove you, though, to investigate some more complex trick elements. You seem to have the technical skill; don’t sell yourself short creatively.”

You won’t get thoughtful replies such as those. You’ll only get reasoning behind why one person is better and more deserving of a win than another. And that’s a yoyoing community that I think is contradictory to what we have now.

This obviously isn’t a widely held opinion, at least not in this thread. I encourage you, though, to at least consider it.

25

I completely understand where you’re coming from. In my opinion healthy competition is good for ones self esteem and helps one to become the best that he or she can be at something. I think if I create an atmosphere where people can compete with others at the same skill level the community would embrace it. Not everyone feels advanced enough to enter competitions or maybe they might be nervous to perform in front of live people. This is a chance for them to compete with one another and have some fun at the same time.

26

I agree mondo. People that play sports don’t say well let’s not keep score because someone might get discouraged. It’s a way of judging skill. If you don’t want to compete that’s up to you just like people play sports for fun not to compete. I play basketball no one has to tell me I’m no Larry Bird I know that. Same with yoyoing. I know I’m no Dan Dietz but I do it because I want to. Losing in a completion won’t change that but I might have some fun along the way.

27

Mondo and fellaveder hit the nail on the head with this one. It shouldnt really discourage people, in my eyes its not much different that a normal competition someone would go to, other than the fact its 1v1. If someone is going to want to compete in a competition then they will prolly be just as willing to partake in this, and if they loose in this they only loose to 1 person but if dont win the competition they enter its kind of like loosing to many more people (depending on how they place). Thats the way i see it anyway maybe it will discourage people maybe it wont, only time will tell.

28

J lev. I agree with you on one particular point: your opinion is probably not very popular in here.

From how little I know, I don’t think I’m taking that big of a risk to state that, it might not be very popular in yoyo community in general. Although I wouldn’t pretend to talk for everyone. bare with me.

What yoyoing actually achieved, which has been achieved only by a very few other sports, is -for now at least- healthy competition.

Between players, of course. The contests are extremely popular, and the rivalries are more than a drive for each competitor than actual feuds (miggy/tyler anyone?).

I believe that yoyoing actually transcends individualism in an extremely positive way, and competition even emphasizes that aspect in our very own case.

But even when you look at the story of the human race, competition was more often than not an incredible drive to push further, it even brought man on the moon!

On an individual level, most of us would like to know how good (or bad) we are, competition is not about who’s the best player, not only. But it’s also a way for the players to display their style in front of their peers, compare their skills to others.

Competing is natural, it’s part of our instinct, it’s part of who we are and it also makes us better, individually and ultimately as a whole.

YoYoing is the perfect example of how competition transcends individualism and also benefits the group on the long run.

While competing is not for everyone, I believe that competition is an important part of what makes us who we are as a community because of how it brings so many people together and pushes everyone to be as good as they can, and then some more.

There are major players who don’t compete (ed haponik for example, not as far as I know), but also bring something very important to the community. There is good in both worlds, and yoyoing makes the best of both worlds as it is now.

back on the website, I do not believe that it will be an easy task, I wouldn’t bet my arm on its success either. But if anyone can pull something like that off, it’s a yoyoer.

29

What if the videos were judged like a freestyle in an actual competition, that way people could gauge their freestyles and see how they hold up before a big contest.

30

the issue is that, when in a contest, your skills is not really the thing you should be worried about.

stage freight is something that can, and will shut you down, not matter how good you are on a vid.

on a vid, you can spend the week filming and getting your trick perfect. on a contest you spend between 1 and 3 months (sometimes more) working on a freestyle that you HAVE TO get right and you only have one chance, 3 minutes can feel very fast or very slow.

So in that sense, it wouldn’t really help to tell people how they’d do in a contest, as filming and competing are two completely different approaches. in one, you have all the time in the world to do perfect, in the other, you take all the time you want to practice, but it doesn’t count, but you have to be perfect the one time you do it on the stage

you can do your fs perfectly 9 times out of 10, but if on stage, you’re at that 1 out of 10 that you’ll miss, your 2, 3 months work go down the toilet and you have to wait one year to try again. (not even talking about the prelims, which is the really stressful part)

and again, this also shows how competing bring the best in people. because the 2 or 3 months before a major contest, you work harder than someone who just throws for fun, this also tends to make a huge difference between competing and non competing players (although you can have extremely talented, non competing players that will be much better than your average competing player, that’s another debate)

both approaches are very good, this is also why I think this website could work. in video contest, I think the style part is more important, while in regular contest, you have a much bigger technical aspect.

anyway, the more I think of this site, the more I think it’s a good idea! (doesn’t change the fact that it’ll probably be a pain to set up and manage)

31

i think the idea is amazing.

32

Some really good ideas coming out of this thread. Having been to a contest I would say people wanted to win but the friendship and positive attuide of everyone was really cool.

33

I see where you’re coming from and I agree that it would be a shame if the tone of the website turned from fun to aggressively competitive.

But, I think when we’re talking yoyo battle, the way you present your tricks or whatever you’ve entered will probably end up being just as important as your actual skill, so long as it’s based on audience votes. This won’t be something judged based on a trick list by professional judges, but you and me, deciding who did an awesome job with their video.

Another thing you could do to combat it is to come up with different “themes” for different weeks that don’t always focus on pure skill. Maybe one week it’s “best original trick combo” or something like this, which encourages everyone to practice what is fun for them. Heck, you might even have one week where it’s “best progression on a new trick” and entrants get to do 3 one minute segments of their progress on a trick over a certain period of time. That would include and ecourage everyone, and maybe even favor the beginner.

Anyway, I don’t think you’re off base. It’s a fine line to toe. If done right though, this could be a great way to take yo competitions away from the professionals and make some stars out of the commoners. Could be a great learning tool for everyone else too.