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The Guide to Hosting & Judging CCs
forutnefire
Posts: 477 Arc User
The Guide to Hosting and Judging Costume Contests
So you want to see the creativity other people have in creating costumes and characters, or you just have a ridiculous amount global resources or quality items burning a hole in your pocket?
Then it sounds to me like you want to host a costume contest (CC). I'm going to outline the different types of CCs and how to host and judge effectively while being fair to each individual's affinities and personal tastes. I have lead contests in the Dark Enforcers, S.P.E.A.R., and judged and guest judged in countless others. I was the most active admin for the one and only Contests channel, which has now moved to Contests-Central, so I have good amount of experience to draw from. However, I'm just another player. In the sections where I describe Judging Process and the Judging Whoopsie-Daisies section, it is purely my opinion based on what I believe and experienced through myself and discussions with others to be fair. If you think differently, no problem, there's nothing saying you can't just ignore my advice and host the way you want to.
Time allowing, I'm more than happy to help individuals or SGs host/judge a CC, all you have to do is ask. I'm looking forward to adding more contests to the channel's list, which can be view here, or by right clicking the channel tab on your chat box, opening the channels tab, and hovering your cursor over the word "Contests-Central" in the list!
ROLES
-- Host: Most hosts are to make sure the contestants are entertained and kept in the loop of what is happening with the CC. They're responsible for all introductory material including going over the rules and announcing the winners. Some hosts give out prizes and break ties but those responsibilities can be given to a judge or support member. The host answers any and all questions asked about the CC, they are the boss.
-- Judge: The workers of the CCs, judges should be in a team and be looking over every participant to decide who best fits the categories of the CC. With multiple judges, it's a good idea to get your fellow judges' opinions, talk with them (in team chat so it is not visible to the contestants) they might see something you didn't. Sometimes, the host designates particular judges to judge a certain category. While this method saves time, we are naturally a little biased and therefore I prefer multiple judges voting on categories.
-- Head Judge: It might be a good idea to assign a head judge. Their job is to relieve pressure from the host so that they're not overburdened with responsibility. The head judge should be just as competent in hosting as the main host and their job entails:
> Taking over as host if the main host disconnects (DCs).
> Fairly breaking ties in judging (also can be done by the host).
> Organizing and tallying votes from other judges and giving them to the host to announce (either 1 at a time or all at once).
-- Support: Not directly involved with the CC, support typically falls to those in a Supergroup (SG) or friends of the host and judges. In SG hosted CCs, support are those in the SG, but not on the judge team. Support should keep an eye out for any violations of the rules (such as switching during a non-switching CC, or use of powers) and report them to the host. On the off-hand chance that the turnout exceeds the persons capacity of wherever you're hosting, it's the duty of the support to leave the instance to make way for more contestants. This allows everyone to get a chance to participate that wants one.
TYPES OF CONTESTS
-- Single category (SC-CCs)
Definition: Your basic CC. A single category/theme is announced and players create a costume that fits the category. These CCs are the most lenient, allowing for virtually any theme. A broad theme such as "tech" will result in a large turnout (# of people participating) as there are many forms of tech (retro tech, futuristic tech, steampunk, power armor, biotech, etc). A specific theme such as "Crazy Scientist" will result in a lower turnout. These should be 20-40 minutes depending on the turnout and judge decisions.
Judging Process: Which character do you believe best fits the theme? Were you looking for how cleverly they put their character together? Or most interesting interpretation of the category? Maybe the most clever use of "purple" category for example is someone called the one-eyed-one-horned-flying-purple-people-eater, but the other participant's gender bent Kevin Poe character "Kourtney Poe" had a better use of costume pieces and colors. The decision is yours; just make sure to be fair in assessing everyone equally. How many people are winning and how many prizes you're willing to give away is up to you, here are some examples:
> 1st place winner
> 1st/2nd/3rd place winners (most popular)
> 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th place winners
> (Note: You can also have just a certain amount of those who win, without saying any one is better than another. If this is the case, prizes should be the same. More detail below.)
Honorable Mentions (HMs): These are when you call out one's name for recognition and who deserve to be admired because of their excellent effort, but you just don't have or can't give out that many prizes. HMs are not to be used often--otherwise their value and the value of actually placing decreases. Choosing to have HMs is a usually a spur of the moment decision during judging, when it's obvious that there are a larger number of those with excellent costumes then you have room for in your placing system.
(Note: Some people still hand out prizes to HMs, usually their value is much less than the actual prizes)
Prizes: You have the right to give away everything you own to whoever won; chances are you probably don't want to. So what do you give? Well in all honesty it's up to you, it's your contest. Make sure your prizes are not bound, those you can't trade. In CCs that don't have set place winners, what you give to each winner should be the same or at least equal in value. In CCs where you do have place winners, better prizes should be given to 1st then 2nd, better for 2nd than 3rd, etc. You can use:
Global Resources: Giving away some Gs is the typical prize. The higher they place, the more Gs they should get. (most popular) How much is up to you, some examples include:
> 25G / 50G, for a single first place winner.
> 15G, 10G, 5G / 30G, 20G, 10G / 75G, 50G, 25G, for 1st/2nd/3rd winners respectively.
> 10G / 25G, for each winner in CC with no placement.
Costume Unlocks: Certain costume unlocks are rarer than others, the [Resistance Nightstick] is not worth the same as [Therakiel's Sword]. The prior should not go to 1st place when the latter goes 3rd.
Components/Mods/Misc. Items: Same with the costume unlocks, higher ranked mods and items should go to those who ranked higher. Likewise lower ranked ones should go to those who placed lower.
So you want to see the creativity other people have in creating costumes and characters, or you just have a ridiculous amount global resources or quality items burning a hole in your pocket?
Then it sounds to me like you want to host a costume contest (CC). I'm going to outline the different types of CCs and how to host and judge effectively while being fair to each individual's affinities and personal tastes. I have lead contests in the Dark Enforcers, S.P.E.A.R., and judged and guest judged in countless others. I was the most active admin for the one and only Contests channel, which has now moved to Contests-Central, so I have good amount of experience to draw from. However, I'm just another player. In the sections where I describe Judging Process and the Judging Whoopsie-Daisies section, it is purely my opinion based on what I believe and experienced through myself and discussions with others to be fair. If you think differently, no problem, there's nothing saying you can't just ignore my advice and host the way you want to.
Time allowing, I'm more than happy to help individuals or SGs host/judge a CC, all you have to do is ask. I'm looking forward to adding more contests to the channel's list, which can be view here, or by right clicking the channel tab on your chat box, opening the channels tab, and hovering your cursor over the word "Contests-Central" in the list!
