Doppelganger Screenshot Contest (NA) - Discussion Thread

[PiperC]

But then I realized a lot of other people were using that same set of NPCs, so I went with this NPC instead:



I posted my entry with the snowman NPC quite early on in the competition. I was only on page 9. And I got a lot of likes. So there was LOTS of opportunity for people to "copycat" my idea. But no one did. So I think what you're assuming to be copycats is just a lot of people having a common idea. Stuff like cactuars, sylphs, uniform NPCs occur to everyone, doesn't mean they're copycats.

Good move on your part although I did like the other SS as well... I know I personally wanted to do something unique and I felt NPCs were too easy. I also watched to see what everyone else did and saw nobody was doing Opo-opo so that's what I did... nobody else "copied" my idea either but I wouldn't have been surprised with somebody else doing Opo-opos

[Selkie]

You and Vaen seem to have misunderstood me greatly-- or claim to know myself better than I do. If I feel passionately about something I will engage in constructive debate about it. I'm not causing myself unnecessary stress or grief simply by posting some harmless text in a message board. And I never suggested that they take the prizes away from anyone or retract their announcement whatsoever. These are words you have put into my mouth rather carelessly to paint me a villain. Had I believed that, your statement that I should calm down would seem logical, but I believe no such thing. Should those that care be silent whilst those that don't talk freely?

I merely respond to those that respond to me. Am I loud? Of course. I haven't simply silently slipped away, muted by the assertion that I brew some tea and take a nice hot bath and calm down. (Yet I am already calm?)

[Selkie]

That seems to upset a great many of you and I don't understand why. Instead of "venting" and moving on I took the time to look at the available data in order to construct a hypothesis on how the winners were selected.

Please address my arguments or please do not respond at all. I am extremely weary of being told things that dismiss my arguments without any actual discussion. "You're just upset you lost." "You're just angry, go do something else." "It doesn't matter, c'mon." are not arguments. Punainen had some legitimate arguments. Others, too. Please respect me enough to provide some as well if you care enough to discuss it with me. Elsewise you are using an ad hominem to attack the person behind the argument, not the argument.

[Selkie]

A very many of you could simply state the generic, "Well it seems a lot of people are upset, which is unfortunate, but congrats to the winners!" and you would [most likely] be very much left alone for it. However you respond to me directly and then find it appalling that I take the time to refute or respond in kind.

I care so much because I want to see to it that future contests are handled with more care than I perceive this one was. I want to see Square-Enix improve. I know they can do better than this.

[odihsa4]

definitely randomly selected. "80% lose. 20% win." I agree with this statement. /congatulate winners. /comfort to the losers. /fin

[NephHalp]

I fail to see what the issue is with holding SE to a higher standard. Taking any action regarding the doppelganger event is going to leave a bad taste in varying groups mouths (reselecting winners etc.). However, it is good to make a point that their selection process appeared lazy and/or rushed, likely so that they wouldn't be kept late at work on a Friday. By pointing out issues it allows SE to try and find what went wrong and how they can correct it for future contests. SE is a big company and makes a lot of money, I'm pretty sure they can handle people calling them out when they mess up.

[Kos_Mos]

Part 1 of 3

Looking at the comparisons of the NA contest versus the EU contest I believe it's safe to say that they received a lot more entries for the NA contest than they originally might have anticipated. I'm assuming the extra time to judge the entries was based on the volume of entries they received and the time it took to verify that all of the perceived winners as they chose them were indeed users of the NA client. This being said I'd like to put this out there as a suggestion for current and/or future contests.

Facts -

For NA contest: 100 winners were chosen
For EU contest: 100 English winners 100 German winners 100 French winners (Total 300 winners)

Please Note - For the following I'm going by the number of posts not the exact number of actual entries.
For NA contest: approx. 700+ entries
For EU contest: approx. 350+ entries

[Kos_Mos]

Part 2 of 3

Taking into consideration that the NA clients are more active in their contests (yes I'm aware not all of our entries were from NA) I believe that to accommodate a more fairness in approach would be to increase the number of winners for the NA contests in regards to region locked contests. Coming from a person who has done a few FFXI forum contests (and remembering the Moogle Suit quarrels in regards to in-game items) I think allowing a closer % of winners to win would be a better route. Not saying to have contests be "60% of the people who enter will be chosen as winners" but taking this contest for example, if we could have had the number of NA contest winners be 200-250 we would have seen a lot more variety in the winning selections and it would have complemented more a comparison against the amount of how many will be winning the EU contest.

[Kos_Mos]

Part 3 of 3

This is just my opinion and I wanted to put it out there for our forum moderators who run these fun and great contests. You guys do great work and your time you take away to do these is very much appreciated. To all those that won I give you my 'Congrats!' To all those that didn't, let's not discourage the moderators from doing contests anymore but encourage them to make changes to make them more enjoyable for both us that enter and those that host them.

[NephHalp]

That actually makes a lot of sense. An underestimated number of submissions to a contest would lead to tight deadlines and difficulty making enough time to go through and judge the many entries. Adjusting the number of winners to be more comparable to the EU contest (as well as reflect the larger NA playerbase) would be an easy way to increase variety, include some categories which were surprisingly left out (like seasonal entries) and give the team more time to pick winning entries.