Hey everyone, thanks for your brilliant responses to the survey.
They were a great indicator of current attitudes and opinions towards contests and how we might be able to shake them up and give you fun distractions and challenges that you'll actually want to participate in.
We’ll use these responses as a platform to organize the next community events and we’ll hopefully have more to share on those soon.
That being said, Mods don’t want to be the gatekeepers for organizing anything not-project related. If you have your own ideas for mini-games, contests or other activities, then as long as it’s not bothering anyone or making a mess you’re free to go wild.
We got 42 responses overall, and I've copied out the key stats and breakdowns below for anyone curious.
In terms of takeways:
- Time seems to be the largest factor for whether or not they enter build contests.
- Amazon vouchers had usually been our go to prize vouchers in the past (just got general convenience). In the feedback we got some well reasoned concerns about this choice of provider, so we can look into some alternatives for next time.
- The indication that people prefer "Narrow" contest themes was eye opening and really interesting. When choosing themes in the past we've often assumed that we should make it as broad as possible to give people plenty of room to come up with contest entries. But these results suggest there's a preference for more narrow, specific themes.
- PvP and PvE and other similar activities are still high on people's agenda, we'll look into how we can best incorporate systems for these in the next server version update. (Ideally we'd want some kind of plug-in/mod that independently organises mini-games on an ad-hoc basis, so players can participate whenever they want).
- There's apparently enthusiasm for more regular events in general. We ultimately base the timing of the next contest based on the participation levels we saw on the previous one though. So if people want more contests, we basically need to see the demand for it.
Other suggestions
- one coupon for a guaranteed new block texture of the winner's choice or a custom WC skin
- The schematic of the entry for download. That could allow us to 3D print it!
- Custom tags in game are always good.
- Just have a cool high-fantasy castle somewhere, were all contests-winners are honored. Otherwise change the Amazon voucher to a different company cuz amazon is evil
- Hall of fame with winners, Idk if possible but maybe in-game special items and/or perks
- Not really to be honest, I think those already existing are rather neat.
- Prizes are pretty solid tbh
- "Giftcard" to spend on Westeroscraft merchandise. The merchandise we have on offer are very cool but spending actual money on it is, to me, a bridge too far and I reckon this is the same for others. A giftcard to spend at the Westeroscraft store allows winners to get what they like from the store at either a discount if the giftcard isn't sufficient enough or for free if it is, possibly even both.
- Sweet golden coins! XD
Other suggestions
- I think we should have a contest where everyone starts out with a generic castle and was to “grief” it by adding color and making in funny.
- Battle/Seiges
- Something not related to ASOIAF, like stuff from other (medieval) fantasy stories or actual history.
- Catacombs
- Spawn Update/Redo
- A longer time to build would be nice, I usually have either builds I was previously working on as well as stuff in my personal life going on and completing builds usually takes a while.
- Even though I usually run out of time before I can even start I do not think the time period of the contests is too short.
- Having the option for team builds makes it a lot more appealing
- I believe the current format works well.
- I think longer build times could be double edged swords but I'm in favor
- I think the current setup works well. The main complaint of which I am aware of (but personally do not have) is the limitation on team entries. I think team entries are fine, as long as the team shares the (potential) prize if they win.
- I would prefer more team focused and longer time to build
- I'm not sure about how long the build time is but I think focusing on teams would be nice.
- longer time to build
- Maybe more time and more team
- More team focused sounds great.
- Multiple entries, longer time to build
- No preference
- Not sure. these all sound good. but I'm not into multiple entries. 1 per person/team seems fair
- Some more teamwork focused builds might be interesting and help to create camaraderie amongst the builders.
- team focused would be nice
- Team focused would be nice, also longer build time wouldn't hurt...
Other suggestions
- Moon door
- Trivia, like they do on McParks
- Tiny contests between main contests with themes that can be recycled into the map, like banditry, ruins etc.. These can be organised each month or between the main contests in off-seasons (Spring/Autumn) and last until the next contest.
