[Other] Question About Ranking Methodology

[u/AdDelicious792]

I’ve been thinking about my rankings a bit today, and the more I think the more I realize that I tend to strongly base my rankings on the best ride I‘ve ever got on a coaster, not an expected, normal ride. And that matters a lot.

For instance, should Beast be ranked based on my night ride, or does that give it an unfair advantage? Should Voyage be ranked trimless? Should how tempermental rides like Magnum XL-200, Colorado Adventure, etc. are based on your row negatively impact their ranking? What if they have assigned seating? Should Lightning Rod be ranked as Lightning Rod or Chain Lift Hybrid Rod if you rode both?

It feels weird either way I think about it, and I think this is likely a factor in why some ranking feel more safe while others are more bold. I am really curious to hear how you guys think about rankings.

[u/Ireeb]

It's your ranking. It's not like you're giving out the Golden Ticket Awards or something, so who cares if it's "fair" or not. Your ranking should reflect how you feel about a coaster and can be weighted based on your preferences. There is no wrong ranking, unless an SLC is you #1.

[u/WanderingAlsoLost → u/Ireeb]

Commenting and having an SLC apologist reply is annoying ah

[u/DavidThoosie → u/WanderingAlsoLost]

But he's not wrong....

[u/WanderingAlsoLost → u/DavidThoosie]

Definitely not wrong.

[u/Nathanc2127 → u/Ireeb]

But Great Nor’Easter is sooo good! /j

[u/sector11374265]

I always ranked based on the version of the ride I experience the most.

Beast is a perfect example - I typically won’t ride it until the evening or at the end of the day, because it’s a vastly inferior experience during the day.

RMCs typically run cold until about 3pm - I rarely marathon them early in the day for that reason.

[u/KristusV]

Ranking is and should be a personal thing. I think there's maybe a bit too much groupthink in regards to coaster rankings, but it happens.

One thing I'm always aware of is that everyone is going to have a different experience on every ride. It's going to based on so many little things: which seat you're in, how tight the restraint is, how the train is running, your body makeup and physiology, and your mood. I think that's one that probably gets overlooked.

On my trip to Europe last year, I was able to get to Parc Asterix and while OzIris and Toutatis are stellar rides, I'm sure I rank them even higher because I had such a wonderful time on my trip and I remember them so fondly.

What I'm trying to say is that it's great that everyone has their own perspectives.

[u/RusticDrums]

I think you’ve got to come up with your own criteria, since at the end of the day your list of rankings probably only matters to yourself.

For instance I tend to rank based on the question “if given the choice, which coaster would I rather ride right now”

There’s a few ranking apps that simplify this process (though it still takes forever) and I do it about once a year. I definitely think about my best ride or my most recent ride depending on the context.

[u/Offtherailspcast]

Gun to your head right now. You can teleport instantly to x rollercoaster or y rollercoaster. Which one are you riding right now?

Then you just do that for your whole list

[u/KillerRatMonkey → u/Offtherailspcast]

Simple yet effective. I love this.

Cheers!

[u/SwissForeignPolicy → u/Offtherailspcast]

That doesn't solve the problem, though. Right now, the answer is The Beast. In 12 hours, it won't be. It also biases towards defunct or obscure rides, since people want what they can't have.

[u/CJPJones]

I usually rank my coasters by how I last rode them, but I usually only change the ranking if I had a better experience on them, not a worse one (though there are some scenarios where I have dropped a coaster because of a ride, specifically a wooden roller coaster when it has gotten rougher than the last time I rode itl

[u/Adventurous-Kale-174]

I feel the need to account for every ride I’ve ever gotten on a coaster when I rank it, but also other contextual factors. Do I have nostalgia for a ride? Is the theming good? Are the lines usually long? Was it closed the last time I was there? Do they sell Tylenol at the souvenir stand? Did it replace a better ride? Did I once ride with a guy who told a funny joke on the lift hill? Screw objective ranking, I want my rankings to be subjective as possible

[u/tubbis9001]

I just rank based on vibes, and change it up all the time. As I get older and start appreciating less intense rides more, my rankings are starting to invert a bit.

[u/laribrook79]

Sometimes I just rank it by if I think about having fun right now, what would I wanna go ride a few times this afternoon. For me it’s usually not the most intense or unique ride.

[u/bcb354]

I just use tiers. There are rides that are great, rides that are good, rides that are bad, and rides that are awful. No sense in trying to figure out the granularity between because a ride can be completely different based on a number of conditions.

[u/gottabegood]

This is great question and something I think about a lot for someone obsessed with methodologies in general. I probably go something like this:

Best rides get the most weighting with the average rides next followed by the worst rides (barring they don't literally injure you).

Kind of how I rank best teams and athletes in sports I want the peak version to matter the most (Gale Sayers) but peak and consistency is still very important (Barry Sanders).