ROLES
-- Host: Most hosts are to make sure the contestants are entertained and kept in the loop of what is happening with the CC. They're responsible for all introductory material including going over the rules and announcing the winners. Some hosts give out prizes and break ties but those responsibilities can be given to a judge or support member. The host answers any and all questions asked about the CC, they are the boss.
-- Judge: The workers of the CCs, judges should be in a team and be looking over every participant to decide who best fits the categories of the CC. With multiple judges, it's a good idea to get your fellow judges' opinions, talk with them (in team chat so it is not visible to the contestants) they might see something you didn't. Sometimes, the host designates particular judges to judge a certain category. While this method saves time, we are naturally a little biased and therefore I prefer multiple judges voting on categories.
-- Head Judge: It might be a good idea to assign a head judge. Their job is to relieve pressure from the host so that they're not overburdened with responsibility. The head judge should be just as competent in hosting as the main host and their job entails:
> Taking over as host if the main host disconnects (DCs).
> Fairly breaking ties in judging (also can be done by the host).
> Organizing and tallying votes from other judges and giving them to the host to announce (either 1 at a time or all at once).
-- Support: Not directly involved with the CC, support typically falls to those in a Supergroup (SG) or friends of the host and judges. In SG hosted CCs, support are those in the SG, but not on the judge team. Support should keep an eye out for any violations of the rules (such as switching during a non-switching CC, or use of powers) and report them to the host. On the off-hand chance that the turnout exceeds the persons capacity of wherever you're hosting, it's the duty of the support to leave the instance to make way for more contestants. This allows everyone to get a chance to participate that wants one.
TYPES OF CONTESTS
-- Single category (SC-CCs)
Definition: Your basic CC. A single category/theme is announced and players create a costume that fits the category. These CCs are the most lenient, allowing for virtually any theme. A broad theme such as "tech" will result in a large turnout (# of people participating) as there are many forms of tech (retro tech, futuristic tech, steampunk, power armor, biotech, etc). A specific theme such as "Crazy Scientist" will result in a lower turnout. These should be 20-40 minutes depending on the turnout and judge decisions.
Judging Process: Which character do you believe best fits the theme? Were you looking for how cleverly they put their character together? Or most interesting interpretation of the category? Maybe the most clever use of "purple" category for example is someone called the one-eyed-one-horned-flying-purple-people-eater, but the other participant's gender bent Kevin Poe character "Kourtney Poe" had a better use of costume pieces and colors. The decision is yours; just make sure to be fair in assessing everyone equally. How many people are winning and how many prizes you're willing to give away is up to you, here are some examples:
> 1st place winner
> 1st/2nd/3rd place winners (most popular)
> 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th place winners
> (Note: You can also have just a certain amount of those who win, without saying any one is better than another. If this is the case, prizes should be the same. More detail below.)
Honorable Mentions (HMs): These are when you call out one's name for recognition and who deserve to be admired because of their excellent effort, but you just don't have or can't give out that many prizes. HMs are not to be used often--otherwise their value and the value of actually placing decreases. Choosing to have HMs is a usually a spur of the moment decision during judging, when it's obvious that there are a larger number of those with excellent costumes then you have room for in your placing system.
(Note: Some people still hand out prizes to HMs, usually their value is much less than the actual prizes)
Prizes: You have the right to give away everything you own to whoever won; chances are you probably don't want to. So what do you give? Well in all honesty it's up to you, it's your contest. Make sure your prizes are not bound, those you can't trade. In CCs that don't have set place winners, what you give to each winner should be the same or at least equal in value. In CCs where you do have place winners, better prizes should be given to 1st then 2nd, better for 2nd than 3rd, etc. You can use:
Global Resources: Giving away some Gs is the typical prize. The higher they place, the more Gs they should get. (most popular) How much is up to you, some examples include:
> 25G / 50G, for a single first place winner.
> 15G, 10G, 5G / 30G, 20G, 10G / 75G, 50G, 25G, for 1st/2nd/3rd winners respectively.
> 10G / 25G, for each winner in CC with no placement.
Costume Unlocks: Certain costume unlocks are rarer than others, the [Resistance Nightstick] is not worth the same as [Therakiel's Sword]. The prior should not go to 1st place when the latter goes 3rd.
Components/Mods/Misc. Items: Same with the costume unlocks, higher ranked mods and items should go to those who ranked higher. Likewise lower ranked ones should go to those who placed lower.
~ Flare@Lectrohm (In-Game)
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Post edited by forutnefire on
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Comments
-- Multi-category (MC-CCs)
---- Definition: By far the most popular form of CCs in the game, these contests are where there are multiple categories being judged, allowing for a larger chance of winning. With MC-CCs, having super specific categories is doable, but like with SC-CCs, it narrows your turnout. It's better to have broader categories in MC-CCs so there's less confusion, as well as it decreases the difficulty of judging difficult categories in a understandable amount of time. It's also important to notify players of whether or not you will allow them to switch costumes/characters. If you don't, treat the contest like a SC-CC. If you do allow switching, the host should announce which category the judges are currently judging for, and provide ample time for contestants to switch between each category before the next round. You'll need to be vocal and communicate with the contestants, let them know what you're doing. These should be 20-50 minutes depending on the turnout and judge decisions.
---- Judging Process: Treat MC-CCs just like a bunch of SC-CCs together, all of the same rules here apply. To help judging transition more smoothly, ask players to perform a sit-type emote such as "/e afk_sit" or "/e rest", if they do not wish to participate in that particular round. That way the judges can simply skip over these players making the contest go more quickly and smoothly. The number of winners per category is up to you. Just like the SC-CCs, there can be multiple forms of winners. Typically, it's either:
> 1 Winner per category (most popular)
> 1 Winner and 1 Runner-up per category (treat as 2nd place)
> 1st/2nd/3rd place winners per category
> (Note: Again, you can also have just a certain amount of those who win per category, without saying any one is better than another. If this is the case notify the contestants of how many winners there are per category, and keep that number the same throughout all the categories. Otherwise it's not fair to everyone else who tried out for a category you only picked 1 winner for.)
---- Honorable Mentions (HMs): They are the same in MC-CCs as they are for SC-CCs. If you do decide to perform HMs, do an even amount for every category. Don't nitpick it won't be fair to those who participating in categories without one who didn't win, and you can be seen has having favoritism. (Again, some people still hand out prizes HM, usually much less than actual prizes)
---- Prizes: These are the exact same as the SC-CCs. If you want to vary up the prizes, say 15G for one category and 20G for another, you have every right to do so. I know a few SGs who award a couple of extra Gs to the winner of the "Best" category (having the best costume overall). If there are significant differences such as winners receiving different items, or something like 50G+ difference, I recommend you make sure to tell your contestants. Being open and honest up front can save you from having to explain yourself later.
