Paragon's Sour Grape Syndrome

Greetings heroes of Paragon City!

I'd like to describe a problem and see if you kind folks can assist me in a solution. First of all, I've been quite successful at grinding out a Super living with my main character, Super AwesomeMan on Freedom. I'm sitting on 1.5 Billion and fully IO'd. Every few days I hold a multitude of contests to inspire our heroic citizens to be invested in RP once more - to not merely grind out xp/tickets/merits or what traps most of us in the game. XP and money making devices builds characters at lvl fifty, but what happens along the way is we forget to actually LOVE the game and spend all our time at the grind.

Not Awesome at all.

So I throw some contests. Broadcasting messages such as "Those bloody Freakshow villains have put a bounty on the head of Super AwesomeMan. If you can find him before they do and rescue him, Super AwesomeMan will pay a reward of $25 Million influence." or "The scientists of Crey Industries have developed a dastardly ray gun robbing Awesome of his memory. If you can remind Super AwesomeMan what the name of his secret identiy is, he will award you with $50 Million Influence." And so on. Holding not only costume contests for money and rare sets, but trying to liven things up with newer games too.

Now here's the problem. The moment I begin announcing these contests, I find myself getting flamed via broadcast by people saying things like "Lies. Super Bull@#$% Man is more like it" or "Yeah, I'll bet he's just going to give an influence transfer to one of his sg mates." or "Only 25 million, what a cheapskate". It takes alot out of the steam in building interest in these contests and BOY you should see what the ones that try but don't win say. I'm ending up with so many people on my ignore list that I've booted the first 15 ignored folks right off.

What am I doing wrong? Is it better to have fewer contests with larger prizes? What methods should I use in broadcasting these contests effectively (currently try to keep things interesting and semi-roleplayish as much as possible)? Is ignoring the negativity a mistake or should I defend myself in broadcast? I refuse to sink to their level as that lessens the spirit of my character, but am I appearing to prove their point by my silence?

Sincerely, this is really the point of making this character in the first place. Please offer tips and suggestions to improve my contests and help rebuild the atmosphere of rp our fine city - it really needs it!

Well for starters you need to keep in mind that the events you are trying to throw grab a lot of attention, in the past at least. It is more common for people to fake things like Costume Contests because they allure attention and it's human nature to like being the center of attention. People in Atlas Park even fake something as simple as a Costume Contest, though that is not faked as often as other odd events with extravagant prizes.

I wouldn't say that you are doing anything wrong, and I think it's very nice of you to want to spend your money on the community. I would suggest maybe coming up with something that people are used to (Like Costume Contests) and sticking with that, or perhaps spending your money on your dedicated Super Group mates, if the public is going to act mean when you do an event like that, which is intended to benefit them. You just have to consider where they are coming from. I too would think it was a sham if I saw something like that in Broadcast and I steer clear of Mass RP events because people usually act like idiots.

So my suggestion to you is this: I think that maybe you should post in the forum, subscribe to your thread so that you can keep track of it, and state that you want to spend your money on the community. Ask for some ideas for games and prizes that you can give away. Once you have composed a list of things that you would like to do, I would suggest creating a schedule and then posting that in the forum. The schedule can tell what time zone you are in and what events you have planned. That way everyone can show up around the same time (Like: Rikti Raid Sundays and Mondays) that's an event that just started; there is nothing special about those days in game other then what the players decide (Mother Ship Raids in other words.)

This presents your idea in a professional and organized manor. Think about how PlayNC does it, they plan the event and make a formal announcement in the appropriate places. Organization and how you resent your event is key. For large events you have to get the word out. I also suggest that you find people you trust to help you host these events. Hosting them by yourself is going to be a lot of work. As for the people that flame you, I wouldn't add them to the ignore list cause that is burning a lot of bridges in a game where there are a lot of regulars, so just don't respond to the tells. If people have questions you can send them a link to your post in the forum that annotates your event.

