In the ParserComp 2026 - The Lamp is now lit thread, @andrewj suggested that the Results page should be kept private/hidden and the raw scores should be used for calculating the results, which are then provided in a public list or spreadsheet. I’ve worked out how to do the former and I’m happy to do the latter, but I’m curious about what everyone else thinks.
The pro is that we use the raw scores without itch.io applying its questionable dampening algorithm to reduce the impact of vote rigging.
The con is that the results will be delayed while I fill out a spreadsheet to calculate the results and everyone will have to trust me.
Out of curiosity, I filled out a spreadsheet for this year’s results to see what the impact would have been. Quite to my surprise, positions 4 and 5 would have been swapped, even though they were both affected by the score dampening algorithm. Also, positions 8 and 9 would have been swapped, even though position 8 was not affected by the dampening algorithm and position 9 was, so the former with raw scores actually suffered from the change.
So, what does everyone think? Use the raw scores or leave it as is?
Scoring for Text Adventure Literacy Jam 2027:
- Use raw scores
- Use adjusted scores