Amanita

Whoa..After reading all this, here's my two inf..
For starters, ENOUGH with snaptooth! I can understand keeping him around for the winter event- there he actually fit in, and since he only had the EB form, instead of going from lieutenant to boss to EB, you only had to kill him once, and no huge, overpowered aggro spawns.
For next year's V-day event, get a new boss.

Also, don't make forced cross-faction teaming. It's fun playing with the other side, but damned annoying when there's nobody of the required faction to play with. I had to make a throwaway villain to help a friend do his missions, then he had to make a throwaway to help me out. Huge pain in the butt there, and people who couldn't find a villain to play with got hosed.

I would have liked it ALOT better if we got the toga and heart of light badges for logging in, like last year. That would have cut down on the grind-fest.

The halloween event was great, going around door to door and collecting salvage, which could be traded with others, and stored up and saved for future alts. The trick or treating, combined with themed giant monsters roaming around, and eochai's pumpkins that appeared wherever he was really added to the ambience of the event.

The winter event had those presents and snowbeasts around outside of pocket D, and inside there was that sweet chalet which was alot of fun to play with. That, and it was ALOT easier to quickly run the missions if you wanted the goodies for several alts. Inside and outside of pocket D, it felt like a winter event. There were also those fun powers, including the ability to give somebody a present.

For V-day? Meh. I only ground the missions to get the costume pieces, and even that was a pain, due to forced cross faction teaming, and other aforementioned issues. Next year, offer salvage that can be traded for costume parts, global costume unlocks after a certain amount of mission completions on an account, and for the love of Isis, another mission boss besides snaptooth and his groupies.
Also, maybe do something outside of pocket D, to add to the holiday feel of the event- being able to give valentines to other players, stuff like that.

In the words of a classmate of mine- A movie/videogame/song/etc may put an idea into your head, but YOU are the one who decides to act on it.
Heck, people do stupid things after seeing stuff on the news- do we ban news reports? Do we restrict news reports to text-only, or narration, so that nobody gets a visual of something and tries it?

I think parents are a huge part of the problem in some cases- they don't check or care to read video game info and ratings, they don't talk to their kids, or monitor what their kids are reading, listening to, playing, or watching. I'm not blaming all parents- I know there are some out there who do their best to teach their kids right from wrong, and reality from fantasy. But sadly, some can't be arsed. Then their unsupervised, poorly parented kids do something stupid, cries for censorship are heard, and the responsible ones among us suffer.

Off topic- why pagans and gays tend to get together? It could be that we're two misunderstood minorities, it might also be that Pagans tend to be accepting of sexuality and alot less judgemental than some other groups can be. Also, we both like to really party

But that costume contest forever soured me on audience judging. In addition to stupid or slutty stunts getting applause over the really good stuff, people also have a tendancy to vote for their friends or people that they know. So in addition to a lowest common denominator thing, it can quickly become a popularity contest. It's why when I suggested a contest for player submissions to be made into in-game costume items, I think I said that the submissions should be posted without names attached, so that people will be voting on the costume designs they like, and not the person who made them.

I participated in an audience judged costume contest once and it was a disaster. It was held at a halloween party attended by the Pagan and [censored] communities. The previous year, the judges had awarded prizes based on good work, creativity, and merit. I thought I would do pretty well- I had a completely handmade jedi costume, that looked pretty damn close to movie accurate, together with a lightsaber that I had built myself- it lit up and all.

But this was not to be- the contest's format had been changed to audience judging, the event planners mistakenly believing that it was more fair that way. The audience almost without exception voted for sexy and revealing costumes. The only exception to this were the categories where there wasn't something slutty to pick. One guy got best overall costume for wearing...a pair of jeans with a thong hanging out, a shirt and vest, and a cheap pair of angel wings. Why did this second rate costume do so well? Because the guy wearing it yanked his pants down and showed his umm..assets to the crowd, causing most of them to yell. In an applause based contest, that got him the prize. Never mind that alot of people in awesome costumes got nothing.
Fair, my butt.

