Author Topic: Are tasks too easy  (Read 9448 times)

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Offline Cheesefeet

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Are tasks too easy
« on: December 16, 2010, 03:52:36 PM »
Just to get some discussion going what are your guys thoughts on the difficulty of the tasks.  It seems there are a lot of cream puffs tasks, this is a race for a million dollars is it too much to expect the contestants to complete a task that really stretches them either physically or mentally.  It is kinda hard because the variety of the racers but wouldn't it be interesting to see some more challenging tasks.

Thoughts?

Offline Mug Costanza

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2010, 05:16:35 PM »
For me, I don't necessarily think the tasks are getting too easy (I think they ARE getting progressively easier, but not so much that it bothers me...yet). What bothers me is when we see a single season with too many repetitive tasks. I think I'm in a minority of people here at RFF who liked TAR16, but what really bothered me was that for two out of three legs (Singapore and Shanghai-2), the Roadblock was counting something. Not only that, but the numbers they were counting were 523 and 521. It was just way too repetitive for my liking. I can deal with one of those kinds of Roadblocks, but they should've done something much more challenging for Shanghai-2, especially when teams are fighting for a spot in the Final 3.
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Offline Rogue

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2010, 05:31:56 PM »
I watched last season and I can barely remember anything they did. I don't think this season was easy as there were some very good tasks balancing out physical, mental, and a few needle in the haystack. But there was the sunglasses task that wasn't physical or mental but it was a time waster and still pushed some teams to the back. The boxing task wasn't that hard but we saw a couple of the guys mess it up. The dog sledding task that was just there. I think this season had a good mix of tasks because some allowed certain teams to excel or shine even if they were bad at something else. This doesn't have to be a purely physical competition and it doesn't have to be a purely mental competition. But I think when they do a nice mix of challenges it makes the competition more equal.
You don't always win the race by making the best forward moves but you make it by avoiding the huge moves that set you back. -Nat

Offline Cheesefeet

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2010, 06:05:06 PM »
Going along with this topic are tasks with hours of operation and equalizers, are you guys a fan of a task that bunches teams back up by making the lead teams wait for hours for the task to open or would you prefer to let strong teams get a strong lead.  I can't recall any teams falling significantly behind since team Guido fell a day behind in season 1.

Offline connayyy

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2010, 06:28:52 PM »
Going along with this topic are tasks with hours of operation and equalizers, are you guys a fan of a task that bunches teams back up by making the lead teams wait for hours for the task to open or would you prefer to let strong teams get a strong lead.  I can't recall any teams falling significantly behind since team Guido fell a day behind in season 1.

I actually enjoy equalizers, they make the outcome less predictable.


Offline Rogue

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2010, 06:46:42 PM »
Going along with this topic are tasks with hours of operation and equalizers, are you guys a fan of a task that bunches teams back up by making the lead teams wait for hours for the task to open or would you prefer to let strong teams get a strong lead.  I can't recall any teams falling significantly behind since team Guido fell a day behind in season 1.

I actually enjoy equalizers, they make the outcome less predictable.

I do too. I think it's cool to be ahead every now and then but when you're racing, every once in a while it would be cool to see the people you're racing against. It also puts some fairness back into the game.
You don't always win the race by making the best forward moves but you make it by avoiding the huge moves that set you back. -Nat

Offline Prophet

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2010, 07:18:56 PM »
I believe that the TAR writers do a very good job balancing out difficulty levels of the tasks, unless it's a Family Edition.
As for equalizers, I believe that they are absolutely nessecary.
Also I would like to hear from some of the racers because none of us realize the mental and physical wear and tear of being on the Race. I bet none of them think the tasks are getting too easy. You must factor in sleep or lack of, temperature and other environment factors, and how it feels to actually do all of those things instead of just look at them.
It's a fair concern but all the pieces need to be taken into consideration.

(I liked TAR16 Mug and I think counting 523 things is quite hard but it was silly to repeat it.)
« Last Edit: December 16, 2010, 07:32:36 PM by The Prophet »
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Offline slayton

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2010, 07:32:45 PM »
I don't know if tasks are easier, but many are too similar to tasks from previous seasons.

TAR17 gave me a sense of déjà vu a number of times.  Whether it was moving specially designed coffins across Ghana that reminded me of the TAR15 teams moving animal statues across Vietnam, or the fact that TAR17 had a task involving west African schoolchildren, in Ghana, just like how TAR12 had tasks involving west African schoolchildren, in Burkina Faso which is located right above Ghana.

