Goodness, 9 pages. I'm here now - let me figure out what I can answer! (Keith wasn't a part of this project, please direct all questions to me!)

Whilst I gather together some answers here, check out THIS POST for my response to that particular suggestion :)

Of COURSE this feedback is being taken into account! This was the first event of its kind, and I knew there would be some problems with it, I just didn't anticipate it being quite this much!

I've been trying to write up a post answering things, but I'm just not sure how to counter unhappiness. I'm sorry that you didn't like the way prizes were distributed, and in the future if/when this event happens again I can definitely see where to make improvements! This was the bad first pancake that needs throwing out, I think. But we have the basis to make this so much better, and I think that we can :)

Those who were asking as to why there was such a delay - that was mainly due to organising meetings with people over several timezones, both the winners and the art team!

Also, I think I'm seeing that people that created a band but then didn't support a band didn't get a prize at all? Is that correct? Anyone that either created a band, joined a band or supported a band should have got the participation prizes. Please make a ticket if this is not the case!

As to making other band finalists and genre winners get something a little special - I believe I can implement some achievements and forum titles, and possibly trophies. We haven't done trophies in such a long time, and I do think that would be nice to do.

- which is a food item? Do you mean the candy bowl? That wasn't just a top prize item, it was an item given to finalists as well.

But the idea is to give out things as prizes that are desirable. If we put useless items as prizes then they wouldn't be much of a prize, and we try to balance it out by hitting 1-2 collections with a harder to get item per event, so it's not just all wearables.

As I have already said, I am going to look into implementing some achievements and forum titles, and also I feel trophies would be a nice addition.

This event was new in that it was a user participation as a group event. It was important to get followers for your band as much as it was important to send scores. There was no prize shop because many users were unable to send scores or play the game, but they were still participating on the boards and dressing up and having fun. When Horns and Roses won, they won as a group, including their supporters. To some this is simply luck that a few people just joined the group and didn't do anything and won a lot of prizes, but each person that joined that band as a supporter contributed points just by being a supporter. The band themselves rallied a good portion of their group to submit points - and whilst there were a few people that 'didn't do much' the fact is that this group got to the end because of its supporters, and for this particular competition I didn't want to lessen the prizes for people who weren't as good at the game we provided. Another year, when we have more ways of getting points, then yes. But this first year, I went for prizes for all winners rather than tiering them.

A large portion of the survey feedback tells me that this event was enjoyed by the majority of people, and that they liked the different way of participating. I can see that you're frustrated here but I cannot answer questions like 'why on earth would you do it this way' and 'how didn't you think of this?' because these were the decisions that we made and hindsight is a great thing.

User prices of prizes have not settled down yet. We took data as to how many were awarded vs. how many people are serious collectors. We wanted prizes to have value, because they are prizes. Next time, there will be more ways to get points, and a prize shop instead.

I am still looking into rewarding the top scorers in a more acceptable way.

This board is about feedback on the prizes, and I am happy to continue trying to make that better for you. But if it continues to get personal towards members of staff, this board will be locked.

Genuine question here, but if collection items are made ineligible for event prizes, what would you expect to get that would make it worth your time to participate? If we take out books, foods, stickers, plushies, beanbags, clothing, etc, then all I really see left as options are toys, TC items that do nothing at all, and minions. Which seems to me like it would make for pretty lame prizes (cute prizes, but still).

Edited to add: My question is in reference to future events, not this particular one.

- We were talking about trophies making a comeback in some way behind the scenes, we weren't quite ready for them yet but the suggestions for them in the feedback for this moved us along a bit :) They're not about to come back with a force, but it's something that we were considering using for certain things in the future. I can't really say any more than that at this point!