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And an entire month to bang out a simple, elegant wondrous item in 300 words or less? ;-)In my opinion, giving people a month+ is part of problem. Participants have too much time and they over think, commit to indecision, over-write, and try to 'drow up' their entries. In this over working I image it is easy to loose the simple details, like word count and 'does this make any sense at all'.
Um. Be careful. That's awfully close to revealing your entry and that's against the rules also.
Um. Be careful.
Huzzah! I found the edit button :)
I read Sean's item and seriously my internal monologue switched to Ricardo Montalban's voice talking about Angelina Jolie. It was epic.
Good news, everyone, you will now read the rest of this post in the voice of Professor Fonzworth
Wormstrom!!!
And an entire month to bang out a simple, elegant wondrous item in 300 words or less? ;-)In my opinion, giving people a month+ is part of problem. Participants have too much time and they over think, commit to indecision, over-write, and try to 'drow up' their entries. In this over working I image it is easy to loose the simple details, like word count and 'does this make any sense at all'.
I don't know about others; I feel like for me, it's working wonderfully.
If (:fingers crossed:) I get into Round 2, then I have a three-day frenzy to come up with a great idea and polish both fluff and crunch into a winning entry. Round 1 is marvelous practice for that, because now I have time to pay attention to minute detail; to get used to looking for gaps in the mechanics; etc. etc. The things I'm getting accustomed to now, immersing myself in now, are going to serve me well when (:fingers crossed:) I need to apply them by instinct in the short rounds.
In short:This isn’t just a contest, so hard-coding ways in to dummy-proof a contest is not something Sean and Paizo are interested in doing.
This is a job interview to be a free-lance writer with a contest format. As such, this is the first test to see if Sean would even want to work with you as a free-lancer.
This is totaly the way i'm looking at it. It's a way in.
And an entire month to bang out a simple, elegant wondrous item in 300 words or less? ;-)In my opinion, giving people a month+ is part of problem. ...
A month? A MONTH?!? You mean you did not start on your entry item January 19, 2010?!? I had half a dozen rejects before Matt was even crowned *grin*
More the latter, I'm afraid.
Ahh, the times, they are a-changing...
Everyone who enters this contest should really, strongly, critically consider the voice with which they are identifying themselves in these forums.
You (and I and all the rest of us) will or will not make it into the top 32 based solely on the skill demonstrated at crafting a single wondrous item, and that has nothing to do with personality, whether good or bad.
If you're coming off as, say, argumentative bordering on trollish, though, you are identifying yourself and branding yourself as being an argumentative troll. When it comes time for me to award my votes in round 2 and beyond, I (like most people) just plain am not going to vote to support someone's progress in the contest when the someone in question is (or can be remembered to have been) an argumentative troll.
Specifically arguing with an active judge in the contest seems akin to handing the cast iron to an angry mother-in-law and screaming, "Hit me or I'll hit you!" Not only is it a bad idea, it's so emphatically bad that it could be quoted on your commitment paperwork. Seriously, why cut your own throat if anything about this contest ever attracted you enough to participate in the first place?
Can't we all just get along?
Dedicated Voter Season 6
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Ahh, the times, they are a-changing...
Everyone who enters this contest should really, strongly, critically consider the voice with which they are identifying themselves in these forums.
You (and I and all the rest of us) will or will not make it into the top 32 based solely on the skill demonstrated at crafting a single wondrous item, and that has nothing to do with personality, whether good or bad.
If you're coming off as, say, argumentative bordering on trollish, though, you are identifying yourself and branding yourself as being an argumentative troll. When it comes time for me to award my votes in round 2 and beyond, I (like most people) just plain am not going to vote to support someone's progress in the contest when the someone in question is (or can be remembered to have been) an argumentative troll.
Specifically arguing with an active judge in the contest seems akin to handing the cast iron to an angry mother-in-law and screaming, "Hit me or I'll hit you!" Not only is it a bad idea, it's so emphatically bad that it could be quoted on your commitment paperwork. Seriously, why cut your own throat if anything about this contest ever attracted you enough to participate in the first place?
Can't we all just get along?
While I agree that it probably isn't best form to argue with an active judge, and not best form to constantly gripe about how the contest is run while you are trying to compete in it...
I think calling them a troll is probably a bit harsh.
Personally I'm going to do my best, whether I make it into the 2nd round or not, to vote based on the content, and not the writer.
Wow, when I posted this I sure didn't expect such a long discussion since there isn't anything to discuss.
Part of my goal in posting may have been to subtly warn people to double check the rules. :)
As for discussing the word count issue, there really can be no discussion. You got it right or you got it wrong. If you got it wrong, we all feel for you and I'm sure each of us have made a similar mistake in life (of course we have) but that sympathy that is felt for you while hitting the autoreject button doesn't actually stop the hitting of the autoreject button. You may kick yourself and feel dumb, which is understandable. But it doesn't change the rule, nor does it justify silly handholding to make sure the rule isn't violated. Heck, Paizo goes above and beyond what they should do regarding word count. The first year, I cut and pasted every entry into my wordprocessor (Word) and gave a word count. Yes, that was a ton of work. And we allowed a little slop because of that. Then Paizo came up with the counter so there was an official count. Now, they could have just made that so that we judges could see it, but they didn't--they made it so you could see it and even preview it to check.
Here's how it goes.
"Over word count. Not even going to read it. Autoreject."
In the end, there are some things you can control in this contest and some you can't. You can't predict if Ryan and Sean and company will think your item is cool. But you really need to control all the things you can control, such as not being over word count.