I will say that the task of installing a TV antenna wasn't particularly difficult on TAR17, because I've watched my neighbors install bigger antennas on the pitched roofs of their 2.5 story houses.  If my neighbors fell off their roofs, they'd likely be going to the hospital.  The TAR17 houses might have required ladders, but they didn't look dangerously high to me.  

The one thing I don't like, and don't get, is when the show decides to go to another country just to visit a US military base.  I live about a 30-minute drive from a base, and it's just something that doesn't interest me.

Offline Prophet

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #8 on: December 16, 2010, 07:35:52 PM »
Perhaps whenever DeafRacer returns to posting we can tell him how easy the tasks are getting!  :cmaslol
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Offline AmazingRace

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #9 on: December 16, 2010, 08:24:53 PM »
I believe that they are getting SLIGHTLY easier in the recent seasons. But it's still not completely easy.  :reindeer


Offline Rogue

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2010, 12:36:55 AM »
I will say that the task of installing a TV antenna wasn't particularly difficult on TAR17, because I've watched my neighbors install bigger antennas on the pitched roofs of their 2.5 story houses.  If my neighbors fell off their roofs, they'd likely be going to the hospital.  The TAR17 houses might have required ladders, but they didn't look dangerously high to me.  

Ask Conner and Jonathan how hard it is to install an antenna.
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Offline Caelestor

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2010, 12:45:27 AM »
Actually, when you look at the earliest seasons, the tasks were in general far easier than they are now. Detours were a choice between a fast but scary way vs. the slow but safe way; plus, there was no roadblock limit. The only difference was that the route infos were actually clues. I believe the hardest tasks came during TAR 5-10. It appears that as a tradeoff, the tasks have become slightly easier, but there's more indirect clues as a callback to TAR 1.

Besides, not all tasks have to be difficult to be good/memorable. I mean, Count the Money or Run the Numbers was actually a pretty simple task, no extreme logic involved...yet, it's still arguably my most favorite detour in TAR's history.

Offline krabbe

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2010, 08:26:28 AM »
I agree that the tasks have been getting repetitive. I'm getting bored with the bungee jumping & rapelling.
Overall I prefer TAR to have a good balance of brains & muscle tasks. I also like clues that are not straightforward, like the finale Don Quixote clue or the Black Angel route info from S10.
But most of all, I like it when TAR makes the racers interact with locals and/or do tasks that have something to do with the place they're visiting. It's just a waste to have them go to Kazakhstan to drink milk or find an egg, for example. That country is very unique & has so much potential.

Offline kadilahopper

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #13 on: December 17, 2010, 08:48:46 AM »
I, personally think that the problem is ingenuity.  The tasks are becoming mundane because we are so jaded by seeing over and over again what has been done before.  We see repeat tasks, what I call "duh uh" tasks, and just down right idiotic tasks.  I just put on our annual "Amazing Grace Race 2010".  The tasks I had my boys do was funny, fast and had a twist.  But it is hard to come up with something new every year.  The only thing that can make a difference in TAR is the people it casts.  The most boring task can become memorable by the reactions of the people doing it.  Otherwise, we will be smiling while yawning.  And so it goes!  Thinking up new ideas is not easy.  But a fresh set of ideas could go a long way.  TAR needs to call me and hire me. I have the most off the wall ideas.  But then again, they might not be legal. :<) 

Offline Reilly Queens

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #14 on: December 17, 2010, 03:35:01 PM »
I do think the tasks are being too repeating.

But whats on screen isn't what actually happened.

I do think the last leg from TAR17 was easy peasy.

I say the bridge could of been a roadblock and you had to dive down and try to grab a clue before you get yanked up or something like that, so it isnt like when you arrive is the time you left!

The final memory task could be more interesting instead of apple advertising their iPad...
There could of been some action like being hooked up and flying around like BB7 HOH part 2 or a thing like that  :cmas5
I did like finding the right greeter for the right leg.

It is two seasons where the winning team took notes through the race  :cmaslol

Offline Rogue

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #15 on: December 17, 2010, 05:09:48 PM »
It is two seasons where the winning team took notes through the race  :cmaslol

They all had notes.
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Offline ovalorange

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #16 on: December 18, 2010, 11:45:05 PM »
I think season 17 really showcased some exciting and interesting tasks. To me, I think they were quite challenging for the teams, sometimes they really pushed them to their limits.

