Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 95: When CSR Goes Wrong

Confessions of an Automationeer, Part 95: When CSR Goes Wrong

Among the many competitions that have been held on the Automation forums, CSR has been the flagship for almost five full years now, primarily because everything about it has generally maintained a very high standard in that time. However, this does not mean that it has never had any low points at all; in fact, there have been quite a few. So, without further ado, here are my top three picks for CSR rounds gone wrong (for one or more reasons), in no particular order.

• CSR 115 - The premise for this one was actually very sound, but many of the entries were disqualified for either being built in an open beta build of Automation, and thereby incompatible (at a time when use of the most recent stable build was mandatory) or simply not meeting the eligibility requirements. Even then, many users continued to complain on the forums, not just once, but several times, forcing moderators to lock the thread shortly after the winner had been announced. Thankfully, this has yet to happen in any future CSR at the time of writing.
• CSR 64 - This round, the fourth to be held using the UE4 version of Automation, marked the exact point where CSR hit rock bottom. Not only was the rule set too vague, the backstory was also far too confusing, thereby putting off many potential entrants. In fact, only thirteen users chose to take the plunge, and few of those found it to be worth their time and effort. Worse yet, the reviews were sub-par, and the host seemed to have lost interest by the time it was all over - to the point that, after having hosted several CSR rounds in quick succession, he abstained from hosting temporarily.
• CSR 59 - Much like CSR 64, this one also had a vague rule set, but the scoring criteria were determined by a set of equations that made them even more obtuse and thereby unconvincing. It was primarily for this reason that this round had the lowest turnout of any CSR ever, at just eight entrants in total.

Fortunately, in all of these cases, the rounds immediately after these three proved to be much better overall. In the case of CSR 64, the custodians of the series even took some more drastic action to stop (or at least reduce the probability of) such a farcical result from ever happening again, along with requiring every future CSR round to have its own dedicated thread - and it has worked a treat. Nearly every CSR round from the 65th one onwards has had a strong turnout, although it was not until a few months ago that it reached what is currently its zenith. Then again, considering how much better CSR has become overall over the past few months, that may not be the case for much longer.