[CQ-Contest] Evolving scoring systems

[Mark]

Since we are talking scoring systems and technology (albeit in different
threads)...

I grew up with video games from their early days (man I feel old).  These
started out as arcade shoot'em up style games with points per alien shot
and bonus points for shooting mother ships or the like, (sound familiar?).
However with the advent of PC gaming strategy games appeared whereby you
got points not only for killing aliens but bonus points for finding hidden
passages or bigger weapons ("Doom" is a great example).  This soon morphed
into games like "Civilisation" (or nowadays "Minecraft") where you built
communities and had make decisions around what technologies you developed
and alliances you built.  Mission based games also appeared meaning you
take the role of a character with certain strengths and weaknesses and you
try and complete a mission, picking up new abilities along the way.  Points
are given not only for finishing the mission but also the manner in how you
do it e.g. finding gold or not killing innocent people along the way
(Google "Assassin's Creed" if you want an example, my son loves it).

The point of all this?  Contesting is still in the arcade phase.  Scoring
systems certainly in major contests, are basically all the same i.e. qso
points and multipliers (with a few exceptions like QTC points and the Stew
Perry distance scoring).  Tactically therefore little changes from contest
to contest just the stations you have to work to achieve it.  I accept that
once upon a time keeping it simple was a necessity but with technology now
this has changed but it hasn't been embraced in a scoring sense unlike in a
station spotting sense.

I think it is time for contesting scoring systems to evolve so that it is
more than simple arcade style scoring is available.  I am not advocating
more contests by the way, heaven knows there are more than enough already,
but it maybe a chance for existing organisers to think outside the square
to rejuvenate their contest if it needs it and at the same time maybe
attract a new breed of contester to have a go.

Really the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.  One simple
example may be to award bonus points for working a certain number of
stations during the contest like 250 then 500 then 1000 etc (which would
keep people operating), or for working a station(s) in your "black hole"
e.g. JA from W1 so emphasising radio skills.  The trick though (like it is
for computer gaming and which developers sweat over) is to make it
reasonably achievable for all participants all the while keeping it
challenging as the contest progresses.

By the way some entry categories based on a combination of power and
aluminum in the air wouldn't hurt either.

73
Mark ZL3AB