Hair contest: petitioning

[Anapingofness]

I'm going to agree with OP.
I feel that SE didn't manage this contest very well. There should have been a greater emphasis on the use of the provided template. There should have been much more diversity in the finalist selections.
I feel that the current finalists are just too similar in design and style- we literally have x5 variations of side ponytails, x3 of which are tied at neck and x2 of which were tied up on the head.
They should have had sections for design in regards to all of the races. Nearly all of the current finalists will look bad on Highlander males and both female and male Roegs. I'm willing to bet that even the taller Highlander females will struggle with the cutesy style of the choices.

After looking through the thread of the entries that didn't make it, I am disappointed by just how narrow a selection we are given.
This isn't to bash the people who did get picked as finalists but there really should have been a better selection.

[Gilraen]

Sigh, I guess threads such as these proves one thing, and one thing only. "You can't please everyone all the time." Seems pretty clear that Square opted for the better option, "Thus it's better not to try." The contest has a fair amount of variety (even if a fair amount of that variety is 'bubblegum and lollipops' cute in both male and female categories) and that was clearly plenty for Square. Could there have been more? Maybe, but I'm not going to complain about it. I will complain that there was a lacking bit of oversight on checking whether submissions followed applicable rules and laws, but as evidenced by Female #12 they're not deaf when such breaches are exposed. What more can we ask for without looking like the selfishly entitled minorities?

[Greedalox]

snip

Precisely. You can't please everyone, and those that are displeased stomp their feet until either nobody is happy so they can tell everyone "I told you so" or make the flip side of the coin unhappy in their stead.

[KasKatta]

...

Would not more diversity in the finalists have quieted those not pleased? It is true there is no possible way ANY selected 25 per category would have pleased everyone, but with a wider range, you're hitting more chances to cover a lot of tastes, and therefore pleasing the majority. I 100% agree that it's a contest, there's going to be happy people, and unhappy people, as well as those that are neutral. That's the nature of the contest. But even you yourself pointed out how a rule oversight allowed an entry that should not have had a final place make it through. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for a bit of care in selecting such in the future.

[DawnSolaria]

Would not more diversity in the finalists have quieted those not pleased? It is true there is no possible way ANY selected 25 per category would have pleased everyone, but with a wider range, you're hitting more chances to cover a lot of tastes, and therefore pleasing the majority. I 100% agree that it's a contest, there's going to be happy people, and unhappy people, as well as those that are neutral. That's the nature of the contest. But even you yourself pointed out how a rule oversight allowed an entry that should not have had a final place make it through. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for a bit of care in selecting such in the future.

im rather confused. Only one hair gets in the game, why would it matter if there are more choices? If I were to vote now i would vote for the ones that would have a chance to win. You can vote on what you like the most, but has no chance to win, based on principle, but then you would just be failing democracy. Its unlikely that it would please anyone, because the follow up thread would be "The most voted hair should not be implemented and heres why".

Also should be noted that you are assuming majority is not pleased. I highly doubt that is actually the case.

[KasKatta]

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It's actually stated that multiple finalists have the chance to make it in game at a later date. That aside, with only one guaranteed selection making it in game, all the more reason to have a more diverse number of finalists to choose from. So, by limiting the entries, you're saying it is more fair based on the principle that only those with a chance to win get votes? Who determines what has the chance? Any one had the chance. There could be a design out there currently not in the finals that a ton of people would vote for over the ones now, but we'd never know cause it wasn't given the opportunity.

And if a hairstyle won over a ton of unique designs, awesome, well done. But there'd be less a chance for someone to complain over a more open and varied finalist set. If the style similar to one we have in game came out on top, then so be it. But as it stands now a good number of people do not see that varied choice in the current listings.

I don't think I ever said I assumed or believed the majority was unhappy. I did however, point out that a good number of us are; enough to question how the contest was handled. But neither you nor I can say with certain who the majority is based on just the number of people who chose to speak out in this thread. But there is no denying a good number are unhappy. It's now been said that it has even been addressed in the Japanese forums.

[DawnSolaria]

snip

The only way that would silence everyone is to include every single entry and have forum vote on it, which would be impossible as it would be too time and resource consuming. On the other hand, any method involving any sort of secrecy on SE part regarding selection process will have forum crying for blood.

If we are discussing better way to handle the contest, how can SE possibly satisfy everyone?

[AnaviAnael]

The more I think about it, I wonder if the vitriol is simply about the contest, or lack of certain hairstyles in general.

People have been asking for more "tough guy/girl" hairstyles.
Guys have been asking for more facial hair varieties.
Ladies want longer hairstyles without bangs.
The list goes on.

Here, we have a contest to showcase the communities talents as well as desires for future customization and are met with more of the same to choose from.

Note: I will disclaimer right now. I do not speak for everyone.

[Nadirah]

The more I think about it, I wonder if the vitriol is simply about the contest, or lack of certain hairstyles in general.

People have been asking for more "tough guy/girl" hairstyles.
Guys have been asking for more facial hair varieties.
Ladies want longer hairstyles without bangs.
The list goes on.

Here, we have a contest to showcase the communities talents as well as desires for future customization and are met with more of the same to choose from.

Note: I will disclaimer right now. I do not speak for everyone.

This is a pretty good summary.

We basically get to pick one of another variant of what we *already have*.

We didn't need more of the same crap we already have.

[DoctorSecksy]

I find it harsh to call what we see in the contest as crap, but I agree that it is a lot of what we already see in game. Numerous threads have been made pointing out that we'd like diversity even before the contests was a glimmer in their eye. To see that they picked very similar styles to existing trends shows a lack of consideration, in my opinion. It pretty much is a summary to what this thread is about. Id like to know that everyone is heard, if not considered, because I know you can't please everyone. You can, however, acknowledge and maybe even explain why they chose what they did. Sure, they took down the clearly photoshopped entry, but they did it without announcement or even a "hey, sorry about that, here is a different choice because we made an oversight".