Method for Costume/Biography Contests

[Arisara]

I don't know the results of the last costume contest in which I participated. I was delayed in arriving and feared I missed the event. Upon arriving 13 minutes late, however, I found judging underway still so took a place in line after receiving no answer to questioning if I were too late. Another 15 minutes later I heard someone mention they hadn't yet been burned while standing beside a fire costume theme for an hour. An hour?! .. And still going? That's when I left.

 

For as long as contestants must stand around is as long as judges must also wait. I thought of method that delays only judges. When backgrounds are considered as part of contest entries one judge may announce a contest for a later time and also announce backgrounds are to be submitted ahead of time. That judge waits at a specific location (Kallisti Warf for blue and red access) for characters to arrive and have screenshots of their backgrounds taken (I obtain screenshots including U.I. by playing windowed stretched out to full screen. Playing windowed so allows me to quickly tab to background applications like wiki and Mid's). The screenshots are then saved with character names being the file names. The images may then be shared through skype, discord, website or whatever medium judging groups use to share information (If you're not using any such thing don't hold contests including backgrounds; hours will pass while reading is completed). Judges may then review backgrounds BEFORE contestants are assembled for the contest itself. After so much time of collecting backgrounds (however many hours judges would have been hanging around in the contest area later anyway) announcement is made background submissions will be ending soon.

 

Now contestants may make a pit stop, get their background submitted then return to play before the contest begins. All remaining to be done is the contest itself. Assemble the contestants, judge the costumes and compare to the backgrounds that have already been judged. Judges will have used the same time they would have used anyway but will have saved great time for the contestants.

 

Don't just announce a contest event having only planned a simple what, where, and winning prizes. Have someone on staff that thinks of logistics; someone that thinks of questions as "how long will this take" and "how may we shorten that time for participants". Plans for events may need a Geek Tweek. .. A Nerd Word. Have those Geeks and Nerds in your group. They will bring cheers praising efficiency instead of groans of growing old for so much time passing. 

[Vulpoid]

p.s. I hate you  Santa Claus,  for bringing me a red bicycle when I specifically  asked for blue.

[ImpousVileTerror]

As an anecdote, for the recent Pride contests, we -did- plan and attempt to coordinate logistics.

But, as some folks like to say:  "No plan survives the enemy."

 

A lot of little things happen and get in the way.  We had a specific timetable, but some people didn't end up seeing it in time.  And then other people found it confusing.  And then the flood of messages in chat caused some judges to miss cues or last-minute changes to instructions.

 

Granted, for the scale and size of the event?   Apparently we did a good enough job that even specifically asking people to give criticisms resulted in just "thanks for running this!" (seriously, though, people . . . I appreciate the appreciation, but I really -do- want criticisms.  Yeah.  I'm one of -those- weirdos who would rather hear what I did wrong as a constructive critique, than just getting thanked.  Please.)

 

And then there was the time that my Rikti Monkey Fight Club event got a GM called on us.   My fault, for phrasing an advert poorly, but it certainly wasn't part of the plan.

 

So, while I don't know if every event necessarily gets the same level of planning and organization as they necessarily need, I mainly just want to remind folks that sometimes no amount of planning will account for wrenches of the monkey variety.

[MTeague]

2 minutes ago, ImpousVileTerror said:

So, while I don't know if every event necessarily gets the same level of planning and organization as they necessarily need, I mainly just want to remind folks that sometimes no amount of planning will account for wrenches of the monkey variety.

This is why monkey wrenches are the best War Mace option

[Bastille Boy]

I was one of the biography judges for the Pride costume contest. A lot of planning went into this event! The judging procedure @Arisara describes is pretty close the procedure I used. It's not easy to do this quickly. Latecomers joining the lineup at both ends added substantially to the time I needed to make sure I had screenshots of everyone's biography.

 

I'm sure we could have done things better. We are open to suggestions! One thing we could do is post a detailed schedule further in advance, so contestants know roughly how much wait time to expect. As@ImpousVileTerrorpoints out, there's no way to time these things exactly. We did go overtime, but not by much.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Bastille Boy