-- Biography CCs (BCs)
---- Definition: For the most creative of players, to those who want become better. BCs are CCs that do not just judge a player's fashion sense, but their writing ability as well. These CCs are rarer to come by, but are a really good opportunity to show your writing skills off and to read other stories for your entertainment or to help improve your own skill. By nature, BCs take a little bit longer since you have to read every participant's biography time your contest accordingly. These should be 30-60 minutes depending on the turnout and judge decisions.
---- Judging Process: This one is tricky, most people like to put more emphasis on the biography when judging, but it's still a CC. I like putting the ratio here at 40% costume, 60% biography, that's just me. You can volley which one is more important to you when you judge. When judging the costume portion, do so just like the SC-CCs, but there are some things to watch out for when reading a biography.
Spelling/grammar mistakes: This is usually an instant turn off for me as it says that the participant didn't want to put forth the effort to make sure their story made sense. I'll be the first to admit that mistakes do happen, so whether or not you let a bio with errors like this slide depends on the severity and frequency of said errors and your own personal opinion. Also, keep in mind that not everyone that plays has English as their first language.
Fancy HTML: Using this code, you can alter and doll up your bio to make it easier or more entertaining to read. Don't judge a participant's bio by how well or much they use your favorite shade of pink though, this is a contest that judges quality. I've seen plenty of fantastic bios that use nothing more than paragraph breaks to organize thoughts.
Length: If their bio read like a novel, you might get bored quickly. In contrast if they only have 2-3 sentences they might just skip them. Well don't to either of these. You have to be fair when judging people's bios. A really long bio doesn't mean it's good or bad, just that the participant has a lot to say, and vice versa. Judge quality over quantity.
Substance: Some bios are written like journal entries, other like a novel, and I've even seen some as music lyrics. If there's a particular style of biography you're partial to, try to put that aside for the sake of being fair. Usually in BCs any form goes, you're going to see many different styles which are difficult to judge next to each other. I personally set the bar at overall creativeness; this allows me to fairly judge whether a good blurb, or a journal entry type was more creative with the individual character.
---- Prizes & HMs: Exactly the same as SC-CCs.
-- Fashion Contest (FCs)
---- Definition: CCs with style, FCs are rarely done nowadays but I thought I'd throw them in here in case anyone was interested. Fashion contests are simply CCs with a little spice. Each contestant walks in front of the panel of judges, shows off their costume, and performs a simple action. The action can be an emote, a power, saying a catch phrase, etc. This action should stay in character for whatever the category is. After the action is complete, they walk off stage and the next participant comes up. These contests take longer than average and are more suited for set number contestants; especially SG exclusive CCs or very specifically themed CCs. FCs can have one category or multiple categories. Keep in mind the already increased length of the contest when deciding. These should be 30-60 minutes depending on the turnout and judge decisions, but can exceed to a dangerously long time.
---- Judging Process: In judging FCs, we have another ratio to keep in mind--how much their costume fits the category, and the cleverness of their action to impress the judges. My personal ratio is 80% costume, 20% action. The majority of their score is based on how well their costume fits the category, and a slight bit towards their action. A character trying for the category "beast" for instance should do the howl emote, and not the break dance emote, common sense is a valuable asset.
---- Prizes & HMs: Depending on the number of categories, the prizes for FCs are the same as SC-CCs or MC-CCs.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
-- Duos & Groups
---- Definition: Duos and groups are sub-categories and can be applied to every type of contest mentioned above. Duos are 2 players using one another to make a fitting character set for a particular category. A dragon and a maiden, fire and ice characters, hero and a sidekick, etc. A group category is when an entire group (typically a supergroup, but doesn't have to be), is a when 3+ players make a character set for a category, (Manimals, elemental heroes, robots, etc.)
---- Judging Process:
Duos: When judging duos, the most important thing to look for is, do the characters fit the theme together? If the category is "mystical" and the duo consists of a wizard and a robot that's not a duo. When the category is "fire" and you have a fire demon and a fire minion that's a duo. They also don't have to get along, Defender and Dr. Destroyer would make a good duo, if the category was "Nemesis". Basic SC-CCs costume judging rules apply for their costumes, but how well the players complement one another in the category is the real selling point for duos.
Groups: Just like judging for duos, the most important thing to look for is, do all of the characters fit the theme together? In groups however, it's less likely that a category will include members that don't belong together. For example, you could see Defender and Dr. D in a duo battling each other for the fate of our dimension, but chances are they won't be chillaxing together in a group sipping mojitos. When a judge looks at the group, they should say, "yeah, I see this team working well together." Again, basic SC-CCs costume judging rules apply for their individual costumes, but how well the players complement one another in the category is the real selling point.
---- Prizes & HMs: When awarding prizes to duos, they should each receive the same value of items. If one wins say 3 mods and 20 Gs. The other one should get the same thing. For groups, your prizes can be either to every individual, or to the group as a whole. Say there are 5 people in a group, and the prize is 100G. You can either give it to whoever the spokesperson of the group is, or you can distribute it evenly 20G to each member. In the case of items for groups, if you distribute separately, you'll need to have the same amount of item as participants in the group so not any one person is left out. If you giving the group as a whole the prize, you'll just need the 1 item to give to the group's spokesperson.
-- Combos
---- Definition: Combo CCs are when you give contestants numerous categories, and they have to combine two of the themes in one costume. Theyre typically treated like SC-CCs. Treating them like MC-CCs takes away from the contestants ability to choose which categories they want to combine, making it just another MC-CC. For example, if you have the categories Space, Steampunk, and Pirate, contestants can make:
> A space pirate
> A steampunk pirate
> A steampunk space explorer
> Etc.
---- Judging Process: Combo CCs should be judged just like SC-CCs, taking inconsideration creativity of combing 2 categories. One might not think to combine fire and water, but an island-themed character could pull it off. Keep an open mind!
---- Prizes & HMs: Same as SC-CCs.
ADVERTISEMENT
-- When advertising your CC, it's best to get your message out quickly, clearly, and concise. The chat box has a word limit though which helps you do this as much as going to the dentist relieves stress. Using abbreviations will help, but no chat lingo. You want to make sure people know what you're talking about. You should include the following in your advertisement:
-- Who is the host? (SG name/Individual)
-- What time the contest takes place?