I think where the tasks were simple was in fact seasons 12- 16. For instance, in season 16, we had painting a 15cm x 15cm square, getting the ingredients for the kuchen ( the hardest part for Cord seemed to be carrying it all at once  :cmaslol) crawling on the ground and bike riding in France *yawn*, swimming to a buoy a short distance away and getting a bottle in the Seychelles, two coconut tasks in two consecutive legs and two counting roadblocks with almost the exact same number, almost in consecutive legs. Not to mention what I consider the worst and easiest final leg memory task in all of TAR history. I'm sure the teams would have thought they were difficult, hard and challenging - but to me, a viewer, they seemed not so "amazing". Some of them looked fairly easy to me, quite a bit easier than past seasons. 

I really think the tasks in TAR16 were simpler than earlier seasons (and by no means do I mean to particularly single our season 16, I could do it for 15, 13 or 12 if you like  :cmas22 ) and I'm glad season 17 gave some more difficult and not so straight forward tasks. I think to truely determine whether tasks are getting easier I'm going to have to watch TAR18 and see whether I thought season 17 was a standout or if it was the beginning (for me) of tasks really becoming more "difficult".

Offline Jobby

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #17 on: December 19, 2010, 12:03:04 AM »
Watch TARA3, that season was by far the most physically/mentally challenged season i've ever seen for any version of TAR. :cmaslol

Offline kiki

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #18 on: December 21, 2010, 05:15:30 AM »
Watch TARA3, that season was by far the most physically/mentally challenged season i've ever seen for any version of TAR. :cmaslol

That's why the teams were dropping like flies and quitting one after another. The legs up to Taiwan were a nightmare for most.

Offline Prophet

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #19 on: December 21, 2010, 07:30:42 AM »
Watch TARA3, that season was by far the most physically/mentally challenged season i've ever seen for any version of TAR. :cmaslol

That's why the teams were dropping like flies and quitting one after another. The legs up to Taiwan were a nightmare for most.

Didn't somebody break their leg and had to drop out?!
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Offline jerseydude

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #20 on: December 21, 2010, 07:43:15 AM »
Watch TARA3, that season was by far the most physically/mentally challenged season i've ever seen for any version of TAR. :cmaslol

That's why the teams were dropping like flies and quitting one after another. The legs up to Taiwan were a nightmare for most.

Didn't somebody break their leg and had to drop out?!

Not in TARA 3. TARA 3 was pretty hard, especially the Sony DVD task. That was just horrible.  :cmas4
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Offline krabbe

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #21 on: December 21, 2010, 11:17:31 AM »
I'm sorry but finding a dvd, although I'm sure was draining to a lot of the teams, was not a good task. TARA doesn't know how to do product placement well.

Offline jerseydude

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #22 on: December 21, 2010, 11:36:11 AM »
I'm sorry but finding a dvd, although I'm sure was draining to a lot of the teams, was not a good task. TARA doesn't know how to do product placement well.

I never said that it was a good task.
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Offline Prophet

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #23 on: December 21, 2010, 12:41:35 PM »
Watch TARA3, that season was by far the most physically/mentally challenged season i've ever seen for any version of TAR. :cmaslol

That's why the teams were dropping like flies and quitting one after another. The legs up to Taiwan were a nightmare for most.

Didn't somebody break their leg and had to drop out?!

Not in TARA 3. TARA 3 was pretty hard, especially the Sony DVD task. That was just horrible.  :cmas4

I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention! I meant TAR 3!  :-[
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Offline apskip

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Re: Are tasks too easy
« Reply #24 on: December 21, 2010, 04:10:42 PM »
Watch TARA3, that season was by far the most physically/mentally challenged season i've ever seen for any version of TAR. :cmaslol

That's why the teams were dropping like flies and quitting one after another. The legs up to Taiwan were a nightmare for most.

Didn't somebody break their leg and had to drop out?!

Not in TARA 3. TARA 3 was pretty hard, especially the Sony DVD task. That was just horrible.  :cmas4

I will demur, vociferously. The SONY DVD task in the department store was just a typical needle-in-a-haystack task, not much different in theory than searching haybales for the clue in AR6 on the farm in Sweden. The key to most of those tasks is that that first team to finish has a much greater range of things to find, while the last team only has one or two. That means that the length of such a task is highly variable for teams and based mostly on luck (although a system to know what you have already searched can be important too).  In AR17 in Oman the "find Aladdin's lamp with a ring inside" task was of this type. So was the ROADBLOCK at the Majesty Chinese Restaurant in Hong Kong to find the fake food.The end result of a needle-in-a-haystack task is to really spread out teams, which is something I like to see to counterbalance the over-bearing bunching typical of every Amazing Race after AR1.
« Last Edit: December 21, 2010, 04:15:43 PM by apskip »