Summer Orgafun!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

What's been good about the League Of Pop:

- Terrific vehicle for hearing new music
- Enjoyable as a game but also challenging/infuriating/shocking in places
- Orgafun structure works fine (a few tweaks for Season 2 I'm sure)

Problems with the League Of Pop:

- Hasn't involved or engaged non-players much (correct me if I'm wrong, spectators)
- Requires significant time commitment to enter
- Requires less work on my part than I thought it might but still quite a lot

None of these problems are so serious that I want not to do it again - but I will wait a while before the next 'season'. All of the problems are resolvable by a simple format tweak. So the next Poptimists event will be...

The Pop Open - a Summer tournament of taste. I haven't finalised the instructions but it will go a little something like this:

- Players submit tracks, which are anonymised and posted by me and voted on by the community as a whole, in groups or pairs.
- To give a loose structure to things, each round will be themed (eg "love", "fear", "politics") to give baffled spectators some sort of point of comparison.
- Depending on how many people enter, this will be a straight knockout, or a short round-robin leading to final knockout stages. So the commitment will be much smaller, even for winning players. And because each match only involves a couple of players we can be way more flexible as to holidays, and it's much less work for me.
- The fun for spectators is hearing and voting on new tracks (as ever). The fun for players is either pleasing the crowd or finding out what people really think of their beloved favourite tunes.

Want to play? Nothing will happen until after the LoP ends but I'm interested to know who's up for it. Your only commitment will be to send in tracks (between 1 to 3 depending on format). That's all!

Comments

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

"Hasn't involved or engaged non-players much"

Well I've rarely downloaded the tracks. i briefly look at the player commentary and try to see if i can guess what it is. But in the end i've only personally known about 6 tracks. i think the personal winners = not much of a temptation to download.

Random suggestion that may or may not improve things. Could you have a MVP vote from spectators?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

For season 2 yes, quite possibly!

The Pop Open will be 2-4 tracks at a time, everyone can d/l, everyone can vote, players and non-players, like the PWC was.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Yes! I want to play!

Also putting my hand up on behalf of Mr Badgers as he is v busy at werk today and he was gutted to have missed out on League O Pop orgamafun.

[infov0re.livejournal.com]

I'd definitely play again.

[cis.livejournal.com]

I'd like to play!

[strange-powers.livejournal.com]

I'll play again and in the Summer Open, pleases! I've downloaded my league's tracks every week, and while I've not found a massive amount to love amongst the submissions, it's kept me curious and interested which is what I hoped for. A more open voting system and either/or tickyness seems ideal for the summer!

[braisedbywolves.livejournal.com]

Yes me too (er, provided relegation in the LoP doesn't disqualify me?)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

No don't worry! All crimes are paid in the Pop Open!

[ms-bracken.livejournal.com]

Another yes for Pop Open!

Also I've downloaded the League tracks most weeks as well and enjoyed the commentary...

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

'- Hasn't involved or engaged non-players much (correct me if I'm wrong, spectators)'

I thought I would enjoy it but I haven't bothered to download the songs. This is not your fault tho, I just seem to have lost desire to listen to new music in general lately.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Maybe the more bite-size format of the Pop Open will soothe your ennui!

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

I would play in Pop Open tho yeh.

[lockedintheatti.livejournal.com]

Yes please!

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm in again. I think I have a few songs left that I like and haven't already used in the LoP.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I would also like to play the Pop Open. Glutton for punishment, me. :D

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

I'm happy not to play but to watch !

I have enjoyed the League of Pop, and just listening now to a CD of tracks picked to appeal to me is totally ace, but I've not really had time to devote to picking tracks properly and have cared too much about the outcomes!

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Oh I'd love to play the Pop Open. My competitive streak is usually dormant but when awakened it can be quite scary, and this sort of thing feeds it nicely.

I don't usually download the League of Pop zip files because I will never get round to making time to listen to 12 unknown tracks unless it's my week, but I always read the commentary and if a song sounds particularly good I usually go off and track it down myself/ask for it to be sent to me. The fun isn't so much in "discovering new music" though, it's more "seeing how different tastes interact with each other".

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Lex I will need your help getting the tennis analogies right!

fun with peanuts

[w3ft.livejournal.com]

i'd like to play

also i have enjoyed being a spectator to the league of pop, though keeping up is a lot of work

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

i'm in

(unless it is oversubscribed and it is my turn to sit in the stands for a spell)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I don't think oversubscription is an issue with the Pop Open - I can work out a way of accomodating everyone.

[hauntedballroom.livejournal.com]

even though i think i must have done the worst out of anyone on league of pop, i'd still like to play the pop open!

[mippy.livejournal.com]

I fancy a go - LoP wouldn't work for me.

But how pop, how recent do tracks have to be?

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

One of the themes might be "2007" - but that aside, players should pick anything they like.

(And even then you could make plenty of justifications for picking non-2007 tracks for that theme, but whether the market of ticks will bear them is another matter.)

The main issue will be trusting people to obey the "you can't tick if you already know it" rule, I guess.

Count me in too

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I jus tlike being one of the "cool kids" :)

[jel-bugle.livejournal.com]

I will play!

[http://users.livejournal.com/xyzzzz__/]

Def up for it!

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

Play play play

[justfanoe.livejournal.com]

By the way I will be playing to bring glory to all of the second- and third-tier poptimists. Our time will come!

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

I really like the idea.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Hullo Friend Of Tofu - did I mistakenly take this message as "Yes please I would like to play in the Pop Open?"

HUGE apologies if so! (Unless it DID mean that)

yes, i would jump off a cliff if everyone else was...

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

the PWC last year was a lot of fun, and less orgafun/timeconsuming than LoP so i guess i'd be in for this. all i've got to do is find some crazy young person's music now...

[inhibitorylinks.livejournal.com]

Would definitely love to take part! Sign me up, please!