Misused: Golden Snitch

Golden Snitch suffers from bad trope decay. Like "So bad entire folders on its very page have trouble containing one valid example"

Long story short, Golden Snitch is about any contest where the last round is weighted more heavily as to make previous rounds less or completely irrelevant in choosing the winner. IE: The last round is all that matters. IE: A game show where every question is worth 1 point, except in the final round where questions are worth 10 points.

Examples on the very page are ALL over the place - and complainy too. Some list any form of Alternate Victory Condition no matter how they fit the trope.

Partially, I blame the Trope Namer, in that it is sort of debatable, It's not completely bad, in that catching the snitch is likely to out-do the scoring done so far, but it's not a separate round, just an alternate method of gaining points. And this is were a lot of the misuse comes from: we have a description that focuses mostly on game show type events and round weighting, and a trope title that brings to mind any sort of alternate, instant win conditions. And the examples are full of both (And straight up misuse).

Anyway, some terrible examples all plucked from the page itself.

That's literally just the definition of a Rubber-Band A.I.. How is this relevant. Actually a lot of examples here deal with races, and I am not sure they count. By definition a race, either car or whatever, are determined by who crosses the finish first. So complaining that "A lot of races are like this, because it's determined in the final stretch"... Well no shit?

That's Instant-Win Condition and Keystone Army. The second one isn't even a contest or whatever. It's a plot decision. The first might be considered a contest (If you concider crowning a king such) and might count. Straight up not examples. These are just about players ganging up on the winner, not particularities of the scoring of each rounds... I'll be the first to admit that I am not a Mahjong player, but this doesn't strike me as an example, any more than getting a royal flush in poker would. Again, these seem just like alternate victory conditions. Not what the trope specifically calls for.

So yeah, looks like we have two tropes vying for control of the page (With some straight up misuse). I can do a wick check if that's needed, but honestly, if a page without subpages can't get its own examples straight, I doubt the wicks will turn out much better.

edited 26th Jul '14 11:28:47 PM by Ghilz

Definitely seeing a problem here...good summation of the issues with those examples.

Uh, yeah, this name is completely unclear.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

I always wondered if J.K. Rowling just didn't do the math.

The trouble with this Trope Namer is that even In-Universe someone makes the mistake of not understanding why the team loses after catching the snitch. Despite the 150 points, the team still loses, which means the weighting was like three rounds with 3 - 3 - 5.

I think changing the name is a good move.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

Looks like the issue is that some are taking the definition a little too generally, as "something happens that renders game play up to that point irrelevant." On the other hand, if you spent all that time setting up the alternate win condition, is that time really irrelevant?

Clocking due to inactivity.

I am also in favour of renaming (along with very heavy scrubbing); it seems that the name sets it up for misuse. I don't have any suggestions, though.

That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.

How bout Game Clincher?

Final Round Weighting

Weighting For The Climax

Weighting For The Last Round

Only The Last Round (or Only The Last Round Counts)

Usually we still need a crowner, especially since there hasn't been a strong unofficial vote.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

Hmmm. I like that last one, except that all the other rounds count, they just don't count for enough to beat the last round. How about Only The Last Round Really Matters ?

edited 28th Aug '14 7:04:54 AM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Its The Last Round That Matters

Are we sure we have the definition right? Because I've repeatedly seen it used as "One part of the game overshadows all others to make the main character look good." Its The Last Round That Matters is probably also a trope, but it's different from the trope this is being used as.

edited 28th Aug '14 10:37:37 AM by Discar

Yeah, my impression of the trope was a lot closer to "One part of the game overshadows all others to the point that the rest seems insignificant" (although not necessarily to make the main character look good), not just the round-based thing the description here is talking about. The description doesn't really make sense given that Quidditch isn't played in rounds, and the examples apparently don't support it either.

Rhymes with "Protracted."

"One part of the game overshadows all others to the point that the rest seems insignificant" is better, you're right. I was just saying the main character part because the Trope Namer Harry Potter uses the Snitch as a pretty blatant mechanic to make Harry the most important player on the field. But there's no reason to limit the trope to main characters only.

