The 2008 Winter Scripting Games
Sudden Death Challenge
The 2008 Winter Scripting Games Sudden Death Challenge
To begin with, we should assure everyone that no one is going to die during the Scripting Games Sudden Death Challenge. (At least we hope not; that would look really bad on our year-end performance review.) The name “Sudden Death Challenge” is just a holdover from a different idea we had. We scrapped the idea, but kept the name; we thought that “Sudden Death Challenge” had a nice ring to it.
So then what is the Sudden Death Challenge? Well, the Sudden Death Challenge grew out of a minor problem we had with the 2006 and 2007 Winter Scripting Games: a surprisingly large number of people completed all the events in a division in the first few days. That meant that these people had nothing to do over the remaining week and a half of the Games.
For the 2008 Games we decided to address that issue in two ways. First, we tried to make the events a little bit harder. (Although not too hard; we wanted to make sure it was possible to complete all 10 events in a division without having to work full time on the Scripting Games.) This is especially true in the Beginners Division; the Beginners Division in this year’s Games is appreciably more difficult than the Beginners Division in last year’s Games.
Second, we introduced the Sudden Death Challenge. The Sudden Death Challenge is a series of 10 small tasks (separate and distinct from the main Scripting Games events) that will be posted individually (one each day for 10 days) and be available for a limited time only. For example, the first event in the Sudden Death Challenge will be posted at 8:00 AM on Monday, February 18th, and will be due by 3:00 PM on Tuesday, February 19th. (All times, by the way, are Pacific Standard Time.) Event 2 in the Challenge will be posted on the morning of the 19th, and be due on the afternoon of the 20th. Etc. (For a complete schedule, click here.)
The idea, of course, is that this gives you something new to try every day. What happens if you miss a day? No big deal; just come back tomorrow and try the next event in the competition.
Like we said, the Sudden Death Challenge is separate and distinct from the main Scripting Games events. We’ll still test each submission, and we’ll keep track of scores; however, these scores will be reported separately from the main events. (In other words, we’ll have a special Sudden Death Challenge scoreboard.) You’ll receive one point for each Sudden Death event you successfully complete, and at the end of the competition prizes will be awarded.
Note. No, we’re not sure what that prize will be yet. As soon as we’ve figured that out we’ll let you know. But we do know we’ll have a limited number of whatever it is, so in the event of a tie prizes will probably be awarded by random drawing among the top scorers. We’ll also award a prize or two to a competitor randomly selected from the pool of people who enter at least one Sudden Death event. To be honest, though, the Sudden Death Challenge is really more about bragging rights than it is about winning prizes. |
As a separate and distinct competition, the Sudden Death Challenge differs from the main Scripting Games in several respects. For one thing, there are no Beginners or Advanced divisions; instead, everyone competes against everyone else. In addition, there are no distinctions between VBScript, Perl, or Windows PowerShell. If an event requires you to write a script then you may submit that script in any of the three official Scripting Games languages.
Good question: why did we say “if an event requires you to write a script?” Well, that’s another difference between the Sudden Death Challenge and the main Scripting Games. In the Sudden Death Challenge you might be required to write a script in order to solve an event; alternatively, you might be required to solve a puzzle or to provide some scripting-related information. (For example, you might be asked a question about the properties of a specific WMI class.) We don’t believe that any of the events are particularly hard; we didn’t think that would be fair considering the fact that you have less than 36 hours in which to solve a given problem. However, a few of the events might be a little tricky, so be forewarned.
Have we mentioned that the Sudden Death Challenge is separate from the main Scripting Games? We don’t mean to belabor that point, but we don’t want people to get confused. If your primary focus is on getting a perfect score in the Games then the main Scripting Games events should always come first. In other words, if you only have enough time to do one thing then you should do a Scripting Games event rather than a Sudden Death Challenge event. However, if you have plenty of time on your hands, or if you aren’t worried about getting a perfect score in the Games, well, then that’s a different story.
Incidentally, although the Sudden Death Challenge was designed for people who finish their Scripting Games events early, anyone can enter as many (or as few) of these events as they wish.
Got all that? To summarize, the Sudden Death Challenge is a series of bonus events designed for people who just can’t get enough of the Scripting Games. Try the ones you feel like trying, and skip the ones you feel like skipping; that’s entirely up to you. And if you have any questions about this, just send email to scripter@microsoft.com.