I suggested that next year, perhaps an NPC character category be added, but I recently had another idea while looking at the hero/villain entries from last year. I liked how people dressed as their villain, and submitted a pic of their heroic counterpart, along with a story explaining how they were linked. Reading the stories was just as entertaining as looking at the costumes.

So here's what I would love- have the aforementioned NPC category, along with heros and villains, and allow people to submit the story behind the character, about the same length as the ones submitted last year. If you portray your character, tell their story. If you dress as a member of an enemy faction, then tell how your character came to work for their villainous organization. Were they recruited by arachnos? Joined with the Family for love of money and power? Did they sign on with Crey as a researcher who quickly got in over their head?

This could be awesome if it's well done and fairly judged.

My experiences with "Audience voting" in costume contests suggest that this might be a bad idea. There's a tendancy to vote for the sluttiest/most revealing costume because the voters are thinking with....something other than their heads.

I would sooner have it judged on merit, creativity, and workmanship, as well as resemblance to the character.
For example- your favourite character is a different gender from you- how do you make that work and still look good, for example? Or if they gave us a "dress as enemy" category, how might a female contestant pull off a Tsoo boss costume?
I would sooner see entrants judged on creativity and skill over simple exposure any day. I've seen sexy costumes that were VERY well done- the controversial carnie outfit and a few slave leias come to mind. I've also seen sexy contest winners that had me saying "Oh please!", such as Diva 7- the one who looked like she was in a bikini or underwear. Not much effort at all, just near- nudity.

That looks awesome, I wonder why they did not post it? Great job on the pictures too, night shots like that can be tricky.

I hope they will learn from the feedback here and use this on the next contest, I really do.

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I imagine a lot of people are thinking "what's the big deal?", since really these contests are just meant to be lighthearted fun for the community to enjoy, and I think that's totally true! However--from a contestant's perspective--once you start putting time, energy and money into your entry, you'd certainly like to know that the judging will be done fairly. Otherwise, why bother with a contest at all?

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I could not agree more. Good costumes generally cost a decent bit of time, money, and effort. When you commit to this, you hope to have a fair chance against the other contestants, to be judged on your merits, and that there will be some rules in place at least. Even if the rules are simple, such as "Nothing obscene, and it has to be your character".

When it appears that the rules have been chucked, allowing somebody not conforming to them to win, then the other contestants begin to wonder "Why bother even trying?" or "If they don't have to play by the rules, why should I?"

That's something to think about.

I posted in the suggestion and ideas thread that maybe next year have a category or two for NPC costumes- they have to be villain mobs, civilians and contacts in "mundane" or "normal" clothes don't count. Some of the enemy mobs might be fun to attempt- CoT boss mages, Knives of artemis, atc. I know I really wanna try a Tsoo boss of some sort. But then at least there would be a category specifically for NPC costumes, as opposed to somebody dressing as one, when they were supposed to dress as their character.

I liked that carnival of shadows costume, but I can see why people are upset- the rules DID say dress up as your character, not dress as an enemy or NPC.

I built a kickass living skyscraper costume this year, but did not enter the contest- why? Because as spectacular as it looked, it did not meet the requirement of being similar to my character's costumes. Most of it is impossible currently- free hanging kimono style sleeves fastened around my upper arms, a long ankle length gown that hung freely down to my ankles, the glowing headpiece, and the finishing touch- a massive set of dancer's silver Isis wings hanging from my back as a cape.

I loved that costume, but did not enter it because it didn't fit the rules. By the time the contest was announced, it was too late for me to make another costume that more closely resembled the black martial arts robes of my main character.

So I agree with the people who are upset over something that appears in violation of the rules winning a prize when so many other good things got nothing.

When I went to Icon last night, I tweaked my character who was wearing those lovely oriental brocade martial arts robes. I left his body white, and made the sleeves red, with white trim. For some reason, I left costume creator and his sleeves were ALL white, the red would not work. I wasted a costume token trying to fix it, with no luck.

