World Grand Prix Championship Season 16: Signups (closed)

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Just a little too late. Need to work on my timing.

Edit: Hmm. Interesting. Ryker's going to need roleplaying in this race for character development's sake; potentially time for a comeback?

[Audioslavia]

I literally gave the scorinator a bollocking. 'Ma di cazzo cosa stai facendo, coglione. Questo come spiego a tutti?'. Yes it's Italian. It's high maintenence and looks pretty but falls apart after 10 years. It's basically an Italian car.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

I literally gave the scorinator a bollocking. 'Ma di cazzo cosa stai facendo, coglione. Questo come spiego a tutti?'. Yes it's Italian. It's high maintenence and looks pretty but falls apart after 10 years. It's basically an Italian car.

Next year's will be German, right?

[Aboveland]

Okay, this is quite fantastic.

Before I start planning an RP post I'd like to confirm all the drivers that retired on the same laps crashed into each other, just so I can make epic Terho emerging-from-clouds-of-carbon-fiber scenes.

[Sorlovia]

Oh look, another bad result. What a surprise....

Seriously. It's getting to the point that watching grass grow would be more entertaining and worthwhile.

*storms out the door to find the most well stocked bar he can*

[Vilita and Turori]

Okay, this is quite fantastic.

Before I start planning an RP post I'd like to confirm all the drivers that retired on the same laps crashed into each other, just so I can make epic Terho emerging-from-clouds-of-carbon-fiber scenes.

To the first RPer go the spoils (of decision making)!

I won't argue with it as one of the drivers involved in one of them

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Okay, this is quite fantastic.

Before I start planning an RP post I'd like to confirm all the drivers that retired on the same laps crashed into each other, just so I can make epic Terho emerging-from-clouds-of-carbon-fiber scenes.

I now have a beautiful mental image of a Chase Cutter driving through a maelstrom of debris, its Imagikinetic shield glinting blue at every point it is almost struck. Thank you, Aboveland.

[Sorlovia]

Hey, if I'm guaranteed to lose horribly in every single race I might as well have some fun. Perhaps next race I'll drive in the wrong direction the entire race or maybe I'll swerve wildly from side to side just to see what happens.

[Krainin]

Oh look, another bad result. What a surprise....

Seriously. It's getting to the point that watching grass grow would be more entertaining and worthwhile.

*storms out the door to find the most well stocked bar he can*

I understand how you feel.

I DNF'd 60% of the races so far so I'm not shocked that I got another one. I'll see what RP I can scrape from this result.

[Audioslavia]

Okay, this is quite fantastic.

Before I start planning an RP post I'd like to confirm all the drivers that retired on the same laps crashed into each other, just so I can make epic Terho emerging-from-clouds-of-carbon-fiber scenes.

Aye, what Vilita said. Whoever RP's first gets first dibs. If any of the users involved want to veto it that's fine. Placing the blame with another driver is a little taboo, but with Ethan Ellis not actively RP'd I'd say it's probably fine to lay the blame at his feet, unless Ethane wants to step in and say otherwise.

Hey, if I'm guaranteed to lose horribly in every single race I might as well have some fun. Perhaps next race I'll drive in the wrong direction the entire race or maybe I'll swerve wildly from side to side just to see what happens.

It's possible that Krupin thinks 'fuck it' and starts driving backwards or causing crashes on purpose every other race, and that VMR keep him around because he makes good coffee and gets eyes on the sponsors. RP it however is fun for you.

[Vilita and Turori]

Oh look, another bad result. What a surprise....

Seriously. It's getting to the point that watching grass grow would be more entertaining and worthwhile.

*storms out the door to find the most well stocked bar he can*

The bar in WGPC is set very high but only one driver can win each race. And believe me I know the feeling. I'm the only one in the entire series that has a driver that has been in every race and has yet to score a point.


But, I know the opposite side of the spectrum as well having won the constructors title 2 seasons ago. This is now my sixth straight season in WGPC. I've had 2 amazing seasons where my team or drivers won races and competed for the title and I've had 4 horrible seasons with little or nothing to be excited for week to week. It happens I guess. Same thing in WGP2 last season Klianiota was retired within 5 laps almost every race - then won the last round.. This italian scorinator giveth, and this italian scorinator taketh away. If you stick it out long enough i'm sure you'll see both end of the spectrum - multiple times over.


Really the only way to do anything about it would not be to make more players get better results, but would be to change the expectations players have going into the season

Well this is the reason why things like Rankings in the NSWC are a good thing and might work well here in the future.

Its all about setting expectations.

In the NS World Cup, a top RPing newcomer goes into the campaign with a hope of winning a few matches, earning some ranking points to establish themselves in the future.

Here, we all start 'equal' - We earn our spots in the field by RPing the first few weeks of competition so most of us are to some degree competent at RPing

So without Ranking to discriminate us from day 1 everyone's expectations can be at the same level and continue to be there relative to their level of RP. Perform Well. Challenge for Wins.


