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Graal, I like your rules as a starting point.

The suggestion of promoting a blog post as an article is also a nice idea. There is no integrated way to do this, but perhaps there could be a community driven method of deciding once a month which gaming related blog posts could be republished on the MyGaming front page over a weekend.
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
How about using the old method now and then for comps so us people who can't spend hours and hours spamming bullshit can get a gap at a prize now and then?
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This is probably the scariest thing ever in all the time I've been on this forum, but I find myself agreeing with Mephisto.

It's not like I enter every competition, I'd enter maybe one-in-five or so, so it's not like I'm desperate to win prizes, but at least having a shot at one every now and then would be nice. This new system, however, makes it damn near impossible (and it's pretty easy to abuse too), since I'm nowhere near as active on the forum as I used to be.

Lately I'll post when I have something of relative substance to say, but this new system forces activity for activity's sake, and the quality of conversation on here has seriously dived. All my activity and contributions over the past 4 years mean effectively nothing, only because I don't average 20+ posts per day*, and because I don't rate threads just because they exist without even bothering to look at them (and looking at some of the thread subjects, I have no wish to look either).

Since you're limiting the contests to the top 25 (or whatever) points scorers, go take a look at those lists. It's the same people, for the most part, every time. It's a great system for scoring arbitrary titles and achievements or whatever, but as a mechanism for entering competitions, it sucks. Big time.

But that's just my 2c. Take it or leave it.

[* allow me a bit of hyperbole, although judging by what I've seen, not far out of left field]
 
There will be various types of competitions on MyGaming - in fact there is one launching later today that will cater to those who simply want to click once to stand a chance to win.

Complaining that you haven't been given the chance to win a prize you'd like in a competition for which the criteria is being among the most active users, is like complaining you cannot win the 100m Olympics gold medal because you don't have time to practice running fast :)
 
shadowfox said:
This is probably the scariest thing ever in all the time I've been on this forum, but I find myself agreeing with Mephisto.

It's not like I enter every competition, I'd enter maybe one-in-five or so, so it's not like I'm desperate to win prizes, but at least having a shot at one every now and then would be nice. This new system, however, makes it damn near impossible (and it's pretty easy to abuse too), since I'm nowhere near as active on the forum as I used to be.

Lately I'll post when I have something of relative substance to say, but this new system forces activity for activity's sake, and the quality of conversation on here has seriously dived. All my activity and contributions over the past 4 years mean effectively nothing, only because I don't average 20+ posts per day*, and because I don't rate threads just because they exist without even bothering to look at them (and looking at some of the thread subjects, I have no wish to look either).

Since you're limiting the contests to the top 25 (or whatever) points scorers, go take a look at those lists. It's the same people, for the most part, every time. It's a great system for scoring arbitrary titles and achievements or whatever, but as a mechanism for entering competitions, it sucks. Big time.

But that's just my 2c. Take it or leave it.

[* allow me a bit of hyperbole, although judging by what I've seen, not far out of left field]
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I came here to post something similar, and you beat me to the punch.

The one part I want to add is about playing the lottery. The stat surrounding winning the lottery is notoriously well known; less chance of winning than being hit by lighting, and all that. Yet every weekend, millions of people play their quickpick.

Studies have shown that the reason for that the psychological payoff, the endophine rush, the fun, if you will, lies in simply participating in the draw, in having that absolutely minuscule chance. With the current compo, that gets taken away from the majority of forumites.

As with Shadow's post, all this is IMO (except for the study part, they used science, and proof and shit. That's fact, yo.) so use as you see fit.
 
James said:
Complaining that you haven't been given the chance to win a prize you'd like in a competition for which the criteria is being among the most active users, is like complaining you cannot win the 100m Olympics gold medal because you don't have time to practice running fast :)
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That's a very good analogy :D
 
James said:
Complaining that you haven't been given the chance to win a prize you'd like in a competition for which the criteria is being among the most active users, is like complaining you cannot win the 100m Olympics gold medal because you don't have time to practice running fast :)
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That's the worst analogy ever. Just saying. A person who runs to compete in the Olympics sees running as a career. If you don't feel like practicing, you don't run. And you don't have a career. And we all know that preparation for that level of competition doesn't just involve running up and down the track as quickly as possible. And unless something drastic has changed somewhere, I don't think forum posting is a career choice. And that's been the criteria for the last 5 or 6 competitions. If it was balanced out by more easily accessible competitions I'd find the idea more palatable.

