Flare's 500-Member Multi-Part CC!

forutnefire · March 2013

The process of moving from the Contests channel to our new Contests-Central channel took all of January and most of February. Finally, the move is complete and the old channel is closed. Not only this, but as of March 1st, we have hit 500 hundred members in our new channel!

To celebrate your humble fashion dragon is hosting a 3 day long CC, with around 5500 Gs total donated by myself and various other super generous players! Here are the rules: No powers, pets, devices, clones, emote-spamming. Passives are fine as long as they don't interfere. Switching is allowed, but you may only place a total of 3 times per day. There will be a top 3 and a runner-up for each category:
Runner-Up: 10g
3rd Place: 70g
2nd Place: 90g
1st Place: 120g

Additionally, there will be a raffle during each contest for the remaining Gs! A game I've played before called "Squares", where I've numbered the stage squares in the theater horizontally from 1-96. I'll use a random # generator to select 6 winning squares and whoever is standing on that square wins Gs! Throughout the CC, I'll randomly call out "SHUFFLE?" in which the first person to send me a tell saying either Yes or No will decide if the winning square numbers are shuffled or not.

Please remember that the theater has a room capacity of 100 players so the CC will be based on first come, first judged! Because it is a switching CC, you can come in at anytime during the CC to be judged for the upcoming categories, NOT the previous one(s) or the category currently being judged.

Here are the details, times are in accordance to server time:
_____
Part 1
Date: Mon 3/11
Time: 8:00pm st
Location: MC Powerhouse Theater
Categories:

Horror
Best Representation of an Archetype
International Ambassador (Country Representative)
Best Duo
Food
Best Use of the Color Green

_____
Part 2
Date: Tues 3/12
Time: 6:30pm st
Location: MC Powerhouse Theater
Categories:

Ancient
Comedy
Historical
Best Use of a Mechanical Limb
Elegant
Insectoid

_____
Part 3
Date: Thur 3/14
Time: 8:45pm st
Location: MC Powerhouse Theater
Categories:

Hairy Beastie
Elemental
Modern Assassin
Best Character Representation of a Zone
Space/Galaxy
Noir

trailturtle · March 2013

I'm going to need to get another costume set up for Iris...

jonsills · March 2013

I may have to bring Penitent to Day 1, for the Horror category.

And now I may have to resurrect Red Green, the Inventor I deleted when I found out his Attack Toys weren't working at all. He'd be good for Comedy on Day 2, I think - him or maybe Spider-Bat...

Don't really have a good one for Day 3, though.

falchoin · March 2013

jonsills wrote: »

I may have to bring Penitent to Day 1, for the Horror category.

And now I may have to resurrect Red Green, the Inventor I deleted when I found out his Attack Toys weren't working at all. He'd be good for Comedy on Day 2, I think - him or maybe Spider-Bat...

Don't really have a good one for Day 3, though.

Unless I'm reading the OP wrong you could theoretically win all 18 categories if your costumes were exactly what the judges were looking for each time. You don't need to restrict your thinking to one category per day since costume switching between categories is allowed.

forutnefire · March 2013

falchoin wrote: »

Unless I'm reading the OP wrong you could theoretically win all 18 categories if your costumes were exactly what the judges were looking for each time. You don't need to restrict your thinking to one category per day since costume switching between categories is allowed.

"Theoretically" Key word.

I doubt anyone would steal the categories like that though--there's too much competition in this community.

fudgemonsta · March 2013

I don't think I got one that fits in any of them.

Ah well. Such is the issue of limiting yourself in costume design. Good luck with the contest though.

forutnefire · March 2013

You guys!

Making new characters and costume is what CO is (mostly) about! Don't limit yourself, create! Have fun! Run around! Don't wear pants! Eat dessert first! Life is short!

arblaque · March 2013

forutnefire wrote: »

You guys!

Making new characters and costume is what CO is (mostly) about! Don't limit yourself, create! Have fun! Run around! Don't wear pants! Eat dessert first! Life is short!

I've been doing it all wrong. I've been creating limits for myself. Have runs around fun. I wear desserts. I've eaten pants first! I may only have the chance to take part in the Thursday CC. Now just deciding on which toon to bring.

hocofaisan · March 2013

Wow this will take forever....

