PERC Presents: Mr. and Ms. Paragon Universe 2010 - Triumph

P.E.R.C. Presents Mr. & Ms. Paragon Universe
Beginning Friday, October 15th, 2010 in Pocket D

“A Tradition Returns: Announcing the Fourth Annual Mr. & Ms. Paragon Universe Character Concept Contest!"


Drop the beats and cue the lights; it’s time to strike a pose!

P.E.R.C. is very excited to be celebrating the 4th anniversary of this incredibly popular event, starting this year on Friday, October 15th, 2010 in Pocket D.

This time around, Heroes, Villains, and Praetorians will be fighting it out under one roof for the chance to be crowned the City of Heroes Mr. and/or Ms. Paragon Universe!

We’d like to thank you all for three (3) great years of participation in the past and hope you will celebrate it with us again! As the game continues to evolve it is critical that you review all the information below. With this special fourth year, PERC has made many changes, updates, and improvements in order to meet the needs of the amazing additions the game has unleashed. Categories, dates, judging times, prizes, and the contest rules are all covered below; please make sure to familiarize yourself with them as we’ve made some nice improvements from last year.

Thank you again for all your participation and support. We’ll see you all on the catwalk.




With the release of Going Rogue the categories of Hero & Villain have merged into one! This year Heroes, Villains, and Praetorians will all be under one category but the battle of the sexes will rage on.

The titles up for grabs this year are:

Each Server Finalists:
• Mr. Server Name 2010 (Male)
• Ms. Server Name 2010 (Female)

Overall Winners:
• Mr. Paragon Universe 2010 (Male)
• Ms. Paragon Universe 2010 (Female)



The contest dates are as follows for individual servers:

Friday, October 15th, 2010: (times in EST)

8:00PM - Liberty

10:00PM - Champion

Saturday, October 16th, 2010: (times in EST)

2:00PM - Infinity

4:00PM - Guardian

6:00PM - Freedom

8:00PM - Victory

10:00PM - Justice

Sunday, October 17th, 2010: (times in EST)

2:00PM - Pinnacle

4:00PM - Protector

6:00PM - Triumph

8:00PM - Virtue

Saturday, November 6th, 2010:

The Finals - Test Server - 8:00pm EST / 7:00pm CST / 6:00pm MST / 5:00pm PST

*Note: If you make the finals you must attend this date for the final judging or be disqualified.




The following is the schedule this event will follow. It is important to arrive on time in order to be judged!

XX:00 - Gathering
XX:20 - Judging Begins
XX:40 - Semi-Finalists Announced
XX:45 - Semi-Finalists Judging Begins
Finalists will be announced once the Semi-Finalists judging is complete!




Every server finalist will receive the following:
* 2 Costume Codes (Winners Choice)
* 1 Billion Influence
* In-Game Gold Title: Mr. or Ms. (Server Name) 2010

Overall winners will additionally receive the following:
* 2 Costume Codes (4 Total)
* 1 Billion Influence (2 Billion Total)
* 1 Party Pack (The Emote Pack)
* 1 Five (5) Year Tee Shirt
* In-Game Gold Title: Mr. or Ms. Paragon Universe 2010

*Note: In order to receive the prizes finalists MUST attend the finals.




Contest Basics:
• Any Hero or Villain may enter.
• Only one entry per server allowed.
• Characters must be at least level fifteen (15) to participate.
• No late entries accepted. Arrive on time if you want to be judged.
• No member of PERC may enter (since PERC Reps will be judging).
• Huge body type heroes/villains will be determined to be male. Monster heroes/villains will be determined male or female by body type, and/or name and biography if necessary.

Costume Rules:
• Customized Weapons are allowed. This includes shields, blades, guns, etc. Players are asked to only draw weapons however and not utilize power animations.
• Powers Usage is limited: We understand that i16 has brought with it a variety of power customization opportunities however we have found that powers can effect other players unintentionally and can also diffuse attention away from other character components. We would prefer players limit their use of powers and utilize them for Aura purposes. Examples of powers allowed include but are not limited to Fire Shield, Rock Armor, Personal Force Field, and Invincibility.
• Be very careful in your power choices and avoid overusing multiple powers.
• Powers that effect other players will result in automatic disqualification from the event. Examples include but are not limited to Steamy Mist, Lightning Field, Hotfeet, and Shadowfall.
• Please contact a P.E.R.C. Chair Representative if you have any questions about a specific power.

Judging Rules:
• A panel of P.E.R.C. Representatives from other servers will be compiled to judge this event.
• Players are urged to utilize costume choices, weapons customizations, emotes, and auras in building their concept for display.
• Judging for the contest will be scored based on concept, costume, and creativity.




