Pet Treasure Chest Spotlight/Contest?
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(forgive me if this has been suggested before, i browsed through a few pages of previous topics and couldn't find anything similar so i figured i could go ahead and post this??!)
hey hey hey!!! so!! i've been thinking about events or ways in which to encourage users to get more involved and creative with their pets!! one thing i've found myself coming back to is browsing through the "favorite pet TC of the person above!" topic in the pets boards and checking out the different types of TCs people put together for their pets. aside from just picking a theme and throwing in items related to said theme, it's fun to see how there's so many different ways in which to customize a TC's appearance and make it interesting, be it sorting items by separating them into sections, color palette, timeline in a character's story, etc. etc.!
it got me thinking that it would actually be really fun to have a spotlight or contest that you could enter your pet's TC in and maybe users can vote on the most interesting/creative ones? and like the winner(s) at the end of a certain voting period have/has their TC(s) spotlighted on the news and wins a trophy for their user profile/pet profile or CSC or a special item or whatever?? idk of course there's tons of ways staff could go about putting something like this together, but i'll throw out some of my general ideas!
first off, i definitely don't think it'd be feasible to have a TC Spotlight featured daily, like the Pet Spotlight!! i know there's a lot of drama about the PS winner queue and having to wait months upon months to get accepted or rejected, and for the staff's sake, they could do without the additional pressure of flipping through hundreds of different pet TCs on top of that. i was thinking something in terms of how neo does its spotlights-- maybe not even weekly, but bi-weekly? monthly? whatever would put a successful timeframe in place where a new spotlight round is announced, users have x many days/weeks to put together their TCs and submit them before a deadline, and then the remaining time is set aside for voting/judging.
so let's just say for example's sake that the TC Spotlight is monthly. the idea i've been mulling over is that each month, a new "theme" is announced for that month's spotlight round. [sub]((a basic theme was the first thing that came to mind but honestly it could be anything from a keyword, maybe even a story or short sentence?? idk the possibilities go on and on but we'll go with a single-word theme in this example))[/sub] the theme is up to staff and could be anything from a super broad topic such as "heart" or "happy" to something more specific like "cowboy" or "police" etc. etc. etc. you get the idea i could go on and on!!!
the rest is fairly straight-forward: users pick a pet they want to enter and are free to put whatever items they'd like in said pet's treasure chest! the idea is for users to utilize their creativity to put together a neat display that goes along with the theme, so gigantic TCs aren't necessarily any better than smaller, simpler ones! after the submission deadline, the TC entries (with the pet and owner redacted.. i figure it might seem too popularity contest-y if pets were mentioned??) are put on display to be voted on and i guess the one(s) with the most votes or highest rating(s) win(s)!! hooray!
so yeah i'm ineloquent with words sorry but that's the basic gist of what i had in mind!
just thought it might be a fun suggestion to throw out there! i'm well aware that there's TONS of certain, specific details that need touched upon though and i encourage criticism and open discussion!
some of the biggest issues i'm kinda stuck on, for example, include:
-inclusion of CWs. my first thought was that CWs should not be allowed in TC entries in general just for the basic fact that not everyone collects them or can afford them, but i know some ppl have CWs in TCs that they're really proud of and idk the more i think about it i feel kinda bad!! haha but yeah the EPICon cosplay contest split avatars into two groups-- CW and non-CW-- so maybe it could be possible with the TC Spotlight as well?
i'll shut up now this is this a ridiculous wall of text i guess let me know what ya think?!?!?!!!!
so i wouldn't?? mind this? i really really like tcs. i just don't know how it'd work...? i am having trouble articulating my opinions tho
some thoughts
- a timeline like "theme announced on the first of the month, two weeks to enter, one week to vote, one week to distribute prize(s)" could be alright think
- it could use the monthly theme, i think it'd be fun to see that extended farther than monthly collections + quest shop items
a more negative thought
- "after the submission deadline, the TC entries (with the pet and owner redacted.. i figure it might seem too popularity contest-y if pets were mentioned??) are put on display to be voted on" if you strip away the pet portion, it's just... an item gallery contest? you lose part of the theming, i think... like, a display of pastries is different from a display of pastries that belongs to a pet that owns a patisserie, imo. there's more of a story with the latter than the former?
