I personally love the cult the way it is, despite having only been a member a couple of weeks. I like the thought of doing assignments and contests at my own pace, especially since I am in school full time, work part time, plus other obligations, etc.

Definitely not a fan of resorting, I too like the idea of filling up the houses where needed as people are recruited for now, though I'm not sure how we could ever guarantee equal participation overall.

I'm not sure how I feel about the group ideas, it doesn't sound as attention grabbing as the RP and the lessons but I feel like we need more examples/more info to judge entirely... I do agree that in the HA example it could easily turn into a popularity contest.

If you want to judge which HAs are best and award points, maybe you could give like a small amount of points to everyone who did an HA, and then bonus points to the "winners"?

I just had another thought about how to even the points playing field!

What if at the start of term, a single thread (or separate threads for different classes, depending on how much interest there was and how many ideas for projects came about in different areas) was started as a sign-up for people who were interested in a partners project? From those signed up, admins could pair students from different houses (ie. a Ravenclaw with a Slytherin, or a Hufflepuff with a Gryffindor, etc.) to work together on a small assignment or project. That way, when points were awarded, they'd be more evenly spread and it would be MUCH more manageable for people to work in pairs rather than big, house-wide groups. If pairing people off is too much work, an open invite thread could even be started where people could pair up together with whomever they wanted, as long as they were from a different house?

Just a thought! It's much more appealing to work with a partner than with a big group, IMO, as the onus is on each person more when there's only 2 rather than a whole group, and it wouldn't turn into a popularity contest.

I personally would not like to be resorted. Definitely like the option to open JUST the houses that do not have many active members for new recruits though. Also, 's suggestion to offer a reshuffle to any who would like. Except if people want out of a house because it doesn't make enough points, and then that house will lose MORE active members. Decisions decisions decisions! I like the idea of group activities but it does not seem to be a favourite by some of the comments I managed to read. Also I am extremely bogged down since the summer and a lot less available. :(

Please join us in Gryffindor then!

If we go forward with a voting system like Gryffindor suggested, I hope we could still view everyone’s submissions, as I love reading what everyone comes up. But really, I'm not sure how the voting could work because A. the less active houses might only have four submissions (thus, granting all users entrance to the final), while B. the more active houses would have to omit submissions.

I don't think that resorting people will help solve the problem. Gryffindor has a lot of members in it, but not all of them are active at the moment. Resorting people into houses they don't want to be in, might end up in them being less active than they are. If people want to be resorted it's a different thing and I'm all for giving them that option.

Someone else said that it might be a good idea to close the ability to participate the larger house groups, but if that's the case we have to check the active members in a house. Like I said before Gryffindor has a lot of people on the list, but we only have a few active members.

I'm not a fan of only group activities, certainly I would give it a try if it ended up like that, but I don't feel that it would work very well to be honest. Since not all of the group members are very active, that means that some houses will have a lot of users working on the group activity, while others have to do the activity with maybe 2-3 people. Also since people are living in different time zones and they all have real life things going on, this means that sometimes you have to wait longer to get responses from others and to be able to continue working on the task.

Someone suggested that we could maybe work in pairs. It sounds like an interesting idea, but this still gives the problem of some houses having more of those groups than others might have.

I saw someone mentioning a voting system. This might work to divide points better, but if is becomes a popularity contest it would be a bad thing. Maybe we can say that people can only vote for those people that aren't in their own cult? Or we place the entries on a different thread where they only have a number and then vote for the number we like the most without knowing who made it (this means though that entries need to be smailed or something to make sure no one knows which entry belongs to who).

I'm a part of gryffindor and I personally don't mind my house being last in the cup to be honest. I had so much fun with all the activities and that's the most important thing for me. I personally love the cult the way it is now and don't see the need to change things around, so I'm hoping that we stay just the same haha

I'm understanding this is a discussion on how to even out activity between houses. I don't like the idea of resorting unless it's voluntary. Like it's been said before, this isn't guaranteed to increase activity in a given house. Some people have suggested only opening up houses with the least students, but this also doesn't guarantee activity. Perhaps to spur activity within houses, each house could have their own contests. Prizes could be awarded to the winners/participants/whatever, and a number of points could go to their house total. This might work well with the staff's proposed group activities. It would give incentive for individual members to participate, as well as a way to pool resources together to compete against other houses.

Another idea, is there a range of how many points are awarded per activity (assignments, a single RP post, HA submission, etc.)? Maybe switching these up to encourage some activities would help with the points totals? I'm sure there are people in each house who tend to gravitate towards one activity over another. Going back to group activities, the final products from each house could compete for a larger sum of points as the 'grand prize'?

Tossing out another idea for the average method, we could have a roll call or something for members to announce that they are participating in the house cup? That way if someone couldn't be active for a term, or just wanted to hang out and chat with other Potter fans, they wouldn't reduce the House's overall standings.

