MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Opinions on Unresolved Challenges
I would like to get your opinions on the issue of Unresolved Challenges.
The way I see it, we have three basic options
1. Let the challenges sit and remain open and/or abandoned.
This is pretty much what we're doing now. It offers no results to the effort people put into making their cards for these challenges.
2. Determine an appropriate amount of time to let a challenge remain inactive, say 2 months, and then close it.
This is my least favorite idea, as it not only makes your efforts feel invalidated, but it offers no hope of someone coming along to one day declare a winner.
3. Determine an appropriate amount of time to let a challenge remain inactive, again say 2 months, select an active member to be an alternate judge, offer a chance for new entries, declare a winner... and then close it.
This is my favorite choice of the three. It gives us a resolution, makes us feel involved and it shows that we want to celebrate our active members while still honoring those who were unable to complete their challenge for whatever reason.
Feel free to just write down a number or expand on the subject. These are just three basic ideas. We can always expand on them if we want, or offer different alternatives. I really am interested in your thoughts on the matter and I would like to see a majority consensus, since this is our community!
The way I see it, we have three basic options
1. Let the challenges sit and remain open and/or abandoned.
This is pretty much what we're doing now. It offers no results to the effort people put into making their cards for these challenges.
2. Determine an appropriate amount of time to let a challenge remain inactive, say 2 months, and then close it.
This is my least favorite idea, as it not only makes your efforts feel invalidated, but it offers no hope of someone coming along to one day declare a winner.
3. Determine an appropriate amount of time to let a challenge remain inactive, again say 2 months, select an active member to be an alternate judge, offer a chance for new entries, declare a winner... and then close it.
This is my favorite choice of the three. It gives us a resolution, makes us feel involved and it shows that we want to celebrate our active members while still honoring those who were unable to complete their challenge for whatever reason.
Feel free to just write down a number or expand on the subject. These are just three basic ideas. We can always expand on them if we want, or offer different alternatives. I really am interested in your thoughts on the matter and I would like to see a majority consensus, since this is our community!
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Personally I want to know all winners of these unresolved ones. lol
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/challenges-8#.VWLbjEvY9D0
-------new discussion--------
Reactivate the old challenge. 1
Ground rules.
1 ) The judge cannot choose his or her own submissions as the winner.
2 ) After the winners are declared, the judge selects one participant (must be an active member).
3 )The chosen participant must chooses an inactive challenge, and reactivate it. He or she hosts it as an alternate judge. The new judge can decide the new deadline of it.
4) Back to (1)
-----------------
For example, I choose this inactive challenge, and I become the alternate host of it ;
http://mtgcardsmith.com/view/contest-31#.VWVS00vY9D1
I decide new deadline, and people can entry until then. And after that deadline, I choose Corwinnn as a winner. (I also submitted my card 3 month ago for that challenge, but I can't choose mine as a winner.) Then I choose Corwinnn as the next judge.(His submission is 3 month ago, but still an active member). Corwinnn chooses another inactive challenge, and do the same process.
In this idea, we don't need to force people to be an alternate judge.
Because each participant knows he or she can be selected as the new judge . (If you don't want to be selected as the new judge, you just don't entry.)
I think new Reactiva-tion Challenges should have a week or two max deadline
But I'm not sure if I can describe the rule clearly so that everyone can understand. Just so you know, I'm not good at English. Actually, I'm not good at explaining something even in my mother language. So if you become the first person to do this and write the rule text, it would be easy for me..
(and I thought you did a pretty good job explaining)
@Corwinnn
Explanation makes sense to me.
Seems reasonable.
Agree that turnaround for re-opened challenges should be short.
I've already started
http://forums.mtgcardsmith.com/discussion/309/reactivation-challenge-1-custom-mechanic-contest-by-manavault#latest
My dreams...
Contests should be finite, testing people and pitting them for a certain time with constraints and goals, then discuss, judge, and reward.
Challenges are simply skill testing problems put forth to offer a way to break away from the everyday generalization of card making. Unique and quirky, they remain unending, for no prizes or rewards are made, just the satisfaction of knowing you completed the challenge, rather than completed the challenge better than other people.
Contest - Battling between cardmakers.
Challenge - Battling with yourself... not sexually... maybe...
A challenge to me should remain open to allow for anyone at any point to try it out, so long as the original poster remains active and is able to provide feedback, as well as fellow cardsmiths that may or may not have taken the same challenge. You discuss, grow, learn, and have fun, but not for the gain of glory, put for personal growth and ultimately fun. A contest can be hard work, determination to perform better than a rather decent motley of cardsmiths, pursuit of gold and treasure. It's homework, studying and relying on skill and merit. A challenge is for fun, trying something new, take whatever you need into the process and remove from it whatever you want. There is no reason other than to say you did.
To me, what you are proposing makes sense, and humans in general need closure. But there is a difference between grouping everything together as one type, and keeping them separated into individual sections, differentiating between contest and challenge.
Personally I don't know that anyone else has ever thought of it this way, or they just considered challenge and contest two ways of saying the same thing. Maybe it's just me, and if so, I gladly bow out of the discussion as the democratic subordinate. I will gladly find another word for what I do, ha ha. But, I usually don't make contests, I usually just wanna throw a monkey wrench into the whole upload art, mechanic, balance, draft, rebalance, mechanic, rebalance, print. I like making cardsmiths think, and not in terms of the difference in terms of lightning bolting a creature and terror, and whether or not a creature's latent ability will resolve.
XD
I know you want your challenges to be ongoing and I do feel that if anyone wants their challenge to be ongoing, it should remain that way.
My views on Contest vs. Challenge are pretty much the same as yours. I think of a contest as a "me versus you" kinda thing and a challenge as more of a "Find the Grail" event
With that being said, I'll try to identify ones that might be intended as ongoing and mark them as such. Ones that have some type of ending date are clearly intended to have an end point.
I'm not sure if all of the original hosts did, though. I'm really not familiar with the vast majority of items on our massive list.
We should use our best judgement based on the descriptions provided with each one.
With the couple of challenges I put out, I made sure to explicitly detail the difference I placed between a contest and a challenge, as a disclaimer.