[Feedback] New avatar arena contest setup and rules

Do you like the new proposal?

Yes	58.8%	[ 30 ]
No	23.5%	[ 12 ]
I'm okay either way	17.6%	[ 9 ]
Total Votes:			[ 51 ]

This poll closed on July 19, 2010.
No longer accepting new votes.

[ThingsG0Kaboom]

Trixsy

Mookie Cookie

I guess it makes sense =) So no more crappy wins?

I honestly don't see how this would stop the people who get a bunch of friends or a guild to upvote them enough to get them past the qualifying round. It would just make it harder for users that don't get as much exposure. :/ I like the idea of a qualifying round but I'm not sure if it's the answer.

Trixsy now that I think of it you are totally right. like I said before lets just have people in LOEA or GN give us those votes but then that would be stooping to their level which I never want to do. I mean I have a friend who made a guild (I'm thinking oh what you don't feel like you have enough friends you have to make a guild) and part of it is voting for his avis which are some of which I would normally complain about when critiquing them. This would just make the arena more complicated then it already is and the arena was what actually got me loving gaia and making outfits now look at me I'm sticking to one outfit and buying art.

[Colorless111]

To me the ticket seems to bulky if you proved yourself once in the ticket system and it made you able to enter how many avatars you wanted for the rest of your gaian life I could get behind that.

For me I’m very impulsive not that that's a bad thing I really can pull off some amazing avatars that way. But what if someone thinks of a awesome avatar on Sunday night they really need to enter it for next weeks voting but they don't have a ticket. So they submit into the first arena and they get so close to the ticket but then the other arena turns over.

Can you imagine the shock and fit there going throw on site feedback. gonk

[candycrack]

★★★

This is an interesting idea but I see two potential issues with this...

1. More down voting. Down voting occurs in general now, I can see it increasing in the qualifying arena with hopes users won't get the chance to go up against someone they feel is better.

2. Group entries, group entries have seem to of become increasingly more popular recently. It would be sad to see some members get disqualified from participating.


If a ticket system does go into place, I would like to see the avatar entered automatically. Seems kind of pointless to give a ticket and allow the person to enter any avatar.

★★★

[Sher!ock]

Colorless111

But what if someone thinks of a awesome avatar on Sunday night they really need to enter it for next weeks voting but they don't have a ticket.

Since when does anyone need to enter the Arena? confused
They can just wait for the next week,
just like they would if they got that awesome idea on a Monday night.

[Colorless111]

Sher!ock

Colorless111

But what if someone thinks of a awesome avatar on Sunday night they really need to enter it for next weeks voting but they don't have a ticket.

Since when does anyone need to enter the Arena? confused
They can just wait for the next week,
just like they would if they got that awesome idea on a Monday night.

Like if they wanted to join a group but couldn't think of anything until sunday. Or they really have something planned for the next week but they don't wanna miss this outfit that has a EI item about to evolve.

[Wizzleteats]

I really do not like the idea that the avi you qualify with isn't the actually avi you compete with. That is the reason I made the avi in the first place is to compete.

Also please keep the avi gallery. I love that feature.

[Heaven_Leigh_Treasure]

I think a two tiered system would work well, it means you could have several avi's in the works should you choose to do so. I do think that we should be able to change the avi for the second tier of the competition so that we can make changes to it based on the feedback we receive.

I also think that there should be some increased publicity and, education, if you will regarding the arenas and the associated 'etiquette' of participating in the arenas. I see far too many people getting nasty comments and ridiculously down-voted these days, to the point where winners delete their entries or disable their comments, and outstanding avatar makers do not bother entering at all. I think a short tutorial system and a greater explanation in the rules area may be needed. Perhaps even hiding the user name of the entrant during the ticket-only phase of competition may help with this issue.

I also feel that something which needs addressing promptly is what constitutes as hired goons and improper advertising for arena entries. Using guild announcements, especially in the large guilds to attract mass up or down voting is, in my opinion, wrong. I would like to see some sort stance presented by Gaia's staff on this issue and perhaps the implementation of penalty system for those who flout the system.

Finally, I would like to thank you for looking into these issues and coming up with a plan to make things better for future arena goers. I think this will make the experience in the arenas much better for all.

[Gary Waters]

It actually does make a lot of sense, but even more so, it gives off that real 'tournament' vibe, to it. xD

[Deazy]

I'm certainly glad that the new arena won't have anything to do with the current one.

I'm going to throw out a suggestion for how this could work.

The qualifying round lasts 2 days - Saturday and Sunday, with the Arena contest lasting from Monday to Friday. This is so the whole thing still lasts only one week.

The Avatar submitted is the avatar that goes forward to the contest - no tickets. If someone wants to improve their avatar then they just are going to have to re-submit at another date. Encouraging users to ask for help in Avatar Talk before entering would be great.

Soul-bound items for prizes BUT they should also have a goodly sell-back price should the winners not want them.

Keep the qualifying minimum to what is suggested for now. 3.5 average and 50 votes - this will encourage users to advertise but there needs to be very strict guidelines on what is acceptable advertising before putting this in place - no Guild Announcements, no advertising outside of the Chatterbox except for signature advertising. Anyone found breaking these rules will be disqualified immediately.

