Discussion: The First Annual Architect Awards *** Submissions are now CLOSED ***
By
Aisynia,
Posted on: 2009-09-29 24:50 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Quote:
I tried to read through the rules pretty thoroughly. I didn't see anythings saying that you couldn't submit the same arc for multiple categories.|
Originally Posted by Darkonne
Is there an answer to this question?
-D |
You have to send a different e-mail for each entry, each entry must be for 1 of the 5 categorizes, and labeled as such.
Read the first section on submissions and it will explain how the title line of your e-mail needs to include which contest you are submitting the arc for in a numerical 1-5 fashion.
Someone else noted that we can only submit 1 arc per category, that does not mean that you can't submit one arc for multiple categories.
I may not have the best prizes, but I decided to run a player based Mission Architect Awards Nominate the best in this thread! Open to all CoX players, US and EU!
Quote:
*blink blink*|
Originally Posted by Bovine_Avenger
Actually, there's a far more simple reason why EU players are going to be frustrated intensely by this competition; How many of you, where ever you are now, have got ANY plays of your arcs, no matter how good, over the last few months? Because if you aren't a Devs Choice, and on either the first few, or the last few (brand new) pages, with extreme figures either way for Played/Rated, people just aren't bothering any more. 4 stars and on page 100 is complete MA death; It's either all farms or the arcs that did well right at the start that are played now, and the madness of crowds has set in...
So. Here comes a competition to re-vitalize the attention paid to MA Arcs; Great! Actually, no it's not, because unless you're American, you can't even enter. Instead of giving us regular Dev Choices, like they actually promised, for everyone no matter where they live, or even following up on the thread for suggestions of quality we were given months ago, what we'll be getting is the best of the purely American arcs; Some of which may indeed be fantastic of course. But they'll be fantastic AND unfairly propelled to the top of the list again. It's going to lead to a form of MA Apartheid, and how anyone can honestly not see the huge discontent that's going to lead too is beyond me... Now I'm not going to pretend free swag doesn't have it's appeal too... of course it does. But having already had my custom content published for free with other games too (Dawn Of War: Winter Assault when published in Poland, of all places, gave away one of my maps with the game as an online unlock) I'm entirely happy with giving the community something for nothing... just at least honestly acknowledge that it's appreciated for what it is. Criticise it where it's needed too, because that's where all self-improvement ultimately comes from. But don't just come out with "Sorry, you're not American, and we can't reward you, so you're not even in the running for recognition either." |
Oooooo, I like you.
K5K - The Killbot 5000
A Spanner In The Works Part One, ArcID: 336662, A Spanner In The Works Part Two, ArcID: 336665, Enter Japes, ArcID: 96001
In The Darkness Creeping, ArcID: 347709, When Dimensions Collide, ArcID: 412416.
Quote:
Whether composed ahead of time to be vetted by others or simply to get it done with ahead of time, the message can be copy and pasted into a new post so that the posting date is correct and people following the Dev Tracker don't miss a pre-dated message.|
Originally Posted by Spear0
Some entity needs/wants to approve the messages before they're posted where we all can see them. Given how nit-picky some of our fellow CoX community members can be, I'm not surprised at all that this process is in place.
|
I've sent a polite PM asking them not to do that (about a month ago), and now I'm going to start publicly complaining each time it's done. It is *not* good SOP for communications.
Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides
Quote:
Thinking out loud: Given how courts in some countries have had cases based on computer game stalking and sharing virtual goods in divorce cases, I wonder what anti-discrimination laws would have to say about this unintended side effect of an unfair competition?|
Originally Posted by Bovine_Avenger
But they'll be fantastic AND unfairly propelled to the top of the list again. It's going to lead to a form of MA Apartheid, and how anyone can honestly not see the huge discontent that's going to lead too is beyond me...
|
I wonder if someone could successfully take them to court over virtual unfair treatment? There must be a lawyer or two that plays MMO's somewhere.
In particular I cannot see a game like second life getting away with something like this.
This isn't the same as a competition for the general public just being offered in a certain area, this is a competition where the benefits of winning have a direct negative impact on those that are unable to enter.
As if I didn't hate the MA enough, this makes it worse.
Princess Darkstar - Proud Member of the Handprints of Union, the #1 ranked SG in Europe!
British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!
British by act of union, English by grace of God, Northern by pure good fortune!
