What I'm saying is that we don't choose designs because of who made it.

We choose designs because of the design.

Some players may just spend more time than others (meaning, they spend more time making sure the colors all flow together), or have an idea for themed pets that we just, for whatever reason, really sync with. Or they just submit a lot of designs that we end up using a few of whereas another user only submits 2 or 3. But it has nothing to do with the name attached to the design.

I know what you're saying, Krin.

Whether it was meant to happen or not, getting a design chosen to come to life on the game has become a big deal. A mark of pride for someone. Bragging rights. Whatever you want to call it. It's not just a design contest anymore. Having a design chosen for a fest has meaning to people and people, everyone who submits a design, want to win...badly. And maybe I'm wrong, but I personally feel like sooner or later, if the same people, for whatever reason or no reason, continue to win the honor of having a design come to life, it's going to create some hard feelings and conflict. It already is. People talk behind closed doors.

I'm just another player, Krin. I'm simply telling you what I'm seeing and what it feels like. It means something to people around here to have a design chosen. People WANT their designs to be chosen and they want to see them bouncing around the fest screen, bask in the praise and congratulations, discuss the design and listen to others discuss it...and when it seems like only a handful of people ever get that honor the reasons why be damned.

I heard and understood what you were saying, Krin. It just didn't make me feel any better about it.

No hard feelings.


X....I hear what you're saying, too. But I'm telling you, and I'm not meaning this to be rude, it just doesn't matter.

I don't CARE why you have 5, 10 or 100 designs chosen. And that's a general 'you'. I just know that you do. And I also know that the 'design contest' has grown way beyond a simple 'design contest'. People on this site want to win a chance for their pet, their design, to be featured in a fest. It's become an HONOR around here. Other people want that honor, too, and as far as I'm concerned, they should have it. There should be a regulation on how many times someone's design gets chosen. That's how I feel. That's where it stands with me. Nothing you say to the contrary is going to change my view on it. No, I don't think it's right or fair as it stands now in spite of what you said. I don't think anyone should be required to post 100 designs in the hopes of having one win. I mean, really? And don't take it so personally. I don't care WHO out there got 5-10-15-1000 designs chosen to come to life here, it wouldn't be right to me no matter who it was. My opinion would be the same regardless.

Anyway, Krin said what he had to say and that's that.

The entire reason why I made the contest to begin with is because it saves me a lot of time. When Krin and I created the themed pets ourselves it would take us many hours to do so, time that could have been saved trying to work on other things for the festival. Thus, I decided to ask for the community's help in creating the themed pets.

I have tried to make the overall feel of these 'contests' very nonchalant. I don't publicly congratulate the 'winners' or make any type of thread acknowledging them. I don't think I even gave out prizes for the previous contests. This most recent contest was the only one where I gave out prizes. The reasoning for not handing out prizes for the previous ones was because it's NOT supposed to be a contest against each other, it is supposed to be a community effort to help myself and Krin with creating the festival.

The reason why I gave out prizes this time was because I had seen many remarks on the forums and in the live chat with people wishing that they would receive something for their time in designing the pets. So, I was only trying to listen to my community's feedback by adding the prizes this time around.

However...because of the sentiment addressed here now, along with the remark of 'behind closed doors', I will seriously have to consider now taking away the prizes or even the contest itself. I have a lot of pride in how our community is with its friendliness and helpfulness. If this contest is going to cause some type of underlying resentment with a big portion of the 'silent majority' then I would rather just stop having it.

I really want to stress though, for anyone that feels that this is unfair and that I am picking certain people, that is absolutely not the case. No offense to any of the people that I have chosen, but I don't even remember what themed I picked or even who made it (for the prizes this time around because I forgot to write the winners down, so I had to use a member's thread that had kept track of the entries that were picked). Heck, there is usually always the case for a certain species where I do not like any of the entries...so I make my own. There could be 50 different Ryori entries, I am not obliged to pick one of those entries. If I do not like any of them then I will not pick one and I will create my own.

So when it comes down to it, I pick the pets that I think look the best. It's my opinion and has absolutely nothing to do with the user that created the pet. If we made the contest anonymous the results would still be the same. This isn't about the user, it is honestly about what myself and Krin like the best. If I started to stifle the creativity of the contest then most likely I would just end up creating the pets myself.

I might have a small solution to the problem. What about a poll? It might take a bit more time to set up but users can vote on their favorite designs for the festival. I wouldn't suggest every design in the poll though, that would be way to many, but maybe say 3-5 of each species that are voted on by the admins and artists, and then put up for a vote for users to decide what they want.

I think this will put to rest any bias thoughts as it would be the users that get the final say in what they want but there wouldn't be any prizes or naming who created it and everyone still has a fair shot in being picked by the majority of the site instead of just a handful of people.

I never said this was about any certain user. it doesn't matter who they are, this isn't about any one individual... just wanted to clear that up.

You guys have made yourselves clear. The end as far as I'm concerned.



I might have a small solution to the problem. What about a poll? It might take a bit more time to set up but users can vote on their favorite designs for the festival.

This.

Jezz you all realise that this is the reason Krin and Fai stop doing things right.. If thats how you want it then Fai may decide to NEVER hold another design contest ever again!!

Is that what you want, then no one gets to participate and no one gets to have fun designing. You are all being really selfish. Did you ever concider for a second that it was never about getting your designs used, but actually to help Fai and Krin, who already have a boat load of Sh*t on their plates, out with one small thing?!


Well I honestly hope Fai decides no to hold a design contest this time, then maybe you can all calm the butt down!