All if not most of the current hosts use Cryptic's server time (st). This can be found by hovering your cursor over the clock under your mini-map.
In regards to Daylight Savings Time (DST (for you Non-U.S. folks, it's a fancy system of adjusting clocks forward or backward an hour to keep up with the seasons)), Cryptic typically adjusts their time 1 week ahead of the actual day DST lands on. This causes quite the brouhaha for hosts those 2 weeks a year when they have to explain their contest hasn't started yet or that it started an hour ago. It's just something to watch out for.
-- Where is the contest taking place?
-- If youre hosting a MC-CC, will switching between characters or costumes be allowed?
Thanks to Cryptic, we now have an awesome theater inside the Powerhouse where we can host our events without the impending threat of a lamp invasion (inside joke for older CC goers).
While the theater is a fantastic place to host contests, sometimes it just doesn't bring out the theme (even with the fun backdrops). Additional host places in Millennium City include the stairs of Champions HQ (SG registration area), the circular social area in Renaissance Center (typically PvP central), Carl's Gym in Westside (one block Northwest of the Prison).
Outside of the city? It's best to find an easily accessible place that isn't overrun with enemies. Remember though level 6s might want to compete and holding your bikini contest on shores of Monster Island might be interpreted as a slap in the face. Besides, you wouldn't want to turn people away from a bikini contest, would you?
-- What type of Contest is it? (see above definitions)
What is the theme(s) or categories of the CC? What are you judging? Is it a MC-CC? A SC-CC?
-- If you're hosting a MC-CC, will switching between costumes and/or characters be allowed?
Finally, if by some miraculous reason you still have space to write in your advertisement, entice players to come! Hint at, or just outright tell everyone what they'll be competing for.
Your advertisement is your promise to the players that a CC is being held at the above specifications. Failing to follow through with what you promised will cause confusion and anger among players who took time out of their game to compete in your event. Be professional, if you have to change something (time, location, etc.), let the players know early so they can adjust, and don't change it again.
-- How often you advertise is up to you typically the earlier you advertise, the larger turnout you get. People usually announce their CC about an hour ahead of start time, 5-10 minutes between each announcement. For the epic game-wide CCs, advertise a 1-2 times a day until the day arrives. If it's a spur of the moment decision to host, provide at least 45 minutes for those to make a costume and join. The key here is to get as many people as you can to your event, but to not spam every channel doing so.
Unless someone in a SG channel asks, try not to advertise in them. Save your advertisements for the Contests Channel and/or Zone chat. If you do announce in Zone, I recommend you announce sparingly in light of the recent abuse of the "Report Spam" function.
-- Example advertisements:
---- > A CC by Flare in the PHT @ 6pm st! Categories: Retro, Mystical, Best! Switching allowed! Large G prizes and winner of best gets Valerian's Halo! See you there!
---- > SPEAR's Bio/CC in front of Champs HQ ins #2 @ 5pm st! Show us a villain with the most tortured past for a chance to win 500Gs! 1 winner, runner up gets 50Gs!
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
--Pre-CC
Don't start your contest before the time you advertised. It's not fair to those deciding on an outfit, or still working in the tailor, or those flying across Millennium City with rank 1 Teleport (which as some of you know is painfully slow when there's 3 minutes left till the start of the contest).
Announce that you're starting the CC, you'd be surprised how many people will get there in time, but don't actually know it.
Rules: Go over the rules of your contest so that contestants can drop out or change if need be. I've provided a general list of them below. These rules are interpretive, use as many as you agree with. Many SGs currently hold their contestants to some of these rules but not all of them. For the sake of being informative, I will post all of the ones I have personally encountered, and their general reasoning. If you want to know which I or another host follows and why, simply ask us. We're more than willing to share. Whether or not the following rules are grounds for disqualification (DQ) from your CC is again, up to you (more detail below). I personally believe that repeated offenses after a warning warrant it.
> No powers. Some powers like fire flight make your costume impossible to see, and therefore impossible to judge. Others shake the camera making it difficult to see other people's costumes.
> No pets. Their movements can't be controlled, and they can block judge's view of other contestants. It's best overall if all powers are not used so as there can't be any interference of costumes. Remember, you're not judging their powers (unless this is a FC), you're judging their costumes.
> No duels. The Powerhouse Theatre doesn't allow duels anyway, but in the case of CCs being held elsewhere, it's just distracting, noisy, shakes the camera, and is overly disrespectful of the host/hosting SG.
> No devices. While it might be part of your character, unless specified, turn it off. Judges are judging you, not how big or small you are, how brightly you glow, etc. As for Dark Aura and other devices that have minimal effect on your costume, it is up to you if you are ok with your contestants having them.
> No clones. CCs are all about showing your creativity. Emphasis on the "your". We know how awesome characters that already exist are; we want to see how awesome your original characters are. If you come in here looking like Batman, you're not going to impress anyone since anyone can make batman in the creator.
> No switching. Unless the CC specifically allows switching, don't switch. It's cheating to give yourself more chances to win than other contestants.
> No emotes. Many emotes get in the way of judging your outfit and fill local chat up fast, bumping up and out of view important notices from the host.
> No talking in zone chat or if not in a special instance, all CAPS in local chat. Basically, where the host is talking, you shouldn't be. It just makes it easier for contestants to know what is going on.
> No moving from your place during judging. Judges can't judge your outfit if you're Jack McRabbit and hopping all over the place, and they're sure as heck not going to waste time following you around trying to judge you when they can easily judge someone else who is standing still.
Announce who your judges are. Unless they're tagged in the hosting SG, it is always a good idea for the contestants to feel in the loop with what's happening. It's not necessary, but I have found that players find it courteous.
Make sure your judges know all the above details of which ever CC is happening! They should be just as well informed as the host in order to have the contest run as smoothly and quickly as possible.
Have everything you're going to say written already in a separate window such as desktop sticky notes, Notepad, Word, or at least a piece of paper and a pencil. Then just copy and paste it over into the chat box (sadly, can't be done with the last one). It will save a lot of time and allow you to be more in the loop. This goes for judges too, write down your winners and the category (or categories) so you can easily provide them without looking through the sea of contestants, scroll all the way back up through chat, etc.
--During the CC
The host should announce the rules and that the contest has started in a chat visible to all the players (typically zone unless in the outside world, then all CAPS in local chat).
Don't take sides during the contest where it's visible to the contestants. It's not fair for them to hear that their costume isn't as good as someone else's. Mis-tells (trust me, I know) happen, apologize and move on.
