I'm very much against restrictions. I can understand how lack of context can be a pain - I flail around a bit whenever I read anything II, III, V, or Dissidia-related - but putting restrictions on writers would really dampen participation, I think. I know that I personally do not write well with limitations - you try to make me write something from IV or X, and I'm going to just fail horribly, simply because I don't have any desire to write anything for those worlds. The only restrictions I could get behind would be eliminating one game from play - like, a fic challenge where you can't write anything from VII, for instance. That would still leave some leeway
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*nods* About contests, there's also the problem that pointswise, Sai and I are the only thieves that regularly write, and she's much busier, so I'm usually the only one on my team that enters longer writing challenges. And I'm the comm weirdo who knows the obscure games much more than the popular ones. (...Heck, I know all the obscure games better than all the mainstream ones.) So, at the cost of sounding whiny, it's really not fair that I wouldn't be able to enter something, especially since I supply most of my team's writing entries.
I can definitely sympathize! Vanja's been doing some more writing (yay! ^^), but I'm still the bulk of the Black Mages' writing power, especially when it comes to longer stuff.
...Although, um, technically, I think I can write from any game if I have to, except for like... 8, 12, FFT, and FFCC. XD; But Mysti says that might make my argument a little more relevant? The fact that I can, but... mou. It's like... I can, but it won't be any good? I can, but I'd rather not? I guess kinda like that.
Alongside the participation problems - I kind of feel that if you started restricting games, you might just exacerbate the problem? Some games are more well-known than others; this isn't really something we can do much about. But if you started restricting games, I feel that there would be even less incentive to vote? Like, "Oh, this is a challenge for the spinoffs. Well, why bother?"
I think you're making a very valid point. XD Not only could it hurt participation for submissions in general, but I could definitely see it becoming an issue with voting as well (people are already less likely to not vote what they're familiar with and there are more popular games out there, not really much anyone can do about that! Still, limit a challenge to something like the earlier games, the online ones, or the spin-offs and I can definitely imagine people just not bothering to vote or read). O_O; ...Says the person who plays CC Ring of Fates, lolz.
Still, limit a challenge to something like the earlier games, the online ones, or the spin-offs and I can definitely imagine people just not bothering to vote or read)
And what I'm trying to say here is that I am being FORCED to vote because there are entries where there are games that I know about. I would rather have a challenge where I won't vote than a challenge where I'm forced to vote.
...the thing is, even if there are restrictions, it's likely to be a group of games, from what I can tell? So... if there's a mix of games you do know and don't know anyway - would you have the same problem? I'm not trying to dismiss your opinion, I really do want to know.
It's alright. I just feel like everyone (except probably breyzyyin <3) is dismissing my concerns as not valid. I do like fic challenges, I do like reading fic; but I hate reading fics I don't know about and having to judge based on that
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I don't think they're invalid, and I wish we could find a way to give you a compromise (especially since there are 7 people who want 'limitations' - IDK what their definitions of limitations are, but the vote's there for all to see).
Unfortunately I think there's always going to be a difficulty with fic, especially in a large fandom like a generic Final Fantasy community - so many FFs, so no matter what you pick there's going to be someone cut out? And if the community was a large one, then I think limitations would work, maybe help, even, but as it is I see only the same few people participating in the fic challenges.
I'm really sorry. I can't help the confidence in voting, and I do feel that way sometimes when I see a lot of things I don't know - I guess I just feel surer of myself when it comes to voting.
Okay, this bit will sound a little arrogant and selfish, but I think honestly is an important point:
Should someone's 5-points-10-minutes-voting opinion really take precedence over someone's 40-points-2-days-writing opinion? :\ To me, that seems a little selfish. To put it harshly, if you don't want to vote, then don't vote. You're losing a lot less than saying I can't write for something even if I want to, unless I want to jump through hoops for it.
The other thing I just thought of was -- despite the fact that quite a few people voted for restrictions, no one's really saying anything other than Eilia. So... what exactly do the rest of you guys want restrictions for? Fic? Graphics? Art? For the same reasons as her or for different reasons? To put it more rudely, do you really have an opinion or are you just voting it for a kinda "yeah, might be nice I guess" kind of thing
( ... )
I haven't voted but from a neutral/mod point of view, I'm a fan of restrictions in general for the reason of fairness. I know people prefer the ability to choose a subject they like, so I would never have a comm where all challenges have game restrictions. But I come from an icontest background where a mix of open-ended and provided image contests is normal. I know fic =/= icons and game restrictions on fic hit harder than they do with icons, but the issue of fairness is the same with both
( ... )
I think from a voting viewpoint, splitting is more fair, and it's kind of the same with icons as fic, but I feel from a creating viewpoint, restrictions are very much different for fic than they are for icon or art. I've never played FF12. I can't write it no matter how many points you dangle in my face, so to speak. (...Well. I probably can. With lots of research. But it'd be crappy. All because I don't have money to buy a PS2.) But if you say, "make an icon with Vaan" or "draw a picture of Penelo", I can do that easily.