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Aggelakis
PrincessDarkstar: "RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHH SOMEONE IS *WRONG* ON THE INTERNET!"
|
Quote:
Honestly, Nobody would touch it on discrimination issues. |
Originally Posted by PrincessDarkstar
Thinking out loud: Given how courts in some countries have had cases based on computer game stalking and sharing virtual goods in divorce cases, I wonder what anti-discrimination laws would have to say about this unintended side effect of an unfair competition?
I wonder if someone could successfully take them to court over virtual unfair treatment? There must be a lawyer or two that plays MMO's somewhere. In particular I cannot see a game like second life getting away with something like this. This isn't the same as a competition for the general public just being offered in a certain area, this is a competition where the benefits of winning have a direct negative impact on those that are unable to enter. As if I didn't hate the MA enough, this makes it worse. |
Antidiscrimination laws apply to discrimination against specific conditons. Discriminating on conditions not covered in that law (like country of residence) isn't an issue. In fact, beyond the narrow confines for those laws, a business is free to decide who they do business with and how. You can't, for example, refuse to sell a car to someone based on race, but you can negotiate different prices for the same car with different people... or even refuse to sell the car to someone.
Also, most of the "virtul properly" court decisions you mention are absolutely unrelated to this. Taking all the collective international court decisions together, the most they've started to say is:
1) Even if "ownership" of a virtual good is only really a "revokable license to access digital assets owned by a third party under certain terms and conditions in the course of access other third-party property" that license still has monetary value outside the "magic circle" of the game, so that "License" is property.
2) When there is property, there will be ownership disputes. These can include theft (when transcending outside the rules of the game), divorce asset division, and unlawful revocation of license (breach of contract).
There's nothing there to make the leap you're suggesting.
Quote:
I'm kind of afraid of that as well. Still...I figured putting in a submission for Best Villain Group (from my Rugrat Rampage mission) wouldn't hurt.|
Originally Posted by Cold_Bob
Why do I get the feeling that this is the type of contest where the eventual winner is already on the short-list somewhere?
|
If I did somehow make the short list and win...I'm giving my girlfriend the video card. She needs a new one badly so she can play CoX at better resolutions/higher graphics settings.
Quote:
|
A contest for the best Mission Architect. Great Idea! Only for Americans however. Stupid laws, grumble, grumble. But presenting it as THE BEST MA HAS TO OFFER is offensive in the extreme. |
On that note...anyone here submitted any story arcs or villain groups? If so, how about sharing #'s so we can try them out?
@Q-3
#60898 - Rugrat Rampage & #331977 - Darkness Falls (work in progress)
------------------
end of line
Seriously?! Why now? MA is dead. Its filled with the corpses of thousands of partial made arcs, nerfed farms, and closed accounts.
If the DEV team selected 4-10 entries for each category, then let the player base choose from them. Then maybe it might be seen as fair. Even then BLAH!
Question about submission formats: is it okay to ZIP the attachments in a single ZIP file, or must they each be attached separately?
Quote:
These two concern me as where really is the line between in-canon and non-canon? Is it still considered in-canon if I use CoH groups in the arc or does it have to have canon NPC as the contact as well? If the arc uses an entirely new custom group and expands on the existing lore is it considered in-canon or is it automatically an original story due to the custom group?
|
3. Best In-Canon Story: The best arc that builds on and enhances the existing lore of City of Heroes in Mission Architect. 4. Best Original Story: The best arc not based upon previously published City of Heroes lore or characters. |
Quote:
The only way this can be "fair" is if the identities of the authors are unknown to an impartial and knowledgeable jury that reviews the arcs. Fiction and poetry contests are usually judged by a panel of writers and editors who read manuscripts that do not have the names of the authors on them.|
Originally Posted by GPBunny
Seriously?! Why now? MA is dead. Its filled with the corpses of thousands of partial made arcs, nerfed farms, and closed accounts.
If the DEV team selected 4-10 entries for each category, then let the player base choose from them. Then maybe it might be seen as fair. Even then BLAH! |
Public voting on these arcs would be anything but fair for exactly the same reasons: players are swayed just as much by prior associations as the devs are. It would actually be less fair because of the opportunity to buy votes with in-game influence and items. You don't have to buy many votes to force a win in something as small as this would probably be.
Regardless, I finally got the screenshots today to submit my arc.
I can't keep up with AE anymore. The rules change too much, and my stoy arcs wind up broken as a result. That gets old.