Many contestants might feel that if the judges have no sense of style, they should not be judging. Both hosts and judges should consider showing a uniform theme to show some professionalism. Some SGs have all worn suits and dresses while others don outfits to match category being judged.
Disqualifications: If you as the host decide to DQ someone, meaning not allow them to participate in the CC, I recommend you do not announce it. This would just invite disruptions and trolling at the CC. Tell your judges who has been DQ'd and for what reason and then continue on with your duties. I personally don't bother with notifying them after either although if many people are DQ'd for a specific reason, I might make a reminder statement at the end of the CC reminding people of the rules; specifically the one broken.
Everyone should feel free to socialize that's a main reason for the events. Interact with people and have fun, but don't forget that you're doing a job. I've yet to be at a good CC where the host did not make people laugh except for when the CC is in a role played environment. Not only does it lighten the already competitive mood of the CC, but laughter is the best medicine. /cliche'
If you're judging in the theater, everyone should be on their own square. There's 96 of them so there's little chance that there's not enough for everyone. This is to prevent people from unintentionally blocking one another. In the case of Duos, as long as they don't cover each other, they can share a square or be one 2 squares right next to each other. Groups on the other hand should just ignore the squares all together and line/huddle up without blocking one another.
Lots of hosts hold little events during the judging to keep the contestants entertained. Some hold trivia with 1-5G prizes, others open the floor to asking the host their hearts content; sometimes in a Role-Playing (RP) environment.
Watch the time. On average you should never exceed in an hour; more appropriate time lengths are described under the individual CC definitions above.
--Post-CC
Most hosts announce all winners at the end of the CC, starting with last place and ending with first to aid in anticipation building. Ask winners to come to you so that you can trade them their prizes.
Now to me, CCs are a fantastic place to see other people's creativity, so I highly recommend asking for the winners to stand up front with the judges so that after the contest, other members can come up and view the winners.
> There are cases however, where in some switching allowed MC-CCs, winners are announced after each category and then they head back in line so that they can participate in the next category. To be honest though, this method is rather old and I haven't seen it used lately.
Thank the participants for showing up, it's just simple courtesy. Without them, you would have no contest and no fun.
If you want to plug (promote) anything such as future CCs, joining your SG, do so here at the end.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
---- Watch out for contestants using all of the items from one costume set. These people are just another type of clone if you think about it, anyone can put together all the pieces from a single set. It doesn't show creativeness and these types of outfits should not be considered good winners. Due to recent discussion, I'd like to add that this thing to watch out for is not as cut and dry as I make it sound. There are characters who use many pieces from the same set--but have unique color usage, or texturization, or so on that give the outfit originality. Its up to you and your judges to make that call.
---- Watch out for gender inequality. Yeah, female characters are typically going to win sexy or cute. However, if there are NO male winners at all in say, a 10 category MC-CC, then you might want to back track over the winners and double check the contestants or you pave the way for rumors to leak out into the public. Being biased is bad, but not being honest is worse!
---- Watch out for repetitive winners. If someone has an awesome costume and it's better than everyone else's, they win. That's how CCs work. However, if one character is repeatedly winning every contest that you host (you can't control if they win other CCs), then you might want to take a harder look at the other contestants. When you or your SG have the reputation of being biased or having a rigged CC, your turnout drops significantly and that mark on you is very, very hard to get rid of.
---- Watch out for those who disrupt CCs. Trolls, griefers, harassers--they come in many names, shapes and sizes. Some are silent and other just don't shut up. They exist and there's nothing you can do about it but write a "GM behavior ticket" outlining whatever it is they're doing. Do not use the "Report Spam" option; debated on the forums here, this function does not work as intended. In the meantime, if asking them nicely to stop in a PM does not work (and this should be the first thing you do), then your only other option is to ignore them. Don't respond, don't publically bash, don't make eye contact, just do your job and host/judge the CC. The contestants and contest come first dealing with the disruption comes second.
---- Answer repeated questions. People have multiple channels and don't always catch the thing you already answered. People sign on and off every minute. People are going to ask a question that you answered seconds ago. Suck it up and don't be condescending--doing so is a fast way to lose public support. Be nice; add a smiley to your messages. Smileys are contagious.
---- Watch out for clones and homages. Chances are you're not allowing clones (if you are, you're breaking the ToS); if that's the case then you may want to consider homages as being ok. Some hosts even use them specific themes or categories! If not, make sure everyone knows! A clone is a direct (or as close to direct as the Champions character creation allows) to an existing copyrighted character. A homage is a character that is similar to an existing copyrighted character, but is fundamentally different in one or more ways. Homages are signs of respect, and are plays on existing characters. If you can't tell a character is a clone or homage, ask the player privately in a PM or ask your fellow judges and host. Ultimately, it's the host's decision whether or not to DQ them if you do not allow clones.
Clone & homage example: A big green guy named "Hulkkkk" is a clone. A red and gold robot named "Stark" is a clone. A giant green behemoth in red and gold suit named "Iron Hulk" is an homage (probably a poor one, but one nonetheless).
I'm fairly certain I have forgotten to add things. As I (or you) remember them or think of new things to add, I will do so. This should help most of you and especially those who are just starting and want to get their name out in the public sector. Again, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns ask me by PM or in-game mail or whatever. I will help you in any way I can!
~ Flare@Lectrohm
Special thanks to the following for their aid in helping me spell/grammar check this, as well as make sure it's organized, and all others who have helped me add content!
@Ruesteur
@Arti
@Kurbee
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Thank you!
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
This one annoys me enough to respond. It may have had some validity if not for the fact that so many pieces simply can't be matched with pieces outside their set, but even then things like scaling, coloring and accessories should still count for something. There is a difference between just picking a set of pieces and calling it a day, and taking a set of pieces and making it your own. I don't really care how you judge your contests, but I found it mildly offensive how you phrased that comment.
On a less sarcastic note, Spider-Bat wears a costume with a black cowl (well, Partial Mask with the Small Cat Ears), black "scalloped" cape with a gray web pattern, black gloves and boots with Spines, a gray bodysuit with black webbing, and a red center to the web on the chest surmounted by a blue bat. (Billionaire Peter Wayne was searching for rare spiders in the Amazon when he was bitten by a rabid radioactive bat, and became a little confused...) Is he clone, "good" homage, or "bad" homage?
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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There's no particular # of how many pieces is "copying a set" because as you stated, there are many ways to use similar items and call the character your own.
However, I whole heartedly disagree with you when you say, "so many pieces simply can't be matched without pieces outside their set". If I had a week, I couldn't tell you how many costumes I've seen and made have used pieces from a plethora of different sets.
