[size=150]Dear members of MFGG![/size] Competitions have been on hold for a while, and now it's time to bring them back. A new set of rules, a new way of scheduling, and an intention to bring more focus to each individual competition by posting about them on the mainsite and bringing back the forum announcement should revitalize one of the core components of our forum. Please have a read through this rather long post, ask questions for clarifications and if you have a good reason for why a rule should be changed, please step forward. [size=150]General Competition Rules[/size] In this box, you will find the overall competition rules. They are universally valid for each competition type. Significant changes have been made to "Competition Setup", and all other paragraphs have been changed or merged to bring more clarity. [quote="General Competition Rules"] [b]Competition Setup[/b][list] [*] Competitions are scheduled in a fixed manner, at least one week ahead, but usually more. This is to give participants the necessary preparation time to plan their lives around the competitions they want to enter. With only one competition being held at any given time and the average competition lasting 2 weeks (voting included), you can expect 4 to 5 competitions of each type per year. Take your time and make your few chances count. As demand rises, the frequency of competitions may increase. [*] A competition winner gets the privilege of setting up the next competition on the schedule, even if it is a different category than the one you won. If you can not come up with an idea for any reason or are not going to be online on the scheduled date, you can ask somebody else, preferably the runner-up, to do that for you. If you can not find anybody, inform a staff member. [*] You can choose a theme for your competition. It should be narrow enough to provide a challenge for the entrants, but broad enough to have some variety among the entries. The theme must have some relevance to the things we're doing here at MFGG, and preferably produce results that can be uploaded to the MFGG Mainsite. [*] You can and are encouraged to add additional rules and restrictions to your competition, if you think they make sense and shake things up a bit. Rules that contradict the overall competition rules should be run by an Administrator first. [*] Use your common sense to find a theme that draws attention of participants and voters. Try to come up with a unique theme that has never been used before. On a case to case basis, partial recycling of old themes or themes of other competition categories can work too, considering the ever changing nature of MFGG's member base. [*] You can enter in a competition you set up yourself. If you win twice in a row, the runner-up gets to set up the next competition instead of you. [*] If no competition is set up on the scheduled starting date, the administration will do so the following day. There will not be a deadline extension however.[/list] [b]Entering[/b][list] [*] To enter, you submit a post to the competition's topic containing a link to your entry [*] All competitions are solo competitions. You can not submit an entry as a team. [*] Entries must follow the overall board rules. [*] You must be a registered member of MFGG to enter. Do not submit an entry for somebody else. [*] Your entry must be made by you. Do not submit other people's work under your name. [*] Do not hand in stolen work. [*] Only one entry per person is accepted. If you change your mind during the competition, you need to declare which of your entries counts. [*] A "Work In Progress" (WIP) entry must be labeled as such, or it might accidentally be mistaken for your finished entry. [*] Edited or pre-made work is not accepted. To promote a fair competition, all entries must be made between the announcement of the competition theme and the deadline. [*] Try to be as original as possible. Especially when somebody already showed a WIP of his entry, try to do something else and do not shamelessly copy somebody's idea.[/list] [b]Duration[/b][list] [*] A competition starts as soon as the theme has been announced, which happens at any point during its scheduled beginning day. [*] Entries can be handed in until the given deadline. If no timezone is given, entries are accepted as long as the deadline date is still active in any timezone around the world, even if you do not live in that time zone. The same rule applies to voting deadlines. [*] Extensions are not permitted anymore. In the past they have not lead to an increased number of entries, but more likely contributed to entrants not taking the real deadlines seriously.[/list] [b]Voting[/b][list] [*] After the deadline of the competition, the voting process takes place. [*] Should there be more than 5 entries, there will be a Top 5 Voting. In Top 5 Voting you must vote for your favorite 5 entries. Order does not matter. The entries with the most votes proceed to final voting. [*] In Final Voting you must vote for your favorite entry. When Final Voting is over, the entry with the most votes wins. [*] The voting process takes exactly 3 days. If Top 5 Voting is held, there will be 2 days for Top 5 Voting and 1 day for Final Voting. [*] Only judge what was entered for the given competition and be as objective as possible. [*] You can not vote for yourself, neither in Top 5, nor Final Voting. You can always decide not to vote at all, but are encouraged to, showing your sportsmanship. [*] Make your votes clear by posting only the name you vote for, or by posting a clear message like "I vote for ___". If your vote is part of a larger post including reviews of all entries, it is recommended to highlight the vote, e.g. by bolding.