Sticky: Avatar Arena Bugs & Enhancements (updated 12/06)

[deity_007_99]

I have a problem with ppl voting on my avatar.... It keeps telling my that The entry is still in submission phase and cannot be rated... And I done it under Original Avatar... Did I do something wrong,,, And if not what is going on... And why cant anyone vote for my avatar....

http://www.gaiaonline.com/arena/gaia/original-avatar/vote/?entry_id=100425741

[Azure Alexea]

I'm having the same problem... sad It wont go past submission phase

[SamuraiX2008]

RenkonNairu

Szinriia

Wiener Schnitzel

The original winners circle needs some work. It only shows the ones that get above a four rating instead of showing the top ten of the group. Now how is that fair!?? I hope you are working on this problem because it needs to be resolved quickly.

Oh is that the reason? O.o

Yes. This isn't fair. Please fix this one fast!

I third this complaint.
And it's been discussed allot in other "non-feedback" threads. The whole of the Arena seems to be in agreement that the "Most Popular" box needs to be changed or expanded.

I agree for weeks I have suffered to the "Most Popular" or the now "Spotlight" option. I once had an entry in ( I think week 36) and I waited 5 days for votes !!! In the end I only got 22 votes. WHILE the people in the "Most Popular" box have over 4k votes!!! COMPLETELY UNFAIR!!!

[Mario Kinnikuman]

Another issue, evident in the Original Arena winners of week 48, is that submissions are being concealed from the public. Entrants are being deprived the exhibition of their avatars they're entitled. Additionally, some people are abusing this error. Those avatars are able to maintain unusually high averages from a few votes and comments, and ultimately emerge victorious at the week's conclusion without first being thoroughly critiqued by the public.

I would request that this problem be addressed as soonest possible, please. It is an outright travesty when true effort expended on submissions is derailed by underhanded tactics exploiting glitches, such as this.

[Spammilicious]

Mario Kinnikuman

Another issue, evident in the Original Arena winners of week 48, is that submissions are being concealed from the public. Entrants are being deprived the exhibition of their avatars they're entitled. Additionally, some people are abusing this error. Those avatars are able to maintain unusually high averages from a few votes and comments, and ultimately emerge victorious at the week's conclusion without first being thoroughly critiqued by the public.

I would request that this problem be addressed as soonest possible, please. It is an outright travesty when true effort expended on submissions is derailed by underhanded tactics exploiting glitches, such as this.

I agree. I don't think people should be allowed to win with 12 votes and an average of 5/5. This is ridiculous. If you cannot manage the arena to such a point that it is remotely fair, I suggest you close it down, or at least withold winnings, until things are sorted out. I know MANY people who, for weeks, have deserved top ranking, but have not been granted this due to glitches and people taking advantage of these glitches.

[SamuraiX2008]

Spammilicious

Mario Kinnikuman

Another issue, evident in the Original Arena winners of week 48, is that submissions are being concealed from the public. Entrants are being deprived the exhibition of their avatars they're entitled. Additionally, some people are abusing this error. Those avatars are able to maintain unusually high averages from a few votes and comments, and ultimately emerge victorious at the week's conclusion without first being thoroughly critiqued by the public.

I would request that this problem be addressed as soonest possible, please. It is an outright travesty when true effort expended on submissions is derailed by underhanded tactics exploiting glitches, such as this.

I agree. I don't think people should be allowed to win with 12 votes and an average of 5/5. This is ridiculous. If you cannot manage the arena to such a point that it is remotely fair, I suggest you close it down, or at least withold winnings, until things are sorted out. I know MANY people who, for weeks, have deserved top ranking, but have not been granted this due to glitches and people taking advantage of these glitches.

I agree completely with both statements. Some people have received thousands of votes and lost to a avatar that had 12 votes and 5/5. I would like to address my concern for this very controversial matter. The arena should have a standard for the winner. Like "In order to be eligible for the Winners Circle your avatar must have at least 100 votes or more. They should determine the winner by vote count AND average. Not just the average because that will stir up trouble. Aka Riya's controversial win. 12 votes is a big slap in the face to all the other entries that have had THOUSANDS of votes (4.5/5) etc to lose to a avatar that couldnt even get past 20 votes. Some people think that the winner exploited the glitch. I agree and I call foul!