However, if we had team rankings and/or driver rankings in the future then maybe a driver on a new or backmarking team would have the expectation that a level of RP equal to the top contributor might get them challenging for points finishes and feel rewarded with that instead of demoralized because 9 players beat them.

[Audioslavia]

Well this is the reason why things like Rankings in the NSWC are a good thing and might work well here in the future.

Though I've argued against this in the past, the new scorinator includes space to put rankings, under the guise of 'experience points'. It's under-powered compared to the other metrics just now, but the host can adjust it. It will be an option for future seasons if desired.

New scorinator should be rolled out before the end of the month, actually (won't effect this season of WGPC, which will continue milking the old one). I just need to change a couple of bits and bobs here and there when I have time and finish the how-to section.

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Oh look, another bad result. What a surprise....

Seriously. It's getting to the point that watching grass grow would be more entertaining and worthwhile.

*storms out the door to find the most well stocked bar he can*

I understand how you feel.

I DNF'd 60% of the races so far so I'm not shocked that I got another one. I'll see what RP I can scrape from this result.

Nexus Racing was in a similar position during the last WGP2 season, so I can also empathise. To a degree, it's a matter of perspective; I (with the inspiration of other members of the community) made the decision to view the poor results as liberating. Not competing allowed me to just let the story flow as I wished.

[Sorlovia]

Perhaps Gregori could let off some steam by locking himself in his hotel room and getting wildly drunk. Don't bother practicing for the next race because it doesn't have any effect on results. So instead spend the entire week getting stupidly drunk and just slid into the car on raceday.

Time for a wild party back home perhaps? Because by this point he is quite wealthy...and everyone needs to cut loose once in awhile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqVmjSAMIIE

[Former Citizens of the Nimbus System]

Well this is the reason why things like Rankings in the NSWC are a good thing and might work well here in the future.

Its all about setting expectations.

In the NS World Cup, a top RPing newcomer goes into the campaign with a hope of winning a few matches, earning some ranking points to establish themselves in the future.

Here, we all start 'equal' - We earn our spots in the field by RPing the first few weeks of competition so most of us are to some degree competent at RPing

So without Ranking to discriminate us from day 1 everyone's expectations can be at the same level and continue to be there relative to their level of RP. Perform Well. Challenge for Wins.

However, if we had team rankings and/or driver rankings in the future then maybe a driver on a new or backmarking team would have the expectation that a level of RP equal to the top contributor might get them challenging for points finishes and feel rewarded with that instead of demoralized because 9 players beat them.

I have mixed feelings about this.

On the one hand, what you're saying makes a great deal of sense. It adds a level of consistency to the WGPC that I think it does need to an extent.

On the other, we wouldn't have had Ryker and Nexus Racing's story last season had they not had the ability to break into WGPC and score significant points from the beginning. Not to blow my own trumpet but I don't see how you could argue that we're worse off for that.

A suggestion: perhaps there could be a mechanism by which a rookie team or driver's ranking is only determined just before the first race according to the total RP bonus that they've accrued up to that point. That, in my view, would achieve stability without discarding the ability for prodigies to arise.

[Vilita and Turori]

Well an alternate which would also be a realistic option would be to run WGP2 in parallel with the WGPC with race results of WGP2 coming during quali results for WGPC.

In reality, F1 is a very unequal competition at the base level with teams starting from vastly different levels of competitiveness at the start of the season, but GP2 (now Formula 2) is literally intended to be equal across the board with all drivers using the same chassis so fits very well with the rankings-less model we have today.

In this model, a new nation with High RP might be able to have a driver leading the way in WGP2 but if they aren't on one of the top WGPC teams may have different expectations and may be fighting somewhere else in th pack.

The latter of your ideas is something that sorts itself out. I took a chance on some rando late-joining nation "aboveland" after most teams had already set their rosters during WGPC14. Now we have Terho Talvela. But there would be a lot that would have to go into to make it work and its not something that we're going to solve right now so why waste time debating it when you can be RPing

[Aboveland]

Well an alternate which would also be a realistic option would be to run WGP2 in parallel with the WGPC with race results of WGP2 coming during quali results for WGPC.

In reality, F1 is a very unequal competition at the base level with teams starting from vastly different levels of competitiveness at the start of the season, but GP2 (now Formula 2) is literally intended to be equal across the board with all drivers using the same chassis so fits very well with the rankings-less model we have today.

In this model, a new nation with High RP might be able to have a driver leading the way in WGP2 but if they aren't on one of the top WGPC teams may have different expectations and may be fighting somewhere else in th pack.

The latter of your ideas is something that sorts itself out. I took a chance on some rando late-joining nation "aboveland" after most teams had already set their rosters during WGPC14. Now we have Terho Talvela. But there would be a lot that would have to go into to make it work and its not something that we're going to solve right now so why waste time debating it when you can be RPing

Awww

I really was a rando with literally zero true RP experience outside of regional news roleplay. Now this is basically the only roleplay keeping me on Nationstates, and I love it! That was quite the gamble

To be honest as frustrating as the super random results we're getting might be sometimes, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's anyone's game as long as your luck isn't horrifying.