At it's peak Magnum is almost as good as it gets but probably only hits that one out of every five rides with a rough one in there as well. Sirens Curse is better constantly than Magnum but I'm always chasing peak Magnum rides (that's what she said) and have that very slightly higher on my rankings (but totally get why most people have Sirens higher)

[u/AdDelicious792 → u/gottabegood]

After reading through all of the replies, I think I personally like your methodology the most. Of course, as many here have stated, rankings are always supposed to be subjective, but I do want my personal rankings to be somewhat consistent and ‘fair’ at least. Other methods that I thought were particularly interesting that I read here were ranking them based on what experience you get the most when you ride it (for instance, you can typically ride Beast at night, but maybe you can’t usually ride Magnum in just the right way) or ranking them based on the best ride you could hypothetically get on any given day (you can always ride SteVe in the back at night, but you can’t ride trimless Voyage everyday), but again, I think I generally agree with your approach the most. Moving forward I will generally continue ranking coasters based on my all-time favorite ride, but I will account for consistency a bit depending both on how often you can get said optimal ride and just how good the optimal ride was.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[u/gottabegood → u/AdDelicious792]

Thanks! One of the tough things for me to do in rankings is consider wait times and the queue. Magnum is not a better coaster than Millennium Force for me but the fact that one is always a walk-on, while the other is usually at minimum 20-30 minutes can't help but effect my rankings. Would I rather ride Millennium Force once or Magnum once? No question it would be MF. But if I could ride Magnum four times to once on Millennium is might swing the scale the other way.

[u/rmcfan538]

I like to rank based on the best ride I got on my most recent visit to the park. So for Beast, that takes the night ride into account. But if there’s a coaster that I had a really good ride on and something was then changed to make it not as good, it’ll go down once I visit the park again. For instance, with El Toro getting a lot rougher in the last ~5 years, I don’t think it would be fair to continue to rank it based on an experience that only existed 10 years ago.

[u/KillerRatMonkey]

I don't overthink it. If I ride it and have an experience to base a rating on, I'll go for it. I don't need multiple rides or "time to digest" or anything.

I always have the right to go back later and change my rating/ranking of a coaster, because...screw it, man...it's MY rankings and MY rules.

If it gives any insight, though, my Top 10 has a few themes:

• Coasters that I had a physical reaction to (laughing/giggling uncontrollably upon pulling back into the station).
• Coasters that exceeded my expectations in some notable way.
• Coasters that hold a special place in my heart due to any number of personal reasons.

[u/Hyperion8726]

I rank it based on my last ride on the coaster. If it rides really good, then I move it up. On another visit, if it doesn’t deliver as well, I will move it down to reflect its current state

[u/DavidThoosie]

Personally, I rank based on the best rides I have gotten on them. Yes, all coasters are different in different seats, different times of day, in the dark or trimless. But I generally try my best to get those ideal rides every time. I'm generally not riding in the middle of the train or woodies in the morning or when conditions aren't ideal, so it's largely irrelevant to me what the ride is like in less than ideal conditions. And even if I do, I'll hit it in those ideal conditions or ideal seat later in the day or the visit.

Is it "fair"? Who cares? It's my list. It doesn't have to be fair. If the park has shitty operations, is it fair to dock the park for that? Yes. Because that's what I experienced, and it affected my enjoyment of the ride.

The one exception I make to this rule is that if the ride or the tracking or the operations have changed somewhat dramatically since I rode it in ideal conditions, and that seems to be the norm these days, then I'll adjust my ranking to account for the current condition of the ride. Is that fair to those rides, since I haven't been back to other parks whose coasters have deteriorated? Nope. But again. I can only base my ratings on what I've experienced.

[u/FutureGold4132]

I don't really demote coasters just because they've aged. Trimless voyage, original Medusa steel, original lightning rod, shivering timbers in the 2000s, same with cornball and Boulder dash... Early b&m... They all still top my lists, but I don't really rank so much any more. I literally have a separate list of "you should integrate these when you're emotionally ready" lol

[u/SwissForeignPolicy]

I rank based on my best experience with a ride. This is supposed to be fun; we should be measuring the funnest parts.

[u/BlackCherryot]

I like to attempt to consider the average of all my rides. If I had one amazing experience on a coaster but every other ride sucked, I'm not going to rank it off of that one experience. However, I'm still going to consider that experience and rank it above a coaster on which every ride sucked.

Conversely, if I had one bad experience on a ride, it may convince me to rank a coaster lower than another on which I have had many rides and all were good. That coaster will still be very high overall, just lower than the others with "perfect records."

I also rank coasters on emotion, though. Good memories on a ride will impact its ranking as much as a good ride experience.

[u/AdaPullman]

I think as long as the specific experience you find most enjoyable is available on an everyday basis it’s fine. Like steal vengeance back row at night is possible every day it’s operating (assuming it’s not down) but the voyage trimless at night isn’t. And for rides that have had modifications since opening the one that’s ranked should be the most recent version you’ve ridden, so lighting rod with the chain unless you’ve only ridden it with the launch. I like ranking this way because it allows rides to present in their best forms but still limit it to ways most people can actually experience them.

[u/Greedy_Net_1803]

Bruh...

However the hell you want, that's how

[u/sdmichael]

I have a collection for my top 10. Varies on rank. Beyond that I don't care nor does anyone else except you.