Mini Encounter Contest: Heat One

[tenelo]

I agree that a template entry would have been hugely helpful. I started with the impression that even the encounter should be reuseable without the location or NPC presented with it, and wrote my entry on that premise. (leaving it til a couple of hours before deadline was stupid, I grant you, but I always wrote my best essays at University in late night/early morning sessions before 9am deadlines).

On a completely unrelated point, is anybody else surprised at the relatively low voter turnout compared to when this was an open poll on the main news page?

 

[Corporate Dog]

Is there a note on your entry stating that you had permission to bend the rules?

Nope. That would've taken up valuable writing space.
And in spite of what my last post said, I didn't really take it to be "special permission" as in, "Go ahead, you can break the rules but the others can't." Instead, I was looking for the official interpetation.

The rules DO state that only four pages are allowed, and then they dictate what SHOULD be on each page. I was asking Morrus whether or not the page content rule was a recommendation or something that was set in stone.

If there isn't, since one of the voting criteria Morrus posted was "Did the author follow the competition rules?", you may lose out on votes from people who assume that you simply couldn't follow the rules.

Which of course, is why I urge people to use a less strict interpretation of the rules. I don't mind losing if my entry is of a clearly lesser quality than the winner. I'd hate to lose over vague rules minutia, though.

Regards,
Corporate Dog

 

[Corporate Dog]

On a completely unrelated point, is anybody else surprised at the relatively low voter turnout compared to when this was an open poll on the main news page?

Not really. I bet a lot of people come here to read the news off the front page, and never really delve into the forums. I was like that until the contest was announced.

Since you need a forum account to vote (which takes a little effort on your part), since there's no announcement on the front page yet, and since the participation for message threads in this forum about the contest have had a relatively low amount of interest, the numbers are about what I would expect.

Oh, and nobody seems to be able to stuff the ballot box here either.

Regards,
Corporate Dog

 

[EOL]

Morrus,

A couple of requests, if you could keep this thread open after the voting is over I would appreciate it. I'd like to comment, but since I have a horse in this race (and no friend to write a review like Mistwell) I don't want to give anything away. Secondly I would kind of like to see a better turn out on the voting, would it be possible to post a message about it under the home page news. I know I've gone through phases where I didn't hit the messageboards much (though I had an account) and just kept up with the news.

Thanks.

 

[omedon]

Hmm... 61 votes so far and there were 60 entries if I recall correctly.

Interesting.

 

[Berandor]

I voted without entering

Sorry

 

[omedon]

Seriously though, with 60 entries each 3 pages long that is 180 pages. A lot of material for a regular joe like myself to sift through to make his vote fair.

I would like to participate in the voting, but I just don't have time to read all of the encounters, and it wouldn't be fair the contestants for me to cast a vote unless I did. It makes sense that only those with a vested interest in the contest would sacrafice the time to make sure it was run fairly.

I will just have to leave it to you guys.

 

[tenelo]

You do only need to read them in batches of about 27 pages over a couple of days, since Morrus is running the voting in heats. You get to vote in each heat, so you're only comparing the entries in each heat at any given time, you don't have to pick one winner out of 70 (or whatever the total was).

The votes seem to be far more evenly distributed this time round than previously, anybody care to hazzard a guess as to why? I'm always fascinated by voting pattens and things like that. I really hope that we can have a couple of feedback threads after the voting is complete, where people can explain why they voted for which encounter.

 

[Wicht]

The votes seem to be far more evenly distributed this time round than previously, anybody care to hazzard a guess as to why? I'm always fascinated by voting pattens and things like that. I really hope that we can have a couple of feedback threads after the voting is complete, where people can explain why they voted for which encounter.

The votes do seem to fall into the pattern of distribution you would expect (as opposed to the ridiculous patterns of the original votes) though it would be nice if a few more voted. Two days personally seems to short a time but then again I would like to see the end results within my lifetime

I voted for Bad Cat's day myself just because i like cats for one and two because I thought it followed the rules more or less without being "over the top," or "one dimensional."

 

[Corporate Dog]

The votes do seem to fall into the pattern of distribution you would expect (as opposed to the ridiculous patterns of the original votes)

I AM slightly curious, however, as to how many of the votes were made by new users.

With the voting as neck and neck as it is, even one fake vote could tip the scales...

Regards,
Corporate Dog