I'll subscribe to this thread and answer any more questions that you have. Just keep in mind that this is the internet and people are wearing a mask per se, so they don't have to face you and this makes it easier to act in a rude manor. Don't type or put anything on the net unless you can take people making fun of and assailing.

I wish you the very best of luck, and I think it's great you want to do this for people.

I love what you are doing, Xamxaz, and I think Dreamings suggestions for improvements are very good!

Very innovative ideas! This is what I would like to see much more of in City of Heroes, things that break the grind!

And greetings to you on your first post! Awesome!

Just to say, I like what you're doing and I hope you succeed.

First of all - great ideas! This game certainly needs more events like these. In the EU servers there certainly is WAY too few events. The weekly Mothership Raid, that's about it.
I've never ever seen a fake comp, though. The whole concept on faking a costume contest is pure insanity and evilness.

I think it doesn't matter how large the rewards are, or how you broadcast them. There's always the partypoopers and naysayers, who are there just to ruin the experience for everyone else.

I guess it just takes time. When people gets used to the fact, that Super AwesomeMan runs these fun little comps, I bet the negative comments fade away. It also helps to talk about it on these forums, spreading awareness.

Anyways, keep up the good work! This game certainly needs more players like you!

What are you doing wrong? Well, where are you trying to hold these "contests"? If it's on Freedom or Virtue, that's your problem right there. Move, and you'll find a better and less stupid/cynical community. On almost every other server.

Speaking of stupid and cynical:

Paragon's Sour Grape... 09-15-2009 07:17 AM **** you I Love Freedom!!!

I can only assume that was supposed to be a negative rep. Oh well. With those five words you've just confirmed several of the reasons why I LEFT Freedom and haven't come back, sir. Good job!

This is my favorite comment of the week so far:

Paragon's Sour Grape... 09-15-2009 07:38 AM does not play well with others



I find that hilarious considering how many PuG TFs I lead and run successfully.

Oh they're just jealous :P

This >>>

Quote:

Originally Posted by perwira And greetings to you on your first post! Awesome! Just to say, I like what you're doing and I hope you succeed.

While there is alot of jerks on freedom, there is also quite a few quality people.
/e points at The Freedom Horde "Just one example"

Don't give up I think its great that you would dish out your own goodies for the enjoyment of others.

Welcome to the forums, Xamzax3

Never forget that the smaller servers can be great for stuff like this. My main is Protector (which I'm sure is gonna get flamed now lol) but we have great players and lots of events. Try out a few and pick a favorite to play on when Freedom or Virtue is crazy....just a suggestion. Welcome to the forums

I'd love to help you organize events some time, it sounds like you're a very generous person. It's always fun to play with people that are there for *fun* and not mini-maxing.

Well, usually fun. I had an awful encounter with some people on Freedom that while they were having fun "helping" me run a respec, their idea of fun caused the respec to fail and I had to go back to work un-respec'd. But that was years ago.

Anyway, I'd suggest making a fun story arc to play through with some people, giving them rewards afterwards. It can really be a fun time.

Remarkable suggestions everyone.

If only I was not burdened with being at work right now I'd spend more time replying and thanking. But let me say at this moment that you have all MADE MY DAY. I will be planning and plotting and intend to have activities posted to the forums as was suggested. Further, detailed responses to come...

Bless your hearts for your responses and have a Super Awesome Tuesday!

(Incidentally, a part of me feared being flamed here as well. But now I will NOT be discouraged!)

Agreed. Xamzax3, the events you describe in your OP are probably the most clever things I've heard a player do in some time. Don't be discouraged, I think your ideas are a gas!

Lol, yeah! He's always being mean to me and pushing me down in the sand next to the monkey bars! >:|

People tend to assume things that seem too good to be true, are.

I had a prestige-matching offer for a while (if you wanted to turn inf into prestige for your SG, I would match it 1 for 1) and some people got a little bit hostile for a while. Twas no big deal to me.