Hope it goes well.

xcaligax · March 2013

forutnefire wrote: »

You guys!

Making new characters and costume is what CO is (mostly) about! Don't limit yourself, create! Have fun! Run around! Don't wear pants! Eat dessert first! Life is short!

fudgemonsta · March 2013

forutnefire wrote: »

You guys!

Making new characters and costume is what CO is (mostly) about! Don't limit yourself, create! Have fun! Run around! Don't wear pants! Eat dessert first! Life is short!

Okaaay...maybe I'll pull together something with a spare slot on my fishy...

Although I doubt it'll be pretty. <_>

cornivic · March 2013

How far off is ST time from PST time?

I am not sure what you looking for with Horror, all heroes have horror

DCu, is DC Univser right?

Good thing I have a outfit slot I can use it for the easy one to do

fantasycharacter · March 2013

I think you may have misread dcu= duo, as in two people.

cornivic · March 2013

fantasycharacter wrote: »

I think you may have misread dcu= duo, as in two people.

Oh, silly me I misread :P thanks

jonsills · March 2013

Also, assuming ST = server time, that's Pacific time (which happens to be the time zone the server is in, by odd coincidence...).

thecobra22 · March 2013

not sure which categories to go for

randomchance4242 · March 2013

Thanks to some early Daylight savings switchover shenanigans, at the moment Pacific Time is currently an hour behind Server Time. Hopefully, it'll all get sorted out by the contest, but if not there's a very easy way to check Server Time.

Just hover your cursor over the time on your mini-map in game, and it will give you both server time and your current time (as well as map time for the specific instance you're in, I believe).

keikomyst · March 2013

Personally, I believe creating a character and costume JUST to compete in a CC cheapens the whole deal. I prefer using my current, existing, more-thought-out characters and giving them costumes that they would wear outside of a CC.

I'll try to show up to give it a try, but don't expect me to make 'Mr. Green Guy' to compete in best use of green; I'll show up in a character whose main color is green. :P

Modern Assassin is gonna be popular, I think.

ashensnow · March 2013

keikomyst wrote: »

Modern Assassin is gonna be popular, I think.

Every time I see an Assassin category in a CC I am tempted to put together something that looks like Mr Rogers, with a catch phrase of, "don't you think that the job would be easier if you DIDN'T look like every bad adventure novel's representation of a pseudo ninja ?"

mrf0rz1 · March 2013

ashensnow wrote: »

Every time I see an Assassin category in a CC I am tempted to put together something that looks like Mr Rogers, with a catch phrase of, "don't you think that the job would be easier if you DIDN'T look like every bad adventure novel's representation of a pseudo ninja ?"

Beware the dark demon assassin in black and red with a hood, 74 blades and dark aura.

jonsills · March 2013

mrf0rz1 wrote: »

Beware the dark demon assassin in black and red with a hood, 74 blades and dark aura.

Him I'm not afraid of - I'll see him a mile away. Mr. Rogers, on the other hand, could walk right up to me, wait until I look away, then slide the stiletto he was hiding up his cardigan sleeve right between my ribs. He could then walk calmly away, and as long as he didn't get splashed with my blood, nobody would ever suspect him...

It's the same reason you'd expect a ninja to be dressed like a common man, not a noh-theater stagehand. (It's also similar to Wednesday Addams' costume in the Addams Family movie - "I'm dressed as a serial killer. They look just like everybody else.")

forutnefire · March 2013

I believe all the questions with server time have been answered, but to clarify: DST is on March 10th. Therefore at the time of the start of the contest on the 11th, server time will once again be the same as PST.

Cryptic's servers spring ahead and fall back a week early at DST twice a year. So for this week, servertime is 1 hr later than normal. It's more of an annoyance if anything. Like Randomchance said, hover your cursor over the clock below your mini-map to see what time it is currently in server time.

All times for the CCs are in server time.

thecobra22 · March 2013

if switching is allowed what would someone go about doing if they just happened to win multiple times on a day and you gotta do the usual stand to one side whilst you won thing? i mean if your already up there already for winning something how would they go about showing off the costume they won on at the end *shrug*

deadman20 · March 2013

Lovely timing! I'm on spring break that week, so if you need an extra judge I might be able to help out.

agentnx5 · March 2013

I will probably be busy with a friend's wedding at the time & date for this (I'm also engaged myself btw

), but I wish you all the good luck in the world with this Flare.

