FAQ - Just the facts, ma’am!

What is this here thing about, anyway?

The GSPM is a score competition based on the scoring system devised by TrueAchievements.com.

So, um, how does it work?

Each week, teams will be ranked based on their TrueAchievement score change for that week, according to the following scheme:

• 10 points: 1st place
• 9 points: 2nd through 10th place
• 8 points: 11th through 25th place
• 7 points: 26th through 50th place
• 6 points: 51st through 75th place
• 5 points: 76th through 100th place
• 4 points: 101st through 125th place
• 3 points: 126th through 150th place
• 2 points: 151st through 175th place
• 1 point: 176th through 200th place
• 0 points: Below 200th place

In addition, the team with the highest TA ratio for the week (minimum 1000 gamerscore for that week) will earn 2 bonus points.

At the end of September, the 75 teams with the highest number of contest points will be placed into an upper (Gold) tier and the rest of the teams will be placed in a lower (Silver) tier. All teams will have their scores reset to zero. The Gold tier will continue to compete until the end of the year for the top prizes. The Silver tier can continue to compete, but just for fun. At the end of the competition, the top three teams will win the top prizes.

How are the scores calculated, exactly?

We get our data from the GSPM leaderboard on TA. There's actually a lot of information in the leaderboard feed that you don't see - online/offline GS, online/offline TA, number of achievements, etc. Remember that only online achievements count for the GSPM!

• TA for each gamer is the change in TA from the start of the week. This means that your score can be negative if some of your achievements have ratios which drop. There is nothing we can do about this since it's how TA works!
• Ratio is calculated as the total TA for the week divided by the total GS. This can also clearly be negative. I know that seems weird, but that's the best we can do with the data we have. Ideally, we would track individual achievements for the week and just use those, but there is no way to pull that information from TA or XBox.com without screen scraping.

When teams drop out of the competition, we do not go back to previous weeks and recalculate team points.

Also, the only leaderboard scans that matter are the ones that occur at midnight PST on Saturday night. The scans that we do every hour to update the leaderboard are just so you can keep track of your position as the week progresses. There's no need to worry that your achievements "won't count" when we do things like freeze the leaderboards on Saturday.

What are these prizes, anyway?

The following prizes will be awarded to each member of a team finishing in 1st, 2nd or 3rd place:

• 1st prize: Choice of Xbox 360 S console (any region) or GAEMS G155 case
• 2nd prize: Choice of Kinect Bundle or two 360 games (price not exceeding US$120)
• 3rd prize: Choice 1 year of Xbox LIVE Gold or 4000 MSP

When does the competition begin?

Thursday, February 9, 2012 at midnight Pacific Standard Time (PST)

When does it end?

Phase one ends September 29, 2012 at midnight, PST. The final competition ends on December 29, 2012 at midnight, PST.

Where can I get contest news?

• The GSP Marathon leaderboard on TA
• Follow us on Twitter
• Like us on Facebook

Who is running this competition?

The competition is being run by Sashamorning, InigoMontoya80 and Cheese Touch. Web stuff is being done by Cheese Touch.

I have more questions!!

You might be able to find the answers in our Official Rules. Questions concerning the rules or contest organization should be sent to Sashamorning or InigoMontoya80 through private message at TrueAchievements.com. Questions concerning the website or data should be sent via private message to Cheese Touch at TrueAchievements.com. Please do not message the contest moderators over XBox LIVE.