[Mac]

UPDATE: One question I forgot to ask was how long should each match last? There have been some complaints about matches lasting a bit long in previous contests.

Alright, everyone! It's now that time! We've gotten a total of 23 entries for Lord Sigma's Body Contest and I must say, he seems very pleased. In the past few weeks, he has been getting rather antsy. Luckily the site didn't glitch up or anything...

Anyway, here's the skinny. The past couple of contests have been very successful, but there has been critique shared with us about the actual voting process. Some have said that's it's not quite fair while others have expressed that it has been a bit slow. Among other things. As such, I would like to take this time to ask the community: How would you like the voting process to work? What kind of tourney form? Process of elimination? How should the opponents be selected? At random? You get the idea. We want everyone to feel satisfied.

There's not enough entries to separate the contest into rounds like before, but we were wanting there to be an even number of entries so that if we were to select a standard bracket as the method, it'd be even. Otherwise, we would have to use an odd numbered bracket, which granted will work, but still. We would like to get some feedback from the community first! This will also serve to see how we'll run contests in the future. =)

Another thing we were really considering is interacting with the Official MegaManX9.com facebook group more. In which case, utilizing facebook's voting functions and such to coordinate the contest. Uploading the versus pictures creating folders for this contest's entries as well as previous ones. We think it would also encourage more likes to the page, which we'd really appreciate. If 100,000 Strong can do it, so can we! Granted we didn't have X9 pulled out from under us (even though as an all around Mega Man fan, I felt the impact), we still have a burning passion for the X Series!

So, sound off in the comments your opinions and ideas! This article will be altered greatly when everything is decided.

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

Selecting: random.

Voting: SAME AS BEFORE. Nothing was wrong with it last time.

I also think we should have Tourney Brackets.

[Mac]

Voting the same as before? Simple one person/one vote tally method? Would the facebook poll system be okay for this? Or would people prefer the actual site voting?

[DEJO]

There was really any problem...they problems were the voters themselves that felt "eww to girly for my tastes" than to on the actual are themselves...Some of them were biasted and it became a hassle over nothing..



so really everything should stay the same in my opinion

[Trip Dering]

Eww facebook. Keep the voting like before, on site, one vote per person, with the poll option.

[volt-kid]

Mac, on 22 June 2012 - 12:06 AM, said:

Would the facebook poll system be okay for this? Or would people prefer the actual site voting?

I actually am not up for the Facebook idea. Facebook is something that I feel is for personal use. I liked the poll idea for the Maverick Contest 2010. However, if you want more communication, then each vote could be in the comments.

[CX111]

Trip Dering, on 22 June 2012 - 12:21 AM, said:

Eww facebook. Keep the voting like before, on site, one vote per person, with the poll option.

Diddo.

[TheDoctor]

I will say that after the fiasco I inadvertently caused during the Armor contest, there should be a rule that no overtly negative comments should be made towards any of the entries. Any comments failing to abide by this rule should be moderated with extreme prejudice.

[volt-kid]

TheDoctor, on 22 June 2012 - 03:01 AM, said:

I will say that after the fiasco I inadvertently caused during the Maverick contest, there should be a rule that no overtly negative comments should be made towards any of the entries. Any comments failing to abide by this rule should be moderated with extreme prejudice.

What kind of negative comments are you talking about?

[Zednanreh]

TheDoctor, on 22 June 2012 - 03:01 AM, said:

I will say that after the fiasco I inadvertently caused during the Maverick contest, there should be a rule that no overtly negative comments should be made towards any of the entries. Any comments failing to abide by this rule should be moderated with extreme prejudice.

Agree!

Volt-Kid, on 22 June 2012 - 03:05 AM, said:

What kind of negative comments are you talking about?

Since you and the Doctor don't visit in Chat room, I see some of their artwork in Chat room. I can tell we will get some negative comment. You will see it when the votes start.

Also Mac, since you said odd contest; 23. My idea is why not when the loser lose, hold that contest till another loser come. Vote the loser vs loser till one of those get a chance to come back. I can show you my example image if you need me to.

Oh also, since Jeff don't visit very often, he need come back or some mod need take cover of it, I mean some user would make another account to vote on own artwork.

[TheDoctor]

Volt-Kid, on 22 June 2012 - 03:05 AM, said:

What kind of negative comments are you talking about?

Ehh, I called the Tutu Armor an "abomination." Looking back, that was not my finest moment on the internet.

But yeah, basically anything that insults the creative talents behind work. If there must be criticism, let it be constructive.

"Encourage one another, and build each other up."

[OmegaMan]

I would like to note something important. This Sigma body contest left the arena open for both non-final and final forms. Or to make it clearer, Humanoid and non-humanoid / giant mech forms. And as we've seen throughout the series, these tend to vary differently and have different impacts. It might not be fair to place a Sigma with a standard, normal-size body up against his ultimate, final form. I would like to suggest that the contest be split into divisions based on that. And then, if only one prize can be given, have the winners from those divisions compete for the prize. Given the number of entries, though, there might not be enough or an equal number of these to split the contest into divisions like that.

I suggest using the forum's poll system, and if comments get too out of hand, make it so that you can only vote using the poll system and can't comment. I don't see why this should be an unfair voting method. The polls and threads would inevitably be monitored to make sure there isn't multi-accounting going on, anyway. And If you're going to do a round system, randomly match them.

Zed's suggestion for a comeback round is feasible, though simply one comeback round would make the contest seem a little unfair. At the moment, though, I can't figure out a way around this.

[『ちびまる子ちゃん』正人]

TheDoctor, on 22 June 2012 - 03:01 AM, said:

I will say that after the fiasco I inadvertently caused during the Maverick contest, there should be a rule that no overtly negative comments should be made towards any of the entries. Any comments failing to abide by this rule should be moderated with extreme prejudice.

This. I seriously fucking hated when somebody voted for my X armour because Mith's entry was X in a tutu.

[Wolfshadow]

On site poll is fine, but if negative comments are an issue, maybe disabling them in the first place would be the way to go.

Because, honestly, if you allow biased commentary you're going to make the voting process uneven. ("....EW! That body from so-and-so is lame/butthurt/etc!" "...Gee, Zero'sAss123 is right! That body sucks!" ... see what I mean when you allow comments? And don't say it doesn't happen, humans in naturee rally behind a 'favorite' to push that one to win when they listen to another's opinions on the participants.) If everyone looks at the possible entries and choses based on THEIR personal tastes, that'll provide a fair winner. Just my 2 cents.

[TheDoctor]

That said, perhaps we should disable posting in the voting thread, and make it to where people can't see which designs have been voted for until after they've voted themselves (help keep people from "following the crowd," you know).

If people want to discuss the designs, perhaps there could be an alternate thread for post-voting discussions.

[Vman]

I think the reason why people complained about the voting being too slow last time was because we had 50+ entries. With 23 entries this time, it's not gonna take as long to do the voting process this time. Whereas we had to have 3 people per round in the first round or two last time, we can just stick to 1vs1 this time. If you think that will stll take too long at 2 entries per 3 days voting period (about two weeks by just purely voting, no bring-back rounds or anything) than you could easily do a three man royale. I personally liked the way we voted last time, but it did seem like voters were getting swayed by what was in the comments last time.
I also agree with omegaman's idea of splitting up the sigma categories, but like he said with this many entries that may be hard to do. Perhaps let the side with the most choices (Probably the final forms) all go first, then have it tourney against the other forms.

[AxlRocks]

I actually don't use Facebook and wasn't going to say anything because I know that's somewhat uncommon, but since others have voiced against it, I'd like to see the voting done here as well. I'm not sure how previous contests have been set up since I'm newer, so I'll leave that to others who have been through previous ones. I do, however, like the idea of splitting it into two Sigma body categories.

[DarkBladeZ7]

Please, same as last voting contest and NO facebook, especially since there are those of us without facebook

[volt-kid]

Zednanreh, on 22 June 2012 - 03:25 AM, said:

Oh also, since Jeff don't visit very often, he need come back or some mod need take cover of it, I mean some user would make another account to vote on own artwork.

That's good thinking. What if someone secretly makes multiple accounts?

TheDoctor, on 22 June 2012 - 03:36 AM, said:

Ehh, I called the Tutu Armor an "abomination." Looking back, that was not my finest moment on the internet.

But yeah, basically anything that insults the creative talents behind work. If there must be criticism, let it be constructive.

"Encourage one another, and build each other up."

Well my concern was if I said anything to offend you, but that wasn't the case. I gave critique, but perhaps I was harsh at times too. I don't remember.

OmegaMan, on 22 June 2012 - 03:54 AM, said:

I would like to note something important. This Sigma body contest left the arena open for both non-final and final forms. Or to make it clearer, Humanoid and non-humanoid / giant mech forms. And as we've seen throughout the series, these tend to vary differently and have different impacts. It might not be fair to place a Sigma with a standard, normal-size body up against his ultimate, final form. I would like to suggest that the contest be split into divisions based on that. And then, if only one prize can be given, have the winners from those divisions compete for the prize. Given the number of entries, though, there might not be enough or an equal number of these to split the contest into divisions like that.

I fourth on the division of the Sigma forms. Speaking of such, Mac, how many humanoid forms and how many non-humanoid?

Wolfshadow, on 22 June 2012 - 04:57 AM, said:

If everyone looks at the possible entries and choses based on THEIR personal tastes, that'll provide a fair winner. Just my 2 cents.

I agree with that.

TheDoctor, on 22 June 2012 - 06:59 AM, said:

That said, perhaps we should disable posting in the voting thread, and make it to where people can't see which designs have been voted for until after they've voted themselves (help keep people from "following the crowd," you know).

If people want to discuss the designs, perhaps there could be an alternate thread for post-voting discussions.

I'm not crazy about this idea. There can be negative comments, but it's not worth keeping people away from posting their thoughts. Even if there were an alternative topic, I'm not sure most people will take the time to visit. The majority of users come to just cast their votes. However, I neither like it when comments are unfair, so perhaps there should be a mod looking over everything and making sure that they are clean and written in a respectful way.

[Mac]

Let's see. A quick assessment of what we have affirmed so far.

The reason we wanted to interact with the facebook is mainly to reach out to a broader audience to gain more awareness and all that. Even so, it is very clear that facebook voting is not wanted and that, as they say, is that. Check!

Next, we have the idea of separating the normal forms with the final forms. We figured some people would suggest this but some of the submissions could actually go both ways. The scale is not immediately clear. As such, it's not clear what the artist was really going for. Although the idea is a good one. We will definitely consider it and talk it over. It could be a tourney bracket with the normal forms on one side and the finals on the other. In doing this, it could potentially solve the odd-numbered problem as well. Hmm...when I can get a hold of Jeff we will see how many of each we have.

As for the odd bracket, this is what it would look like,


We would love to see the illustration of your idea, Zednanreh.

As for the moderation of comments and the assurance of fair voting, do not worry. Jeff actually strolls the site rather often. He just sometimes doesn't post. You'll probably see him a lot coming up. He may post every round like before. There's also Irgy who can delete any obvious accounts made to boost votes. We do take precautions to assure that we don't delete a legit new account that may have registered to join in the contest voting.

So with that, I think that covers a lot of points for now. Proceed, ya'll.