John, sounds like a "silly fun homage" to me.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
| ME | A "Guide" Book" | | I, have a "DREAM! | ( Member since Feb 2008 ) ... ?
[SIGPIC]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b132/AngelOfCaine/STILLS/Misc/CO-Sig_01e.png[/SIGPIC]
Don't worry about it. Single sets, especially if it's new to the store, win all the damn time.
Secondly astazia, I'm not going to argue. I am going to encourage you to attend my CCs and many others listed in the Contests channel. I'm sure you'll find many interesting ideas when looking at, not just the winners, but everyone who puts time and effort into creating original outfits.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Way to quote out of context (and totally fail at reading comprehension). I was calling him wrong about pieces designed to go together, there are tons of pieces that blend into each other and using something else in their place obviously looks out of place, this is not opinion it's fact.
It has nothing to do with fashion opinion, it has to do with him using the words "clone" and "doesn't show creativeness." He can judge however he wants and have whatever fashion taste he wants, I just find it offensive to use terms like that in a guide.
I have zero interest in fashion contests, I have never and will never enter one, and most of my costumes do not use that many pieces from the same set. Some do though, because that's the only way I could get them to work. That doesn't mean I lack creativity nor does it put me on the same level as defaults or copyright infringers.
This thread was not made for whatever private war you have with my terms. If you truly have 0 interest, stop arguing, and let the thread be a guide to those who do.
To everyone else: I welcome constructive criticism, spelling/grammar error fixes, or new ideas. But if your plan is to just belittle me or my work, with absolutely no experience or facts to back you up--don't.
(EDIT: I don't suppose there's something a forum moderator can do to help me out on this, without locking the thread?)
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Mad props for putting this together!
He's talking about using the entire costume set, 100%, with nothing else. There's always a good number of people who do it when every new set comes out.
If you're doing that, just choosing your own colors doesn't make it creative. Coloring isn't creative. Color isn't even subjective. There are right and wrong ways to color things.
But it doesn't matter. The clone, emote, device, aura, and full set rules are broken by judges frequently anyway.
| ME | A "Guide" Book" | | I, have a "DREAM! | ( Member since Feb 2008 ) ... ?
[SIGPIC]http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b132/AngelOfCaine/STILLS/Misc/CO-Sig_01e.png[/SIGPIC]
The thing that really annoys me, though, is how long some judges take. And of course they take that time to milk the event for as much self-aggrandizement as they can get - contestants praising the judges' designs as if hosting a CC makes you some sort of costume authority.
I mean, far too often the "sexy" category simply goes to the female character wearing the least amount of clothing, with the boob slider maxed out. The demon category usually goes to someone using black on black on black with spikes everywhere - yet there are some truly horrifying costumes that really inspire fear - not just being "dark".
All I can say is that more people should throw their own costume contests, that way *they* can decide what categories to include and which costumes they feel should be the winners...
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
Gee, wouldn't it be nice if someone wrote up a handy guide to help people do just that? But, nah, that would take a HUGE amount of effort. And they'd probably be "rewarded" with people harassing them about their opinions and phrasing.
(If you couldn't spot the sarcasm above... Then I really don't know what to say.)
He doesn't say "nothing else." If a set has 5 pieces and you use those 5 pieces in addition to some accessories that really make it look different, that can be very creative.
Coloring can also be very creative. You can hide certain elements of a texture with the right colors, or make certain parts of it appear to be bare skin.
I can't believe you seriously just asked to have my posts deleted. I am not being offensive and I am not trolling. This is a discussion forum and I am allowed to post my opinion of your opinion. I also don't know how much more constructive my criticism can be, I picked out a single example and explained exactly what I thought was wrong with it and how to make it less offensive in my opinion. That is the epitome of constructive. It sounds to me like you don't want to hear criticism though, you just want praise and typos pointed out. I apologize for not obliging.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Again, not trying to fan the flames, just trying to give a bit more perspective from another vet CC host. I feel like a special warning should go out about the lifetime art deco gear. Man, the nerd rage I've seen.
Flare, I feel like "Give each other space" or "Stick to your own square" need a spot in the rules. People with wings, really bulky people, really small people. It's less of a problem now that we have the ph, but I constantly had to remind people in outside ccs that if they're 7 feet tall with a 20 foot wingspan, they should try not to block everyone within a 15 foot radius with their wings. For the power house, "stick to your own square" tends to be the recurring rule for all but the duo contests, at which point the duo tends to have to stand on the same square, for clarification. I see this rule pop up quite a bit, actually.
RIP Caine
Good points! I've added them under the "During the CC" section.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
And you're right about that! I remember shortly after launch, the art deco set was winning 2 out of 3 contests, and being such a full set virtually every costume looked identical.
I think if I had to put my thumb on what makes a costume a 'set clone', it would be if the costume shares the same theme as the set itself. If people are inclined to describe the costume using the name of the set, then it's probably a 'set clone'.
eg: if a costume uses all the pieces of the samurai set, and most people looking at it would say 'Hey look, it's a samurai', then it's probably a clone.
By contrast, you can build a costume using almost all the pieces of a set, and yet end up with a theme that is completely different from that of the set.
For example, a character may use all the pieces of the samurai set, and a casual viewer could still describe the costume as 'an alien gladiator', or a 'reptilian warlord', or an 'armored mystic'. In spite of the pieces, it's probably not a clone.
I think it's a question of whether or not the set dominates the costume. If it does, then it's not the creativity of the player that is shining through, it's the creativity of the cryptic developer/artist.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Another thing often done in group CCs is to have a common theme--i.e. suits, or specific color scheme.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
That's not what I suggested. I stated they shouldn't look like they hit the randomize button in the tailor. There's a big difference.
Then why make a guide in the first place?
I made the guide because around 2 dozen avid contest goers asked me too, because I've been participating in and hosting CCs for almost 3 years now, and because every week I get to meet someone new who asks me for help hosting and judging. Just the other day a random player came and thanked me for the information in this guide.
Hosts have told me they want a generalized (generalized=the majority of the community agrees) fairness in their contest, with the freedom to choose who they see fits or interprets most cleverly the category set forth. The participants want the same; this guide has allowed for this.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Marginalize my suggestion if you wish, but this has been my impression in more than a few contests I have attended. Frankly, it's one of the more significant reasons why I've stopped attending these events.
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I never marginalize other people's opinions as everyone's voice matters. I believe I understand the core of what you're saying which is: The judges, in order to judge others, should prove that they know what a good costume can look like by creating and using one during the contest.
