tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post4655584838376866644..comments2023-06-18T16:15:22.432+01:00Comments on PL/SQL Challenge: Players speak out on ranking algorithm and concerns about cheatingSteven Feuersteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16619706770920320550noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post-1068984545551114262010-07-05T10:13:20.734+01:002010-07-05T10:13:20.734+01:00What I have been concerned about is this: I could...What I have been concerned about is this: I could very easily select 'Take the Quiz' and then press 'Submit' without even reading the question.<br /><br />The quiz takes this as me believing that none of the given answers should be ticked.<br /><br />If that particular quiz had four options, only one of which should be ticked, I would be marked as having three of the four answers as correct.<br /><br />This would give me a higher ranking than if I had taken the time to read the question and select likely answers.<br /><br />How to stop or at least reduce the incidence of this? Add as a final option to each quiz "None of the above" <br />or somesuch, and add some validation to the 'Submit' process to ensure that at least one option is selected.<br /><br />On the issue of speed of submission, I answered the quiz on Friday 2 July very quickly as it was something I just knew. Today's quiz took somewhat longer!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post-61421688546446197472010-07-03T14:15:02.490+01:002010-07-03T14:15:02.490+01:00Gary, very intersting idea. I, too, worry about de...Gary, very intersting idea. I, too, worry about developers losing interest because they are not and will not be anywhere near the top. <br /><br />One other suggestion made by a player that I find intriguing is to ignore the ten worst scores in a given quarter (a no-play score of 0 would count as a worst score). <br /><br />What do you think of this?Steven Feuersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16619706770920320550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post-64112848037092294812010-07-03T07:29:48.706+01:002010-07-03T07:29:48.706+01:00For me the prizes aren't really important. It&...For me the prizes aren't really important. It's about knowing how good I am. I just don't 'get' gaming the system.<br />I see the point of the 'wildcard', but it is very much focussed on the top players. I would like to see something added so that supports that set of players lower down the game when it comes to 'breaks in play'. Maybe something like, if you don't play you get a default score of 75% of the lowest scoring player. Or the score that someone would get for marking all options as incorrect and taking 30 minutes to do so. <br /><br />Something that might drop them down the ranks, but keeps them sufficiently in the hunt that they stay in the game.SydOraclehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08828771074492585943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post-81955696045864726112010-07-03T03:42:10.831+01:002010-07-03T03:42:10.831+01:00Steven, Don't you think all these cheatings ar...Steven, Don't you think all these cheatings are happening just to get those $'s and prizes? How many of these players still play 'daily' if the rewards are removed? The only reason why we are playing to is to get knowledge out of this and the only reason why "they" are playing is to get those $'s.[Some really would be exceptional]<br /><br />And I do agree that there is a possibility of answering the question just with in 10sec's. One example is the question on Dynamic PL/SQL where the declaration is made local that should be global. There, just by seeing that declaration we can say its going to throw an exception.<br /><br />As you said "How excellent we code and test there will be atleast one bug and the user will somehow get the path to that single bug we missed in testing", the same applies to cheating :-( Hope you got the point.Jaydeep Cherukuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17533836153440189719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post-75676664622332889602010-07-03T00:48:49.619+01:002010-07-03T00:48:49.619+01:006 seconds is a long time. Especially when you'...6 seconds is a long time. Especially when you're waiting for the microwave to go "ding" :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post-16307603950351482052010-07-02T23:20:28.886+01:002010-07-02T23:20:28.886+01:00Yes, that is very fast. And it was a long question...Yes, that is very fast. And it was a long question. You have every reason to wonder. And I have every reason to check in with the player and ask that was possible. So I did that. :-)<br /><br />Having said that, there is no doubt in my mind that sometimes people can answer questions very, very quickly. I have seen timings of people I know, and know they would never cheat, that are well under 10 seconds.<br /><br />That's what makes it so hard to draw any sort of hard and fast lines on this issue.<br /><br />Regards, SFSteven Feuersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16619706770920320550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post-77052827830151615272010-07-02T22:29:56.352+01:002010-07-02T22:29:56.352+01:00Do you think the first rank holder of the current ...Do you think the first rank holder of the current week was really able to read, understand, review the multiple options in merely 6 seconds?<br /><br />Lighting speed. Isn't it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17264275645694430226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post-39122095609475091842010-07-02T17:31:44.382+01:002010-07-02T17:31:44.382+01:00"* The minimum time really should be determin..."* The minimum time really should be determined based on the difficulty level of the question and even the specific question (length of question text and each multiple choice, etc.). That then becomes very complicated for us to manage and measure."<br /><br />I think you could calculate the time factor by using the time to answer vs the statistical distribution of the time response. No one can guess, and this should be a good measure to find acceptable time interval for the answer.perdidohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11032780826006388194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8677649049588007585.post-49369916382057905772010-07-02T16:25:54.777+01:002010-07-02T16:25:54.777+01:00One player had the following suggestion, but could...One player had the following suggestion, but could not post it to the blog for some reason:<br /><br />For the scoring to be fairer, I think that the number of correct answers ought to have some influence on the time element in the weighted score.<br /><br />(T/3) should instead be:<br /><br />(T (N-C+1)/3) <br />or <br />(T/(C+1)) <br /><br />or something like that.Steven Feuersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16619706770920320550noreply@blogger.com