You are, however, missing the main point I'm trying to make. If I wanted to, I could make 20 inane, but seemingly substantial posts on the forum every day. I could go hang out in TK (which I see is hitting the 1k page mark in less than 6 months). It makes the forum look active, but the quality is questionable. I could go rate all the threads, despite not looking at them - because easy points. I'm not even going to mention all the thread derails ... never mind, I just did.

Also, I didn't mention time once - that was Mephisto's phrase. I just don't find the forum as compelling as I used to, which is one of the reasons I spend less time actually posting. It's not like I'm planning to leave. If anything I'll do what I can to improve the quality of the forum. I'm just bugged by the fact that, should I ever choose to enter a comp, I'm left with the choice of giving up from the get go, or posting crap all over the place to have a slight chance at getting a slight chance of winning. It's all a popularity contest now, and I find those unpleasant by default.

[EDIT: And while I was typing - case in point: the post above mine]
 
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shadowfox said:
[EDIT: And while I was typing - case in point: the post above mine]
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If you have a problem with my posts you are more than welcome to carry on the discussion we had via PM. I'm not going to stop posting just because of a bunch of bitter people, I'm here to have fun, and that's what I'm doing.
 
About a month ago I would have agreed with you, but here's the thing; the purpose of these competitions are to increase forum activity and lure in more members. Allowing forum members who almost never post anymore to win goes a bit against the purpose of the competition in the first place, don't you think?

With the previous criteria where you had to have 20 lifetime posts around competition time we had dozens of members registering, spamming to 20 and then we never saw them again. With the new competition criteria the forum actually gets busier and remains busier. I mean, sure, I get your complaint that the signal-to-noise ratio has become way to high. It's something I think MyGaming should crack down on because way too many people are starting to post useless one-line posts that contribute nothing of worth to threads and are in general treating all threads too much like general chat threads, but you can't deny the forum vibe has become a lot nicer because I no longer post in a thread only to have someone else respond hours later, or never at all. The focus should definitely be on meaningful discussion and not one line crap like we're seeing all too often lately, though.

All in all, I actually prefer this method of running the competition. I'll probably regret it once my next semester at university starts and I don't have the same amount of time to post, but I think overall it's better for the forum than having a 20-post requirement for competitions.
 
I've noted the point that you and others have been making and I really don't know what you want me to say. What's your ideal solution?

Remember I sit here every day keeping an eye on the forum and I don't think there's a tide of crappy content. In fact, I've been pleased to see a lot of users really digging in and sharing some interesting news and other topics. Many of those users are frequently in the top active users list and why shouldn't they stand a shot at the prize because of it? They are forming the backbone of the forum community.

Also remember you are not the only user of this forum and others are entitled to use it as they see fit within the bounds of being reasonable. Supposed thread derails are not a new phenomenon and unless something is taken outrageously off topic, it's just a natural and organic way to communicate.

As always, there is a tool to report posts if you think a thread has been ruined by a derail (and any other issues). I rarely (if ever) get reports about thread derails - not before the new activity competition was implemented, and not after. The forum is very active and reading every post myself to decide if it is "quality" would be a full time job.

A quick way to kill an active forum is to enforce a multitude of posting rules that leave people feeling scared to post. We want people to post and interact with one another and have fun.

It's part of my job to encourage activity and usage of the various interactivity tools on the forum. MyGaming spends money on prizes to give away and we'll do so in a way that we think benefits the forum and rewards the active members.

If you want to be shaping what constitutes a "quality" post on the forum then you need to get involved in cultivating the forum culture - just realise that there are a lot of active users and it won't simply bend to your will.

Certain fun areas to post, such as TK, joke thread, picture of the day, etc, are very much a part of the forum and people enjoy interacting there - why should that be excluded? It's part of the MyGaming forum culture. If it was something people didn't enjoy doing, it wouldn't be happening.

As for the things like thread ratings, I suppose I can see the point why it doesn't add much value and could potentially be abused for points farming so maybe I'll disable it as competition criteria in future.

Finally, I'll reiterate something I've said many times before - we will have various types of competitions on MyGaming and in future there may be one that suits you (if you decide you want to enter it).
 