While I agree they should know what a good costume is, I just simply disagree that they need to prove anything. That said, I've added your advice to the guide because I believe hosts and judges should take the contestant's state of mind into consideration.
On a personal note it is sad though, that this is one of the main reasons you've given up going to community events, but that's your prerogative. I might recommend going to socialize and have fun, that way you win no matter what.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
The way judges get to select their winners depending of the categories: Some people tend to get confusions between 'The best costume of the Tech category' as example, and 'The most tech-related costume' which at some point leads to a costume war with who's going to throw the biggest amount of tech-related parts on themselves. People may or not mind one or the other, but it should certainly be detailed.
Same for the confusion between these two categories: Scary and Creature, assuming they're being used in a CC: In most of cases, they're both monstruous spiky alien abominations in beast stance. I'd like to say that this gentleman crocodile guy over there is a creature. As much as this tough looking and menacing henchman is scary.
I'm really pushing on this because that kind of confusion lowers the selection field.
Your best bet is to make a loli. A wild hair color, bright colors, whatever, make an annoying desu desu loli with extra desu.
Make sure you don't have a theme. Themes are a no-no, especially if you're a female.
Make sure you don't have a name that suits your character/costume. Something like Penny, or Ashley, or just some random everyday name that has nothing to do with being a superhero at all.
Make sure to use bright annoying colors for the desu factor to be maximized.
Now if you don't want to maximize the desu factor, go for what people call "sexy" in this game.
This is way easier than the loli approach. Simply add bunny ears on your characters head, have a really uninspired name like Magic Rabbit.
Also make sure to use the fishnet stalkings.
That should net you a few wins here and there from the mouthbreathers.
Enjoy.
Your aggravation in a recent loss at someone's CC is duly note arisauce. Now I'm asking you politely not disrespect the people who want to used this thread (designed to help people host and judge better) as a means of bettering CCs as a whole, by venting your frustration at someone who simply didn't pick you to win their contest.
Now, if you have something positive and substantial you'd like to suggest I add, I'm all ears.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
Geez man, play some sudoku and get a beer while they judge stuff. Laugh at how stupid the choices are when the winners are called.
Or you could be like me and stop going.
Flare's guide to hosting and judging costume contests!
(link under construction)
In the light of a couple of recent CC's I've been to, it gave me some time to reflect on the whole CC process, both as a host and a contestant. This article is going to be called:
How to Minimize the Salt Generated By Your Costume Contest
Costume Contest hosting taken from both perspectives
No matter what kind of CC you go to, your attendees will have all different kinds of mindsets about the contest. This varies from loud and sometimes silly people who will chatter about all kinds of topics while waiting for the contest to start or finish, to players who basically will spend the whole contest entirely AFK. There's people who show up purely for the promise of getting a prize, versus attendees in it more for the art of making cool costumes rather than actually winning. Even behind all that, there really isn't any telling of how a person will actually feel once the contest is done, aside from just how they deal with whether they won or lost or so forth. Whether response is vocal or silent, however, repeat attendance pretty strongly indicates whether the reception is good or not.The different kinds of attendees will expect different things, and honestly, there isn't a way to accurately tailor the experience to the demographic each time. Socializers will strongly appreciate hosts or MCs subsequently having trivia questions going while judges are at work, while people who want a more passive approach to contests will (if they know their habits) likely stay away from contests that require lots of interaction, such as switching outfits for categories. People in it for the reward usually only show up for the promise of an awesome item - they place strong value on ingame economics, so their time (which could be spent farming, trading, doing anything else generating income) is very valuable - if they don't win, they will strongly value contests that are short. Inversely, people in it for the art can, and sometimes will, strongly judge what winners you choose, and might cease to attend your contests if the winners you pick aren't to your liking. There isn't any way to precisely control any of that, and really not much reason to anyways. The crowd that wants to attend your contests will show up naturally if you're otherwise doing everything right. Especially if your contests are regular and generally go smoothly.
Settling into a habit helps a lot, but with that are some pretty core elements that go towards minimizing the chances of problems that would deter people from coming back a second time, or otherwise even sticking around until the end. This is the all-important list of things you can do to minimize the saltiness from contestants:
- Start Promptly - (disclaimer, this section has nothing to do with power outages, it happens.) This is more a pet-peeve than anything, but it usually happens when a large supergroup hosts a contest. You know the situation - you arrive at the powerhouse 5/10 minutes before the costume contest starts. The top of the hour hits, and the host begins the opening ceremony in Zone as the supergroup stands in a proud huddle upstage. There. Right there. That huddle. Why are you doing that? The contest technically has started, what're you doing?? In some cases (i.e. solo-hosting) you do have to take a pause at the start in order to lay ground rules before you rocket off and focus on looking at costumes, but standing around as you introduce judges individually is probably still one of the biggest flukes I see hosting groups make, because that's still valuable time you can use to send judges up to start scanning over the contestants, especially considering that is when everyone was supposed to show up (it's doing a disservice to everyone that showed up on-time!) People can see the nametags of supergroup members flying past them, they can connect dots when the MC mentions a name and maybe even sees the judge pass them by.
- Simplify the Judging Process - Consensus on what's a good costume can be nice for really honing in on what look seems 'objectively' the best, but at some point the benefit of appealing to a really discerning costumer's eye becomes a moot point if the process of trying to weed out that perfect outfit takes too long. If you pick something that seems 'good enough' - something that just WOWs you when you see it at a first glance, something that just looks balanced, something that works - you can put that in your list, and continue with the contest. There's some other aspects to judging related to this point as well:
- There's a big subset of judges I see that usually judge by agonizingly stopping for a close look at each contestant as they go through the roster. I'm still not quite sure why judges do this; if it's supposed to hide bias, it kind of fails because usually the winners of the contests are the ones that judges spent the most time standing in front of. If it's literally to get a closer look at all the costumes, on some ideological level, that shouldn't be necessary; a good costume looks good at a distance. If it's really interesting, go ahead and take a closer look perhaps. More often than not, when I judged my contests, usually I did it in this method - initially at a distance, then honing in quickly for a sweep to look at interesting designs. I think I only got a couple of complaints about 'not looking at someone's outfit'. Usually from people that had close-to-default outfits.
