Death of a Pub Quiz

Last night our team had an off night at the pub quiz. There are no two ways about it, it was our lowest score ever and we didn’t even come close to the prizes.

When I got home I checked my Twitter account and was left with a bad taste in my mouth. There were tweets asking people for the answers to the questions I’d just been racking my brains to find.

The pub has free wi-fi and we’ve always known that there are people who are Googling for answers or hitting Wikipedia a couple of times per night. But twittering for answers? That’s crowd sourcing and there’s a limit of five people per team. So should each team now pay €2.50 for their 500 Twitter followers as well? And what about the extended network via re-tweets? Maybe we could let them pay a reduced rate of just €1. Either way it’s going to be an expensive night out.

Perhaps we could adopt the freemium model. Free entry for those that don’t use network devices. ‚€2.50 for 6 tweets or €10 for the deluxe unlimited tweets and surfing package.

So it looks like Pub Quiz 1.0 is now officially dead and I’ll be attending the funeral. I know it’s the taking part blah blah blah, but what’s the point in taking part in an unwinnable contest?

Can you stop people cheating in a pub quiz?

Our pub has free wi-fi and you have to reserve a table to enter the quiz. Usually, all the tables are reserved so everyone must be taking part in the quiz right? Surely the pub can just switch off the router for a few hours and then no one can cheat.

Eh, no. This is the Network Age. We are the network, if you block us, we will reroute. Switch off one wi-fi router and the mobile networks takes over, USB dongles are plugged-in, next door’s open wi-fi is sought out, neighbourhood wi-max is discovered and mesh networks created.

So the door will always remain open for people to “research” their answers. But it’s just a doorway to information and as we know, having the information doesn’t mean it’s good information. The funny thing was that none of that answers I saw tweeted back were correct!

This is the Network Age. We all have a voice, we all shall speak, but we’re not all right. And that’s just fine.

So what’s the answer?

I think it’s (nearly) time for Pub Quiz 2.0

Maybe the answer is to do pub quizzes via Twitter or a similar tool. The quizmaster reads out the question to the crowd so you still have to be in the pub buying their beer. Participants then tweet the quizmaster their answer and it appears on a big screen in the room. The first correct answer gets the point. Next question.

People would still be able to look up answers and ask for help, but those that know that answers anyway wouldn’t have to look it up and would have the advantage. People with big thumbs might be at a bit of a disadvantage but hey, that’s evolution for you.
Will it be better or worse? Who knows? It’ll be different, that’s all. And that’s true for most of the rapid changes that the Network Age brings.

But I don’t think it’ll be a very busy pub quiz. At least not yet. As the saying goes, “The future exists today. It’s just unevenly distributed”. I’d go a step further. It’s not just the future that is inequitably distributed – i.e. the tools to access the network – it’s the knowledge of what the future is that is inequitably distributed. And that’s why I say it’s nearly time for Pub Quiz 2.0

Until then we’re in a grey area. I think I’ll take up dominos instead.

But what about the couple in the corner who have been coming to the quiz for years, who don’t want a camera on their phone, who just want a phone that make calls, you know the type.

Well they’ll probably sit there each week blissfully unaware of the changing nature of competition in the Network Age, wondering why their place in the league table is progressively getting worse and joke about how they must be experiencing the early onset of Alzhiemers.

I think I’ll join them and have a quiet pint.

Filed under: Benelux