While I'd say I'm a little disheartened that such bold accusations are being thrown my way without any evidence, I honestly was some what expecting this to happen. San Diego Zoo Safari Park with Ungulates? Of course they are going to win. So besides Thylo and Dave, this post is for anyone else who believes I am rigging this game.
You've not once been impartial in your openings for any of these challenges, often subtly (and other times not at all subtly) giving one zoo a better summary than the other.
I will completely admit, I am very much guilty of this. However, most of the time its less that I'm in favor of the zoo, more so I don't know as much about it. Take the Brookfield vs Miami match for example. Brookfield is my home zoo, I know a lot about it so I want to give as much information about as possible. If people will like I will stay as impartial as possible from know on in my opening statements, though I will likely make a separate post detailing my subjective thoughts towards the zoos in question.
Several of us have suspected these categories have been rigged for some time now, but this just seals the deal. Your a known fan of Minnesota, so the Bronx v Minnesota challenge happens to get the category that gave Minnesota its best chance at winning when it would have been crushed in every other category. Then there was Fort Worth v Oklahoma City, where your opening praised the later while slamming the former for enclosures/species that aren't even at either zoo anymore. Not to mention it just happened to be in the only category where FWZ seemed the obvious loser at first, following your admitted prior knowledge of the place. Disney v Fresno seems fair, but then we move on to Omaha v Toledo, where the known favorite gets a category where it wins in a landslide. Brookfield v Miami is where I think it became much more suspicious for some of us. You reused a category from a previous challenge when not all of the categories had been used yet (I thought every category had to be used before any could be reused?) and it happened to be the only category in the game where Brookfield, your home zoo, had any chance of winning. Cleveland v Oregon again seems more impartial, but I do find it an interesting note that your opening clearly shows you have solid knowledge of both zoos' primate collections and enclosures, but you then say it's a fair match up when Cleveland clearly trumps Oregon (the zoo you made multiple comments against in your opening, calling it bad when some of its few enclosures are better than anything at Cleveland). And now here we are with the blind favorite San Diego going up against Dallas, and the category is once again a previously used one and is the only category where the safari park dominates every other zoo.
I'm a known fan of Minnesota? Mind explaining where you got that information from considering I have never been or have any intentions any time soon of going to Minnesota? I can say it as much as I want and you still have every right not to believe me, but I promise you that
none of the matches were rigged in the slightest. Oklahoma City vs Fort Worth, I don't exactly see how there was any bias here as far as choosing the category goes. I have never been to either of these places and my opening post that thread, which was certainly made to look bias look present against Fort Worth, was unwise of me but as you can see I switched my vote and Fort Worth won the category. Omaha vs Toledo, just because a category gets drawn for a zoo that is superior in one over the other my a steady margin doesn't mean its rigged. Omaha is just a great zoo, and is well represented in diverse amounts of species. In fact, I really cant see a category Toledo could have beaten it in honestly. Now Brookfield vs Miami I knew I would likely get some heat over. Miami would likely have crushed Brookfield if the category was ungulates, birds, herps and possibly primates or large carnivores. However, Brookfield happens to be strong when it comes to small mammals and fish/inverts, and one of those categories were drawn, and now as of about an hour or so ago that match is tied and is anyone's game.
I never stated that all 7 categories had to be used right off the bat, in fact I think in my opinion that would take away some of the randomization elements in the beginning the game. Buts that's just my thought on the matter, if
@CGSwans did it differently then I must have missed that. Which also makes me wonder, I find it strange that if he drew a category that one zoo is known for being better in, he didn't get any blow back over it. He didn't deserve any blow back over it anyways, but it still is interesting that I'm being treated like a liar while ever is just taking his word as the way it is. Hm.
I don't want to throw around wild accusations if they're not true, so maybe all of that is just coincidence, but you know what they say about coincidences. I find it very hard to believe that, by chance, just about every match so far has had a category that plays in favor of the zoo you have a clear bias towards or at the very least are much more familiar with. This started out as a very fun game, one which I've enjoyed much more than I thought I would have. It's sparked some great discussions and taught me more about some zoos I didn't know much about. There's really great potential for a fantastic game here, and it really pisses me off that the management of it has been done in such a way that there even needs to be a discussion on whether or not it's being rigged. It's no fun and definitely not sound if the winner is decided before the games even start. And to make it worse some of the people I've been discussing this with have said they're going to start voting against whatever zoo is clearly being given the unfair advantage, which just ruins the game even more! It's not like this is something we can hold every year, zoos don't change quick enough for that, so it makes me mad to see that this isn't take as serious as it could be and just isn't being done right.
I predicted SDZSP would be given the ungulate category the moment I first realized something might be off, and here we are. I've made several more predictions about the future of this game, I look forward to seeing how correct I was.
~Thylo
Listen, if you think that I've been rigging this game, then so be it. While it may mean nothing, I will say it one last time. None of the matches have been rigged and none of them will be rigged. Again, you can believe whatever you want, same goes to whoever else you discussed this with. These accusations are really bugging me, and if you would like I would happily share the tool I use to randomize these matches. Now if anyone still has accusations of me rigging the matches, feel free to take it up with me personally. And I also completely agree with Thylo on one point, its a shame that this discussion even needs to be had, but in some ways I understand where suspicion could be coming from. Anyways, I'm going to continue on with the competition, and if you feel that I'm in anyways rigging or tampering with the game, tell me why you think so and I will give you a response.
