Just Dance World Cup 2019 Finals Feedback
I've watched the Just Dance World Cup finals since 2017 and it gets better each year. This year, I liked how the map behind the dancers matched their orientation, and I liked that you couldn't see the scoring bars (because I know how easy that can confuse an audience who isn't sure whether or not the bars on the screen are reflected compared to the players in front of the screen). I also thought the song selection was better, often with one extreme as the third dance. It was really enjoyable to watch, and it's incredible how many outstanding dancers are competing.
There is one thing that really stood out to me, and I suspect that the Just Dance team is thinking about it, too. Where are the girls? In the very final round of 3+ hours showing on YouTube, those finalists are all boys. Even most of the national finalists were boys. Since 2017, it seems like boys have dominated the finals.
When I watch videos from before 2017, I see a few girls who were highly successful, including Littlesiha, The Fairy Dina, and Pamela R. Watching Littlesiha and The Fairy Dina dance to Circus Extreme is my favorite match ever (and that might be my favorite dance, either that or OMG extreme; do they feature the same coach?).
So what has changed?
I would have thought that more girls buy and play Just Dance at home than boys. Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe this also depends on the age range. And I would have thought that girls can dance just as well, if not better, than boys. It seems like it should be a fairly gender-neutral sport.
The national and world finals seem to use Xbox Kinect, but the online qualifications also include Switch, Wii U, and PS4. It must be difficult for players who qualify on another platform to compete against experienced Xbox Kinect players in the highest stages of the competition. The game's scoring counts as a point, so even though judges (or Twitch viewers) can also influence the outcome, that console is certainly important. Just Dance curves the scoring for the online qualifications, but players using other platforms haven't had years to learn the technical points that Kinect is looking for (but they do know some technical points that remotes and phones are looking for).
But that's a console issue, not necessarily related to the gender question that I raised. (Probably, both are being considered.)
Does the Kinect sensor and the current scoring system currently favor boys? It seems like there are girls who hit phenomenal scores with Kinect on the WDF. This is probably something that the Just Dance team has explored. If there is any difference, maybe it is slight, or maybe it is only for certain types of moves, but in the highest stages of the competition, a few points can make a huge difference.
Theoretically, you could have both male and female finalists for each nation and for the world. Just Dance appears to be very inclusive though. What I mean is, Just Dance seems more inclined to ask, "Which gender do you identify with," than, "Are you male or female," which may add a complication to this idea.
Many other sports, like golf, tennis, and basketball, have different leagues for males and females. Though in dancing, it seems like there could or should be more gender equality.
I expect that the Just Dance team is already considering some of the issues that I've raised, but thought I would share my thoughts just in case.
In my opinion, Just Dance is the best video game in the world, truly a video sport, and it keeps getting better. Just Dance is also very inclusive, as I mentioned earlier, and I didn't mean any disrepsect in raising this issue (which I'm sure you've already considered to some extent). The sensor itself obviously isn't biased, on any dance you choose you can find girls who hit phenomenal scores, and I know that there was no intention for the game or competition to favor one gender. Maybe it's just a statistican anomaly, but it's an observation that mostly boys seem to be reaching the later stages of the competition.