Any interest in a 'Top Songs of All Time' project dealie?

I was browsing a bunch of old vgm things around here, and I saw a project that intended to compile the top 500 video game music 'releases' of all time. It doesn't look like it succeeded or even garnered a lot of interest, but I thought it might be neat to adapt the idea slightly and just focus on specific songs as opposed to entire games/soundtracks/whatever.

Here's what I'm thinking:
- 50 song minimum, 300 song maximum for individual lists. Songs will preferably be ranked within people's lists. Obviously I tally all the points together at the end and compile the list that way. The specific minimum/maximum numbers can be adjusted.
- No remixes/doujin/arrangements (unless they're composed specifically for the game, like the Brawl soundtrack) or licensed tracks. Visual novel songs are fine. Think BSC rules.

Here's what I haven't decided:
- I don't quite know how to tabulate points. It makes sense to assign somebody's top song the highest amount of points (that might mean that, on a list of 300 songs, the number 1 song gets 300 points), but I also thought about having an option for people who don't want to rank everything (maybe assigning all their songs equal value).
- Not sure if I should involve other vgm forums or not (this is pretty much the only one I'm familiar with firsthand).
- And obviously, the final number on the finished list is still up in the air. I guess that depends on the level of interest and participation.

More to the point though: would there be interest in this? It seemed like the project I mentioned earlier didn't get a lot of participation. Plus I'm more of a lurker here than anything else, so I hope it wouldn't be weird for me to be running this thing.

So yeah, what do you all think? Any questions or concerns or feedback or overwhelming amounts of ambivalence and/or scorn?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I am interested brah

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yikes, good luck with something like this. I've gotta say, I have two doubts, the most primary of which being participation. I honestly don't know if you'd get too many responses, since like you said that project in the past kind of failed and that was done in the days where GFF was a really active place.

The second doubt links directly to the first---compiling a list of 50-300 tracks sound exceptionally painstaking and difficult, at least to me, and would likely discourage people from participating. Particularly given how much VGM we're all familiar with. For the previous project it was much simpler since you just had to list soundtracks.

Having said that I would probably still construct a list for you, though I'm not sure how many people would, and if it would make the project worthwhile. I reckon cutting down the lists is the first point of call; something like 32 tracks for every person would be infinitely more manageable for both the participants and you, the one calculating the results. With 32 tracks you could have the point groups separated as such: first track; second track; 3-8; 9-16; 17-32. :bigshrug:

Finally, it wouldn't at all be weird for you to run this, for the record!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I kinda figured the reason the soundtracks project didn't take off was actually because it seemed more complicated to come up with whole games as opposed to individual songs. Maybe I'm just weird! I also figured having a large list threshold would be better, since - like you said - most people here have listened to a shit-ton of video game music and it wouldn't be as... limiting, I guess. It just seems like people have a tough time narrowing down BSC noms every year and have no shortage of potential SOTW participants. But if you think the list would be better with a narrower scope, I can try that as well.

You certainly don't have to worry about me getting overwhelmed with data entry and points and such. I'm used to this kind of crap! My more pressing concern would be, as you said, making sure the participants are okay with the amount of songs. I can always just have no minimum song requirement (so somebody can post a list of 10 songs) but have lists with more songs be weighted more highly. I'm open to suggestions.

Above all else though, if people wouldn't really be down with it then I don't have to do it. No harm no foul. =) Thanks for the feedback (and reassurances that I wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes)!

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It's an interesting project but seems intimidating to come up with a list that long. I think listing nominations for top song is probably still ok, even for 300 songs. But to actually rank all 300 songs is a bit much. That said, I think a top 10, 15 or 20 ranked list is still manageable for me.

And come to think of it, the project sounds a bit like the old BSCs minus the voting and long lists. In the past, participants had to form a list of between 5 to 10 songs and rank them. Songs with a higher rank got more points. After the nom phase, the songs' points were tallied and you could see which songs were the most popular based on this point system.

The system was a pretty good indicator of how well songs could do in the subsequent voting rounds. But it was not a guarantee, as past BSCs showed.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Ed Bellis

Visual novel songs are fine.

I don't know why its eligibility has to be questioned, to begin with.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Elorin: The ranking system might be off-putting to some people, yeah. That's why I added that caveat about potential ways to get around it, like if somebody didn't want to rank a certain number of their songs and their points could be more evenly distributed. Do you think that would be a good idea?

