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it tends to produce more decisive games in the later rounds of a tournament (compared to SOS and other tie breakers emphasizing earlier rounds). which may not be important from a measurement perspective but it keeps tournaments interesting (undecided) longer and is good from a spectator's perspective.
cheers tapir
So you mean to say that is a good thing that Direct Comparison makes the games at the start a tournament less important than those at the end? I don't see any obvious proof for this being the case. Plus, one could also argue that spectators might not take any interest in the start of the tournament, so that it was then a disadvantage. This type of assertion is why I would say simply trying to make a list of advantages and disadvantages can distort reality.
no. the point in question was, that with direct comparison the tournament tends to be undecided for a longer time which makes it interesting longer and tends to produce more decisive games in later rounds (as opposed to common practice in tournaments using SOS, that the final round only decides whether the winner wins by MMS or being tied ends up winning by SOS).
Yes I suppose, if it is true that SOS does tend to do this, that a spectator might find the last round more interesting. One could introduce a tiebreaker called Last Round comparison or Later Round comparison to produce the same effect.
It is indeed true, that in McMahon tournaments using SOS as tie breaker (awarding stronger opponents for early wins which is equivalent to reducing SOS for early losses) a player leading by one point MMS before the last round will usually win the tournament regardless of the final round either by MMS or by SOS. This is not always a case, but the tendency is clear. (Bass will probably agree here.)
This may not only be important to spectators but to players as well.
NOTE: You are probably aware that your fun tie breaker may not break ties, when the two top players did not play each other in the last round. Yeah, it is even unlikely for top players to do so unless it turns out to be a Direct Comparison.
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I thought I had agreed with Tapir?
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