OFFICIAL Eorzea's Next Top Model Discussion Thread

[EorzeasNTM]

I have got a great "extra" shot for this round. O.k. well, I have tons of shots in battle but this one was my favorite of this week.

@Kurri Ooo Kurri I love this one! It looks like a silver Krakken is slowly coming down to eat you haha. The thing on the right in the foreground also gives the photo depth! Really cool.

@Hyperia Telling model A that even though they didn't get the lowest score they have to go home because Model B is better is absolutely horrible. (What if Model A's votes are 15 and Model B's is 4?) Most Models already walk away from this contest hating being involved with it, but something like THAT would REALLY make them hate it. And image if Model C and Model D had been neck and neck in First and Second place the entire contest and then they both appeared in the bottom two slots. Would we save them both and eliminate the THIRD lowest?

It works on reality shows with anonymous voters, famous judges, and unknown nobodies competing for a prize, but it doesn't work for such a close knit community like this where we are supposed to be friends just doing this for fun.

Maybe Tyriont can figure out a way to do it that will please everyone involved, but I couldn't see any positives from it.

As for the YT Cycle, there will be a twist that -kind of- goes along with what you want, but it isn't a model -save- feature, so please look forward to that! *tee hee*

[Sadana]

Almost makes me wish that, rather than sending anyone 'home', everyone stays and you tally points at the end. TT_TT But it would be way less dramatic, huh? ;p

[Kaelah]

Almost makes me wish that, rather than sending anyone 'home', everyone stays and you tally points at the end. TT_TT But it would be way less dramatic, huh? ;p

Yup, also, it would mean that if you do make all models submit all shots for every round before the first one goes live - it doesn't feel like wasted time if you say, have one poor shot. (Or were unlucky in a double elimination like me lol ; ; ) It takes away some suspense yes, but at the expense of poor feelings and drama, might be worth it?

[SulwynCaliope]

Yup, also, it would mean that if you do make all models submit all shots for every round before the first one goes live - it doesn't feel like wasted time if you say, have one poor shot. (Or were unlucky in a double elimination like me lol ; ; ) It takes away some suspense yes, but at the expense of poor feelings and drama, might be worth it?

Since Rongi makes you guys take placeholder shots before the start of the whole competition, I do think a tally system at the end would be better as opposed to the current elimination system. A lot of you guys put tons of thought and effort into each shot and to get done in by one week that you couldn't find the inspiration for isn't really fair in my books. Kin had 1 weak picture and it negated all the strong photos she had in the previous weeks.

A better system I think, if you guys really wanted to keep the current system as is, would be to maybe do double eliminations on a biweekly basis. So instead of just basing eliminations off of 1 picture, it'll be based off 2. Even if one picture is weak, as long as the other is strong, the model will still have a chance of surviving. In order to ensure that the work load on the models isn't increased, make it a double elimination every other week.

[Tyriont]

I for one have no particularly strong feelings about keeping things tied to any method for the sake of it being more exciting or dramatic. I've been putting some thought into the suggestions I've seen, and here's what I'm coming up with thus far.

Option One: Keep things as they are, eliminate one model per week based on combined votes and judge scores
Option Two: Eliminate nobody, tally all votes/judge scores at the end to announce a winner
Option Three: Eliminate nobody, award points based on placing for the round (1st place gets 5, 2nd place gets 3, 3rd place gets 1, etc)

I'm not willing to implement a judge save system or anything like that, because I only see madness, hurt feelings and drama down that road.

Right now I'm personally leaning more towards option 3. My reasoning behind this is as follows - as unlikely as it may seem, let's say one model has an utterly amazing round where the clear the votes by, say, 20 points ahead of second place. Then their next two rounds are utterly terrible. Should that good round really keep them in top position then? It's also a -lot- of votes to keep track of. So I like the idea of giving points based on the top three positions each week - I feel as if it would keep the contest closer and more exciting.

It seemed like general consensus was to release the full shot list ahead of time, but only start accepting submissions for each round later, which I'm totally fine with. We did have some wonderful shots from eliminated models that I'd love to see get the exposure they deserved!

So anyways, those are the three options I've come up with so far. I'd like any feedback/thoughts on those. If needed, I may post up a poll so people can vote for their preferred method and we'll go with the general vote on that.

[Kaelah]

Option three sounds good given that reasoning. :3

[pageybear]

I like option 1 the best, followed by option 3 and i think option 2 is just terrible so don't do that one!

I have decided not to enter again. Mostly all the whining and complaining has made me not want to. I will still follow the contest and vote though.

[NarikoStar]

I personally like riskier stakes. If using option 2 and 3 I wouldn't look at this as a competition at any point anymore. I don't see any reason for a model to 'try their best' and risk anything. Additionally, if model A wins 2-3 times in a row, they /could/ technically be lazy on said next shoot and not risk anything/ put much time into the photo- and thus really not need to worry about being sent home. Judge & player critiques really wouldn't mean much seeing as their going to be staying the entire time and judges would simply be used as a tally up holder.

I wouldn't want to deem someone ENTM unless they prove to be aggressive and fierce every round. If they emo out over not being picked / not getting votes / upset about going home because their picture was the lowest that round regardless of having a decent portfolio, this contest probably wasn't for them in the first place.

[Parodine]

My only concern with option 2/3 is that if someone is very consistently towards the top (w/ with the tallied votes), I wonder how voters will feel motivated to vote toward the later rounds. Like, why bother if it's already mathematically set in stone? It also kind of hampers people growing through the competition. Like if you do poorly in the beginning but your later pics are phenomenal, you probably don't stand a chance to someone who was consistently above average even if they weren't necessarily top 3. I don't know how likely that is since the top photos have sort of been shaken up week to week, just wondering about 'what if' kinda scenarios.

People will be able to keep track of total votes pretty easily. While I don't want to stick with option 1 for the drama aspect, I sort of fear the final rounds won't mean very much with any other options.

A better system I think, if you guys really wanted to keep the current system as is, would be to maybe do double eliminations on a biweekly basis. So instead of just basing eliminations off of 1 picture, it'll be based off 2. Even if one picture is weak, as long as the other is strong, the model will still have a chance of surviving. In order to ensure that the work load on the models isn't increased, make it a double elimination every other week.

I like this idea potentially as a compromise between options 1 and 2/3. I don't really like the idea of a judge's save (I do think it would be drama personally) but I do agree some rounds people have uncharacteristic flops or just don't get a theme. I think it might provide a bit of a cushion to help out.

[Kaiyoko]

Adding on to what Nari and Maxwell have already said (I agree with most of it)

Keeping everyone around would destroy the narrative of the competition. What I mean by this is there is a model that had been struggling in the early rounds of the competition just barely getting by each round. Each round the model gets better and better to where they are winning rounds and not just skimming by. The model then ends up winning the competition because of their hard work towards getting better and becoming one of the best in the shoots. This creates a story for the competition and makes it more interesting. This narrative is completely ruin by the idea of keeping all 12 the whole time.

I think the double elimination is a good compromised though. Models can have a bad shot and still can still try to save themselves with a great shot in the 2nd round of the set. Models that are strong both sets wont need to worry about being eliminated. I'm not sure how each round will work out time wise, but if it's anything like this Cycle we will have 2 rounds a week which would work out to have the 1st round the 1/2 of the week and then the 2nd round the 2nd half and then the results get posted on Sunday.

Only question I have is, how are you going to join the boys and girls with options 2 & 3?