Taisai: Just covering my bases. Some people don't consider VNs to be a subset of video games, so I just wanted to clarify that from the getgo.

FELIPE NO

Frankly, the thing that brings me back to the BSC and SotW again and again is the chance of discovering new music with the associated experience of hearing and commenting on it immediately. Sorting through other peoples' lists, or even the master, without voting or commenting doesn't really appeal to me.

Good luck, though. I'm pulling for you.

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Look, if you put the call out for a list, I will oblige. But a couple things:

1. I think it would work best if the discussed BSC Off-Season Clash doesn't come through as expected.

2. It needs to have some other element to it -- a countdown with links to downloadable songs or albums, or (better yet) a daily posting of a track where we can comment and scrutinize and so forth.

Also ...

Originally Posted by Elorin

But to actually rank all 300 songs is a bit much. That said, I think a top 10, 15 or 20 ranked list is still manageable for me.

When magazines, web sites etc. put together these massive fan voted lists, they ask for people's Top 5 or 10 choices, and then make the list from there. It's easier for participants that way. Point being, you would need a lot of participants to make it work, probably from multiple other sites.

If you can pull it off, great, happy to partake.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm with Chuckster on this. A clash with the Clash is not a good idea. And some form of interactivity would be nice to get people more involved/engaged in the whole thing.

The trouble is trying to figure out what that is.

Perhaps nominators could justify their top picks/selected tracks (ie let the flamefest begin)?

Or group nominations by soundtrack/themes and ask participants to comment on the selection? They could also have the power to vote out tracks they feel should be taken off the top song list, as well as suggest replacement tracks. Have enough people concur with the replacement tracks and they would become eligible to take over kicked out songs.

Anyways, just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by Ed Bellis

Elorin: The ranking system might be off-putting to some people, yeah. That's why I added that caveat about potential ways to get around it, like if somebody didn't want to rank a certain number of their songs and their points could be more evenly distributed. Do you think that would be a good idea?

You might run into people like me who don't mind ranking 20 songs but can't muster the time and energy to rank my other short-listed picks. So having those unranked tracks each get the same points sounds fine.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'm surprised people don't seem keen on the idea of large individual lists. I can easily shorten it to, say, top 20 or 30, but I figured there wouldn't be a dearth of material to pick from, and I know that - as far as I'm concerned - I'd have a hard time narrowing it down to a number that small. A buddy of mine on another forum is doing something similar with people's favorite albums of all time, and the participants aren't having any issues coming up with a minimum of 50 and, in some cases, a full list of 300. But if that's the main thing preventing people from participating, I can still shorten it and see what happens.

The main reason I wanted such big individual lists was for variety's sake: if people only have, say, 20 songs it seems like there'll be a bunch of a 1-vote songs or, alternatively, a lack of diversity in the list. Having a small sample size like that might work if we had a bigger userbase. But again, I'm willing to see what happens.

As far as compiling the list goes, I'd be totally down with that once it's all finished. It would certainly be neat to have around and would give a degree of interactivity to the project.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Okay, let me rephrase: I'm not opposed to the idea of large lists. In fact, for me it will be fun. I'm just worried it may be a barrier to entry for some. On the other hand, I think it will impossible to get the necessary number of participants (read: in the hundreds) to make small lists work. Large lists may be the only way to go.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

my opinion:

I predict around 50 people would vote in this

so maybe the 50 song minimum thing is fine but as to not scare off too many people make the maximum 100 or something?

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Originally Posted by Chuckster

Okay, let me rephrase: I'm not opposed to the idea of large lists. In fact, for me it will be fun. I'm just worried it may be a barrier to entry for some. On the other hand, I think it will impossible to get the necessary number of participants (read: in the hundreds) to make small lists work. Large lists may be the only way to go.

This is a pretty good point, and it seems to me that it becomes a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation. We don't have enough participants to make small lists meaningful, but the size of large lists might scare off the few participants we do have.

I could always consider hosting it on multiple boards to solve that problem. Everybody gets a small list and that would increase participation and variety. Something else to consider, I guess.


EDIT: I guess this isn't really worth it based on the scope of the project I initially had in mind. Ah well. Thanks for the feedback anyway!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?