Which means....
~ 1. The Oracle ~
Created by: solarshadow
List Appearances: 13
Total Points: 98
Write up by Kaxon
(Part 1)
Solarshadow started the Oracle Challenge back in 2003 based on a
simple idea: instead of just picking the winners, why don't we "test
your prediction abilities down to the hundredth of a percent!" The
contest was an instant success, and returned in 2004 bigger and better
for the Best Game Ever contest.
In my view, 2004 was when the Oracle really sealed its place as a
board 8 institution. The games contest was exciting and brought in
lots of new people (including me), and it also featured the legendary
race for first between Bananaquest and King Morgoth. The two of them
started a fun rivalry, competing to change their predictions literally
at the last second - I remember one day when BQ posted his change at
10:59:59, but got one-uped by Morgoth's 11:00:00 post, which was the
exact deadline. Bananaquest lead for 38 days, but Morgoth ultimately
defeated him, in part due to a bold prediction on (what else)
Starcraft vs Wind Waker.
Summer 2004 was big as well, but in a different way. Morgoth took
over running the contest when solarshadow disappeared, showing that
the Oracle was bigger than just one host. Lots of people considered
Character Battle III a pretty boring and predictable contest. But the
Oracle kept things interesting anyway - a trend that would later
continue, thanks to CJayC's other solid gold hits like The Villain
Contest and The Female Bracket. Of course I'm biased, because the
back and forth battle for the lead between myself, kawaiifan, and King
Morgoth (dubbed "the k crew" at the time) made me love SC2004.
At its peak, the Oracle got over 100 predictions a day, and was quite
simply the best board contest there was. We've had our share of
storylines and drama (who could forget Xuxon's back to back
championships, pikaness's blatant attempt at cheating when he was in
first place, or cyko's failed attempt to give away the Character
Battle V championship with a prediction change after the deadline?)
But I always thought two things set the Oracle apart from the other
board contests. The big one was solarshadow's original idea. Unlike
some of the other great board contests like VGMC, the Oracle was built
around the thing that brought us here in the first place, the
character battles. And unlike stuff like the PPC and spread betting,
the Oracle was about the most interesting and straightforward question
- what percent will each character get?
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