an empathy story

when empathy first appeared, I played most of the early rounds, and generally did not do very well. Then I stopped playing, mostly. I played every now and then, when the topic struck a chord. Never did well, and I noticed my suggestions for the next topic never appeared in the voting. I assumed this was because I never did very well.

For the longest time (months) I had the same suggestion for the next subject, namely "Leonardo da Vinci" I thought it was a good topic, but it never was showing up because I never did very well.

For the past year at least, I hardly ever looked at the empathy subject. Just every now and again if the mouse clicked that way. Looked every now and then, rarely played.

One day recently, I decided to look at the empathy topic (first time in at least a month) and saw "reptiles" and being a nature enthusiast, I decided to play. I spent less than ten minutes and filled in ten answers and the next day I was very surprised to discover I came in first place all by myself (first time!)

I was also pleased to see "Leonardo da Vinci" as a choice.

I was then very pleased to see the next game that my suggestion was picked!

Then I was elated to tie for second place in my own topic suggestion!

Heck, as long as I am doing this good, I might as well keep playing!

(at least for seven rounds:)

Thanks for reading my story! Share yours....

I have wondered how the candidates get onto the ballot. I think it's something along these lines:

Each suggestion gets as many points as there were players who finished behind the player who made the suggestion. Each distinct suggestion accumulates points until some day its accumulated points bring it into the top eight.

Each game, the eight suggestions with the highest points get onto the ballot. The eight suggestions on the ballot lose some substantial fraction of their points. Maybe the winning candidate loses all its points, and the other seven lose half their points.

There's also the question of how the topic gets chosen from among the candidates on the ballot.

Occam's razor dictates that it is simpler - a random selection of all proposals entered in this round.

Additional reasons: I once entered a new idea, and it was chosen immediately that round.

And yes, I am aware that it is April/1, and MarleysGhost's proposal maybe wasn't too serious.

Nice , Ray.

There's definitely a link between one's results in the game and his suggestion being in the 8 choices. I think MarleysGhost's therory is a bit complicated, but hey, Aganju, be careful with your razor.

Ray, I like it when my suggestions are chosen - but i play very bad at them most of the times. So keep up the good work - and keep on playing empathy (for more then 7 games!)

I thought MarleysGhost would continue differently and maybe that is the way: each suggestion gets the weight of points of the player and then a randomizer uses that weights to select.

Ray, I have also played a lot from time to time empathy and never did well, and suddenly I am getting the right answers... I really hope on a new update of the Empathy hall of fame, because I got a lot of right lately...

"Share yours..."

I first got on LG a year and a half ago or so to play my Amazons bot, Invader, against some humans. Since I often had a little time to kill while waiting for Invader to come up with a move I started playing Empathy. I liked it immediately and it got to the point where I would sometimes sneak on to LG to spend time playing Empathy even if there were no moves waiting for Invader. I quite enjoyed the game.

Then one day a game finished where something like 8 (or maybe it was all 10) of the top scores were exactly the same. I was baffled and after going to "detail result" I saw that not only were the scores the same, but the answers were identical, too. A little research revealed a number of things, e.g., some games are repeated and it is possible to find the old results. I now forget what other things I learned, but to me they were not in the spirit of the game as I saw it and it took all the fun away for me and I haven't played since. Don't get me wrong. I am not being critical. Different games appeal to different people for different reasons and the way Empathy was being played is just not my style.

But I did get to play once with my chosen topic: tennis. And as I recall I did miserably -- which demonstrates one of the things that makes the game great.

Repeat games indeed spoil the fun. To the extent that I approve of people warning voters away from known duplicates.

Those who want to play cutthroat Empathy must check for a duplicate every time. It's a test of your mettle. Those who are playing for fun don't have to check.

Similarly, if you've played softball for fun does it bother you that there are pro softball players who are much much better than you are? (or soccer/futball if that's your culture)

To continue the softball analogy, as a recreational player I, in fact, appreciate the abilities and skill displayed by players much better than I. And it's even fun to play against such players -- occasionally. But they really play a different game than I do and I prefer to be in a league where we are all playing essentially the same game. It gets old getting struck out in 3 straight pitches every time you bat.

My story, part two: So I did not do so well on "hair color", but because I had tied for second on my own topic (Leonardo Da Vinci), my suggestion was again up for voting, and again it was picked! (Michelangelo) This time I took first place in my own topic! I am hot now, watch out!

The repeated topics are players', and I presume former players', biggest complaint. GoE used to have roughly twice as many players as it has had lately. The last time there were more than 40 players was 2010-09-16 when there was a 16-way tie for first.