.com Forum · Bug Reporting and Suggestions

I'd have to agree with XiZang - that might well be the death of the game.

There are still differences among those 100's. I think we need to stop focusing so much on the SOP calculation - it has no real value to those breeds that are showing all 10.0's. I can't recall the details about how this calculation is done but it was user developed and Jeff added it to the game display some time ago to save us the work. The SOP is just a sort of average of all the traits AS WE SEE THEM. I do not beleve that the judge gives two-hoots about the SOP.

I believe that somewhere Jeff has divulged that there are something like 9 decimal positions in the value that we see for each trait - which is what the "Judge" sees. Thus, when we see a Head 10.0, it can actually be anywhere from 9.95000000 to 10.000000000 to 10.044444444.

(Perhaps someone with more current or indepth knowledge of math/rounding rules will correct or confirm my numbers - I'm pretty rusty?).

This leaves a fair bit of work we can still do, but the results of that work will be invisible to us. It takes one with a much finer "eye" than we have (these are our experienced, "licensed", judges).

Exposing another decimal would help clarify the situation at the trait level - which is really the most important level. In the above example, where we now see 10.0 for each trait, we might see 9.95+ to 10.00 to 10.04-. These all show as 10.0 as things are now.

The reason I had proposed the adustment to the "over limit" number is that our dogs are not showable until 14 days. At 14 days, they start counting and then we often can't show them because we are now over the 30 dog limit. It leaves us nothing but a totally random culling to get back under limit - we might well be culling the next Top Dog All Breeds. There is ZERO skill involved.

The game has and always has had an evaluation tool that most of us, I suspect, do not use to it's full potential and that is the judge's personal trait priority chart, and the "Breed Scale of Points".

"Each judge on ShowDog.Com gives a different amount of weight to each trait of the dogs that they judge in each show."

The only thing left for us as players to figure out is how the judges personal priorities interact with the Breed priorities. To do that properly means we need to show those youngsters before they are counted (through a "baby puppy" series of shows) or through a change in when the "babies" count against the account limit (an increase in the age at which they count).

Changing the "Over Limit" value AND/OR

changing the Showing Age, AND/OR

changing the age when puppies count toward the limit

could all help solve this issue and I can't see that any one of these adjustments should be all that difficult or complicated.

Actually I used to have a spreadsheet that noted the judges' preference along with the breeds' scale of points. But that went out the window when all the judges came back to life. Now there are just too many judges and it would be a full time job.

Back when the judges were reasonable in number, it worked pretty well. I know there are head judges and I should show my Afghans under them, etc. Now there are so many I just don't care anymore and my numbers show it.

To me the easiest thing for Jeff to do would be to, as he had suggested, show the next 1 or 2 decimals. I would think it would be fairly simple to do code wise but I don't understand any of that.

It would reset the game for quite a while. He has promised this game won't go away but it is losing members every day and he needs to do something.

Dalmatians used to be one of my favorite breeds but with 2 colors and 100 for every dog, I have pretty much lost interest. Lost interest in dogs like Goldens long ago.

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posted by SnappedOn
1 easy fix, if all dogs over 50 sop suddenly died

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This comment actually made me laugh. As my breed enters 98+ SOP, I often think about doing my own hard reset, but the thought is exhausting.

I have nothing meaningful to add to the discussion. A minor tweak to the stats would only bring some breeds back to the 100 issue after a few years.

I'd love to see additional decimals for clarity in breeding, but might it also take some of the fun out of the game? I have a 97.5 girl I am campaigning who places over my own higher SOP dogs frequently. I am always astounded by my surprise "stars" and it truly emphasizes how SOP isn't everything.

But neither is 100 in breeds with one or two colors. I dabble in Standards and even there I am surprised, but it's not as exciting.

I think everyone has thoughtful suggestions which would spice up gameplay. To see them implemented, another story.