I like the idea of submitting 2-3 entries of whatever you want and splitting it into categories, I think. I'd be in favour of parameters for voting, but not for writing, since I think most of the reason people want restrictions is for the sake of the voting process.
Seconding this. Writing is inherently restricted - you can't write what you don't know, unless you do tons of time-consuming research, so penalizing writing further would be counter-productive.
Seconding arivess' request that we compare what people are willing to write? Because I think the things that the fic participants like aren't necessarily the things that most voters are familiar with.
Compiled a list of stats here; feel free to compare with poll stats here.
I admit, I had trouble filling out the first question of the games poll. I've never played FFVII but the characters are iconic enough that I consider myself familiar with them. Familiar enough to read/appreciate, but not familiar enough to write. I wish I'd realized this distinction earlier. :/
Thank you for collecting those stats so neatly! (I did the same last night but in a very rushed/rough manner.) One nitpick I have, though, is that I think the Dirge of Cerberus epistolary fic should definitely be counted separately from the 2 FFVII fics. That fic only featured characters original to DoC, which most people haven't played.
Okay. I'd like clarification on 'restrictions to games'? Because I think ... how do I say this - hm. The current poll just says 'restrictions to games', and it doesn't say which restrictions and for what contests. Is it a general thing, or just a fic thing, or an art thing, or what? Because I noticed that it's the most closely fought poll, and only Eilia is commenting.
Point 2) I think the reason why there's this huge discrepancy is because the writers and the readers may be favouring very different games, which is why it's so difficult to resolve. The same people are taking part, and they each have their own favoured fandoms.
Right now, as I see it (and I didn't have a clear idea before when I made this post, and I will go back and edit to clarify this) the restrictions we're voting on are fic only. Not graphics because I think we can agree that occasional restrictions are okay, and probably not art because of the rareness of art contests and artists at this point in time.
We're also voting on having ANY restrictions of games in any form, not for every fic contest, but on occasion. If people need this to be more specific (for example they don't like restrictions on principle but would be okay with a very specific type of restriction) then I'm willing to... I dunno, make a new poll just for this issue with a more finely detailed question?
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...Although, um, technically, I think I can write from any game if I have to, except for like... 8, 12, FFT, and FFCC. XD; But Mysti says that might make my argument a little more relevant? The fact that I can, but... mou. It's like... I can, but it won't be any good? I can, but I'd rather not? I guess kinda like that.
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And what I'm trying to say here is that I am being FORCED to vote because there are entries where there are games that I know about. I would rather have a challenge where I won't vote than a challenge where I'm forced to vote.
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I'm really sorry, Eilia. I know it's difficult on people to vote. :(
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Unfortunately I think there's always going to be a difficulty with fic, especially in a large fandom like a generic Final Fantasy community - so many FFs, so no matter what you pick there's going to be someone cut out? And if the community was a large one, then I think limitations would work, maybe help, even, but as it is I see only the same few people participating in the fic challenges.
I'm really sorry. I can't help the confidence in voting, and I do feel that way sometimes when I see a lot of things I don't know - I guess I just feel surer of myself when it comes to voting.
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Okay, this bit will sound a little arrogant and selfish, but I think honestly is an important point:
Should someone's 5-points-10-minutes-voting opinion really take precedence over someone's 40-points-2-days-writing opinion? :\ To me, that seems a little selfish. To put it harshly, if you don't want to vote, then don't vote. You're losing a lot less than saying I can't write for something even if I want to, unless I want to jump through hoops for it.
The other thing I just thought of was -- despite the fact that quite a few people voted for restrictions, no one's really saying anything other than Eilia. So... what exactly do the rest of you guys want restrictions for? Fic? Graphics? Art? For the same reasons as her or for different reasons? To put it more rudely, do you really have an opinion or are you just voting it for a kinda "yeah, might be nice I guess" kind of thing ( ... )
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I like the idea of submitting 2-3 entries of whatever you want and splitting it into categories, I think. I'd be in favour of parameters for voting, but not for writing, since I think most of the reason people want restrictions is for the sake of the voting process.
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But categories for voting should solve the issue?
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Compiled a list of stats here; feel free to compare with poll stats here.
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Thank you for collecting those stats so neatly! (I did the same last night but in a very rushed/rough manner.) One nitpick I have, though, is that I think the Dirge of Cerberus epistolary fic should definitely be counted separately from the 2 FFVII fics. That fic only featured characters original to DoC, which most people haven't played.
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Okay. I'd like clarification on 'restrictions to games'? Because I think ... how do I say this - hm. The current poll just says 'restrictions to games', and it doesn't say which restrictions and for what contests. Is it a general thing, or just a fic thing, or an art thing, or what? Because I noticed that it's the most closely fought poll, and only Eilia is commenting.
Point 2) I think the reason why there's this huge discrepancy is because the writers and the readers may be favouring very different games, which is why it's so difficult to resolve. The same people are taking part, and they each have their own favoured fandoms.
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We're also voting on having ANY restrictions of games in any form, not for every fic contest, but on occasion. If people need this to be more specific (for example they don't like restrictions on principle but would be okay with a very specific type of restriction) then I'm willing to... I dunno, make a new poll just for this issue with a more finely detailed question?
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