I hope this contest isn't going to be remembered as "LOL-AE"
Seriously: Best wishes to the contestants.
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
(...and excluding Québec)
Guess I'm out.
Really Glad I decided to read the legal stuff before even bothering trying to enter this contest. It's a shame, too. I'm real proud of my arc and tho it might not have won certain awards, I'm sure it would at least have gotten some honorable mentions...
"You wear a mask to hide who you are, I wear a mask to show who I am"
Arc ID 91456: The Zombie Apocalypse Task Force:poster 1, poster 2
CLICK THE ABOVE LINK TO HELP DO YOUR PART TO SAVE C.O.H!!!!!
Quote:
Naturally, the "fairest" way to select nominees and the winners would be by a completely impartial jury with no connections to NCSoft/CoH OR the playerbase via a blinded provess where the creator's name is stripped out of the missions (Entrant 1, Entrant 2). In this case, that's just not possible, since a famillairity with the game and the game lore is needed to actually judge the entries and it may not be possible to remove every instance of the creators name and maintain the integrity of the mission story and files.|
Originally Posted by Rodion
The only way this can be "fair" is if the identities of the authors are unknown to an impartial and knowledgeable jury that reviews the arcs. Fiction and poetry contests are usually judged by a panel of writers and editors who read manuscripts that do not have the names of the authors on them.
Public voting on these arcs would be anything but fair for exactly the same reasons: players are swayed just as much by prior associations as the devs are. It would actually be less fair because of the opportunity to buy votes with in-game influence and items. You don't have to buy many votes to force a win in something as small as this would probably be. |
Leaving it to the playerbase is unworkable because the playerbase will tend to vote for people they know or have heard of. The Developers are more workable since they know they're under the eyes of the players who will definately call foul if they see something that smacks of favoritism (and will likely call foul anyway just with less zeal if they can't find any definate favouritism). An unknown panel of NCSoft employees who work on the game, but not under the Devs would also be workable, since they represent the company, aren't under any possible Dev duress (not that the Devs would apply duress, but it stops the accusation) and have no contact inside the playerbase to tint their judgement. Lastly (at least that i cna think of at the moment), Celebrity judges may or may not be workable, depending on their connections in the playerbase; as an example I like Scott Kurtz and his work, but he has played the game before and very likely still has friends in the game and definately has long time readers who play, that could color his voting, so we can't be sure a celeb familiar with the game would be any better or worse than any other player.
Whatever the actual judging process, we have to trust it will be fair, since we currently have no reason to not believe it will be. With that said, I'm sure when the nominees are announced there will be some questions about why X was selected and was their any favoritism imvolved. It's the nature of the beast for those sorts of things to come up in any judging process not based on quantifiable criteria.
Oh my sweet raptor jebus you people make my blood boil! They could post an announcement saying that every active CoH player wouyld get free money and people would complain about it not being enough money. So what if it's not open to contestants outside of the US? If you really really want to get new gaming gear, save up some money and then buy it. Not everyone can afford to get new stuff all the time (me included) but in that case I doubt video games are high on the priority list.
It's not like the devs sat down and started thinking of ways to screw over foreigners, it's just a fun thing to promote their awesome feature and make some people feel good about what they accomplished that's still subject to laws and regulations. And about it all being a conspiracy and a set up where the hall of famers are going to win, huh? They're not in the Hall of Fame because their arcs suck and besides, it's not like the people at Paragon have anything to gain from picking a popular arc as a winner.
I've decided to submit "MacGuffin Delivery Service" (#1567) for Best Villain Arc.
I'm curious as to how many submissions there have been so far, the deadline is coming up.
I just wish Avatea would answer PMs. I submitted two arcs, but I've since found something important I'd like to at least change in the MA, if not both the MA and the submission. I don't want to make any changes if that'll invalidate the submissions they have in hand, and I don't want to re-submit if that'll cause problems...
One thing they definitely need to learn to do some day is upgrade the amount of support and feedback they provide the forums when they post anouncements like this. They've yet to answer anyone's questions in this thread, and I'm not certain if their response to PMs is any better.
OK, climbing down off my frustration soapbox now. 
Edit - I need to learn to be patient... PM answered.
