2588: Party Quadrants

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Party Quadrants

Title text: Single-elimination might provide more drama, but I think we can all agree that a comprehensive numerical scoring system will let us better judge the party's winner.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a SPORCLE PARTIER - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

In this comic there are four quadrants to allow the user to visualize the range of possibilities of fun for the author of this comic (Randall) and for guests. The rows indicate a "fun for guests" range of "no" to "yes" (top to bottom), and the columns indicate a range of "fun for Randall" also marked "no" to "yes" (left to right).

The data point that is high and to the right within the upper right quadrant is for a "Sporcle Geography Tournament with Snacks! Live-Updating Scoreboard, and no Distracting Music". Sporcle is a trivia website. The joke here is that having a geography trivia contest is really fun for Randall, but not very fun for everyone else.

In the bottom right quadrant (fun for everyone), are two separately outlined but largely overlapping party zones, one that is the Appropriate Zone for a Party and another that is that which applies to Randall's own Birthday Party. They are both vaguely ellipsoid and both seem to aim to enclose a reasonable to fairly maximal amount of fun in both axes, without being so much extreme fun that they might get out of hand nor let the balance of fun stray too far from equal. The key difference is that the range of the birthday party is skewed towards being marginally more for Randall's enjoyment, as the person the attendees to the party might wish to honour/humour on this occasion, whilst any other type of party is geared slightly more towards the enjoyment of the other attendees, where the host (i.e. Randall) probably should work at ensuring the enjoyment of the various guests.

The joke is that for some reason, Randall keeps accidentally planning parties in the Top Right Quadrant (fun for him, not for guests). This is regardless of which party-context, and completely beyond either of the zones.

The title text makes mention of a comprehensive, and perhaps overly complicated, scoring system to determine who is the party's winner, which may be a reference to the Sporcle trivia game night that Randall has planned in the upper right quadrant. That he's talking about "winning the party" suggests he is fundamentally misunderstanding the point of parties -- they're supposed to be fun for everyone attending, not (exclusively) a competition.

Transcript

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Discussion

I added a first draft. I'm sure someone can make it better.

The Venn diagram specifically says my birthday party. Barmar (talk) 00:01, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

I can't be the only person who thinks I'd like to go to that party. Angel (talk) 23:44, 2 March 2022 (UTC)

Randall doesn't think so, as evidenced by his placing it about an eighth of the way down the chart, rather than completely in the top right - he thinks it will at least be some fun for some people. 172.70.91.126 14:02, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

That party sounds fun! I like to see how fast I can name all the countries in the world in alphabetical order on Sporcle!Mathmannix (talk) 02:20, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

Competitions are not uncommon at parties. E.g. "pin the tail on the donkey". Barmar (talk) 00:01, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

I assume the "not fun" for others part is trivia, specifically geography trivia. 172.70.206.163 01:05, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

I am clearly Randall. I definitely cannot organise parties. The last BBQ I tried to organise, for the neighbours, was pre-Millenium. The weather did not cooperate and the neighbours moved away within only 10-15 more years!

(I also haven't even had a birthday party since the early '80s, and haven't minded missing the stressfulness of the occasion at all.)

Oh, and of course I do love a good map-based problem. 141.101.99.32 01:50, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

Why are there no examples of party games in the other 3 quadrants?

Am I missing something important? For the other 3 quadrants, why are there no examples of party games that may be enjoyed/not enjoyed. Eg; Squid Game (not enjoyed by anyone), TenPin Bowling (probably enjoyed by everyone). Beechmere (talk) 02:09, 3 March 2022 (UTC)Beechmere

Less is more? There's three things. Two different 'party zones' that pretty much are the same thing, except for slight birthday-boy/host differences in emphasis, and the party that happens, which is a self-indulgent planned activity that lies entirely outside those. :There are probably an infinite number of other 'party game spots' to place, but I think it's funny enough to show 'reality doesn't match theory' in just the one highly specific way. YMMV, but that's my interpretation. 172.70.90.173 03:22, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

Agree. The joke is that this diagram clearly indicates where his party should lie on this diagram. Fine if it's his birthday, it's OK it is more fun for him than the guest, but not so it would move up to not fun for the guest. And then he adds his latest attempt at a party, which is extremely fun to him and extremely dull for his guests, a long way from what is appropriate for a party. --Kynde (talk) 07:59, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

The statement "while music would be considered fun for most people" should be removed or a [citation needed] added. People have no concept of appropriate volume and have different taste in music, making it no fun, or alternatingly fun, for most attendees. Parties are much more fun when you can actually hear and understand the people around you.

Depends on the party, otherwise people wouldn't go into discos. Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 12:50, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

The snacks are probably why the Sporcle geometry party isn't further up on the graph. But they're not enough by themselves to move the party into the "fun for guests" half. Barmar (talk) 18:07, 3 March 2022 (UTC)

I am puzzled by Randall's guest list. If he is inviting random people off the street, why is he inviting random people off the street? If he enjoys geography trivia, why doesn't he know people who enjoy geography trivia? Clearly there is something more deeply wrong with his party organizing than simply having non-conventional tastes. This should be discussed. A Zorn's lemma themed party is great fun if you invite the right people.172.70.175.146 21:30, 4 March 2022 (UTC)

Perhaps someone should organize a Sporcle geography tournament themed party and invite Randall. I'd go, but IMO there should be at least some ambient background music.

I would guess that it's because it's a *birthday* party - guests are invited based on acquaintanceship with Randall, not on commonality of any other interests. L-Space Traveler (talk) 16:27, 7 November 2023 (UTC)