[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

[breyzyyin.livejournal.com]

I definitely see where you're coming from here, and to be honest I think for the more well-known games (where maybe not everyone has played them, but there are quite a few people who have...such as FFIV) that would probably be an ideal solution (especially if all of the games were given the same prompt and people could write for any of them if they felt up to it). Unfortunately, I do think with some games that are far more obscure (FFII or FFXI, for example) that might be more of a detriment to any game-restricted challenge...not as many people are going to submit, and while I do know there are some members who like to vote on all of the challenges--there probably won't be as many who will want to do so for the games they really don't know about. I know that the argument could be made that "well, not that many people care or know about those games so it shouldn't matter": which I don't think you're doing, by the way as you're trying to get more votes in general for all of the games from the sound of things...but I think that's maybe the main fear for the few writers who do like writing for those types of games. Since this is an overall FF comm, I don't think it's fair to perhaps imply to people that the games they like aren't as relevant just because they haven't been played by as many people in the comm (which is perhaps what people are fearing will happen if the restrictions are allowed, even though that isn't really why people want them in the first place). At the same time though, I do agree with you and cowturtle that context is important for voters and subtle fics for games that you haven't played probably won't have as much of an impact for you. I think people should be able to vote for what they want and they shouldn't feel bad about it...and I wish that could be the case for you and everyone else who votes. I really want there just to be a solution that will be agreeable and appease a majority of people.

And truthfully, I read a later comment you made in this post...don't worry, no one hates you, I promise! Truthfully, you're vocalizing why you voted what you did and giving your reasons which is the purpose of the poll to begin with and you're entitled to them (and you're definitely not the only one who feels that way, and I think having input from your side has made me see it in a different perspective because at first I did kind of panic and go "But I write those fics!" and worried some, but now that more dialogue has been opened up I'm not as worried or opposed to the suggestions that are being brought up)--I think you've made some very valid points. It's awesome that you felt confident to do that. *hugs* ♥

Truthfully, it's a very complicated problem and I'm really hoping that we can find a solution that will appease the majority. I'm not entirely sure it will appease everyone because it is so varied, but I think everyone who has been talking and the very capable mods here will come up with something that is satisfying for most of us...you included (and it's awesome that you're trying to come up with solutions as well and you are concerned with fairness to writers and voters alike). :D