[/list] [b]Miscellaneous[/b][list] [*] MFGG Competitions are events that are about coming together and creating great projects. Be fair and show your respect to make the competition enjoyable for everyone. [*] If there is a lack of clarity in the theme, the competition creator has the final word. Admins and mods overrule the competition creator. Usually admins and mods do not need to interfere though. Ask as soon as possible, so you and others have more time to accommodate. [/quote] [size=150]Category Specific Rules[/size] Let's go to the specific rules for each category. [quote="Sprite Competition Specific Rules"] [list] [*]All entries must potentially be useful in a game. [*]Typically, a theme should not require only a single sprite, but a useable sprite sheet or tile sheet. [*]As a rule of thumb, entries should contain enough content to work as Mainsite submissions[/list] [/quote] [quote="Drawing Competition Specific Rules"] [list] [*]Collages or photos/photo edits are not allowed. Entries must be drawn either by hand, in a digital drawing tool of your choice or a combination of both. Hand drawn images can of course be photographed, but preferably scanned.[/list] [/quote] [quote="Music Competition Specific Rules"][list] [*]All songs must consist of your own work. You may reuse a short drum loop, for example, but you may not take someone else's work (such as the MIDIs found at VGMusic.com), make small alterations to it, and submit it as a Music Competition entry.[/list] [/quote] [quote="Minigame Competition Specific Rules"][list] [*] You are allowed to borrow some code from your own old projects, to avoid having to reinvent the wheel. This means most code that is not directly related to the game logic, e.g. input handling, asset handling, collision handling, drawing, etc. Do not try to use this rule to justify complete recycling old game engines completely or similar. The Administration reserves the right to disqualify entries who abuse this privilege. [*] Resources other than code like graphics/music/sound can be used from existing sources. Ripped resources are also allowed. These are primarily programming/game design competitions. [*] Entries should be reasonably small in file size and runnable on the average user's system without having to download additional software. [*] All tools and libraries that fulfill all of the above rules are allowed. [*] Like all other competition types, this is also a solo competition. All programming and game design must be done by yourself. You can ask other members to make graphics and sound for you, however they will not receive a reward with you. This is what Music and Sprite competitions are for.[/list] [/quote] [quote="Special Competitions"]This competition will be in a new category each time, for example cooking, 3D modelling, gaming or whatever else we can come up with. There will be some options to choose from based on member suggestions and the one with the most votes will be held.[/quote] [size=150]Schedule[/size] Have a look at this schedule. It will get updated regularly and tell you at least 1 week ahead when a competition will happen. It will also be announced on the mainsite. We hope to get more people to enter as well as to vote this way. And more people entering and more people voting makes any earned position in these competitions feel much better. We kick off with a Spriting Competition next week, then cycle through until we reach the Minigame Competition in the beginning of April and close the cycle with a new Special Competition. [quote="Schedule"][list] [*] [b]2014/March/8th - 2014/March/15th[/b] Spriting Competition #1 [*] [b]2014/March/19th - 2014/March/26th[/b] Drawing Competition #1 [*] [b]2014/March/29th - 2014/April/5th[/b] Music Competition #1 [*] [b]2014/April/9th - 2014/April/19th[/b] Minigame Competition #1 [*] [b]2014/April/23rd - 2014/April/30th[/b] Special Competition #???[/list][/list][/quote] [size=150]Discussion on Rewards[/size] This box contains information about the rewards you can earn by entering competitions, but it is not final. Please help us find the ideal way to solve this problem by reading the suggestions and telling us what you thing is better and why. EDIT: Disclaimer: this is not a democratic vote, this is a discussion. The option that comes with the better arguments will be used, and you can argue beyond the 2 options presented here. Those are however the most feasible to do. [quote="Rewards"] [b]Badges[/b][list] [*] Option 1: Each category has its own set of badges: Top 5 Badge (for placing in the top 5), Silver Badge (2nd place) and finally a Golden Badge (1st place). If you win multiple times, your golden badge gets upgraded to something more awesome each 5 competitions you win. [*] Option 2: We introduce a point system and have only a single badge per category. Golden Badges get you 10 points, Runner-Up 6 points, Top-5: 3 points, Participant: 1 point. Depending on how many points you have accumulated, your badge will get fancier.[/list] [b]Best of the Year Award[/b][list] [*] For each Spriting, Drawing, Music and Minigame Competitions, once per year a special voting is held, the Best of the Year Award. [*] The voting happens between all entries that have placed in the Top 5 during the past year in each category. [*] First there is a Top 5 Voting, followed by a Final Voting that will determine the three best entries of the year. Both voting phases take one week and are done via PM, similar to the MFGG Awards. [*] If you have placed in the Top 5 multiple times during regular competitions, you will also have multiple entries in the Top 5 Voting phase. However, for the Final Voting, only your best entry will be taken, to avoid one person winning multiple awards in a single category. You can however win multiple times in different categories. [*] The winners determined by the Final Voting will receive a special badge, as well as a digital prize like a Steam game, provided that we have the necessary funds to do so. Which and how many prizes can be won, will be announced the latest before the start of the voting.[/list] [/quote] Please read and discuss.