When a trope is proposed fro renaming due to widespread misuse, looking at the examples to figure out what to name it is bass-ackwards. The trope is defined as:

• "A competition involving a series of events or activities" —- So, a game or something like it. A race isn't a series of events or activities. Each lap is not a separate event or activity.

• "in which the final round —- There it is, Final round — not "any round", the final one.

• "counts for a disproportionately large percent of the team's total score —- Matters much more than the others

• "— and in fiction, will tend to be worth more than all previous events combined. —- It does not have to be but usually is

• "Thus, whoever wins the final round earns enough points to win the entire match, regardless of just about everything else that happened before it. "

edited 28th Aug '14 4:52:56 PM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

The description can be wrong too. It happens. The trope described is clearly different from the actual tropable trope that is actually occupying the page.

Rhymes with "Protracted."

The description is the trope. The examples may be wrong, but that doesn't make the trope something else. It makes them examples of some other trope.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I suppose that's one way of looking at it.

In either case, we have a trope about games that are decided by one disproportionately important aspect that makes the rest of the game moot, and we have a subtrope about games where the final round is disproportionately important compared to all previous rounds. The description talks about the subtrope, but the name and examples have been taken over by the supertrope.

It looks like a textbook case of Missing Supertrope Syndrome, and the standard Trope Transplant solution seems appropriate to me.

Rhymes with "Protracted."

Given that Tropes Are Flexible, I would say it should be defined as "games where one aspect of the scoring overshadows all the others, making it the single most important part by far". Looking at the examples, there seem to be three main variations of this — either the less important aspects are actually completely pointless (the important one will let you win even if you lose all the others), the less important aspects are mostly pointless (winning the important one isn't an automatic win, but it usually determines the victor), or the competition is a multi-round affair where the final round determines the ultimate winner, but winning earlier rounds gives you advantages in the final round.

Some quick examples:

1. A game with three rounds. Winning the first round is worth 100 points, winning the second round is worth 200 points, and winning the third round is worth 500 points. (The final round makes the first two pointless — it's mathematically impossible to win if you lose the final round.)
2. A game with five rounds. Winning the first four rounds are worth 100 points each, while the last is worth 300 points by itself. (The final round makes the first four mostly pointless — the only way to win if you lose the final round is if you already one all four rounds leading up to that.)
3. A game with four rounds. The winner of the first round sets the victory condition for the final round, the winner of the second round chooses the starting position for the final round, the winner of the third round starts the final round with bonus points, and the winner of the final round wins the whole game. (The final round ultimately determines the winner, but winning earlier rounds give you advantages in the final round.)

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

If a team/player has already won the first four rounds, then there's no point in playing the final round. The winner is already determined. This trope is to prevent that.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

Jovian, I'd argue that the third variation isn't anywhere near like the other two. The fact that the earlier rounds really do matter (by providing advantages going into the final) takes it out of that category.

^ You're assuming a two-player game.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

No, Jovian stated "if you already [won] all four rounds leading up to that."

It could be five teams/players. If one team/player has already won the first four rounds, then there's no point in playing the final found.

Edit: Jeopardy is an example of the third category. Only the winner(s) of the last round get to continue, and the rest of the game grants an advantage in the Final Wager.

edited 29th Aug '14 5:30:38 AM by crazysamaritan

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

But in a multi-player game, the final round could still determine who comes second, third and so on.

No, you're both right. In the #1 variant, it's pointless to play the last round if one team/player has already won the first four, and the #3 variant is rather different than the other two. I was just listing various subtypes of the trope I saw while scrolling through the examples — I'm not saying that they should be subtropes or that they make sense.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

It occurred to me that the Triwizard Tournament is an example of #3. All the first two rounds determine is starting order in the final round.

Anyway, I think the Final Round Counts The Most Syndrome is a distinct subtrope. It is often used to maintain drama and isn't necessarily the result of bad scoring math or a desire to make the protagonist important like the golden snitch itself is.

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