We Have Never Been Modern General Discussion

[Mike Bentley]

Post any general feedback about the set in this thread.

Overall I think it turned out pretty much as I wanted it. There were a couple of tossups which in retrospect I would have replaced or tried to find some betters clues for (forts, One Laptop Per Child, lighthouses) and Packet 5 had some minor balancing issues in its leaning more towards academic subjects than trashy things. But I think it played pretty well from the games I saw and hopefully other people shared the opinion.

[Cody]

This was the best side event of the weekend and was a not-too-shabby sequel to the Questions Concerning Technology (which is meant as the highest form of praise -- getting anywhere near the best tournament ever written is quite hard). Well done.

[Cheynem]

This was super enjoyable and a good model for "hybrid" tournaments that can be enjoyed by all. I actually liked it a bit more than QCT because it was more accessible topics, actually.

[Auks Ran Ova]

Yeah, this tournament was a delight. Just a ton of fun to play.

[grapesmoker]

This was one of my favorite quizbowl experiences in recent memory. That's all I really have to say about it. Mike hit so many cool topics in so many diverse ways that it was just a total joy to play this.

[Ike]

This was the best side event of the weekend and was a not-too-shabby sequel to the Questions Concerning Technology (which is meant as the highest form of praise -- getting anywhere near the best tournament ever written is quite hard). Well done.

This tournament was great. I dunno what's up with this cult of Questions Concerning Technology, but this tournament was far superior to that.

Ike

[Auks Ran Ova]

I think I agree that this was a bit better than QCT, not least because it felt sufficiently length-controlled and thus didn't suffer from QCT's biggest recurring mechanical issue.

[Cheynem]

To expand on my earlier point, while there were a few out and out trash things and a few rigidly academic things, for the most part, this was a non-stupid way of writing a general knowledge set in that I would argue most of us learned about the topics through general reading and being an informed person as opposed to studying in an academic sense. This was exciting to me because I think the topics and buzzes were quite varied and interesting.

[Excelsior (smack)]

Yeah, this tournament was downright amazing - I had high expectations (it was most of the reason I decided to go to VCUO this year), and it blew past them. This and QCT are now my two favorite sets of all time.

[Wynaut]

SethBling in quizbowl! Wow!

Anyway, this was really fun to listen through, even if I only got six tossups or so.

[theMoMA]

Adding to the chorus of praise. This was a very fun set that probed areas of knowledge that quizbowl rarely reaches. It's very fun to play a set that seems to ask the question of whether you know things beyond what you've simply learned in quizbowl; it's even more fun when that set is written in such a careful, accessible, and delightful way that you can answer that question with a resounding "yes." This was certainly one of the best tournaments I've ever played. Many thanks for a great event.