Finally, I'll reiterate something I've said many times before - we will have various types of competitions on MyGaming and in future there may be one that suits you (if you decide you want to enter it).
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Would be great so I can rest every other week.
 
James said:
I've noted the point that you and others have been making and I really don't know what you want me to say. What's your ideal solution?

Remember I sit here every day keeping an eye on the forum and I don't think there's a tide of crappy content. In fact, I've been pleased to see a lot of users really digging in and sharing some interesting news and other topics. Many of those users are frequently in the top active users list and why shouldn't they stand a shot at the prize because of it? They are forming the backbone of the forum community.

Also remember you are not the only user of this forum and others are entitled to use it as they see fit within the bounds of being reasonable. Supposed thread derails are not a new phenomenon and unless something is taken outrageously off topic, it's just a natural and organic way to communicate.

As always, there is a tool to report posts if you think a thread has been ruined by a derail (and any other issues). I rarely (if ever) get reports about thread derails - not before the new activity competition was implemented, and not after. The forum is very active and reading every post myself to decide if it is "quality" would be a full time job.

A quick way to kill an active forum is to enforce a multitude of posting rules that leave people feeling scared to post. We want people to post and interact with one another and have fun.

It's part of my job to encourage activity and usage of the various interactivity tools on the forum. MyGaming spends money on prizes to give away and we'll do so in a way that we think benefits the forum and rewards the active members.

If you want to be shaping what constitutes a "quality" post on the forum then you need to get involved in cultivating the forum culture - just realise that there are a lot of active users and it won't simply bend to your will.

Certain fun areas to post, such as TK, joke thread, picture of the day, etc, are very much a part of the forum and people enjoy interacting there - why should that be excluded? It's part of the MyGaming forum culture. If it was something people didn't enjoy doing, it wouldn't be happening.

As for the things like thread ratings, I suppose I can see the point why it doesn't add much value and could potentially be abused for points farming so maybe I'll disable it as competition criteria in future.

Finally, I'll reiterate something I've said many times before - we will have various types of competitions on MyGaming and in future there may be one that suits you (if you decide you want to enter it).
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I'm merely raising a concern I have - I feel I at least have that right. It's not like I see I've been excluded from the last 5 competitions and decided to suddenly rage about it. And if you believe for a moment that's my reason for posting the above, I'm a little disappointed that your opinion of me is that low. I don't even enter competitions that often - from the last 6 the only one I might have entered - given the option - would have been the XBox-comp from a few weeks back. I'm not here for the competitions - they're a nice bonus that I occasionally took a shot at.

And while Eugene seems to feel I'm picking a fight with him, I'm not; his post just happened to be a perfect example of what I was getting at. It's there, in the middle of a serious discussion, and it serves absolutely zero purpose. It didn't contribute, and it didn't address either of our posts. It was a post for the sake of making a post, and it doesn't disrupt things enough to validate a report. In the greater scheme of things, I would have ignored it, except for the fact that it was a useful example.

I've said my piece - I'll drop the topic now.
 
I'm not directly having a go at you, but more addressing people with similar complaints. Your post unfortunately served as an example, much like Eugene's served as your example.

I also addressed broader topics in my reply through which readers might gain some insight into how we approach this situation and the reasoning behind it.
 
You possibly cleared your cookies recently, or changed browsers, or it's just that time of the year when they refresh the survey stats.
 
James said:
There will be various types of competitions on MyGaming - in fact there is one launching later today that will cater to those who simply want to click once to stand a chance to win.

Complaining that you haven't been given the chance to win a prize you'd like in a competition for which the criteria is being among the most active users, is like complaining you cannot win the 100m Olympics gold medal because you don't have time to practice running fast :)
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This. I think.

Look on the bright side of life, guys. If you took the time to complain on every thread about how it isn't fair (something I've seen a lot of lately), you'd at least stand a chance of winning. :)

Not having a go at anyone directly, either.
 
tpex said:
Look at y'all complaining about the chance to win absolutely free shit :p
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MissileToe said:
Exactly. And all you have to do is post on a flippin' forum. No contracts, essays or sms costs...
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The conversation's over guys - and congratulations both on totally missing the point I was trying to make - while at the same time proving it. I said my bit, James said his bit, and the matter is now closed.
 
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