If my characters came to work for yours, you would not just get a herd of powerful anthros, not a single one under 7 feet (except the kids, they're smaller) but also their constructed forms- massive Tower cranes! Lots of them.

BTW- I took a look at the in-game towers- they're missing their hook and trolley assembly completely!

If your hero didn't need to fight anymore, what would they do?
This is different from what if superheroing became illegal, and your character was FORCED into something else. What if they could retire peacefully, because the vast majority of criminals had been dealt with and Paragon city was relatively peaceful again?

My skyscraper woman Anlek'Toh would most likely go back to watching over her tenants, that is when she wasn't using her humanoid form to have fun with. Now that she's discovered what it's like to move around as opposed to being rooted into solid bedrock as skyscrapers generally are, I imagine she would want to keep doing that. To alleviate boredom, and to make sure nothing like the Crey corporation happens again, I can see her and others of her kind working with law enforcement as part of a special white collar crime devision.

My crane characters want nothing more than to resume their old jobs in construction, helping to rebuild devestated parts of the city. Of course, Anlek'Toh would want in on this too- she lost alot of friends, so rebuilding is another cause close to her heart.
And my two dockyard crane characters D'Jonda and Allellani would like to resume their peaceful lives of work and meditation down at the container terminal- after all, somebody's got to offload all the supplies the rebuilding effort will require. Not to mention keep the dockworker's unions honest and fair.

But I also suspect my band of anthro heroes would keep their weapons ready, after all, the price of freedom IS eternal vigilance.

For some reason, that is the funniest thing I have read all day!
Question is- who would WANT to suck it?

Anlek'Toh had to smile at the irony of it all- a skyscraper riding in an elevator! Or at least the anthropomorph, the flesh and blood incarnation of one. She had left her sword back at home somewhere in Steel Canyon, having no need of it here.

Her silk brocade robes rustled softly as she made her way onto the dance floor, her eight foot tall form weaving easily though the crowd, until she was at the center of the dance floor. Anlek half closed her eyes and raised her hands, feeling the energy of the place passing through and around her. In her steel and concrete constructed form, she had always been able to sense the power of the city coursing through her. Not just the electricity that powered her vital systems, but the very life force of the city itself. Ebbing and flowing, always in motion. Sometimes flowing like the wind, other times as turbulent as a wild rapid. A reflection of the city and its people- all those people projecting their hopes, fears, dreams, needs, and wants into the morass. She had been pleased to note that this connection had not been severed upon her manifesting as a flesh and blood anthropomorph. Rather, it had gone mobile along with her. Similar to wireless net access, Anlek'Toh surmised.

Anlek found herself dancing now, both to the music and the currents of energy that swirled around the place. For the most part it felt mellow, smooth even. Not alot of negativity here, a few odd spikes here and there but nothing to cause alarm.

One area of the massive room seemed to have a strange feel- Anlek turned around and looked, opening her eyes fully. Sure enough, she saw a small pack of Vazhikok dancers gathered in a corner. Filthy body snatchers, the lot of them. She fought down a visceral feeling of disgust, reminding herself that now was not the time or place for a confrontation. Something else in the swirling vortex of energy caught her attention and she turned to face it. Over at the bar, another anthropomorph sat, his muscular form barely fitting on the barstool. Another anthro for sure, but he was no silver-skinned skyscraper. She recognized him as one of the Crane clan, usually found on construction sites when not hunting troublemakers. He was a handsome specimen, with pale skin and waist length silky white hair.

Suddenly aware of her scrutiny, he turned on his stool to face her, flashing a soft smile. Anlek raised a hand in a graceful come hither gesture, and the anthro crane male complied, gracefully floating onto the dancefloor, finally touching down next to her.
"I am Kodun, my lady" He purred in a soft yet masculine voice. "Are you the famous Anlek'Toh I've heard so much about?"
Anlek nodded. "Indeed. Care for a dance, Kodun?"