[Spammilicious]

SamuraiX2008

Spammilicious

Mario Kinnikuman

Another issue, evident in the Original Arena winners of week 48, is that submissions are being concealed from the public. Entrants are being deprived the exhibition of their avatars they're entitled. Additionally, some people are abusing this error. Those avatars are able to maintain unusually high averages from a few votes and comments, and ultimately emerge victorious at the week's conclusion without first being thoroughly critiqued by the public.

I would request that this problem be addressed as soonest possible, please. It is an outright travesty when true effort expended on submissions is derailed by underhanded tactics exploiting glitches, such as this.

I agree. I don't think people should be allowed to win with 12 votes and an average of 5/5. This is ridiculous. If you cannot manage the arena to such a point that it is remotely fair, I suggest you close it down, or at least withold winnings, until things are sorted out. I know MANY people who, for weeks, have deserved top ranking, but have not been granted this due to glitches and people taking advantage of these glitches.

I agree completely with both statements. Some people have received thousands of votes and lost to a avatar that had 12 votes and 5/5. I would like to address my concern for this very controversial matter. The arena should have a standard for the winner. Like "In order to be eligible for the Winners Circle your avatar must have at least 100 votes or more. They should determine the winner by vote count AND average. Not just the average because that will stir up trouble. Aka Riya's controversial win. 12 votes is a big slap in the face to all the other entries that have had THOUSANDS of votes (4.5/5) etc to lose to a avatar that couldnt even get past 20 votes. Some people think that the winner exploited the glitch. I agree and I call foul!

I personally do not think that gold should be granted this week.

[pirula]

week 48 had lots of issues, from not being open for voting half the week to some changes we made in showing avatars and determining winners.

We do not think the winners intentionally exploited a glitch, just that we changed the code leading to a very different result than previous weeks. We will change it back.

[Spammilicious]

Three of the winners were friends.
That sounds a bit like exploiting a glitch to me.
If they knew what was happening, they should have respectfully dropped out.

[stinker276]

well well well whadya know? week 49 1st place winner also won with 12 votes, now is it considered exploitation?

EDIT: In fact the whole origional avatar section won with a 5.00 exploitation now?

[Kira Sunfire]

I don't believe that last week's winners exploited the glitch. I'm sure they told a few of their friends to vote for them, who gave them 5's...and nobody else got a chance to see their avvie!

I've found myself in a similar spot already this week. I don't ever really expect to come in #1, but I work very hard on my avvies and like to get people's feedback. I pay the 1000 gold just for my avvies to get seen more than anything else.

So how am I faring this week? Well, so far three of my friends voted for me and NOBODY else has come across my entry in two days, which frustrates me to no end. I only hope it doesn't end up being as bad as my Halloween costume, where I didn't tell my friends to look up my entry. I got a whopping ZERO votes that way, a complete waste of money. How does one person get thousands of votes and mine mysteriously never appears?

PLEASE fix the randomization issue soon! Or if you take the suggestion that you have to receive x number of votes for the entry to count, you should start refunding the entry fee to people that don't get that many votes. It's not their fault nobody votes for their avatar!

[XxKitty KittenxX]

I have been having similar problems with my entry this week. Its my first time submitting an entry to the arenas, and no one besides my friends (who search for my name specific) are appearing to find mine to vote on it. I was (am) looking forward to see how general public likes or dislikes the outfit I put together. Please, figure out why it doesn't seem to randomize for everyone to be viewed and FIX IT!! Thank you. (and after, maybe putting out an announcement that tells everyone when it is fixed so they can vote for all the "unseens" to give us a chance to win or lose fairly.)

[Lex Joseph Luthor]

It seems that last week's submissions are still up for voting, and this week's are still in Submission Phase.

[pirula]

The Arenas week 1 of 2009 should now be closed out and week 2 up for voting. Thank you for posting about it, the automatic timer was off so we had to make the update manually.

Also, we made a lot of changes to spotlight & browsing to make sure everyone gets seen, how is that working out for people?

[ripples of greatness]

I think that the spotlight is working a lot better. I'm actually seeing different people in it every now and then. (Still not me, but oh well. biggrin )

Good job on fixing it.