Make sure you have stand-ins on voice chat (i.e.: Mumble, Ventrilo, etc.) in case some griefers chat-ban you, and make sure TrailTurtle brings his banhammer with him to the contest! (just to be properly prepared)

PS: I recommend also advertising in-game on the trade channel (mentioning the 5500g primarily), the coRP channel (mentioning the Costume Contest part primarily), and the CoX channel (inviting newcomers to the game).

forutnefire · March 2013

I won't have them stand to the side, instead I'll have the winners choose a winning costume they want to show off stand up front at the end so everyone can look around.

Again, yes, it is THEORETICALLY possible for someone to win every category but c'mon. Those who host and judge know how rare it is for someone to win multiple categories anyway. There's few of us who are die hard enough on broad costuming to even attempt it. I and my judge(s) will not go out of our way to choose the same person--we'll go out of our way to choose who ever best fits and/or has the most clever interpretation of the category.

agentnx5 wrote: »

I will probably be busy with a friend's wedding at the time & date for this (I'm also engaged myself btw ), but I wish you all the good luck in the world with this Flare.

Make sure you have stand-ins on voice chat (i.e.: Mumble, Ventrilo, etc.) in case some griefers chat-ban you, and make sure TrailTurtle brings his banhammer with him to the contest! (just to be properly prepared)

PS: I recommend also advertising in-game on the trade channel (mentioning the 5500g primarily), the coRP channel (mentioning the Costume Contest part primarily), and the CoX channel (inviting newcomers to the game).

Congrats! And yeah, after Cryptic and PWE refused to do anything about the people harassing me the second time, I made a back up account for the sole purpose of finishing CCs. I hopefully won't have anyone ruining this one. I'll make good on your advertisement advice as well, thanks!

agentnx5 · March 2013

us in a chat convo in-game wrote:

[Tell] Flare@Lectrohm: can't sign on the forums.
[Tell] To Flare@Lectrohm: I'm in combat :-D
[Tell] Flare@Lectrohm: not on long, was just hoping you could post something in the forums to get me back on. I want to make an edit to the 500-member cc but can't...
[Tell] Flare@Lectrohm: Our sincerest apologies, we cannot provide service to players in your region or to players using open proxies
[Tell] Flare@Lectrohm: i keep getting that message and none of it is true.
[Tell] To Flare@Lectrohm: WHAT?!
[Tell] To Flare@Lectrohm: You mean they blocked your IP?!?!!
[Tell] To Flare@Lectrohm: RAGEEEEEE
[Tell] Flare@Lectrohm: I have done nothing wrong...
[Tell] Flare@Lectrohm: post something on the boards for me about this, would you? I gtg get to bed...

I keep my word. This was just a few minutes ago

What the heck is going on here? We block people from using the forums now? People who are generously hosting costume contests?

flyingfinn · March 2013

I wouldn't be surprised if certain number of chatbans automatically slams the individual with permaban to forums....Weirder **** has happened.

marbo74 · March 2013

hmm pst how fars that from gmt ? just asking 'cause if its like 6 or 8 hrs behind gmt, we european players hardly would have a chance to attend.

themightyzenith · March 2013

marbo74 wrote: »

hmm pst how fars that from gmt ? just asking 'cause if its like 6 or 8 hrs behind gmt, we european players hardly would have a chance to attend.

It's 8 hours for the UK and 9 hours for the rest of Europe.

jonsills · March 2013

So, what region does the forum computer think Flare's from? There may be a simple error in the data there - recall that there are issues with some parts of the world, since our New Overlords can't seem to figure out how to make exceptions for games that don't fit their server standards.

cellarrat33 · March 2013

jonsills wrote: »

So, what region does the forum computer think Flare's from? There may be a simple error in the data there - recall that there are issues with some parts of the world, since our New Overlords can't seem to figure out how to make exceptions for games that don't fit their server standards.

You don't suppose the forum thinks he's posting from Vibora Bay?