Semi-Finals:
• New to the contest this year is the Semi-Finals.
• Semi-Finals will take place in the Pocket D Arena.
• Judges will pick a total of 16 contestants (8 Male / 8 Female) at the end of the Server Judging Round to move on to the Semi-Finals Round.
• Each Semi-Finalist group will be taken into the Arena separately. Males first, followed by females.
• The PERC MC will start the Arena Event and set up the teams so that it is Judges vs. Semi-Finalists.
• Each contestant will have 1 minute to show off their powers!
• A "dummy" or "test subject" will be announced for the person to target.
• During this round it is IMPORTANT to listen to the MC & PERC REPS for any additional rules & details.
• Anybody who griefs and / or kills another contestant inside the Arena will be disqualified.
• All attendees, who do not make it to the Semi-Finalists, are invited to observe the Semi-Finals event once it starts.

Finals:
• The finals will be based both on concept / costume design (same rules as above) and additionally on a series of short interview questions.
• Questions will be provided to the finalists following the finalists announcements.
• Questions however will be asked LIVE at the finals only. Contestants do not answer the questions until the LIVE finals event.
• Costume scores will be formulated the same way as they were in the individual server contest rounds.
• Judges have the right in the event of a tie to refer to character biographies and how they apply to the character concept.




• Characters must be at least level fifteen (15) to participate.
• Players are allowed to enter on multiple servers.
• Power customization will now also be judged.
• A NEW Semi-Finalists judging round will occur inside the arena.
• We will be looking at biographies in the finals.

Oh noes.

Yes you will Mag becuase Troll and I are going to get in on this. Now to figure out who to put in....

You could have easily incorporated him into the judging since it was still going on. It doesn't take long to look at a costume, especially if you've already seen the others. There aren't many costume gurus on Triumph and he is one of them, he even posted in the thread and not many look at the forums. What even happened to the sign up sheet that's been done every time?

Also, in the 4 years of this contest, I have yet to see some fair judging. You say this is judged on creativity, originality, and overall concept and theme of a character, but I don't understand how a Fox name Vulpes (Vulpix anyone?) just won Ms Paragon (how is that even remotely related to the title of Ms Paragon?). I feel sorry for myself (as Nimbi) and Swarmstress, because our creativity just got insulted for a Pokemon winning this.

/End rant. >.>

It's fine really, I'm not even upset about losing in general. I wouldn't mind it if I lost to somebody with a really awesome toon. To each their own, but I think something's wrong if everybody who was at the contest is telling me Nimbi should have been the one to win. Just kinda burns. Really hope this contest improves in the future because it's the greatest costume contest there is, just need to start judging it better. At the very least an explanation would be nice.

I 'believe' (I can only guess, because I am not part of PERC) that this years speedy version of the contest was in fact due to complaints last year about how long it took. I also believe that the 'no pre-registration' was due to issues last year where people complained about walk-ins.

While I am not a huge fan of the biggest rewards/prizes being given out for a subjective contest, I think PERC did make the attempt to fix some of the issues raised last year.

What I kind of find a little ridiculous, is the issue that people need to be reminded that a contest is going to happen. The threads were posted, and for the most part bumped prior to the event. I think people really need to take some responsibility for themselves if they want to participate in a contest. Do you expect the lottery to come to your door each Tuesday and Thursday to remind you to buy a ticket because the drawling is the next night?

As far as being on the community calender, I think that is a very valid point. I honestly though, don't even know where this calender is and I may not be typical but I just find out about things by reading the forums.

You are correct we actually met as a group those that showed and we discussed the problems and complaints from the previous year, and looked at your "the players" suggestions and put to vote on the changes. These are the changes that passed that were in this year’s contest forum posts. What can I say other than one person put it right in saying "People don’t really know what they want." We listened to the people, yes we voted (I know that whole American voting thing right) and it again worked out that obviously not all of the suggested changes were made. It's a process like anything else out there, this is a game and unfortunately we obviously try like heck to appease the public and still fail no matter how much we change and take from suggestions, we still find those who had problems.

3 Mile, I was not the judge that neither responded to you nor was I even a judge, just a Voice "Town Crier" if you will. I do apologize that you "were wronged" I think yes despite my better instincts to not voice my opinion think we could have allowed you to be judged. I'm sorry I should have spoken up, but also on the other foot we did announce in TW 2.0, TW 2.1 and APEX hotline how much time was left to get to pocket d to enter, I believe we even mentioned it on the request channel, and yes I know it was here as well but not nearly as many people read the forums until they get mad. Yes I can relate I have been on both sides of this event, I've been judged, I've been a judge, I've been a helper, and been a losing semifinalist before. The most I can say is come again next year, host your own event, apply to join PERC, or just go and have fun in the game and just ignore us PERC people, or whatever. Blow off the steam and get back to "the game" and just enjoy the game. After all that is what this game is here for, that is all anyone that ever hosts an event, makes a SG, forms a Team, and gathers people for PVP, Raids, TF's, SF's and so on is trying to do.

I think that some of what I said can be applied to all that have been wronged, or think they have been wronged in this contest from whatever year it was does not matter, just take my ranting’s as it is, and try to enjoy yourself. This applies to contestant and PERC people alike, I am from both sides and see both sides of the "contest" so I can both relate and empathize with both matters.