WORD to the wise :)
And while we are at it, probably not a bad time to remind all of Neil's advice to be careful of your board involvement if you are competitor. If you are top 32, people will start to form opinions of you and they will read all your recent posts. Not telling you what to say or not say, just saying its nice to have this little mini-issue to use as an example of how forum conduct in the past has hurt some contestants.
And while we are at it, probably not a bad time to remind all of Neil's advice to be careful of your board involvement if you are competitor. If you are top 32, people will start to form opinions of you and they will read all your recent posts. Not telling you what to say or not say, just saying its nice to have this little mini-issue to use as an example of how forum conduct in the past has hurt some contestants.
If I for some completely inexplicable and unbelievable reason make the top 32, I don't expect to start winning a series of popularity contests.
Marathon Voter Season 7
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If I for some completely inexplicable and unbelievable reason make the top 32, I don't expect to start winning a series of popularity contests.
But, like all popular votes, it is a popularity contest.
People are going to be choosing which idea-presentation is most appealing to them. A number of things are going to factor into this. Writing skill is obviously important. You are going to have to capture the imagination of the people reading your work. You are, it is hoped, going to need to demonstrate an ability to work within a set of guidelines and within the rules of the game.
But, at the same time, your conduct is going to be a factor in how people recieve your work, their perception of you is going to color their perception of your writing.
An interesting political fact is this: Most voters assume that the people they like on a personal level agree with them on issues of substance. That's total bunk of course but its funny how many people naturally leap to such a conclusion and then are caught off guard when they discover different. The same factor of human behavior is going to be at play in this contest. If people like you they are going to generally be more inclined to vote for you.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Star Voter Season 6
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Mayhaps the funny thing to me about the word count is all of my entries last year were short. I was worried that if I somehow won, I'd end up driving the editors crazy by needing to put *more* content into it. As for the word count, that's correct, there's no discussion. Just as an item would be DQ'd for being "Morris' Marvelous Monograph" it's DQed for being over 300 words per the official word count. Mistakes happen (amour, maps, hitting submit by accident) "I didn't see the word count," is a mistake. That said, like my profile says, I've a wisdom of 8, no ranks in perception and I saw it last year.*
Dire Mongoose: If you're in software, you should know the second rule is "If you make something idiot proof, someone will engineer a better idiot." :-)
Wicht:
That's why I try** to be polite even if I think you're an idiot.*** :-)
The other thing to remember is that there is less anonymity for the top 32, since the board will put your name, then (a.k.a Board nick) up there.**** So you are posting under your name.
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Dire Mongoose: If you're in software, you should know the second rule is "If you make something idiot proof, someone will engineer a better idiot." :-)
It's true! It's so true. (And I wouldn't even call it being an idiot, honestly. People just make mistakes and do things you wouldn't have thought of.) You can never win that arms race, so to speak, but it's still usually important to try.
Specifically arguing with an active judge in the contest seems akin to handing the cast iron to an angry mother-in-law and screaming, "Hit me or I'll hit you!"
I like to think that people can have a discussion about the contest in which they don't agree without it being a starkly inflammatory thing. Maybe not. Tone doesn't always translate well in text.
I conduct myself similarly professionally, honestly -- if you're the boss or client (as Team RPGSS2010 Judges essentially are, in this case) and I disagree with you or I think you could be doing something better, I'm going to tell you, and I'm going to try to make a case for why (I would be doing you a disservice were I not to) -- but equally I realize that you have a different and usually more important piece of the picture than I do, and I'm going to recognize that not only will you get your way, but that you should get your way.
That's not everybody's style, and that's okay, too.
His name was Gandalf.
"When a member of Project Mayhem dies, he has a name. His name... was Gandalf."
His name was Gandalf."When a member of Project Mayhem dies, he has a name. His name... was Gandalf."
Project Superstar.
We do NOT talk about Project Mayhem (or Superstar)...
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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Dedicated Voter Season 6
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If I for some completely inexplicable and unbelievable reason make the top 32, I don't expect to start winning a series of popularity contests.
History suggests you can make it pretty far and still be obnoxious. But why increase the handicap?
Hey all
Here's what I do to try and keep away from word count demons - now Ive never made top 32, so use or abuse this method at your peril.
Step 1
Get the name, formatting, construction, aura - all the mandatory elements in place.
Yeah, that can knock a few words off that 300 straight away.
Step 2
Mechanics, mechanics, balance and mechanics. Get down what the item does and how, because, you see, the thiing is, all us DM's and players have our own thoughts and imaginations. We can come up with our own fancy prose if really needed.
I think for the competition, its simply be succinct as possibly, Fluff is a nice to have additive
Step 3
Review
Yeah, we didnt move to adding fluff did we?
Nah, this is review, check the work count.
Read it aloud. Was it difficult to say, did you run out of breath.
Revise those sentences and stick to facts still - avoid the fairyland prose again.
Step 4
Repeat step 3 at least 4 more times.
Step 5
Get someone to read it you trust to give honest feedback.
AND someone who has never played the game.
If both types could "get" it, then you have your rock solid foundation.
Step 6
Your word count is now tight. If you have some burning necessary description "created from the mist borne of fresh dragon blood dripping into a funeral pyre" sort of thing and you have spare word count, then add it - but dont go overboard.
Step 7
Guess...
Review it - has your prose now added confusion, if so, rip that prose back out, get back to your understandable basic and think again.
Double check that word count.
Step 8
More of step 7 and some more of step 5.
Step 9
Post that sucker - dont second guess yourself, just dran well have a go.
This is my third year and my aim is that when we get to the "Please review my item" stage (post stage 1) when all of us who try want feedback, that the powers of Paizo like enough of my item to give a nod of some sort of "you're heading in the right direction" to it.
Yeah. Dream on everyone and get those entries in.