Hey everyone. We're looking for some feedback as to potential competetive build events on the Skyforge. Of course that wouldn't mean our normal events would go away, we're just trying to gauge interest in this idea. So let's have your feedback, if you're willing to give it. Would you be interested? How should it be judged? What should the prize be? Please give your specific feedback here, as well as voting on the live poll on the Skyforge's main page. Thanks in advance for the feedback!
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I mentioned this in the discord but I'll leave my thoughts here as well for those who haven't joined us there.
Am I interested in competition? Yes. It's fun and brings out the best in people's abilities.
Prizes? I think small gift cards from money donated by the community would be great. Nobody has to give anything to enter or participate but those who would like to "invest" in getting good builds on the site could. I know I would donate $10.00 to a prize pool. Maybe the winner gets a $20 iTunes Gift Card or whatever and runner up gets 10. It doesn't have to be a lot to motivate.
In terms of judging I feel going based off of likes is the easiest solution. There are other opportunities and maybe likes isn't the most accurate descriptor of a builds credit but it is the system the site currently uses so it makes sense.
I know I don’t have much say because I don’t have any builds, but I think ‘likes’ would be the fairest way to decide the contest.
I thjnj wjth judges you introduce more bias. Maybe a judge has a preference for a friend who is in the contest and that would make things less fair.
To be fair ‘likes’ are arguably more prone to bias. At least judges are obligated to justify their judgements. Nobody has to prove their ‘like’ was unbiased.And who here hasn’t liked at least 1 Curse, Henson, or teccam build without even bothering to read it?
Yeah, though to be fair, it would also be possible for a competitor to use bots, friends, or alt accounts to boost likes
I mean I tend to read all of them myself, whether Curse, Henson, Teccam, or otherwise.
not only that, but all this site requires to like something is to just have an account. competitors could easily inflate their scores by making multiple accounts or having friends make accounts to like them.
Unfortunately, there's no way to prevent that or work around it. One possibility is a like must be accompanied with a comment about why you vote for it, each voter can only vote/like once, a competitor cannot like his or her own build... there's a lot that would need to be brought to light for something like this.
I think the fairest way - but perhaps not the most feasible - would be to use a combination of judging methods. A panel would need to be set up - probably three people would be best, and of course non-competitors - who would judge the entries based off the build itself and its depth and clarity, the amount of likes it has, and the amount of interaction is creates. The better laid out and in-depth the build is, the more likely it is to be judged high on a points scale - like out of 10 - likes can only boost that score by a percentage pertaining to how many likes the specific build has versus how many likes other build entries have, and then activity - comments and discussions sparked by the build - can also inflate that score even higher but, again, in relation to how much activity the other builds have. It's a bit much to take in, and I'm sure we could devise a better thought out method for judging, but my point is that likes alone is too inaccurate to be the sole factor for the judging criteria
We’re leaning towards deciding the winner based on both likes and judges’ decision, the latter of which will carry much more weight.
There is a smart way to curtail the impact multiple accounts would have on the contest. We simply make so that likes matter less compared to other categories in the contest.
For example the total likes gained by an entry will account for 10 points max out of a total hundred points . So a build with 20 likes will have the same number of points for that category as a build with 10 likes.
Weighted more heavily will be things like presentation, writing, gameplay etc etc.
Personally, I think it's a great idea built on an even better concept.
Honestly, however, I don't think it will be so simple to host such an event and be able to run it smoothly enough with the tools given to us by ning.
That being said, and going away from the idea I mentioned in another comment already, we could abuse the likes system and the poll generator from twisted to make a more streamlined method for judging.
After all the entries are done, we could use likes and such to select a few builds and throw them onto the poll and have members vote on them from there. We could either pick the winner that way, or use that to further marginalize the builds a team of judges would have to collaborate on to pick the winner.
Again, though, I think it could be particularly engaging to see how others might pour effort into to create a build in a competitive environment, so we should see everyone's best works
Any input on how something like say presentation should be judged?
Unfortunately, it’s a difficult call simply because everyone has their own unique style. Even if we were to set up a template we want everyone in the contest to follow - which, personally, I would be conflicted on; on one hand, it constricts the competitor to a narrow-thinking guide that forces them to constrain their build to our set parameters, which would cause their build to lose some degree of potency, shall we say, but on the other hand, it would make the contest even more competitive, forcing the contestants to perform at their absolute best to beat everyone else when the builds will all look the same; if we do end up using a pre-fix template, it will be relatively easy to judge presentation, “did they follow the template? Yes? Check!” However, at the same time, this then also limits the judges in this specific category because we won’t see any creativity or differentiation between the builds except for the actual content itself, which could cause the event to be monotonous, and I don’t think that’s what anyone would be looking for in something that should be so diverse.
But I digress.
As for judging presentation, I think the most important facet to keep in mind is the layout. By this I mean where is each category entered within the write-up. Does it have an introduction? Is there a clear and concise order to each category or does it jump all over the place with all sense of chaos and disorder?
The second most important aspect of the presentation should be readability. Basically, is it organized well enough to be easily read by someone without getting lost? While this could go down under content, or something more specific, I personally feel it falls best under presentation because it doesn’t actually matter what’s being said, as long as it’s something that can easily be followed.
The third and final characteristic that should be adhered to as far as presentation is concerned is engagement. Is the write-up written in such a way that it is engaging for the reader to follow? They should read it because they want to, not because they should. They shouldn’t be reading a build. They should be reading a visual novel, so to speak. It should be accompanied with photos and flavor-text that help break down the more intricate parts of the build and also supply a pause for breath between complex details. Again, this could be classified into content, but I feel it is more appropriate in presentation simply because it does not strictly matter what these images or flavor texts are, so long as they are included and relevant. The reason I do not think this to be more important than the document being readable is relatively simple. It doesn’t matter how many relevant photos or what have you one includes into their build, if the text itself isn’t engaging to read, I won’t read it. You could put the whole build into images, but if the body falls flat, it isn’t one I would be interested in, regardless of the concept.
That being said, my method of judging presentation exclusively is probably a bit unfair considering what I said above. Since each entrant’s build will be so different from another, it would be difficult to accurately judge them all in this way, but the base design of it should still hold true. In the end, as far as presentation goes, and as far as I am concerned, a build is made up of these three things, before we even get into the content itself.
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