Custom Pokemon Contest Redux Poll

[SpectralEternity]

Custom Pokemon Contest Redux Poll

Every year around summertime, P:ER has held Fakemon Contests so that new, guild-made Fakemon could be added to the Fakedex for guildwide use. We would very much like to host it again this year, but if we were to do so, the system needs altering.

We would like everyone in the guild to give their opinion, including both older members who remember the contests past, and newer members who may not be familiar with how contests have been run previously. To help newer members understand the changes we plan on making, we've linked last year's contest above, which explains the rules from prior contests.

We have constantly been tinkering with the contest to try and make it as fair and unbiased as possible, even adding a Fakemon Creation Guide so that members knew what was expected and could refer to the guide for help. While the contest has beed a source for a lot of joy and creativity every year, it has also been the source of anxiety, hurt feelings, and frustrations for many people, so there needs to be a change.

The question is, what should that change be? The mods have gone round and round discussing what would be the best way of improving the system, and we have come up with several options based on suggestions we have received from members and mods alike. Now it is time to outline those options and put it to a guild vote. Refresh your memories on the old contest mechanics, look at the options below, and please vote on what you think would be best~ Your opinion matters for the future of this Fakemon creation, and as always, if you have any questions or other suggestions, please post them here and quote a mod, we would be happy to look it over and answer.


Option A: Fakemon Contests will no longer be "contests" and instead revamped into a creative forum workshop open 24/7 all year long where ideas for Fakemon will be posted by their creators for feedback from guild members and mods. A fakemon can be officially submitted for approval on the 1st and 15th of each month, so revision and asking for thoughts from other guild members or waiting for a mod to look it over in their free time to give suggestions is recommended before submitting an official request for approval. When a fakemon is finished and approved by mods to become a fakemon for the guild, it will be added to the Fakedex. People will be limited to one entry per year, and there will still be a three fakemon limit per guild member. There will be two set dates to release any newly approved fakemon, regardless of rarity, such that the guild is not constantly being flooded with new fakemon. However, the creator may receive one normal or shiny version of their fakemon the moment it is approved.

Pros:

-System is not dependent on popularity in order for a Fakemon to be added to the guild, so people will not feel pressured to make a "pretty", "cute", or "cool" fakemon in order to get it added to the guild.
-The system is no longer competitive, reinforcing a more cooperative and friendly environment in which members of the guild work together to create cool new fakemon, rather than competing with each other to get their Fakemon added to the guild.
-Feedback and edits can be given and made at a quicker pace so that creators won't have to wait a substantial length of time before re-submitting their idea for approval, or giving up on a good idea because it would take too long.
-Relaxed environment due to no time limit or pressure to get works finished and critiqued.



Cons:

-Open forum means critiques are invited and open, but feelings may still get hurt and heated arguments may occur. The mods will do their best to monitor forum activity and make sure people are following guild rules (i.e. not harassing or making rude remarks or personal attacks), but people may still have disagreements.
-Potential to flood the guild with fakemon, reducing the "canon" focus of the guild and lowering the rarity of fakemon in general.
-Dependent on willing feedback from members, as members are not required to look through and comment on fakemon.
-People can favor helping one fakemon idea that they support, like, and want in the guild, and not comment on others resulting in unequal distribution of feedback.

Option B: Fakemon Contests will be carried out same as before, but a random selection of volunteers will be the only judges. Comments and critiques will be optional. The mods may still decline specific volunteers if they do not trust that the judges will be fully unbiased before RNGing the panel of judges.

Pros:

-Monitoring and RNGing the panel of volunteer judges helps reduce the chances of biased votes
-Having a different judging panel every year provides a variety in voting and perspectives
-Reduces labor of voting process by making comments and critiques optional.


Cons:

-Dependent on volunteers. If not enough people volunteer to judge, voting scores will be skewed or the contest may not be able to happen.
-Possibility for biased votes due to judges not having to explain their scores
-Potential to turn the Fakemon contest into a "popularity contest".
-Creators who want to know how to improve their future submissions may not get as much in depth feedback as they would like.

Option C: Fakemon Contests will be carried out same as before, but only the Mods will be allowed to judge and make scorecards. Comments and critiques will be condensed into one "comments card" per entry.

Pros:

-Less likelihood for bias as mods will monitor themselves and each other
-Creators will get feedback on what to improve
-Guaranteed judging panel


Cons:

-Won't involve the guild as a community
-Distracts mods from other guild-related duties
-Having the same judging panel every year means less variety in perspective

Option D: Fakemon Contests will be carried out same as before, but comments and critiques in the scorecard will be optional.

Pros:

-Allows for guild-wide participation
-Reduces labor of voting process by making comments and critiques optional.


Cons:

-Facilitates the possibility for biased votes due to judges not having to explain their scores
-Potential to turn the Fakemon contest into a "popularity contest".
-Creators who want to know how to improve their future submissions may not get as much in depth feedback as they would like.

Option E: No more Fakemon contests.

Pros:

-The simplest solution, could be for the best if it means less tension between guild members.


