[POLL] Rule Changes

[chacusha]

Please take this poll to determine rule changes for Game 2.


[PROPOSAL 1] Alliances in Game 2
A reminder of the alliance system -- The six teams here at ff_land get divided into pairs (alliances). The point values of allied teams are added together and the alliance with the highest total is declared the winner. Last game it was the Thief/Monk alliance.

For the next game, the new alliances would be Soldier & Thief, Monk & White Mage, and Black Mage & Dragoon. The individual team comms would all be combined as well, meaning that Thieves would be invited to the Soldier comm as members without posting access and vice versa. Of course, individual members can still choose whether or not they actually want to join/interact with their allied team but it seemed to help team morale overall last game.

• Rationale: Creates larger "teams" and allows uneven teams to be balanced.
• Arguments Against: I'm not sure if anyone brought up arguments but I can see it being more motivating to compete if you don't have to worry about the performance of your allied team. It also may interfere with building up individual team identity.


[PROPOSAL 2] Vagrant Story
While not a Final Fantasy game in name, Vagrant Story is officially part of the Ivalice Alliance along with games like Final Fantasy XII and Tactics (Advance (A2)). Originally intended to be separate from the Final Fantasy series, it was later purposely connected back to FF by references to it in later Ivalice Alliance games.

For more information see the FF Wikia.


[PROPOSAL 3] Kingdom Hearts original characters
Currently ff_land allows any KH fanworks that prominently feature the FF characters. However, things featuring ONLY KH original characters (I'm talking Sora, Riku, Namine, Organization XIII, Hayner, Aqua, Ventus, Eraqus, Ansem, etc. here, NOT Disney or imported FF characters) have always been a vague grey area.

I can see arguments both ways. While KH and FF are strongly linked and many people are fans of both, to me it's always seemed like a separate fandom. And while I love the KH games something fierce and even my mod icon and tag banner feature Aqua, I can see how allowing fanworks that only feature KH characters could be a slippery slope. So yes, please let me know your opinion on this one!


[PROPOSAL 4] Raising stamping and referral points
For this, I'm proposing to raise the points given for sorting an applicant from 5 to 10, and the points for referring someone from 50 to 60.

• Rationale: About 1/3 of the voters in the polls said 5 points was too low, and only 12% of last game's points were earned in FF Classchange (this includes referral points). FF Minigames and some scales in Moogle Workshop are getting a boost, so it might be good to inflate the sorting points to match. 60 is also a more easily divisible number than 50.
• Arguments Against: A majority said they were okay with 5 points per application, and 10 points might be a tad high for voting on an app... (but I don't want to use a non-round number, so it's got to be either 5 or 10). roax brought up concerns about too-high referral points here


[PROPOSAL 5] Occasional restrictions on games in contests in ultima_arena
For this proposal, there would be occasional restrictions on games allowed for contests, particularly fic contests. Currently, nearly all challenges in ultima_arena allow you to submit an entry featuring any FF game. The proposal here is to have challenges where the games you can choose from are limited in order to even the playing field, as not everyone is familiar with every game.

For example, a fic written for a highly obscure game might not get the same amount of attention as one with very recognizable characters. To solve this, there could be challenges where only obscure game fic is allowed, and other challenges that are focused on a particular popular game such as Final Fantasy X. See this thread for arguments for/against.


[PROPOSAL 6] One fewer short contest in the second half of the month
Currently, the contest schedule is: one month-long challenge, two half-month challenges in the first half of the month, and two half-month challenges in the second half of the month. The proposal here is to have only ONE half-month challenge during the second half of the month instead of two, for a total of 4 contests in a month rather than 5.

• Rationale: At most two challenges would be due at a time. Right now the max is three, with one of them being the big month-long challenge. It would also tone down the end-of-the-month point bonanza that happens in ultima_arena.
• Arguments Against: Not as many contests in the second half of the month to keep people occupied.



[Poll #1744111]



Thank you! :)

Comments

[cowturtle.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure how setting up voting works here, so forgive me if this doesn't make sense, but I'm just trying to come up with a different kind of solution. I understand that it would suck to either have to write for games you don't necessarily like or want to write for, or wait until the game you actually want to write for comes along.

As a different solution, would it be possible to divide the voting? So, you would give the prompt, and anyone could write for any game they wanted. Come voting time, you divide the fics up into game-based groups (so... FFI-FFIV are all together, FFV-FFX are all together, or however it would be divided) and then people vote within those groups. That way, everyone can write for the game that they want, but then voters can choose within which groups they want to vote. Some people might go through and vote once within each group (effectively reading all of the fics submitted to the challenge) while other people might only vote within one or two groups (the ones containing the games that they've played). You'd end up with a couple of winners for each game, instead of just one, but this way it seems like everyone could participate.

I know it doesn't solve the spoilers problem (which is definitely a tough one) but... I tried...? (gives big puppy dog eyes)

[arivess.livejournal.com]

I think I like this idea! But again, I think the problem is just... really limited amount of entries/entrants. For the big fight scene fic contest, for example, we had 5 fics. Even for multi-category things like the drabbles, we only got about 10 per category. Dividing it up further would have people voting between 2-3 things.

[cowturtle.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I can see what you mean... (sighs, puts lab coat back on, and heads back to drawing board)

[breyzyyin.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I really like that idea too! That's probably the best solution to the issue at hand. I sort of thought of a similar one where the games were grouped together and every month the same prompt for each grouping would be handled separately...but I think yours sounds less complicated! And probably easier for everyone involved in the long run, lolz!

Unfortunately, I do agree with Ari that the limited amount of writers currently would perhaps be an issue with that idea still...but I think if we ever get a larger pool of writers that would be probably the ideal answer to the problem. Great suggestion and it's awesome that you came up with it when everyone else has been debating without really having any solutions. We'll figure something out! *crosses fingers* ♥

The spoiler problem is definitely a complicated issue since people have such varying views on what a spoiler is or their comfort levels with them, but hey...trying to figure out solutions is always welcome!

Also, VERY cute Balthier icon. :)

[virago-queen.livejournal.com]

The only way I see us having enough entries for that suggestion to work properly is to allow writers to submit something for each voting category. This introduces new problems, like one person being able to get way, way too many points, or the individual winners not getting a many points as compared to the participation points. Maybe we could make it work, maybe not. But it's an idea, and thank you for trying to think up a solution. ^^