AAAs have no meaning

[GuidoHunter]

I maintain that an AAA is not indicative of any more skill than, say, an SDG. Rather, all it indicates is a greater time devotion to grinding it out.

If you can consciously hit one arrow as a perfect, why can't you hit every single arrow that comes to you as a perfect, too? Obviously, nobody can do that. But why? Various things can come into play: environmental issues, such as getting distracted and forcing your mind to react to something else could (and do) play a part, as do physiological issues, such as the message getting somehow delayed in transport from the brain to the hand to the key or the inefficient muscle control systems, which might cause your finger to strike the key at a slightly different angle, causing greater resistance and delaying the input.

These are not all controllable factors. As such, there exists a statistical chance that one of these (or any other) factors will affect your keystroke and cause a good instead of a perfect. Given this percentage and the number of steps in the song, each song has an expected value of these goods. I maintain that any score with a number of goods below that expected value is equally indicative of skill, and that the closer to an AAA a score is, the more statistically lucky the player. That is, an AAA simply says, "I played this song until chance smiled on me and I encountered no aberrations."

I consider myself a decent player; I can FC some eight-foot songs and SDG'd One Last Battle. Yet when I try to AAA Stay With Me, I just can't. Forty-six tries today. I got a good on most every arrow between #8 and #233 (autofail on one good). Does this mean I'm any less good now than I will be when I finally get the AAA? Surely not.

So, my conclusion is that an AAA is meaningless in terms of skill.

This doesn't reflect the general attitude ef the FFR community, though. Why is that? Where am I wrong? If you agree, why is there so much emphasis placed on, "go for the AAA"? It just seems like a waste of time aftor proving yourself by getting a comparable score (unless you're concerned with your levelrank, of course).

What say you, FFR?

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

[jecht3009046]

You can only say that now that Shash has left rofl.

[Fantasticone]

Right and wrong in some way. I agree in which AAA's are merely how much time you do devote to a song, yet if can AAA some songs effortlessly, then it is a way of showing that you have truly mastered it.

[MrRubix]

The real question is the average performance weighted by difficulty of song.

[Fantasticone]

Well for my skill I can effortlessly AAA level 8's and lower no problem with maybe 2 or 3 tries on level 9's, so that would somehow show that I have a great amount of skill right?

[MrRubix]

That's the idea, Fantasticone -- weighted performance averages

[OnixRose]

refering to the 4th to last "paragraph" you'll have gotten better at hitting perfects which increases your score which I think helps determine your skill you make good points but I'm tired so I won't protest right now
and rubix and fantas have said my points

[~HentaiXXX~]

If you can AAA a song, it does show you have much/a lot of skill, however, you are just playing the song many times in a row just to get a little bit of luck on the one time you AAA. Though, like Rubix and Fanta said, if you can AAA something effortlessly then you do have skill, apparently, but if you play it multiple times(say, about 15 times or more) and you all of a sudden get a AAA, it shows it was probably more luck on your part.

[rade0110]

AAA'ing a song is relevent to skill level. Being able to repeatedly hit perfect after perfect does take perfect timing. It's easy to say that you could get the AAA, but is anyone to know that until you do. It's incredibly easy for me to AAA 1-7's, if I wasn't too lazy to play them I would. Can I get anywhere close to AAA'ing a 10 though? No, best I can do on VC's is SDG. Hell I've never even FC'd a masters song.

So in your logic, is it fair for me to say that if I've SDG a very challenging I could AAA it? Because I can tell you that no matter how many times I play one, I can't.

I can't say that I'm as good as Tass is just because I can almost do what he does. Maybe you would think so, but to most people out here, it's sort of a silly thought.

Forgive the lack of flow to this... I need to take writing class over.

[AnUnknownDrummer]

I agree 100% on this. I play tons of songs and get SDG's site-reading them. If I try to AAA the song, I fail every time. Why? Well, Guido has just explained it. I've played easy songs for days on end trying to AAA them. Once I would AAA it (if so), I would be no better at this game. I honestly care more about how many notes I hit and combo rather than how 'perfect' my timing is.

[Go_Oilers_Go]

I agree with MrRubix and Fantasticone. It's based on consistent performance. However, I would also like to add that in striving for a AAA you are likely to improve your accuracy in my opinion.

[devonin]

It's really the case that in each instance this happens:

Well, I got a blackflag. To me, getting a blackflag means that you can get a AAA. It simply becomes a question of "Well, am I now going to play it X times, until I get the AAA?"

I recently AAA'd a song after getting -4- blackflags in a row consecutively with no breaks in trying the song again, in each case, my 1 good came from somewhere different, somewhere that I hit perfectly the other three times. At that point I can say to myself and be satisfied: "I can AAA the song, it's just a question of whether I'm willing to continue whoring it until none of the abberations happen"

But Guido is correct in pointing out that the community at large seems to feel differently, and that getting the AAA somehow counts as markedly better than a Blackflag or SDG.

Guido isn't saying "AAAs mean nothing" in the sense of "If you have AAAs and I don't, we're equally good" so much as "If we're equally good, and you're willing to whore, and I'm not, you appear to the community to be better, and that makes no sense to me" and I agree with him completely on that.