Cons:

-No one will get the chance to add more fakemon to the guild, resulting in a large loss for those unable to have competed or won a contest in the past.

 

[JadeRabbitEmperor]

Option A:
It'll be no small note I'm all for this option as its what me and Fly activated for last year after that debauchery of that contest. There are issues to be addressed such as how to prevent bad entries from getting passed into circulation. Just because an entry passes all the "requirements" doesn't make it a good entry so there needs to be a set goal for each entry to strive towards as well as things that if not correctly implemented within an entry disqualify it. I think there should also be a list of volunteer's who a person can quote for input rather than simply relying on the random passer by to take a look but making their response optional. I also think simply because an entry has little to no "feedback" on their entry it shouldn't affect its right to be entered for final judgment.

Option B:
Started at the bottom now I'm here. No for real, I started writing from E up XD. As with Option D, and C I find a few issues with HOW this will effect the voting. Most notably the preference for who can and can't be a judge. Though that issue would be totally unintentional I'm sure. BUT in the act of being fair, i feel it's only proper to point it out. I feel there should be rules for who can and can't be a judge, term limits for how many consecutive times a person can be a judge, and restrictions on what they can do as a judge with regards to the votes. While this is a small possibility for the issue it's no less valid. I also feel there needs to be a reserve selection of judges in the event, not enough people volunteer.
fcu
Option C:
While I don't distrust the mods I do think that on occasions they can be short-sighted and I fear that due to their tight nite bonds they may unintentionally askew the votes in favor of entries they favorite due to better creative flavor and may ignore the complexity's of the moves pools, abilities and how those interact with each other as well as items. I in no want to imply the mobs won't or can't catch these sort of issues but iv made it sort of my job to catch and point out such issues and over the past 2 years iv caught close to 100 now, ( iv kept notes XD, am at 86 so far ) BUT it needs to be said, all the issues iv caught have been within the cannon material. If we limit the number of eyes on new material being added I fear some craft bugger ( most likely myself in all honestly ) will slip something through the cracks and open pandora's box for further fakemon issues. If have less issue IF this didn;t redirect the mods from their normal jobs within the guild stretching them thin and making such mistakes easier on the whole.

Option D:
This gives NO accountability to the judges and a "popularity contest" is exactly what we'll get. Negative or foolish members who value "power" over "creativity and effort" will be given an open door to ruin the very ideals we build this guild upon. Each year we saw people who submitted entries with very little effort put into them, while other entries, begun and submitted at the last second proved a half decent fakemon wasn't that hard to make IF the creature was willing to put forth the effort. If we don't hold the judges accountable to explain their reasoning good entries will be overshadowed by the bad ones as people vote in favor of their friends as oppose to casting a vote for the honestly well-designed entries.

Option E:
I really don't think anyone's going to put the canon over their ability to be creative and leave their mark on both the Pokemon world we've created here and the RP as a whole. Besides that, I could see more tension between members who would vote for and against this then it might otherwise resolve. It could even lead to some members leaving who feel those who voted for it simply wanted to cement their fakemon as "the only" fakemon and prevent anyone else from ever outs shining them.  

[SpectralEternity]

Cannibalistic-Insanity

Option A:
It'll be no small note I'm all for this option as its what me and Fly activated for last year after that debauchery of that contest. There are issues to be addressed such as how to prevent bad entries from getting passed into circulation. Just because an entry passes all the "requirements" doesn't make it a good entry so there needs to be a set goal for each entry to strive towards as well as things that if not correctly implemented within an entry disqualify it. I think there should also be a list of volunteer's who a person can quote for input rather than simply relying on the random passer by to take a look but making their response optional. I also think simply because an entry has little to no "feedback" on their entry it shouldn't affect its right to be entered for final judgment. In addition, I think that while you can only get one entry submitted into circulation a year if you fail the first chance a year you should be able to give it a second go within the later half of the year. This gives the person a chance to make corrections.

If this ends up being the preferred option by the guild, the mods will basically be overhauling the old system and reconstructing it using some of the old system to help make the new one, so a lot of things will likely change, including the criteria it takes for an entry to be accepted as a Fakemon, and the requirements would make sure of three things: 1. The idea was not plagiarized. 2. It is balanced mechanically such that it would not break the guild's system. 3. It has enough written content such that an RPer would be able to get a clear idea of how the Fakemon functioned in all ways. This would be the goal to strive towards, so if the fakemon submitted effectively met this criteria, then yes, it would be considered acceptable enough to approve and add to the Fakedex.

It would be nice to have volunteers aside from mods to look over the entries and be available for quote. This idea is not completely figured out yet, we only wanted to put up the basics for how we knew it would be run because otherwise we didn't want to fully flesh out an idea that may not win. Only when we were sure that this option was the majority vote would we flesh out all the details and take suggestions and discuss further.

Having no feedback on an entry wouldn't effect it's right to be entered, we simply listed it as a Con because it just means they may not get as much feedback as others, and that is a con of the system in general.