As porkuslime posted a few days back we are having a new contest. This contest is unlike anything we've done in the past. This contest will not be about painting, modeling or any other aspect of gaming. This contest is about using your brains and people skills. Now, before I go divulging the details, let me put up one important bit of information. The contest will be limited to 12 participants. So far I've had 14 entrants. The reason is that I'm going to be running the contset solo for the most part and trying to juggle even 12 of you is going to be interesting. This doesn't mean others can't sign up and have a shot at the game, but it DOES mean that there will be pruning. (Probably random, maybe with a leaning towards the early adopters for having the [lack of?] sense to jump in with both feet.) If any of you who signed up early realise this isn't something you want to do it would be helpful if you would have the grace to bow out so others can take a shot. I'll be leaving registration open for TWO MORE DAYS for those of you who, after reading the details below, decide you'd like to take a shot at getting into the contest. If you want to sign up you must PM me directly.
Ok, so boring administration stuff out of the way, onto the details.
The contest, in essence, is a chance to act like a staff member for a day. We've developed a hypothetical bad trader report and we'd like you to take a crack at mediating the dispute between the two fictitious users. After the last two days of sign ups are over the other staff and I will whittle the contestants down to the magic number of twelve. (No, we don't take bribes.
) Then I'll post the initial BTR post in here in a seperate thread for all the contestants to take a crack at. However, just like with a real BTR, this will require investigative work and people skills. Are the two parties being truthful? Have the accuser and accused provided you with all the information you need to make a case? How will you deal with what's being said in the thread by uninvoled users just looking to put in their own two cents? All these questions and more are part of the contest. Now, the main reason this is going to be limited to twelve participants is ALL contestant participation will be filtered through yours truly. Meaning that once the fake BTR gets posted, any questions you have for the fictitious users or any statements you wish to make in the thread along with your ultimate, final decision, need to be PM'd to me. The idea behind this is two fold. First, it keeps you working in a vaccuum of sorts where you can't rely on the other contestants/users to provide you with the basis for your argument. Second, it keeps the actual thread unclutered and free of arguing between the contestants over their interepretations of how the problem SHOULD be handled. Now, that said, you can talk to staff members other than me via PM. Who knows, if you're nice, maybe they can offer advice. (That is not guaranteed. And, again, we do NOT accept bribes...
) The prizes have yet to be decided. I want to make sure we actually have all twelve participants first and we the staff need to discuss if we want a single prize or something like a first place, seond place, etc... It should be nice. I MIGHT have an interesting limited model or two kicking around I MIGHT be willing to toss in IF you guys impress me
. Lastly, just like a real BTR, the answer may not be 100% cut and dry. Once everything is done and the contestants have submitted their entires, the staff will vote privately on who we think handled the case with the most tact and fairness. The staff will be the final judges. So yes, this contest, just like in a painting contest or modelling contest, is SUBJECTIVE. We will be fair, but our collective voting will be the final word.
That was rather long winded.
If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. -HZ
