Seventh Best

[Blaupanzer]

In a conversation with my Program Leader, I mentioned civ. He said his boss's boss is the seventh best civ player in the world. I tried to get a chance to speak to him about this, but will probably need to get on his calendar. Anyone have any idea how a person would determine he is seventh in the world? Are there MP round-robin tournaments or other competitions that would give such feedback? Turns out civ is quite a popular pasttime in the intelligence community. Lots of historians and systems people like the variation even using the same settings every time.

[wodan11]

Either a convention or online standings. I've won several events at the world boardgame championships, which is much the same. It's a convention that claimed the name and has a lot of international participation, but it's not like the Olympics or anything where all the countries send a contingent. Same thing with online rankings. Being ranked 7th, and it has worldwide participation, so such a claim could be made.

[Krill]

Probably BS. The only current method that even ranks people are the MP ladders, and obviously that doesn't rank many people.

What's his online nick, btw?

[Theben]

I would think it's someone at CFC, but there are a few sites unrelated to Poly/CFC etc.

[Blaupanzer]

Right on the CFC part. Need to talk to him to get his nick if he will say, and that appears to require going thru the Admin Asst rigamarole to get on his calendar. As soon as I know more details, I will post, but I was curious ahead of time where rankings might come from. He is important in RL, and he only knows me based on a few (mostly positive) incidents. I thought it was worth a shot to let him know we have something in common, to be more than a face in the crowd.

[Theben]

Maybe you shouldn't. Once he knows you're a civver he'll know you've been shirking a little at work.

[SpencerH]

If he's a CFC 'er then he may play the 'game of the month'. IIRC there are rankings based on high score.

[Krill]

If he came 7th in one of them and thinks that makes him the 7th best in the world he's delusional.

[Blaupanzer]

I suspect delusion, Krill, but I thought I'd ask if there were some great annual ladder system of which I was unaware. As noted, he is important enough, both for what he knows and what he did in the day, that NO one would question his purported standing without both cause and proof. Also, since I don't MP at all, Theben could be right that the downside of likely diversion may not be made up for by the shared pasttime. However, none of us at our level work very regular hours, so we'll see.

[rah]

I would have to think it would be a positive to share a hobby with the muckety mucks.
If he's competitive then I would think that he believes the game requires high level thinking. I don't see how having him think you have those similar skills is a bad thing.

Heck I play golf with our higher ups and have gotten good recognition in other areas from it.

[Blaupanzer]

Agree. No calendar space until Wed at earliest. Non-hi pri meetings can get bumped.

[Ming]

Sharing anything with the "uppers" is a good thing... even getting trashed with them
Anything that makes you stand out as more of a "kindred" spirit gives you a leg up.

[Blaupanzer]

Meeting went very well. He was pleased that someone else on his staff enjoyed the puzzle-solving experience of Civilization. I had a 15-minute appointment and we talked for 35 before his Admin Ass't interrupted to note he had 10 minutes left to make a 15-minute drive to a meeting with higher ups. I mentioned the 7th in the world comment, and he thought I was pulling his leg. He said he had finished 7th in a CFC ladder-type tournament about a year ago, and had crowed to his colleagues and immediate reports. But he NEVER said 7th in the WORLD. He plays almost exclusively MP, and would not share his handle (Screen nickname) unless I wanted to join him. He says that screen names are like passwords, better left unshared. Maybe the person behind that name is 14 years old, maybe he is a fourth-tier executive in an 120,000-person company.

Folks get carried away sometimes in admiring their leader. We also talked about my folks and how their career advancement/training is being handled. Apparently this is an issue up at the nosebleed levels of the company. He seemed to listen to my responses without trying to tell me the answers. Good meeting!

[slnz]

I sense a raise coming next month.

[Blaupanzer]

Maybe a reassignment which given the interplay between us, other contractors, and the Government folk on the overall current effort would be appreciated. He noted this to be one of the tougher projects on his roster, meaning he had done his homework. I've been on this one for over two years, and am beginning to wear out my customer goodwill.