The new rules are great! Though, I have a question: [quote="Guinea"]Resources other than music/sound can be used from existing sources.[/quote] Does this mean all music and sound used in your minigame has to be self-composed?

[quote="[url=http://phpbb.mfgg.net/viewtopic.php?p=400131#p400131]WreckingGoomba[/url]"]Does this mean all music and sound used in your minigame has to be self-composed?[/quote] A weird typing mistake happened here. It should be: [quote] Resources other than code like graphics/music/sound can be used from existing sources. Ripped resources are also allowed. These are primarily programming/game design competitions.[/quote] So you only need to write your own code, but like before can use graphics, music and sound from elsewhere.

I prefer option 1.

[quote="Mors"]I prefer option 1.[/quote] I agree

So you let users decide on the options for handing out badges now? I already posted my opinion on this, but option 1 really should be out of the race. Not only does that overload you with badges when you introduce new competitions, but it also only updates to fancy new badges when you win, which will take ages, especially since the competitions are not happening simultaneously anymore. This might also become pretty frustrating if you submit some excellent sprites, but Chaoxys enters and wins first place, and you have to wait several months again until you can try to upgrade your badge again. Points would rather encourage you there, because you always get closer to your goal and thus it feels more rewarding. Not that the new badges should be the main motivation to enter to begin with, but I think it's more fair, less overloading, and encourages you even further.

^I know your point, I'm asking for users opinions too. This is by no means a poll. The option with the better arguments wins, not with the more votes. I personally prefer option 2 as well. The only downside it has in my opinion is that it doesn't keep track anymore of how often you got each individual place.

[quote="Guinea"]^I know your point, I'm asking for users opinions too. This is by no means a poll. The option with the better arguments wins, not with the more votes. I personally prefer option 2 as well. The only downside it has in my opinion is that it doesn't keep track anymore of how often you got each individual place.[/quote]That's a valid point, but in Forum 6 I already posted a picture of how it could look like (with a box showing which places you got how often when you hover with your mouse over the badge). It might be difficult to implement the way I suggested, but something among those lines should be possible. I don't think the amount of wins/runner-ups/Top 5 is that important anyway.

^I know. We are attached to it because it's what we always had, but in the end, a large amount of points equals a large amount of wins, and the archived competitions should be enough to keep track overall. The new system would have a smaller amount of badges and thus allow us to add the special competition badges (3 additional badges in the old system) and the "Best of the Year" award (4 additional badges) without cluttering up the badge list. Is there any other good reason for keeping the old system as is, besides nostalgia?

I didn't like point idea, it doesn't feel right.

I think point-based badges is the best idea. Someone who consistently gets in the top few (but not first) would be put at the same level as someone who got gold once and nothing else. Would the number of points be displayed at the bottom of the badge, like the current comp badges display number of wins?

[quote="HylianDev"]I think point-based badges is the best idea. Someone who consistently gets in the top few (but not first) would be put at the same level as someone who got gold once and nothing else. Would the number of points be displayed at the bottom of the badge, like the current comp badges display number of wins?[/quote]Yeah, pretty much.

What's wrong with the current system? Seems to work pretty straightforward without confusing people with points and all that. You get your gold, silver and bronze, and a number showing how many of those you've gotten. Why make it more convoluted? If you're that sore of a loser that you feel bad if you don't have a gold badge despite being a runner up or top-5 X amounts of times in a row, you shouldn't be participating. Competitions are meant to be fun first, badges are completely and utterly secondary and are basically a meaningless way to show an achievement. If you HAD to change, it options 1 makes the most sense, but I don't really know what the point of this all is.

