16b) What are "VVB's"? (College Bowl)
Description
This article is from the College Bowl FAQ, by George Atendido aten0001@tc.umn.edu with numerous contributions by others.
16b) What are "VVB's"? (College Bowl)
(after Matt Colvin)
"VVB" is an abbreviation for variable value bonuses. In other words, if a
tournament uses bonuses with mixed values, the tourney uses VVB, whereas
if the tourney uses fixed bonus values for each packet the tourney does
not use VVB. VVB is an issue because several posters have questioned the
fairness of rewarding teams that answer tossups with randomly-determined
bonus point opportunities. Opponents of VVB feel that the only fair thing
to do is equalize bonus values, so that bonus opportunities depend on how
many tossups a team answer, not also on *when* the team answers.
At least as many people have posted to say that VVB are not inherently
unfair. In the end, it comes down to a question of how much randomness
is acceptable in a game. Also, related to the debate are questions of how
difficult lower-value bonuses should be relative to higher-value bonuses.
For example, if the bonus conversion rate on 20-point bonuses is very
high relative to 25- and/or 30-point bonuses, teams may not necessarily
be at a disadvantage by getting a disproportionate number of 20-point
opportunities.
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