No maximum amount of people that can go forward to the next round - this should discourage downvoters as no matter how much they downvote other people - they still have to get the minimum amount needed to gain entry. It should encourage more advertising and, hopefully, more people will come in to vote.

Please find somewhere in the current landing pages to show the winning avatars, this really does help get more people to look at the Arenas.

I would also love to see the other Arenas (writing, art, homes) get an overhaul too. Bring back contests for all of them to encourage usage of these arenas.

[S1mbo]

Downvoting detection system? I guess my concern with this is how a computer algorithm can detect the difference between an avatar receiving 40 friend/guild votes at 5, and ten genuine dislikes; and 40 genuine likes, and 10 downvotes. Its a subtle but important difference.

With regards to possible voting systems, you could restrict voting to users who have entered in that particular week. Its more of a peer review, but would heavily favour group entries. It also has the obvious disadvantage of the average user no longer being able to vote unless they become active in the arena themselves.

[Sher!ock]

Colorless111

Sher!ock

Colorless111

But what if someone thinks of a awesome avatar on Sunday night they really need to enter it for next weeks voting but they don't have a ticket.

Since when does anyone need to enter the Arena? confused
They can just wait for the next week,
just like they would if they got that awesome idea on a Monday night.

Like if they wanted to join a group but couldn't think of anything until sunday. Or they really have something planned for the next week but they don't wanna miss this outfit that has a EI item about to evolve.

Sounds like tough luck to me.
I don't see why we should work around such uncommon circumstances.

[Colorless111]

Sher!ock

Colorless111

Sher!ock

Colorless111

But what if someone thinks of a awesome avatar on Sunday night they really need to enter it for next weeks voting but they don't have a ticket.

Since when does anyone need to enter the Arena? confused
They can just wait for the next week,
just like they would if they got that awesome idea on a Monday night.

Like if they wanted to join a group but couldn't think of anything until sunday. Or they really have something planned for the next week but they don't wanna miss this outfit that has a EI item about to evolve.

Sounds like tough luck to me.
I don't see why we should work around such uncommon circumstances.

for me it happens all the time since have a entry going almost every week and sometimes 2 a week when i have a cosplay

[Nic]

LOVE this idea heart

[lollypopdreamer]

I am VERY ify on this, so for the moment I wont say yes or no to this proposal.

To me the qualifying round would create a HUGE amount of downvoting. Avatars that would be deserving of going into the second round still might not, all because Mr. "I'm booord n mi frndz liek it" got all of his friends together along with people in his guild and downvoted the hell out of other entrants, and 5'd his avatar.

So really this idea may cut back on maybe 75% nondeserving avatars from entering the main arena, but it definately wouldn't get rid of them all together, and this would just make more downoting problems for everyone.

Also since people would be able to submit more than one avatar, if both avatars recieved a high enough avaerage with the required amount of votes, would that person get two tickets for both avatars and would both avatars move onto the next arena?

I may be over thinking this, so please stop me somewhere or correct me. But it seems to me that even thought this new system would be more complex and might allow more deserving avatars win, it could possibly bring more problems to the arenas. Again someone stop/correct me.

I think instead of a new arena, we need an update, and better clarification of the rules. Moderaters for the arena ONLY, that way when avatars are reported they can be handled right away, and wouldn't stay for days or the entire week. Also when people go to enter their avatars, give them examples of what is or is not an original/cosplay avatar.

[Mira-Icy]

lollypopdreamer

I am VERY ify on this, so for the moment I wont say yes or no to this proposal.

To me the qualifying round would create a HUGE amount of downvoting. Avatars that would be deserving of going into the second round still might not, all because Mr. "I'm booord n mi frndz liek it" got all of his friends together along with people in his guild and downvoted the hell out of other entrants, and 5'd his avatar.

So really this idea may cut back on maybe 75% nondeserving avatars from entering the main arena, but it definately wouldn't get rid of them all together, and this would just make more downoting problems for everyone.

Also since people would be able to submit more than one avatar, if both avatars recieved a high enough avaerage with the required amount of votes, would that person get two tickets for both avatars and would both avatars move onto the next arena?

I may be over thinking this, so please stop me somewhere or correct me. But it seems to me that even thought this new system would be more complex and might allow more deserving avatars win, it could possibly bring more problems to the arenas. Again someone stop/correct me.

I think instead of a new arena, we need an update, and better clarification of the rules. Moderaters for the arena ONLY, that way when avatars are reported they can be handled right away, and wouldn't stay for days or the entire week. Also when people go to enter their avatars, give them examples of what is or is not an original/cosplay avatar.

Honestly I agree completely. If there isn't a mod who isn't on at least twice a day for the arenas why not give the job to someone else if there even IS a mod. I mean come on, I have reported several avatars that are in the arenas who have CLEARLY broken several rules and they were left there for the whole week, one even won a while back. So seriously whats going on here? Honestly though I am not in for the new system. When the new arenas came out I went all oooo and ahhhhh but now its just become ridiculous