This is an announcement regarding our regular competitions (Minigame, Spriting, Drawing, Music).
After the currently active competition in its category ends, please do not start a new one. This is part of a restructuring of the competitions that is being planned at the moment in a response to the low amount of participants and voters.
Let me explain more clearly something that some of you may have observed themselves already:
Symptom: - Small amount of participation in competitions, it is not rare to see only one person entering, or even nobody at all. Ideally, we'd have 8 or more people per competition, at least 5. - Small amount of members voting on each competition
Assumption: - There still exists interest in having competitions in general
Possible explanation: - MFGG exists for over 10 years now, having all those competitions one after the other, all at the same time, without a break. There's likely an oversaturation of competitions that causes this lack of interest. You can only do something so many times without losing the sense of excitement that comes with it. The participants also tend to sit out the next one or two, as they might want to invest more time in their own bigger projects, which we do not want to discourage either. - A lack of awareness. With 4 competitions typically going on at the same time, spread across multiple boards, it is easy to lose track of which competitions are active right now and which competitions are new and interesting, so it is easy to miss the start of a new competition suddenly and come in half a week too late, and then just say "screw that, I'll wait for the next". Likewise, Mainsiters might get motivated to enter, if competitions got a spotlight on the mainsite too, but with this many competitions, the mainsite would then be flooded with competition news. - A lack of incentive to enter. You can only feel good about getting that golden badge of your discipline so many times. While this is working to get older members to make room for newcomers in principle, it is way too easy right now, especially with the low participation rate and the high frequency of competitions.
Solution: - Less competitions overall will increase the novelty factor of a new competition happening, and focus the amount of participants usually spread across multiple competitions into one bigger and thus more challenging and therefore more interesting competition. When a badge is not guaranteed for everyone who enters, entries should become better, too, improving the quality/quantity ratio in our competition entries, leading to more quality submissions on the main site and everyone having something to look forward to.
A great example where this works is Ludum Dare. This indie competition only happens three times a year, takes 48 hours, has absolutely no rewards for the winners, and has thousands of people participating, as they anticipate the event, prepare for it, and take their time off just to be in there.
These are my ramblings on the topic, and an explanation for the hiatus of competitions. Which solution exactly we will come up with will be announced at a later date, and you can bring in your influence by posting in this topic.
Some suggestions that have been thrown around are: - Having only a single competition going on at the same time, thus cycling through the different categories (Minigame/Music/Drawing/Spriting) and bringing the full focus to one competition at a time. - Trying out a new type of competition every once in a while to mix things up (Gaming/Writing/Cooking/etc.) - Announcing the dates way in advance to allow everyone to prepare and schedule around them. - Having special competitions every once in a while with "real" prizes like Steam keys (obviously requires someone to pay for them, so no guarantees on this)
What do you think of this, and do you have more suggestions?
This is an announcement regarding our regular competitions (Minigame, Spriting, Drawing, Music).
After the currently active competition in its category ends, please do not start a new one. This is part of a restructuring of the competitions that is being planned at the moment in a response to the low amount of participants and voters.
Let me explain more clearly something that some of you may have observed themselves already:
[b]Symptom:[/b]
- Small amount of participation in competitions, it is not rare to see only one person entering, or even nobody at all. Ideally, we'd have 8 or more people per competition, at least 5.
- Small amount of members voting on each competition
[b]Assumption:[/b]
- There still exists interest in having competitions in general
[b]Possible explanation:[/b]
- MFGG exists for over 10 years now, having all those competitions one after the other, all at the same time, without a break. There's likely an oversaturation of competitions that causes this lack of interest. You can only do something so many times without losing the sense of excitement that comes with it. The participants also tend to sit out the next one or two, as they might want to invest more time in their own bigger projects, which we do not want to discourage either.
- A lack of awareness. With 4 competitions typically going on at the same time, spread across multiple boards, it is easy to lose track of which competitions are active right now and which competitions are new and interesting, so it is easy to miss the start of a new competition suddenly and come in half a week too late, and then just say "screw that, I'll wait for the next". Likewise, Mainsiters might get motivated to enter, if competitions got a spotlight on the mainsite too, but with this many competitions, the mainsite would then be flooded with competition news.
- A lack of incentive to enter. You can only feel good about getting that golden badge of your discipline so many times. While this is working to get older members to make room for newcomers in principle, it is way too easy right now, especially with the low participation rate and the high frequency of competitions.
[b]Solution:[/b]
- Less competitions overall will increase the novelty factor of a new competition happening, and focus the amount of participants usually spread across multiple competitions into one bigger and thus more challenging and therefore more interesting competition. When a badge is not guaranteed for everyone who enters, entries should become better, too, improving the quality/quantity ratio in our competition entries, leading to more quality submissions on the main site and everyone having something to look forward to.
A great example where this works is Ludum Dare. This indie competition only happens three times a year, takes 48 hours, has absolutely no rewards for the winners, and has thousands of people participating, as they anticipate the event, prepare for it, and take their time off just to be in there.
These are my ramblings on the topic, and an explanation for the hiatus of competitions.
Which solution exactly we will come up with will be announced at a later date, and you can bring in your influence by posting in this topic.
[b]Some suggestions that have been thrown around are:[/b]
- Having only a single competition going on at the same time, thus cycling through the different categories (Minigame/Music/Drawing/Spriting) and bringing the full focus to one competition at a time.
- Trying out a new type of competition every once in a while to mix things up (Gaming/Writing/Cooking/etc.)
- Announcing the dates way in advance to allow everyone to prepare and schedule around them.
- Having special competitions every once in a while with "real" prizes like Steam keys (obviously requires someone to pay for them, so no guarantees on this)
What do you think of this, and do you have more suggestions?
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Guinea 2013 Reference (1) | 11 (1) | 10 (1) | 08/09 (1, 2) |
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