Oh, I completely agree. There's a catch with VG submissions though where there's usually the 'super easy' and 'super obscure' and no inbetween though.

Something like 'Who is Super Mario's dinosaur companion?' should be pretty well expected as pop culture trivia by now.

Something like 'How many obsidian blocks do you need to craft a shovel that can cut through diamond in 'Minecraft'?' is something I think is better suited to a specialized quiz about the game than our single-question queue.

And based on ratings seen in the past, the former question is actually the type to do quite well. The latter would probably sink faster than an anchor.

Right now, my question 'Video game character Diddy Kong is which of the following creatures?' is sitting at an 85% correct rate with a 'Good' player rating, and I think that's the balance I'm trying to shoot for. Not necessarily 85% every time (it's give or take), but y'know. Something accessible.

Sorry, Kyle, I should have been more clear. I was talking about the initial rules set on submitting questions and not the VG category. You well know my struggles in VG (and Pro-wrestling for that matter).

No problem-- I thought that I was just using VG as an example but I think I was unclear setting that up in my explanation. Was just trying to insert one of those 'odd exceptions'.

Ditto on the voting, not my place to say it should be changed, but I agree let the users sort it out as long as the question fits other guidelines.

So, for how many days am I supposed to play the "personal quiz". Played it got it right, now I have to play it again.

You made the same choice twice. Did you think it would have a different effect the second time?

Yes, this is now more or less policy. We leave it up to editors, who know their categories and the players in their categories quite well, to decide what is ridiculously obscure and therefore not useful, but in general we're letting any question that is at all reasonable on, if it meets criteria otherwise.

I've spent a couple of days thinking about this because it is surprisingly difficult to answer articulately (for me anyway).
It seems to me it is analogous to a question I saw on this site about George Dubya banning broccoli in the White House (- see the New York Times here:
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/23/us/i-m-president-so-no-more-broccoli.html )
The issue is not where you went to buy the broccoli, how you transported it to the kitchen, how it was cooked and how it was presented on the plate, the issue is that you just don't like it. Trying to rationalise it is as pointless as trying to rationalise why some people don't like fingernails scraped down a blackboard. For the people who don't like it, it is as bad as that.

Then here's an interesting followup question (not specifically aimed at you): The stage games are designed to include quizzes from all categories and a wide sampling of the hourly and daily games. I think I pretty much hit all games during the Race 3.

Among these many stages are certainly some that consist of "play a score you will need several tries for at [game you don't like]" or "play the following quizzes, most of which are in [category you despise]". Yet, with minor exceptions (that WWE stage...) these don't cause the same number of players to give up or take months as "write a quiz / some questions".

What is it that makes question writing a less palatable "I'll just go through this to get to the next stage even if I don't like it much" than playing in your least favorite category or game?

Wesley, I was waiting for something that had to do with the duels while playing the 3rd race...several days I procrastinated on those just in case they came up.

As far as writing a quiz, there are several potential impediments. I have over 30 quizzes but there have also been sitting on a couple for awhile now. There are a couple of reasons for this. Playing quizzes uses a somewhat different mindset. If I'm playing a single quiz or a duel, I need to think for a couple of seconds and then I'm either correct or not. I can wait until the next question if something distracts me. Even with a 15 question timed game (team heroes, global challenge, etc.) it's still only about 2 minutes and then I can do something like that. And if I get a question or two wrong, nobody cares (except possibly my opponent who is helped by my mistakes).

With a quiz, it almost always takes longer than that to put together the interesting information. One of my quizzes has all of the questions but none of the II. Usually after work, I don't feel like doing the research. I keep telling myself I'll do it on the weekend (and now that I'm done with the most recent race, hopefully I will).

While playing the race, I elected to do another option rather than the quiz. This was in a large part because I didn't check carefully as to whether the quiz needed to be approved before I could move on, but I knew that if it had to be approved, that could take several days and I was able to finish the other option in a few hours.

I hope that helps answer some the questions from someone who is not averse to writing quizzes in a variety of categories (the 32 quizzes are in 18 different categories and my next quiz will be in one of the two I am missing).

The difference is between simple 'dislike', and complete 'loathing'.

I 'dislike' strawberries, but will eat them if my host has prepared them in a dessert.

I 'loathe' cream cheese. Just the smell causes me to gag. Under no circumstances, no matter the host, would I eat it.

In the same way, I 'dislike' video games, but will play quizzes based on them, if it brings me to my goal. I 'loathe' writing questions. I have written a few single questions, as well as a few for team quizzes. The experience has not filled me with joy.

What was that about giving me evil ideas? Someone will curse you down the line.

(Actually, the reason for the race 3 not having duels in the list was that I simply had no stage type for them. That may change now. Mwahahahahahahaha.)

The question is why do loathe one but merely dislike the other? Is it a part of the experience we can change (the edit process, the interface...) or is is simply that you'd rather write a 100 dollar check than a question?

For me, it is not the editing process, nor is it a 'fear' of writing. Most of my working life included writing various publications that were edited, and critiqued. I do peruse the Author's Lounge. I try to want to write. I would like to give back, but it just leaves me cold.

Yes, I would rather write a $100 check.

I'll PM you my address.

I never said the check would be good

Postcards is wealthier than I am. How about $20 ?

For $20 I think you'll still have to write at least one question.

Changing the topic here for a moment - I just noticed that the badge for the Quiz Race III appears in different colours in different sections of my profile. It's a gold colour on the main page and then it's blue & red on the 'badges' tab - does it look that for anyone else as well or is it just my browser?

It's actually supposed to be your chosen colors in all places where it's yours

Ah! Thanks for the explanation.

Great race! Thanks Wes, Kyle, Trident and Terry!

As I posted before, but seems to have been overlooked, one thing that would encourage me to do more single question writing is for my questions to be acknowledged through the message system so they can be found more easily. If a question is rejected a notification will show up, but only on a page that I prefer not to visit.

A simple tick box for the Editor EG:

1. Question accepted. It should appear in approximately three months time
2. Question rejected at this time, go to Single Question page to see what can be done
3. Question rejected as it repeats others that already appear

I do not like writing single questions, but will do so occasionally. Part of it is as stated here. Part of it is the anxiety and pressure (self-imposed I know, but still there) involved. Also, if there are rules in place, I do try to follow them, but seeing some of the questions that get through I do wonder why I ever bother.

I am on Leg 3 Challenge 1. The object is to get 2300 points in MindMelt. I scored 2526 and it says that I have not met the requirement.

Same thing happened to me, but I'd played MM *before* I'd gotten to that leg of the race so it didn't count it. Did you play MM before you got there?