I hope this is the right place for this post. Anywho...

I noticed when the Mog House decoration contest went up, a lot of people posted entries. Which was great I think. It gave so many people the chance to show off their hard work and savvy in their design of the space. There were some things people had done that I had never thought of doing and it changed the way I looked at my mog house.

Hence, Mog House decoration has become a new hobby of mine. For the record, I didn't place in the contest, but I enjoyed myself, the process, and looking at all the other houses.


Anuran's Mog House at Time of Entry


Anuran's Mog House Now

Then came the Thanksgiving contest. I was really excited about this one. I set to work on my story and screenshots right away, receiving a lot of feedback from my highly opinionated 11-year-old son. We were both looking forward to seeing a great turn out with many stories to read. Not may people participated. My son wondered why, and I began to think about that too.

What made these two contests different? Both offered furniture as prizes. Both involved screenshots. Both required some writing. Perhaps the difference was the Mog House contest allowed people to show off their pride and joy while the other was just a hunt? Maybe it was because the Mog House contest featured a grand prize while the the hunt contest did not? I don't know. I really enjoyed participating in both contests.

Yes, I was chosen as a winner in the hunt contest. I am really excited about that and I would like to share wth everyone my experience with that because the presentation of the prize was a part of the contest as well.

You see, I've been playing this game since my 11-year-old was just starting to cut his teeth. Even now I can remember needing to go "AFK" in a party to wind up his swing again because that was the only thing that would console him. In all those years, I have never seen a GM in-game. Yes, I've spoken to a few, one rescued Rhae from her mog house when she couldn't move and other time discussing the possiblity of implementing spam filters in the game.

So to me, it was really cool to see one in-game, not because I was in trouble or in distress, but because they wanted to present the prize in person. That is awesome. I think that was cooler than the prize itself. I'm a person, and I got treated like a person. The GM Emdub is a person, and spoke to me like a person. I think it is safe to say that the process made both our days. I also think the game NEEDS this. The reminder that we are all people, GMs and players. So this part of the contest should definitely stay and become part of the norm.


Presentation of Prize


Rolanberry Delightaru in Toadie's Mog House

To close my long post, I present these questions to all my fellow gamers:
  1. What makes a contest good in general?
  2. Why do you choose to enter, or not to enter, into a contest?
  3. What kind of contests are you interested in seeing in the future?
  4. What sort of prizes are you interested in seeing?
  5. Do you like the idea of personally presenting the prizes?