Yes there are some really creative people out there who just have a knack for colour mixing. And heck its not like Fai doesn't give you all a chance, damn they are sending out multiple themes of each species as it is. They would never do anything that would stop people from enjoying this site, and this suggestion would deffinately do that.

Saying that those who do get their designs chosen need to eat some humble pie once in a while!

No I didn't ping anyone and I don't want to be pinged in response, I am done on this topic, and may I say it has left a sour taste in my mouth.

Willow...guilt trips don't work on me and I don't appreciate someone trying to manipulate me with one, thanks.

I stand by my view.


I agree with you on one thing. Yes, DO stop the 'design idea' thing altogether if the 'win' only goes to a handful of the same people every time. It doesn't matter who they are, it's the principle. I'd personally prefer Fae do the designs herself rather than see a thread asking everyone to come in, then only using the same people's designs again and again, no matter WHO those people happen to be. A lot of disappointment goes around during these design contests, whether people see it as a problem or not or even acknowledge there is a problem there. Since so many people would love to see their designs chosen, I think it's only right that the thing be handled differently.

Yes, people do have fun designing...but they have MORE fun when an idea of theirs is chosen to come to life. People don't just want to design for the hell of it, they want to know they have a good shot to win and see their creations actually used in the game.

And I 'help' the admins every time I open my wallet.

Selfish? For what? Wanting to see a change concerning this issue and expressing it? I don't think so.

I'm really sorry some of you got so upset about this. I wasn't pointing fingers at anyone. I do believe I'm allowed to express opinions and ideas.

I have no hard feelings toward anyone here. It is what it is, so say the admins, and that's that. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it or like it. I'm certainly not angry about it or angry toward anyone and I don't hold anything against anyone. *shrug*

I'd simply like to see the contest handled differently and that's all I meant to convey.

Woah. My god, where is all this coming from? I understand both points of view, since I've seen contests like the design one turn nasty very quickly on other sites, but it was never something I thought this one would fall into. I'm heavily involved in all the festivals and the site itself, but I've never seen anyone complain about the designs that were picked or people winning multiple times!

Yes, during the last fest I know there was some irritation about some people who had had designs chosen, but that was purely because the certain people would not shut up about it and felt the need to mention it was their design to every single person, not because others were upset about that design being chosen over others. I've never seen anyone voice anything about being upset because designs from the same person have won multiple times.

And Shadow, it just seems like you're taking everything far too personally and assigning those feelings to the site at large. For one, I enter the design contests purely because I think it's fun designing, and I know of a good chunk of people who feel the same. Designing pets is fun, and the contest is a reason to do that. I've never been upset when designs I've entered weren't chosen, and honestly, I don't really enter them to expect them to be! For instance this past fest I entered a few designs on a firework theme, purely because I had looked through the entries near the end of the time limit and and realized that there weren't any with the same color scheme I envisioned when I thought of a firework themed pet. Never expected them to win, just throwing them into the mix for the fun of it.

And that's what it's meant for and should be, the fun of it, and knowing that you're helping out Krin and Fai. Even with all this unrest, I still hope Fai does the contest again, not even because I enjoy it but because I know how much work they do for us and the last thing I want is to put more strain on them, especially during the festivals, since I know how busy they are with such huge events and always trying to make them better for us.

And, well, to be completely honest, nothing is ever completely fair. The people with a knack for color combining and who work hard on their entries are going to come out with better entries, and the better entries are going to win. Like Xav has said, and this time coming from someone who has never had a design win, because I don't have the same knack for design that she does. And I'm not upset about it , because yes, the better designs should win, no matter who created them.

And like Fai has said, restricting the people who have won previously isn't necessarily going to give anyone else a chance for this 'honor' you keep talking about. It's just going to put more stress on Fai when she has to do the designs for herself because there was nothing quite eye-catching enough submitted to make the cut.

Please please please don't fight or argue.

**frighened whimper as she hugs you tightly**

....I don't like to see my friends upset and fighting DX

A poll, in my opinion, would just open the door to further issues. Firstly, there's the time needed to create such a poll. That feature doesn't exist at this time. Additionally, we choose about 35+ designs throughout a festival... can you imagine holding a poll for 35x(3-5) designs? Lol, that would be beyond overwhelming. What would end up happening is designs would win with a total of a dozen or so votes and with that small of a margin, players could easily just have all of their friends vote for them or even go as far as to buy other player's votes. That would open the door to bias selections.

My opinion is that the way it's designed is working exactly as it's intended to. It was designed to allow the community to participate in one of their favorite festival activities and it was designed to save us time. It's accomplishing both of those tasks and enacting rules or restrictions would only be detrimental to those goals.

Lastly, as the one who created each and every themed pet for those who had designs selected, I can tell you that the vast majority of winners were players that I haven't even seen before around the Site. Yes, a few veterans won. And yes, a few players had multiple designs win. But out of the 35+ chosen designs, the vast majority were single winners and players that I had never even seen before. And of those who won multiple times, I'm pretty sure they won because they made unique designs for all species and would win for the less popular species - such as the Draeyl, Morkko, etc. If you go through the thread, there are tons of submissions for the Aeridini, Nephini, etc. But very few for the Draeyl, Morkko, etc. Thus, if someone creates designs for all of the species just the percentage chance of winning more than once increases because there's only a handful of designs to choose from instead of a dozen (of those we make a list of). So you have to keep all of these facts in mind as well.

In conclusion, I understand the concern regarding the issue, but I just don't think, at least under these specific circumstances, that it requires any change to the contest at this time. As always, we will keep said concern in mind going forward.

That being said, I'm going to lock this thread because I don't think anything else needs to be said on it.