Sure! XD Gryffindors are awesome. And I'm sure I could think of a fantastic character for the house! I honestly have friends in every house in RL, so I like all the houses. I have a Slytherin character kicking around too.

I'm currently happy with the way pretty much everything worked out. The challenges that I was able to complete were fun and likewise the roleplay. On site events kind of competed with wizarding time but what I was able to do was great.

My only suggestion would be to have the special abilities tryouts before the start of the term so we could roleplay our characters completely throughout the semester.

I think quite a few people would be happy to change to another house- In sorting tests I always get different houses and for me the whole experience is much more important than a special house:)

Wonderful, looking forward to the chance to talk to my snake again. :D

Honestly, prizes are nice, but as I always said in Wayward Squirrel, the adventure is the real prize.

I like the idea that some, but not all contests, would be performed in groups or partner projects. If a group is lacking active team members, maybe the admins can be open to helping that house out should they need it (by offering suggestions, lowering a certain criteria, or a small grading curve). With the partnering, I agree with 's suggestion: users who wish to participate should sign up on a board. That way, one could minimize errors in participation.

Like others have mentioned, the process of earning house points and developing relationships was so much fun this term. Winning the House Cup is only a small bonus in comparison. Whatever is decided on the house-point front will be okay with me.

I personnally like the idea to eventually allow resorting for people who wish it and recruiting for certain houses only. I don't really see yet what group activities imply but I can say that I wish the HA Challenge to remain as it is, a fun thing open to everyone and where we can see all entries, not a competition.

You guys are doing an amazing job in this, thank you :)

tbh I prefer less group projects, I don't want anyone specifically not getting points because I had to stay until midnight cooking pies and cutting turkies at my Bakery job.

I think the due dates for the assignments so far have been very fair. I always feel like I am running behind, but I still think I managed to get a lot done in the time we were given.

I do like the individual grades as it is much easier for me to get something down and out without having to wait for someone to approve it. But I understand the need for fairness, and besides using an average I'm not sure how you would go about evening out the active players from the less active. I know that personally I was really on top of my game when I first joined, but work got a little cray cray and I sort of fell off toward the end because of it. Would I be considered active? Hard to say.

That said I am not in favor of being resorted as I have put quite a bit into my character development and such, and I think someone mentioned all the CWs that go along with the houses. I don't have enough money to get myself outfitted for another house, not that I wouldn't if I could! But I think if there are people who would willingly switch houses into the ones with less players, more power to em! Maybe closing registration for the bigger houses would be a good idea. Just until the smaller ones are filled out.

I don't think the issue is the timeline of things but the change trying to be made. Right now the cult runs in a way that everyone gets a chance to do something for the cult. Even if we get busy we have the opportunity to earn house points and contribute at our own pace at any given time.

When you opened the old challenges for new members it also gave a chance to catch up. Maybe an option could be an activity (ies) being reopened during a slow time for students and would also give a chance to those who are busy to be able to earn some points they might have missed.

The one thing I have been thinking about for a while now is about how much you ladies do. It must get overwhelming. Would stretching deadlines work for you as well or make things harder? At the end of the day is not all about us, but also how much it can be for you 2 and the prefects. Maybe a combination of the ideas presented would give some sort of balance that could work for everyone.

Throwing my two cents in that prizes (like Subeta items or sP) aren't the driving factor in participating for me - I just like having fun doing the activities offered that I enjoy (and sometimes trying to force myself to try other things too!).

Maybe prizes could be more graphics-related? Like having a button/banner/image for the term's house cup winner (possibly even personalized with term date, house name, and user and/or character name) to use as they see fit (forumset, profile, pet profile, etc). To me, that would mean so much more than an item prize and hopefully might feel more fair overall if it's more of an honour prize we're competing for?

I liked the shorter (1-2 weeks) deadline items as I'm a procrastinator, so usually the deadline motivated me to do something about it if I was planning to participate.

All the lessons being the same due date at the end worked against my procrastinating ways, so I might suggest staggering those deadlines a bit (maybe minimum of 2-3 weeks though?). Or it could be different based on the type of assignment - RP classes maybe could take all term while "essay" ones could be less.

Not to say that deadlines/activities need to cater to me being a procrastinator, but just throwing out ideas out there. :)

Quote by Keliora

Maybe prizes could be more graphics-related? Like having a button/banner/image for the term&;s house cup winner (possibly even personalized with term date, house name, and user and/or character name) to use as they see fit (forumset, profile, pet profile, etc). To me, that would mean so much more than an item prize and hopefully might feel more fair overall if it&;s more of an honour prize we&;re competing for?

I LOVE THE IDEA OF DIGITAL ART PRIZES!

I think we should try as best we can to equalize member numbers across the Houses, but not force participation. Again, I like being able to work based on my own individual preferences. Not having to coordinate or depend too much on others is a good thing imo.

I don't care for multiple OCs within this cult, but I am open to some group work and partnering between members especially between Houses. c: