I have a few things to say as well. While I can't say anything about the Team Games, since I've never played them, nor do I understand the Death Note thing Ruin mentioned, but I can give my feedback about the other topics.
I kinda miss the Musical Avatar Game, honestly. As for the event, your idea of making it only 10 days next year is definitely a good one.
I really can't say much for this one since I've never played it, but I wouldn't mind this game coming back, since there are some such as Bloodbane who miss it. That, and we'll have another game to play to increase the variety.
Moving along...
Needs more skulls.
Although, a smaller time frame also means less time for people to get in contest entries. What're we going to be doing about that? Advance notice or something?
I think they're referring to the event itself. The whole Carnival will still be two weeks long, but the special event will only last a fraction of that time, which would allow people time to focus on games, contests, and such.
This might be more convenient for those participating, and for those who run the Carnival. Like say, the Special Event takes place on Week 2 (or Week 1, one of the two), which can give everyone time to focus on everything else in the Carnival. I think the reason there were so little entries in the Spriting and Writing contests was because of the Hurt/Heal game of the Special Event lasted for the whole Carnival, and most of the participants were more focused on that than anything else.
According to Nightmare, during the last few days, there were so many posts that the thread(s) almost broke. But that's beside the point.
Like say, on Week 1 the Carnival starts on Day 1, and the threads for the Contests, Games, and Tournaments can begin, and end on whatever day the one who is in charge chooses. The thread of registering two Teams for the Special Event can also begin there, and those who do can spend Week 1 (Days 1-7) on strategizing for Week 2 (Days 8-14), which is when the event will start.
ORIf the Special Event were to happen on Week 1, it can start on Day 4, giving participants Days 1-3 to register, and end on whatever day the person running the event chooses (like Days 10-12). If it were to start on Week 2, Days 4-6 (in Week 1) will be the time allowed for participants to register, and it will start on Day 7 and end on Day 14, which is the last day (assuming that by two weeks, one would mean 14 days).
Either way, it will give participants an extra week or so to focus on other parts of the Carnival, like the Contests, Games, and Tourneys.
Alternatively, I was thinking some kind of ZV Olympic themed event. Players are divided into teams once more, and the teams are awarded points based on the activities preformed by their members. If Swim submits an entry to the spriting contest, even though he's not a great spriter his team is awarded 10 points. Reaver wins the spriting contest, his team is awarded 50 points. And then maybe give 25 points or something every time somebody makes a 4 panel comic. This would really increase participation in our contests, particularly our writing contest which hasn't had as strong a showing in recent years. And somebody would always be churning out a 4 panel, which is always a good thing.
That may not be a bad idea, but there's a catch: If someone WERE to post a 4 Panel and earn themselves 25 or something points, there should be a limit as to how many 4 panels he or she can submit a day (like up to two or three). Because if there isn't a limit, then one person (or those from one team) might continue double posting and therefore keep racking up points unfairly.
However, if there is a rule that allows the members of the two teams to post a 4 panel alternatively, that would be another story.
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For example, pretend that Tony, Nightmare, and Majeh on Team A, and that Xero, Ed, and Scarlet are on Team B. Consider that a 4 Panel is worth 25 points.
On Day 1, Nightmare posts a 4 Panel for Team A, but cannot double post another one for Team A, so Tony posts for Team A, but Nightmare still can't post another one for Team A on Day 1. Since Nightmare and Tony have already posted their 4 Panels for Day 1, only Majeh can post a 4 Panel for Team A on that day. However, if Nightmare is the only one on Team A who posts a 4 Panel for Day 1, then he's free to post another one for Day 2.
So basically, if all three members on Team A post a 4 Panel, then Team A can earn up to a total of 75 points each day.
Still with me?
Any time Team A posts something, Team B can post a 4 panel, but again, only one 4 Panel from each member for each day. So if Xero posts a 4 Panel on Day 1, only Ed and Scarlet can post a 4 Panel of their own.
It can also go in an order like this or anything similar: Nightmare (A) -> Scarlet (B) -> Xero (B) -> Ed (B) -> Tony (A) -> Majeh (A)
Basically, it can go in any order, but for each Team, no team member can post no more than one 4 Panel a day.
However, just by looking at something like this is complicated enough, so putting the 4 Panel in an activity point system would be completely pointless, if you pardon the pun.
We had very good participation in the tournaments and art contest this year, but writing and spriting were still pretty lonely, and the games weren't very active either. For the contests, we could possibly combine art and spriting, but I don't know that writing ever has or ever will be popular enough among our userbase to warrant much participation. The games should benefit from a less stressful event and hopefully see more participation without much tweaking.
In the end it all comes down to making the event something that people can participate in without devoting a lot of time to camping threads. Something they can enjoy at a pace that fits in with all the other stuff they have to do in life. But again, I'm not sure how to accomplish that.
Combining the Art and Spriting contests is definintely a BAD idea, because I don't think we should be dealing with people who are upset that a person's drawing lost to a sprite, and vise versa. Hand drawings and sprites are two completely different art forms, anyway, so we should leave those alone.
I can't say much for the writing though, since not many of us here specialize in writing alone, and I doubt any of us here would find the time to make a comic story within a week or two. I wouldn't mind keeping the Writing Contest, though, since it could give us an opportunity of seeing some writing gems.
While the games did not receive a lot of activity this year, six people, including me, participated in the Trivia. While only Scarlet and I participated in the Scavenger Hunt, but according to Nightmare most people forgot to submit their lists, so there were other people besides us participating.
...
I guess that's all I have to say for now. Sorry if I made this a little confusing, and for the long post.
