New Multiplier, New Effects

Though my time with Vocaloidism has so far been very short, I’ve been very busy analyzing the rankings each week, making charts to compare and contrast the methodology of the countdown.  With the addition of the new multiplier for the Mylist points, a lot of questions come out about how it will affect the ranking.  See what I’ve found out, after the break.

On ranking #119, the new multiplier of ((Mylist/Views)*100)*2 <= 40, the Mylist points are effectively reduced, however it still consists for more than a majority of the points in most cases.  This week’s top three had at least 64% of its points from Mylists with the new operator.  As I mentioned in the 119 ranking, the “Last Week’s Points” and “Percentage” fields, new for this year, was not accurate because instead of converting last week’s points to the new scale.  Because it reflects the old point scale, I’ve done some calculations where I’ve converted week 118’s results into the new scale and week 119’s results into the old scale for twelve videos on my tracker list.  Here are the results, side by side in chart form.

As you can see, it’s a big change between the two.  Not only does it reduce the total amount of points, it makes the rank race very close.  Unfragment, Battle of Flowers, and JBF were bouncing off each other for 119’s ranks on the new scale, while it wouldn’t have even come close on the old.  Now, graphics are great and all, but let’s see some actual side-by-side comparison of the data of the 119 results:

As you can see, there’s one change in the actual ranking of these tracked videos, and an overall reduction.  Also there’s a shift in where the competition on the countdown is.  The new calculation makes the top 30 more competitive for the top spots.  If you notice, Yandere Luka was 30 this week, and CLW was 31, with a margin of only 32 points.  If the 2009 ranking had been used, CLW would have taken the spot by nearly 2000 points.  Both videos are interesting and have things going for them beyond my personal preference, so I won’t comment on how one can get ahead of another.

Even though this new version is much more competitive, the formula is not perfect.  To reach the multiplier cap of 40, you would have to have one in every five views become a Mylist entry, a virtually impossible feat to make.  However, as you saw in this week’s top three, they blew the old cap of 20 completely off by nearly 2.5, the #1 gaining nearly 300,000 Mylist Points, a ludicrous figure.  If the multiplier cap were 20 instead of 40, a more realistic 1/10^th of all views would become Mylists.  If it was capped off at that point, it would increase competition between the top lists to get the most views, a true test of a video’s popularity.

The new points system increases competition in the top 30, but it isn’t perfect.  The multiplier cap is set too high to be of any realistic use.  Only time will tell what this new system will do to the countdown, and I can’t wait to see.