In the past year, I have been taking part in two online "quiz leagues". Initially, the concept of taking part in head to head online quizzes has some obvious flaws but in both 2020quiz and LearnedLeague I have found a new avenue of quizzing which has become an enjoyable aspect of my day.
Before I go over some points, a quick introduction to the quizzes to which I refer...
2020quiz is the site which got things started for me in the realm of quizzing online. It is run by the British Quizzing Association, the same company who run the monthly GP's around the country and organise European and World Events. Hence, you know you are in good hands. Quizzers from across the world compete in a series of leagues that last 20 days each. There is a monthly subscription to play and it appears you do have to have attended a GP in the past few years (or indeed come on the back of a solid recommendation from a current player).
It works with 8 questions being issued every day in your "match". You play against another player in your league, 2 points for a win 1 for a draw etc etc. There is also a "defensive" system in place where you allocate points based on your opponents knowledge (you can see their stats from previous games). The questions cover a range of subjects and if you have ever been to a GP you will know the variation of difficulty to expect. Thrown into the week are daily "specials", a lot of which are written by league players, (in which you compete against every player registered on 2020)giving you 20 questions every weekday to tackle.
LearnedLeague, which I have only just began, has been around a lot longer, has far more players as a result of that and is American based. The same principal applies however you only get 6 questions per day, specials are ran "Out of Season" and there are mini leagues to compete in. The site is much better with a wider range of stats, message boards and everything runs smoothly.
Both quizzes have made my commute to work more enjoyable but the idea of Online Quizzing may not appeal to all. Is their a future in this? Will this remain an area for dedicated quizzers or is there room for more on the market? If you don't like the sound of online quizzing, what puts you off? If you do play in these competitions what are your opinions? All of this I would be interested to know from readers.
Personally, I never thought I would enjoy the quizzes as much. The idea of quizzing online obviously brings its own problems. There have been people removed from the league and banned for cheating, both companies do their best to stamp out cheating and apart from some "odd results" here and there and some "exceptional performances" shall we say, I am convinced the leagues are cheat-free on the whole. The fact that most people playing are known in quiz circles, have attended many GP's and been involved in leagues etc, makes it much more honest. Suspicious results and standings soon become obvious and as said, the admins of both companies are not afraid to crack down on it.
Doing only a small number of questions per day for the league matches also means they tend to be testing, a good quality and above all else interesting. Straight after the quizzes the answers are shown and more often than not it leads to me taking to the internet to read more around the subjects. Perfect for improvement and of course, a great resource for expanding quizzing knowledge.
I am happy enough to pay the small fees for the questions I get in return. As I said, everything seems to be above board and that's the main thing. I hope to continue in online quizzing leagues for some time. I would love to know the views of others and discuss online quizzing in general so feel to leave a comment.