[Tasselfoot]

the difference between 9 goods (an SDG) and 1 good (a BF) is massive on most songs, given the appropriate skill level of the player.

I can SDG almost every VC song... I only have AAAs on 3 or 4 of them. Is it for lack of trying? No. There are just MANY sections that I find challenging to PA every time... and therefore sometimes I do better on one section and do worse on another. Clearly the times that I'll get the best score is when I do well all around, but even then, it's likely that i'll have 2-3 goods.

Going from a BF to a AAA is hard when it's at the edge of your PAing ability. I know. I have about 20 BFs, on difficulty 8-10 songs. I have 3-4 songs total under an 8 that aren't AAAd, and they're all old offsync songs. I've tried COUNTLESS times to remove that BF, and my realization is that the BF was the fluke, not the 4-5 good score on the level.

Granted... when I'm playing a 7 footer and I keep screwing up somewhere where I KNOW I shouldn't... then that is a situation where I know I CAN AAA, I just haven't yet, for one of Guido's factors.

Basically... at a certain level, Guido is correct. On a harder level, he is completely incorrect. And, honestly, I think his opinion can only be felt by someone who is only a mediocre or lower player (which I think Guido would admit that he is). When you start being able to PA songs consistently, you'll see the vast difference.

And the harder songs get, the harder it is to go from 2 goods to a BF to a AAA.


But, the end result.... Guido, I know you'll AAA Stay With Me for the tournament, and that this thread is really just a by-product of your frustration.

[foilman8805]

it took me 101 games to get One Last Battle today.

that song has plagued me the whole time i've been on FFR though, because it's something i thought i should've AAA'd in my first month.

i value my AAA's because i put forth the effort to get all perfects. for me, it's more of a personal satisfaction. getting a AAA is the best thing ever - and to say that all the work i put into those songs is essentially meaningless because i got lucky is utterly false. AAA'ing isn't easy. if it was, you wouldn't have made this thread.

[inco]

I played One Last Battle 142 times, I'm plenty frustrated for tonight.

[TD_m0nster]

Originally Posted by jecht3009046

You can only say that now that Shash has left rofl.

but along came rubix

[dragon head]

Originally Posted by GuidoHunter

I maintain that an AAA is not indicative of any more skill than, say, an SDG. Rather, all it indicates is a greater time devotion to grinding it out.

If you can consciously hit one arrow as a perfect, why can't you hit every single arrow that comes to you as a perfect, too? Obviously, nobody can do that. But why? Various things can come into play: environmental issues, such as getting distracted and forcing your mind to react to something else could (and do) play a part, as do physiological issues, such as the message getting somehow delayed in transport from the brain to the hand to the key or the inefficient muscle control systems, which might cause your finger to strike the key at a slightly different angle, causing greater resistance and delaying the input.

These are not all controllable factors. As such, there exists a statistical chance that one of these (or any other) factors will affect your keystroke and cause a good instead of a perfect. Given this percentage and the number of steps in the song, each song has an expected value of these goods. I maintain that any score with a number of goods below that expected value is equally indicative of skill, and that the closer to an AAA a score is, the more statistically lucky the player. That is, an AAA simply says, "I played this song until chance smiled on me and I encountered no aberrations."

I consider myself a decent player; I can FC some eight-foot songs and SDG'd One Last Battle. Yet when I try to AAA Stay With Me, I just can't. Forty-six tries today. I got a good on most every arrow between #8 and #233 (autofail on one good). Does this mean I'm any less good now than I will be when I finally get the AAA? Surely not.

So, my conclusion is that an AAA is meaningless in terms of skill.

This doesn't reflect the general attitude ef the FFR community, though. Why is that? Where am I wrong? If you agree, why is there so much emphasis placed on, "go for the AAA"? It just seems like a waste of time aftor proving yourself by getting a comparable score (unless you're concerned with your levelrank, of course).

What say you, FFR?

--Guido

http://andy.mikee385.com

thats why im going to stop playing

AAA!!! big frikkin deal

[xSai]

I can full combo One More Lovely with 21 greats, but I've never AAA'd a song in my life. Sad eh?

[FrenzyMidget]

Well, I know for a fact that AAA's have some meanning a way and none for the other.

I have AAA'd all Funk Songs, all Hip Hops(except Famouz) and in dance some songs like 136.6 that even some of the top players might not find the need to AAA, but why did I get it? From trying it countless and countless hours in order for luck to smile upon me, like Guido said.

Sitting at a 113 AAA's right now, I find its a relatively great number of AAA's, but would I be able to AAA them all again ? Chances are that wouldn't(Jurs OP for example).

If my skills were to increase and I would be able to AAA all these songs after 3 tries or so I'd consider myself a much better player, but if AAA'ing is just a stroke of luck then it means your skills are not top notch just yet. Once your skills become better, it also means you have learned to control these thoughts and Distractions and eye blinkings that cause your game to fault at times.

[StepmaniaGod6969]

makes sense to me