ON THE ZWIFTPOWER RUMOR

A note on the rumor circulating, saying that Zwift is planning to bring ZwiftPower in-house:

If this is true, then it is (potentially) FANTASTIC NEWS! 

I couldn't be happier, given how busy they must be with Virtual Tour de France going on in the meantime. I will explain why.

If you have read my earlier posts, then you will know already that I strongly object to the race category system in Zwift. It's a dead end. And no third-party life support will change that. In fact, it will only make things worse by giving the false impression it is worth saving. It's time to move on and lay the W/kg race categories to rest once and for all.

Don't get me wrong. The community plays a very important part in making Zwift what it is today, similar to other online game communities. And ZwiftPower has been an important force that has helped the rest of the community to develop Zwift racing, and to encourage clubs to organize races at all! And it's voluntary work. Nothing to spit at. 

But the race category system must go. And then it doesn't help that you have a third party (Zwift and the racers being the other parties) that clings on to the W/kg system and tries to find new measures to stop cheating. The system itself promotes cheating. So what ZwiftPower sets out to do is, in a way, to put band aid on an infested wound. The wound won't heal, no matter how much band aid you put on it. It needs to be cleaned out first.

If Zwift brings ZwiftPower in-house, then that signals to me that Zwift is finally about to take control and, more importantly, full responsibility over racing. It's then up to them alone to make sure our racing is clean and fair. They can no longer just shrug and nod over to somebody else for that. There is then no one to help them keep racing clean and fair. It's all up to them. And it also gives Zwift a greater freedom to influence or redesign reporting of and keeping tabs on race results.

And in the best of worlds, this paves the way for what Eric Min vaguely promised in the Zwift Podcast of Feb 4th 2020. A reworked race category system. One based on past results rather than past efforts.

It does pave the way. Then it has to happen too. Seeing is believing, but one obstacle would be removed and that's a step forward. 

The people behind ZwiftPower are not the obstacle here. They have tried their best to remedy a system that was ill thought-out to begin with, without actually being able to change the system itself. That is up to Zwift. And I hope they take that step next. They will have to.

In the meantime, and in so far as the rumors are true, so far so good.

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