- There's nothing really wrong with the use of multiple judges, especially if you don't feel confident on your ability to just 'spot' what feels like a good costume. But to support multiple judges, you need to work on a system that doesn't convolute itself. In some of the judging committees I was part of, they would sometimes have us pick ranked picks for each category that worked on like a point-system. On top of being way too convoluted to sort numbers through, this often would result in unintended scoring behavior (i.e. someone that every judge agrees is solidly "2nd place" ends up winning 1st because it's the only choice consistently being picked by all judges). My advice: use consensus. Again, speed and 'feeling' matter more than objectivity in the area of aesthetic. The 'tabulating votes/deliberation of judges' phase of your contest shouldn't take up more than 5 minutes at most. Optimally, it could even be integrated directly into your judging process.
- Mid-contest switching is generally acceptable, as it opens more ways by which to give players the chance to win without narrowing the pool of contestants, and with some give a greater feeling of control over the contest. However, it's a big gamble - if one player, for example, has two costumes that excel in respective categories, then which one do they deserve to win? And the answer to that is not 'both', because then that's just one person winning two prizes and that's like the fauxest of pases you can faux pas as a host. Mid-contest switching will gear your contest more towards hardcore costumers than casuals, so it might also effect the expectations of your crowd a bit. Bottom line is, it's going to prolong your contest a little to deal with both the logistics of requiring the players to switch, and how to settle possible win overlaps, so be prepared.
- There isn't much to say about group contests - other than your contestants will need more time to organize (that is, before the contests starts) and your prize pools will be upscaled. Everything else is just about the same, with perhaps also the caveat of distant, fly-by judging being even more useful in this scenario. A group that just looks right at a distance totally deserves a win.
- Personally, I strongly suggest against using 'ranks' of winner in general (i.e. 1st place, 2nd place). Once again, relating to the judge-scoring point, having ranks suggests someone's outfit being objectively 'better' than another's, which people with different taste can dispute internally. Removing ranks, and instead just having several winners, solves a lot of problems: it makes judging simpler, reduces the stigma that can be generated among players with discerning eyes for fashion, and if you're prepared, makes handing out prizes simpler. If you aren't prepared for this, however - such as having one very rare item to dispense - this can raise some difficulties. In any case, it will be to the best effect to minimize the different tiers of winner if you can, as the more homogeneous you can make the categorization of candidates, the better - even if it's just a selection of several winners and one grand winner, that then is where really discerning judgment can take place, and it's now among a much smaller focus group of people with costumes you really like.
- Less winners is sometimes better. From personal experience, one contest I went to had roughly half of the entire contestant-base win prizes of some sort. This can feel really bad for the losing party for several reasons; if the prize for winning is left ambiguous, then it's not known just how much that victory was even worth. On the flip side (the fashionista approach instead of the economist), that's a real low blow, suggesting that your work was literally in the lower 50th percentile in their eyes, so regardless of whether you're focused on loot or on costumes, it's not a good outcome if you're in that losing party. The narrower the winning criteria is, the thinner the odds will seem, and the more acceptable loss will be to most players.
- Really the bottom line to state here is to go with your gut always when judging costumes. Speed issues aside, it's your contest, your tastes, and most importantly, your prize money and items you're handing out. A contestant who's salty has a point if they complain about your contest taking way too long or being a waste of time (even if they add on that they thought the winners sucked or whatever) - but no matter what happens, a reasonable contestant isn't going to complain about your winners just for the sake of them not liking your choices. It's your preference, and there is no way they can challenge that directly.
- If you know your contest is going to take upwards of 20 minutes, consider options in audience interaction during the wait - This is aimed heavily towards SG contests, who have the spare hands available to have someone speak while judges are looking over their choices. My personal hot take on this all is the troubling trend of focused trivia - much of it is 'thematically' appropriate to the contests being held, with topics about Halloween songs and horror movies seemingly the vogue for this time of year. But underlining that, these categories can sometimes be really esoteric. To the point that it's usually not about someone inherently knowing the answer, but about how fast a player can open up google and type in the question. The answer to this problem, honestly, is open-ended, but trying out more general trivia that spans several topics seems like it could be a good first-step, or even not specifying a category at all; this would keep more players involved in the offhand case that some question popped up that they knew something about (instead of discouraging someone entirely within the first three questions. Personal venting, in that Halloween Song example I listed, I gave up after several questions and went AFK, only to come back one time to see they had asked a question about a song I actually knew. One in a million, essentially.) Again, it's open ended, so trying to figure out something else silly and non-trivia related could be just as effective.
- The announcement of winners is not a drama - The rationale behind prolonging the winner announcement - even stuff like thanking contestants before the last winner is announced, drumrolls, any other unnatural pauses for effect - almost seems like it's supposed to make the final victory for the winners even sweeter. They've waited for this very moment to get their prize and stand at the front of the stage to strut their stuff. But at what cost? All the other people who have awaited this moment are now going to be disappointed by that announcement (and it's also overall more time winners will have to stick around for after the contest). This is a stand-out point, because as soon as it's announced that the winners are ready, any good contestants who don't prefer chatting, are now going to be a captive audience until the end of the contest (they don't want to go AFK again in case they get called!) In addition, the nature of calling winners and handing out prizes already forms a natural rhythm if you're doing it correctly - you call a winner, a contestant comes down, you trade them their prize (with 3+ mouse clicks), they take their position, and then you repeat. All those steps form an inherent pause between announcements, which then can get even further exacerbated in those situations where someone is AFK or missing. (it's important to truck on as soon as you realize this is the case.)
A lot of this was initially internalized circumstance that came from habits I picked up back in my days with ARC, and as a solo contest host - usually, they were 10-15 minute affairs with 10 winners spread among 10 general categories. In the case of ARC contests, most interaction in the downtime was handled via basic chatting with the host, and our choices often were decided by votes or consensus, in cases that ties or splits occurred. My solo contests followed a similar basis, but obviously didn't have a host to entertain/chat people up while judging, and overall were able to move much faster due to my strange expedited way of judging. In both cases, contests went very quickly, attendance was regularly high, and reception in contests-central always seemed positive.Years later I'd start attending a couple of contests again, seeing how Halloween got me in a costume-creating mood again, and - maybe it was just the break time between attendances, but I felt that pressure, the unpleasantness, the stress of attending a contest rising again, after I had lost a couple of them. People like Flare probably remember me raising a stink about the conduct of contests, which (me being way younger back then) only could really put it in terms of me not liking their costuming style. This all puts it more concretely in terms of emotional impact, realizing what (at least to me) makes the difference between a contest that stresses me out and puts me on edge, versus ones that I enjoy.
Hopefully this gives some insight about what has personally worked for me as a judge in costume contests, as well as how these hosting elements can add up to form your contest's experience. Costume Contests are a very uniquely CO event, and having them be accessible to both veteran players, and new ones, can produce an experience that keeps expectations within reasonable proportion.