[quote="Kritter"]What's wrong with the current system? Seems to work pretty straightforward without confusing people with points and all that. You get your gold, silver and bronze, and a number showing how many of those you've gotten. Why make it more convoluted? If you're that sore of a loser that you feel bad if you don't have a gold badge despite being a runner up or top-5 X amounts of times in a row, you shouldn't be participating. Competitions are meant to be fun first, badges are completely and utterly secondary and are basically a meaningless way to show an achievement. If you HAD to change, it options 1 makes the most sense, but I don't really know what the point of this all is.[/quote]Maybe reading the topic would help. We get additional upgrading badges and with option 1 only gold winners would be able to upgrade theirs. It's not about feeling bad when you don't get gold, it's about everything else than gold being useless when it concerns upgrading the badge. By reading the first post you would also have realized the introduction of special competitions which would be creating a massive wave of new badges with their creation. To keep things more organized, one badge per competition type would help.

Oh I see the big deal now. Wait. No I don't. I see... 1 new competiton. If things stay as they are, that's... 3 new badges, plus one each for best of the year. Hardly a deal breaker when it comes to those rather long sidebars we all have that allow for additional badges. Also, it's not as though EVERYONE will have one, seeing as they're a yearly thing. No worse than MFGG awards really. And if upgrading is an issue, why bother with it in the first place? Having a gold badge with more than a number 1 next to it is honour enough as it is, rather than having a Super Mega Xtreme Gold Winner Badge 5000! Just seems like an overcomplicated and unnecessary system for something that has worked just fine and dandy for years. Also, you seem to be taking this all rather personally :shifty:

Personally prefer option 1. A point system doesn't matter much for the people who enter and win competitions frequently, but it averages out the achievements of those who enter infrequently but win when they do, and those who constantly place in top-5 and then finally cut a first place entry. That's pretty depressing when it's those same people for whom a gold winner badge would have the most meaning.

I too, prefer option 1. Option two just doesn't seem rewarding enough for being good at something. Someone could have like 500 points for always coming in 5th a ton of times and another person could have 100 points for coming in first a few times. It kinda makes the 5th place guy look better than the 1st place guy, which wouldn't be the case. Having a gold badge for winning a competition has more meaning; it stands out more of "I'm a winner!" than a badge with 1000 points listed under it. You have no idea if that 1000 points was from being the best or almost the best. I feel like having tiered badges in option 1 shows off talent better than option 2. After all, aren't the competitions supposed to be something one should be proud of for getting first in? They should be able to show that they have talent. I guess my opinion is a little bit ran-on and unorganized, but my basis is that Option 1 is better than Option 2 because Option 1 shows talent better than Option 2.

RII and Kritter's points make a lot of sense to me. Keep the discussion going please.

Definitely, the point system might make first place less of a deal - but as previously mentioned, weren't competitions just for fun anyway? I suggested a system that keeps track of winning, runner-up, etc. anyway - just without them being shown in the place of the badges. Kritter, special competitions would mean only three more badges to be awarded indeed, however, not all of these might be summarized as just "special competitions" - they might get individual badges based on the theme, which would mean with different themes in the special competitions way more than just three new badges. Let's also note the new upgrading technique. This was introduced as a new motivation to keep the competitions going, which wouldn't work with the current system at all - unless you really only want 1st place to be rewarding, which will rule out all the people who think they cannot get first anyway. Thus, this new system would be entirely useless. Especially with reduced amount of competitions, missing 1st place can become really frustrating. We could just keep the current system going of course, without any upgrades as suggested. But they were added to give additional motivation, as the number of entries in competitions recently was lower than ever before. Besides, to all those who claim the point system feels less like an achievement: People who always score a fifth place won't be able to catch up to gold badge winners at all, if they keep going - the amount of points would easily be much higher for those who win frequently. Unlocking the badges that really require a lot of points should be achievement enough, as those who never really get 1st place will take an eternity to get to the badges that are really high up in the hierarchy. Now, in my opinion we should still have a counter for wins and runner-ups, etc. somewhere (even though I don't deem it as that important) but with a system like that established, I really don't see any downside to the point system.

Fine, i'll change my statement to "Option 2 sounds like garbage" if that helps get my point across. Yes competitions are for fun, but that doesn't mean that if you do well, you shouldn't be rewarded with something that adequately reflects your achievement. I don't feel that someone who gets first place should feel as though their achievement has been lessened by someone who has gotten many second or third places. Also spare a thought for new members who would be up against members such as Guinea. What would his point tally be for minigame competitions? A new member would have a lot of work to do in order to get their tally as high and may get discouraged, but it takes just one win, runner up or top-5 to get a badge showing that you were good enough to get that rank, and that's MUCH more motivation for me personally. If I were a new member awarded with a shiny golden badge for entering a competition, i'd feel pretty good about that, much more so than simply grinding for points by entering many times.