As for running WGP2 simultaneously with WGPC, I think it'd be too much of an RP hassle for people to participate in both at the same time and write with the same quality in both series. I struggled juggling two WGPC drivers last season so I couldn't imagine having to deal with two entirely different series at the same time.

[Vangaziland]

I'm pretty sure Audioslavia has said that the WGP2 DOES run concurrently with the WGPC IC. They are separated for OOC purposes because of the complications some have mentioned above. But of course, with fluid time, I'm sure some people will imagine that the WGP2 happens after the WGPC. Having both run at the same time OOCly would probably hurt RP totals in both events.

I don't see why we want to give newer RPers a hard time though. People are already getting frustrated when they can't place. Imagine if it was known they don't have a chance. This isn't a 4 week tourney. Can we expect new players to RP for 4 months if they don't have a chance? Bad luck is one thing, facing a wall of rank is another. Again, I'm confident in my ability to earn rank. So it's not about my odds.

The other thing is that if people earn rank, we'll see drivers coasting off that and not posting as much. I promise. Still, if it's a smaller part of the formula, as Audio mentioned, I'm sure it would be fine. Just throwing out the cons.

The second driver stat is probably suitable enough to differentiate new drivers (or at least those who don't get signed to a #1 spot).

[Savojarna]

The most obvious suggestion to me regarding the rank discussion would be to assign ranks to teams, but not to drivers.

ICly, it makes sense: Developing a F1 (or WGPC) car requires a lot of money and skill, which would likely stick with the existing and successful teams, as we can see in the long-term dominance of a few top teams in F1. Drivers, however, don't see a self-perpetuating mechanism in the same way, their skill doesn't improve by being successful. The variance in driving skill is, in a sense, mirrored by the variance in RP skill, which should be sufficient to ensure consistency as people's RP skill should show similar changes over time as driving skill.

OOCly, it means that the average new driver will probably be struggling in the beginning as they're more likely to be signed by lower teams - again, like in reality - but can still compete easily with an experienced driver who doesn't RP much. A top-notch newbie who shows RP skill may still be signed by the top teams (like drivers like Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen may still start their F1 career with a top team), and thus the possibility for a prodigy is still here as well.

[Esmerel]

oh hi there so i’m back and i’m going to start kicking everyone’s butts in the next few races. get ready to be bedazzled

or maybe not. we’ll see.

[Esmerel]

do i dare bump this thread?

yes i do

[Aboveland]

do i dare bump this thread?

yes i do

I can't see why, but then again I can't see why not.

I'll try to be newsworthy and contribute something to the RP before the cutoff. I'm excited for the next race!

[The Gathered Nations of Privateers]

NAME: Sebastian Vacantson
NAME TRIGRAM: SON, but VAC is an obvious alt in case of availability
GENDER: Male
NATIONALITY: A Corsair from The Gathered Nations of Privateers
NATIONALITY TRIGRAM: GNP
PREFERRED NUMBER: No preference
ABILITY: (Aggression/Technique) 5/3
BIO: A young man at the age of 23 who was born and raised, surprisingly, within the GNP. The pirate nation has actually begun breaking into international sports and been showing some promise in many fields. Sebastian was quite popular as a driver in his home country and even carries a sizable sponsorship from his home-boat, The Vacant Shade, the ship that belonged to one of the three Capitans that lead the nation. It has been rumored that he was the son of the Capitan but nothing has been proven and the crew of the ship won't say either. Sebastian is a bit wild in the saddle and can be quite the show off; it plays to his crowd and he tends to be quite the public figure. Of course, the people of the GNP loved his rash and somewhat rude nature as it represented the Corsairs for who they are.

OOC: I know it's super late in the season, but I'd like to get established within the RP. I'm not sure what the rules on being accepted into the RP generally are, like if I'm supposed to be part of a team before I really get into posting or not. I understand I need to RP a bit to even get a team's attention, but I'm not sure how much should be acceptable until I'm picked up or just told outright to go away. Also, yes, I tend to edit a few times before I'm done, usually it's to fix minor mistakes or prevent me from flooding/spamming.

[Vilita and Turori]

OOC: I know it's super late in the season, but I'd like to get established within the RP. I'm not sure what the rules on being accepted into the RP generally are, like if I'm supposed to be part of a team before I really get into posting or not. I understand I need to RP a bit to even get a team's attention, but I'm not sure how much should be acceptable until I'm picked up or just told outright to go away. Also, yes, I tend to edit a few times before I'm done, usually it's to fix minor mistakes or prevent me from flooding/spamming.

You'll want to get started RPing right away with backstory on your character etc, what they are doing racing was, why they are late coming etc.

[The Gathered Nations of Privateers]

You'll want to get started RPing right away with backstory on your character etc, what they are doing racing was, why they are late coming etc.

So it's cool to just start? Sorry, I'm used to other boards where you're supposed to wait for someone to ok you.