Contests! And other suggestions.

[Whammy]

Alright, so one of the big things that just about every site does it seems is hold contests of some sorts. I've never really ran contests on sites before due to a lack of prizes, so I asked the people over at RPG-D for some help. Linked below is the thread and some of the responses I got:

rpg-directory.com/threads/holding-contests-but-no-prizes.47779/

Now, some of the suggestions mentioned I think I'm going to go ahead and put into place. I found a code for an award system for Proboards so now if you win a contest or something you'll get a nice little award for your profile. I'm also thinking of changing what the spotlights are from a "vote for X" sort of thing to maybe highlighting the character that posted the most in the month (or second highest if needed to prevent same pony from winning every month).

Some other ideas that have been expressed in other threads in the past on RPG-D, and sort of mentioned in the above, involves stuff like a site newspaper of sort. We already got an IC newspaper in the whole Foal Free Press to frame it in so it's not beyond the question. It's more of who would be willing to put some time and effort into putting it together?...and finding out how to put it together cause I don't know the coding for that XD.

Anyway, what do you all think about some of the suggestions made on contest prizes? Should we modify some rules to allow for things like character slots or access to special races to be available for prizes? Do you all have your own ideas for what to do?

I should also point out if we do try and do contests like this I'm probably gonna need a staff member or two to help with this stuff...

Edit:

Okay, so I made a sample of a Foal Free Press Newsletter to at least get the feel of what it would look like.

i178.photobucket.com/albums/w255/EB_TES/FoalFreePressSample.png

The plan would be to just break up that image into smaller ones, with the images linking to the events, the thread being spotlighted, the character spotlight, etc.

[applejack]

Firstly, as I have already said in the cbox, I do really like the idea of an IC newspaper like the Foal Free Press. It'd be a nice place for spotlights and such. I also think it'd be a really nice way to get the word out about events, any big plot event, or anything like that. Additionally, it might give a way for "news to spread" among characters, if some sort of event happens in a certain thread that would start to circulate around town.

As for contest prizes, I feel like it could vary from contest to contest, depending on the level of difficult (so to speak) involved. Graphics are always fun. The idea about having a special display name is pretty appealing too. For the more uncommon/difficult contests, giving out special races could be a really great incentive. However, what kind of races would be the special ones? Crystal ponies? Dragons? Boy howdy, would a dragon be cool. It would also add a bit of variety without having the place suddenly be crawling with these "special" characters.

Somewhere it was mentioned about having one contest be a mass-posting event. I really like that idea. It encourages people to post as much as possible, somebody ends up with a cool reward, and it makes the board look really active. That, and we know that everyone would have the skills to participate. What's not to like?

As much as I can sit here and talk about what would be cool though, I unfortunately don't think I could be off too much help with any of it... I have absolutely no experience when it comes to graphics and coding and what not. Sorry that all I have to offer are my opinions, heh heh...

[Whammy]

Yeah, that's the biggest concern I have regarding any major contests we do; none of us seem to be that skilled in graphics and so many prizes are graphics heavy XD. For now though I seem to do a decent enough job. Let's hope we can eventually pull someone better in.

Now with the special races thing, or the possibility of character slots, it's one of those things I've always been a little iffy on. On the one hand, yeah, they're nice prizes and would motivate people (Celestia knows I'd need to buy a few character slots...). On the other I don't like restricting people's options. In terms of what I'd restrict species wide, I'd probably restrict:

-Dragons
-Crystal Ponies
-Changelings (people already playing one would be grandfathered in)
-Gryphons (same as above).

You know, all the ones that are really rare but have something special about them. So like even if we don't see many donkeys there isn't really anything special about them; same with buffalo. Those four, however, got something special about them.

[Whammy]

Okay, here are some things I have thought up of to put into a shop of some sorts that people can purchase with the points they gain making posts:

Custom Display Name Image =
Custom Title =
“X is Best Pony” Stamp” =

Extra Character Slot =
Character Access: Gryphon =
Character Access: Changeling =
Character Access: Minotaur =
Character Access: Crystal Pony
Character Access: Dragon =

“Wanted Ad” Space =
“Gossip Column” Space =
“World News” Space =
“Citizen Spotlight” Raffle Ticket =


I don't have any prices yet cause I'm not sure what I want to do with those yet. We got some custom profile things to spoof up your miniprofile and your normal one (if you got more suggestions for some stamps let me know), character related things (extra character slots and access to special races), and then the ability to purchase space within the Foal Free Press for your various threads and other stuff.