I'm not necessarily against the idea, but I'm not really for it either.
Cons: -The winners would be heavily skewed to older users. For example I have a tonne of junk that's worth millions just sitting around my galleries/vault. Just by virtue of having more stuff, and more funds to buy a couple of extra really expensive items to round out the theme can give older users a leg up.
- CWs - you mention some of the problems, but also what about drawing exclusive CWs to fit the theme? Is 2 weeks enough time for an experienced CW creator to draw and get approval?
- drama/popularity contests (sure you strip out identifying info, but that doesn't guarantee anonymity).
- Two weeks really isn't a lot of time to create a TC - people work on them for years!
Possiblities:
- maybe limit items, say 10-15.
- Use a wishlist type system instead and you can use any item onsite. So its your creativity that's at play, not your resources. (of course this means not showing off existing TCs)
- Maybe it would be better run as a user event/giveaway/contest rather than a site event.
Maybe simplify the whole idea. What are you trying to accomplish? Right now you seem to have two or three ideas co-mingling.
- A mini-spotlight focused just on TCs.
- A creative event where people don't necessarily tie a TC to a specific pet, but create something theme specific - so a mini-gallery?
- You say your objective is to get people more involved in their pets, and yet I don't really see how this idea would make that happen - at least not in any way the current pet spotlight doesn't.
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If I'm honest, I'm not sure I see the point of two distinct pet spotlights. Many people use the spotlight as a way to showcase their extensive TCs to begin with. Plus, as others mentioned, if this contest was open to user voting, it would very quickly become a popularity contest. The pet spotlight isn't perfect, but at least there's no favouritism involved in selecting winners. If we were to have a second pet contest, I feel that winners should be randomly selected as well.
Plus, a lot of this would come down to $$$. For the pet spotlight, at least you don't need to spend much money (if any) to have a spotlight-worthy pet. Fancy, extensive TCs cost a lot of money. That's not a problem for some, but it could prevent many from participating.
good points!! i didn't consider some of that stuff! ; 0;
anonymous entries definitely do kind of steer away from the pet focus and make it more of an item display contest. as i mentioned tho, if names are displayed, my biggest worry is that inevitably there are going to be some people who know who a certain pet belongs to which is going to lead to bias!! which sucks!! tbh the only other thing i can think of to keep it anonymous but still pet-related is maybe you're required to write a few sentences or a short paragraph about your pet? and what the influence is behind why they've decided to put these items in their TC??
idk i just rly think subeta could use some more pet-related events or content but maybe that's just me!! i guess my point was something that will encourage ppl to get unique and silly and explore more into their pet's personality and preferences? instead of a single-word theme, the other idea could be each month there is a different "scenario" presented that your pet will react to in a certain way and determine the contents of their TC, if that makes sense??? for example "Esther has chosen Your_Pet to be featured on her gardening blog! What kind of story does Your_Pet's treasure chest tell about their green thumb (or lack thereof)?" and ideas could be anywhere from a big, color-coded TC of flowers to a TC full of weeds and insects, etc. etc. etc; like it'd be fun to open the door to thinking outside the box and coming up with goofy item combinations and layouts and whatnot
i can see where you guys are coming from in regards to richer users having an advantage, but honestly i've seen plenty of beautiful TCs put together with cheap items? the quality of subeta's item art has been improving for years and now there's plenty of pretty, non-cash shop stuff out there that the average user can afford. more emphasis on the creativity part of a TC Spotlight-- a TC just full of expensive collection items could easily be overlooked by a nicely laid out and color-coordinated TC.
i do mainly worry about the voting issues and favoritism tho. i would suggest that each round be judged by staff members, but given how backlogged the pet spotlight queue has become, it feels pretty harsh to have to hand them the task of scouring through hundreds of TC entries within a week or two and choosing (a) winner(s). :(
I wouldn't be in favor of this because TC slots cost SP on top of the items themselves. There is no onsite freebie tc maker where you don't physically need the items. Pets come with 3 slots to start off with. I rather this stay within the realm of pet spotlights.