The SOLUS Foundation - a Liberty and Pinnacle SG
"The Consequences of War" - Arcs # 227331 and 241496
Quote:
Yeah, actually, I'm not that interested in the prizes, as you said, I could just buy them. I was more interested in the titles and bragging rights (if in some unlikely event I had of won if able to enter). My trouble with the geographically limited contests is primarily one of principle. It offends me that there is not equal opportunity for all subscription paying customers to enter the contest.|
Originally Posted by Hemtroll
So what if it's not open to contestants outside of the US? If you really really want to get new gaming gear, save up some money and then buy it.
|
Not long till the contest closes now, get those story-arcs polished and sent in, I wanna see some superb winners, regardless of where they come from!
K5K - The Killbot 5000
A Spanner In The Works Part One, ArcID: 336662, A Spanner In The Works Part Two, ArcID: 336665, Enter Japes, ArcID: 96001
In The Darkness Creeping, ArcID: 347709, When Dimensions Collide, ArcID: 412416.
How exactly do I get the screen shots of my story arc?
Quote:
Use the "Print Screen" button while testing or playing the arc. Remember that style will most likely count, so take some good screenshots.|
Originally Posted by BH9 W4RF1GHT3R
How exactly do I get the screen shots of my story arc?
|
You can find the screenshots in their respective folder (default path is C:\Program Files\City of Heroes\screenshots) so that you can attach them into your email entry.
Your entry to the Mission Architect contest is supposed to be final. If you decide to make any change after sending it in, please bear in mind that it will normally not be taken into account. Each arc has to be played and checked on our end and that takes time. An updated arc would have to be re-played to make sure the arc still qualifies.
As for screenshots, to quote the rules: "The screenshots must be RGB JPG image formatted files. Other file formats will not be accepted. The total size of the email including all attachments must not exceed 5 MB." Also, be careful not to infringe any Copyright! Apart from that, it is up to you to decide what your screenshots should feature. Be creative, capture a scene that is compelling and makes everybody want to play your arc!
Support Centre for our English European players
Support Centre for our North American players
Plateforme d'assistance pour les francophones
Support-Center f�r deutschsprachige Spieler
I've submitted my arc. I'm not worried about the story, either it will be liked or not. My concern is will I be DQ'd because of a map bug I have no control over?
I'm referencing the outdoor map objective placement bug. "Front/Back/Middle" means nothing, objectives are placed willy nilly. On the map I need for my arc this can be a problem. Using another map destroys the story and atmosphere I'm trying to achieve.
I have begged this bug be fixed since beta. 
Together we entered a city of strangers, we made it a city of friends, and we leave it a City of Heroes. - Sweet_Sarah
BOYCOTT NCSoft (on Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/517513781597443/
Governments have fallen to the power of social media. Gaming companies can too.
If anyone wants to check them out, I submitted the following arcs.
"The Amulet of J'gara" (1709) for Best Hero Arc
"MacGuffin Delivery Service" (1567) for Best Villain Arc
"All Consuming" (261148) for Best In-Canon Story
"A Show of Hands" (296884) for Best Original Story
"The Portal Bandits" (3326) for Best Enemy Group
Actually, there's a far more simple reason why EU players are going to be frustrated intensely by this competition; How many of you, where ever you are now, have got ANY plays of your arcs, no matter how good, over the last few months? Because if you aren't a Devs Choice, and on either the first few, or the last few (brand new) pages, with extreme figures either way for Played/Rated, people just aren't bothering any more. 4 stars and on page 100 is complete MA death; It's either all farms or the arcs that did well right at the start that are played now, and the madness of crowds has set in...
So. Here comes a competition to re-vitalize the attention paid to MA Arcs; Great! Actually, no it's not, because unless you're American, you can't even enter. Instead of giving us regular Dev Choices, like they actually promised, for everyone no matter where they live, or even following up on the thread for suggestions of quality we were given months ago, what we'll be getting is the best of the purely American arcs; Some of which may indeed be fantastic of course. But they'll be fantastic AND unfairly propelled to the top of the list again. It's going to lead to a form of MA Apartheid, and how anyone can honestly not see the huge discontent that's going to lead too is beyond me...
Now I'm not going to pretend free swag doesn't have it's appeal too... of course it does. But having already had my custom content published for free with other games too (Dawn Of War: Winter Assault when published in Poland, of all places, gave away one of my maps with the game as an online unlock) I'm entirely happy with giving the community something for nothing... just at least honestly acknowledge that it's appreciated for what it is. Criticise it where it's needed too, because that's where all self-improvement ultimately comes from. But don't just come out with "Sorry, you're not American, and we can't reward you, so you're not even in the running for recognition either."