Check out the trials and troubles of the first Will of the Collective, where the community designed a card for the first time!
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Director of First Edition
By MidnightLich (Charlie Plaine)
 - Director of First Edition
 -  
Prophet
#5735
I'm really amazed at you guys. Really. There were all sorts of predictions about the response we'd get, and you blew it out of the water. There were good ideas coming from all over the world and we'd have even more ideas to sort through if there hadn't been overlap. I'm proud of all of you - even if it means I have a lot more work to do now.

While the design team gets busy trying to figure out which ten (10) ideas to go with (talk about a tough decision), I wanted to make sure you guys had something to read this week. Whenever we do something like this, there are going to be ideas or suggestions that don't make it from one step to the next. It's a fact of life. We can't give seventy-nine (79) ideas to you in a poll or the votes would be too spread out and therefore meaningless.

Since we're going to have more steps like this one (for example, you'll get to submit story ideas later on), and we'd like to make this a regular feature around here, I thought it would be a valuable tool if I told you some of the reasons an idea might not make the cut.

To be clear, none of the ideas I mention below are real, submitted ideas. No decision has been made at this time about any cuts or continuations, and won't be for at least a few days. So don't worry about your ideas yet.

So... why wouldn't an idea get picked?

Reason #0: I Didn't Follow the Rules
When we do one of these contests, we have to have a basic framework in which to operate, or we'll be overwhelmed. Since this was our first submission in our first outing, I was very, very, very lax about the submission rules. But it's important you submit your ideas in the right way to the right people. Again, nobody's ideas were left out because they didn't follow the rules. But please, I can't promise that in the future.

Reason #1: Someone Else Sent It In First
There were a few very common ideas sent in. One of the concepts that kept popping up was "points." Another was "capture." While there were some different concepts presented in each theme, a lot of them were too similar to differentiate. So if you sent in "a lose 5 points dilemma" but one of the choices is "A decision to lose 5 points or something bad happens" it's probably because the latter was submitted first.

Reason #2: Idea Was Too Specific
At this early stage we were just looking for dilemma concepts - a single, basic idea that sums up what we want the dilemma to do. We gave some examples of good and bad concepts in the Decision #2 post. But most of you are new to this and are bound to be excited about your ideas, so some of your submissions were a bit... ah... wordy. :)

Things not to include in your dilemma concept:
- A list of skill requirements.
- Details about the dilemmas cost.
- HOW the dilemma will do something.
- Game text.
- Lore.

Reason #3: Idea Was Too Generic
There weren't too many of these, but a submission that's just "stops people" - while simple - is not really enough information to go on.

Reason #4: The Idea's Already Been Done...
Not everyone knows all the cards so this isn't a big deal, and nobody should feel bad about it. But if your concept is identical (or nearly identical) to an existing card, it will probably be rejected. Note: This doesn't mean you can submit existing ideas with a twist.

Reason #5: ...Or Something We're About to Do
If I didn't know better, I'd say some of you were sneaking into our design and development files. An eerie amount of ideas were exactly like cards that are in various stages of development for one of our upcoming Virtual Expansions. While this doesn't disqualify you (we might drop our card to let yours develop, after all), we don't want to reinvent the wheel, either.

Reason #6: You (Unknowingly) Broke an Unwritten Rule
There are a few unwritten rules that the designers and developers have to follow when writing cards for 2E. I'm sorry, I can't share those with you, but they're there. It's okay that you don't know them, because most of the time it doesn't matter. But if one of your concepts breaks one of these rules, there's a good chance it will disappear. (That doesn't mean stop sending your ideas in. Rules changes... or can be bent. Or danced around. Or avoided...)

I hope this helps give you some insight into why we'll make the choices we make. There are countless factors that will go into the decision. In the end, we are going to be agonizing over cuts. There are so many good ideas, it will be painful to pair it down to ten (10). See you soon with the choices.

-crp
Last edited by MidnightLich on Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
By Foreman
 - Gamma Quadrant
 -  
#5827
MidnightLich wrote: Reason #0: I Didn't Follow the Rules
When we do one of these contests, we have to have a basic framework in which to operate, or we'll be overwhelmed. Since this was our first submission in our first outing, I was very, very, very lax about the submission rules. But it's important you submit your ideas in the right way to the right people. Again, nobody's ideas were left out because they didn't follow the rules. But please, I can't promise that in the future.
It might be helpful if you mentioned some of the specific ways that people did not follow the rules this time. We can learn from other peoples mistakes and make sure we don't make them in the future.
Last edited by Foreman on Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Director of First Edition
By MidnightLich (Charlie Plaine)
 - Director of First Edition
 -  
Prophet
#5832
Foreman wrote:
MidnightLich wrote: Reason #0: I Didn't Follow the Rules
When we do one of these contests, we have to have a basic framework in which to operate, or we'll be overwhelmed. Since this was our first submission in our first outing, I was very, very, very lax about the submission rules. But it's important you submit your ideas in the right way to the right people. Again, nobody's ideas were left out because they didn't follow the rules. But please, I can't promise that in the future.
It might be helpful if you mentioned some of the specific ways that people did not follow the rules this time. We can learn from other peoples mistakes and make sure we don't make them in the future.
1) Not including one's real name. (As a side note, a few people asked me to not release their real names. I'm happy to keep that information private, but I still want it included.)

2) Not sending the PM to the right place.

3) Not sending a PM at all.

-crp
Last edited by MidnightLich on Tue Feb 26, 2008 12:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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By bortz65
 - Delta Quadrant
 -  
Community Contributor
#5851
MidnightLich wrote:
Foreman wrote:
MidnightLich wrote: Reason #0: I Didn't Follow the Rules

It might be helpful if you mentioned some of the specific ways that people did not follow the rules this time. We can learn from other peoples mistakes and make sure we don't make them in the future.
1) Not including one's real name. (As a side note, a few people asked me to not release their real names. I'm happy to keep that information private, but I still want it included.)

2) Not sending the PM to the right place.

3) Not sending a PM at all.

-crp
It took me some searching to figure out how to PM the administrator(which may be why they didn't always go to the right place.) It would be helpful to include a link next time.
Last edited by bortz65 on Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Director of First Edition
By MidnightLich (Charlie Plaine)
 - Director of First Edition
 -  
Prophet
#5852
bortz65 wrote:It took me some searching to figure out how to PM the administrator(which may be why they didn't always go to the right place.) It would be helpful to include a link next time.
Thats great feedback, thank you.

-crp
Last edited by MidnightLich on Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Director of First Edition
By MidnightLich (Charlie Plaine)
 - Director of First Edition
 -  
Prophet
#6156
MilesStuntDouble wrote:
...
- HOW the dilemma will do something.
...
What if the concept was more focused on how the dilemma was going to work?
(For example, focusing on the cost instead of the effect)
That's more likely to get through. As long as its not too detailed in it's suggestion.

-crp

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