Cream of the Crop

THIS EVENT HAS CONCLUDED.

Final Results


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Cream of the Crop is an event unlike any other, combining gaming competitions with social strategy. Will you form alliances or fly solo? Will you target the strongest players or try to get on their good side? Will you crush the competition or lay low until the time is right? The choice is yours, but there can be only one Cream of the Crop.

Signups are now closed. The event will start at the beginning of April 3rd and run for 10 weeks. Participants will be randomly assigned to a number of different “Houses” of 12 players each. Each House is considered its own separate game, and there will be no interaction across Houses.

Weekly Schedule
Each week consists of two competitions for special powers followed by a banishment vote. Days of the week are based on server time (UTC).

Monday - Tuesday: Mastery Competition
Wednesday: Nominations
Thursday - Friday: Revision Competition
Saturday: Revision Decision
Sunday: Banishment Vote


The Role of Master
A leaderboard competition will be held each week for approximately 48 hours, lasting from the beginning of Monday through the end of Tuesday. Everyone except the previous Master is eligible to compete. Once the competition closes, the houseguest who put forth the best time/score from each House will earn the title of Master for the week. The Master is safe from banishment.

On Wednesday, the Master must DM me the names of two houseguests from their House who they wish to nominate for banishment, and I will reveal the nominees to everyone at the end of the day.


The Power of Revision
A second leaderboard competition will be held each week for approximately 48 hours, lasting from the beginning of Thursday through the end of Friday. Only six players from each House will compete: the Master, the two nominees, and three players chosen randomly. Once the competition closes, the houseguest who put forth the best time/score from each House will earn the Power of Revision (PoR) for the week.

The PoR holder can use the PoR to take down their choice of one of the two nominees, forcing the Master to choose a replacement nominee. The PoR holder cannot be chosen as the replacement nominee. Alternatively, the PoR holder can choose to keep nominations the same. On Saturday, the PoR holder and the Master must DM me their decisions, and I will reveal how this has affected the nominations at the end of the day.


Banishment
On Sunday, the banishment vote will take place. Everyone in each House except the two nominees will DM me their vote on which of the two nominees they choose to banish. The Master’s vote will only count in the event of a tie. At the end of the day, I will reveal the vote count while keeping the identities of the voters anonymous, one banished houseguest from each House will immediately exit the game, and the weekly cycle will start anew.


Endgame
The format changes at the final three. A special three-part competition will take place, with each part lasting the usual 48 hours. The winner of part one will automatically advance to part three. Part two will determine the second person competing in part three. The winner of part three will earn the title of Master and must choose one of the remaining two houseguests to banish.

The 3rd through 7th place finishers will make up the Committee, who will vote between the final two to determine the Cream of the Crop. The final two are encouraged to make their pleas as to why they deserve to win, and the Committee may vote according to any criteria they wish. Whoever receives the majority of the five votes will be crowned the Cream of the Crop.


Rewards
Three Hardcore event badges are available: the 3rd through 7th place houseguests making up the Committee will each earn a bronze badge, the 2nd place houseguest in each House will earn a silver badge, and the single Cream of the Crop from each House will earn a gold badge.


Rules
1) There is a certain level of deceit inherent in the format of the game, but please keep in mind IT’S JUST A GAME. Any behavior which goes against the Users Code of Conduct will result in an event ban and may be subject to further moderation.

2) Only leaderboard submissions made while each competition is active will be considered. If you overwrite your submission after a competition has ended, I will not be able to verify your previous time/score.

3) In the event of a leaderboard tie, the houseguest with the earlier timestamp will take precedence. Leaderboards have been chosen to minimize the chances of this happening.

4) You are allowed to “throw” or choose not to participate in competitions.

5) You may not abuse any leaderboard exploits. If an exploit is discovered, a replacement leaderboard for a similar game will be chosen.

6) You may not change your mind when casting a vote or making a decision. I will consider the first DM I receive from you your final answer.

7) Failure to take part in a vote or decision within the 24 hour period will result in punishment based on a three strike system:

Strike One: You will be issued a warning in private, and your vote/decision will be applied randomly.
Strike Two: You will become a third nominee at the soonest available opportunity, and your vote/decision will be applied randomly.
Strike Three: You will be immediately removed from the game and lose your badge eligiblity. To keep all Houses on the same schedule, you will be replaced by a Sandbag. Sandbags vote at random and cannot participate in competitions.

8) All Committee members must vote for a winner at the end of the game. Failure to do so will result in a loss of badge eligibility. I will issue a reminder when the time comes.

9) You are allowed to use an alt, but you must declare your alt when you first sign up.


Frequently Asked Questions
“This event sounds familiar…”

That isn’t a question. But yes, I adapted the format from a certain American TV reality competition show. It’s my guilty pleasure, and I thought the format would work great for a RetroAchievements event. If you’re finding the rules confusing, maybe try watching the show!

“How are the competitions chosen?”

Prior to launching this event, I randomly generated the choices and order of 21 distinct RA supported systems (rerolling a couple that I didn’t deem viable), and then manually selected a single leaderboard for each. The event format requires these competitions to be a surprise, so I have kept these choices a closely guarded secret; you won’t find any hints on my profile or elsewhere. My goal was to showcase a wide variety of systems and genres/playstyles while making sure all leaderboards are accessible from the beginning of the game and are appropriately competitive.

“How do we know you aren’t rigging the results?”

The short answer is, you’ll just have to trust me. It would be difficult for me to get away with this kind of cheating without getting caught in a lie, and doing so would destroy my credibility as an event host. Besides, part of why I’m running this event is to see how the social experiment plays out, so of course I wouldn’t want to tamper with that!

“It’s Monday/Thursday, where’s the new competition?”

It may take an hour or so before I am able to post the new competition. The competition will not be extended when this happens.

“Is Discord required to participate in this event?”

No, but I recommend it! We have a discussion channel there, plus you can opt into the Houseguest role in order to receive a reminder ping whenever it’s time for a vote or competition.

“Can I DM you my vote on Discord instead?”

No, it must be done through site DMs. This helps me keep everything in one place, plus you can’t edit or delete a site DM once it’s sent.

“Will there be any twists, like in the show?”

No, this event will be following the outline as detailed in this thread. You do not need to “expect the unexpected”.

“I can’t run every system that RA supports, what should I do?”

No accommodations will be made for those who cannot run certain systems. Anything that is playable on RA can potentially show up in a competition.

House Standings

House Arduous


House Beetle


House Caprice


House Dolphin

Event History

Week 1


Week 2


Week 3


Week 4


Week 5


Week 6


Week 7


Week 8


Week 9


Endgame

Reserved

You may now post. Signups are open now through the end of April 1st. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have in the meantime, and check out the Discord channel for further discussion.

Joining

Sign me up. Seems interesting. Its like a cool 9 hours 9 doors 9 people without wristwatch bombs. Unless....

This sounds like it could be fun. I'll give it a go.

I'm unsure I'll be able to Outwit, Outplay or Outlast, but I'm definitely in, sounds fun!

i'll join but idk if i'll play or not

I'm in!

Sing me up!

Sign me up bendy

Signing up, alt is SairotraALT

Sign me up!