:biggrin:

agentnx5 · March 2013

*shakes head*

At least Flare can get in-game...

Look at how ridiculous this is...

1. Create a costume contest for other people, for fun

2. Get 5500g in prize money from donors

3. Broadcast the contest on Zone chat, get chat banned by jerks in the game.

4. Broadcast the contest on the official forums, get region blocked.

It's a bloody catch-22, you just can't win at being nice with people I guess.

PS: Where are you Thundrax, I thought you were going to write something? Where is TrailTurtle? I hope TT can help...

PPS: Read the previous page if you're confused and don't know what I'm going on about.

canadascott · March 2013

I've sent a PM to Trailturtle. Hopefully that will do more than a forum post, since you already summed up the situation quite well in yours.

agentnx5 · March 2013

canadascott wrote: »

I've sent a PM to Trailturtle. Hopefully that will do more than a forum post, since you already summed up the situation quite well in yours.

Oh well um, thanks then!

By the way, what did he say to you?

canadascott · March 2013

agentnx5 wrote: »

Oh well um, thanks then!

By the way, what did he say to you?

No reply yet. Probably didn't get into the office until a few minutes ago, if running on the usual 10 AM start time standard for the game industry.

TT's often up pretty late, judging by some of his posting times.

trailturtle · March 2013

flyingfinn wrote: »

I wouldn't be surprised if certain number of chatbans automatically slams the individual with permaban to forums....Weirder **** has happened.

No, the two systems are completely independent of each other. This sounds like something on an account level. Can you ask them to ticket in to Customer Support?

chalupaoffury · March 2013

Ticketing might fix the forum issue, except for the part that he was in the middle of planning the biggest player run event the game has seen all year. It's happening in what, a week? If it's not a quick fix, this might be a bigger shot in the foot for this game than the kitchen sink 2/Steam thing.

Put directly, player run events are keeping this community alive. If people have to worry about randomly being region banned, that'll make em not want to arrange events on this scale. I can tell you, that won't do any good for the game.

biffsmackwell · March 2013

chalupaoffury wrote: »

Ticketing might fix the forum issue, except for the part that he was in the middle of planning the biggest player run event the game has seen all year. It's happening in what, a week? If it's not a quick fix, this might be a bigger shot in the foot for this game than the kitchen sink 2/Steam thing.

Put directly, player run events are keeping this community alive. If people have to worry about randomly being region banned, that'll make em not want to arrange events on this scale. I can tell you, that won't do any good for the game.

He can get in the game though, just not into the forums.

If anyone knows what he wanted to change in his post, let me know and I'll do the edit for him.

fentonator · March 2013

forutnefire wrote: »

I believe all the questions with server time have been answered, but to clarify: DST is on March 10th. Therefore at the time of the start of the contest on the 11th, server time will once again be the same as PST.

Cryptic's servers spring ahead and fall back a week early at DST twice a year. So for this week, servertime is 1 hr later than normal. It's more of an annoyance if anything. Like Randomchance said, hover your cursor over the clock below your mini-map to see what time it is currently in server time.

All times for the CCs are in server time.

Actually, technically, it will be the same as *PDT*, not *PST*. Or, if you want to be even more pedantic, it will once again match America/Los Angeles (the name of the zone in the standard timezone database).

Though why Cryptic is still using a timezone library that was out of date several years before CO was ever released is a little baffling to me.

agentnx5 · March 2013

trailturtle wrote: »

No, the two systems are completely independent of each other. This sounds like something on an account level. Can you ask them to ticket in to Customer Support?

In-game or on-website?

I think he already did one of those, although I'm uncertain. If I see him later I'll be sure to ask him for you (I'm thinking somebody else will beat me to it).

By the way, I'm not sure the in-game ticket system works at all anymore. It's as frustrating as dealing with a telecomm or credit card company's customer service & feedback... This what it feels like from a player point-of-view.

Do you know if tickets in-game are working again, TrailTurtle? (i.e.: bug reports about a power/advantage/specialization, device glitch, or map glitch)

fentonator wrote: »

Though why Cryptic is still using a timezone library that was out of date several years before CO was ever released is a little baffling to me.

Why isn't it just Zulu? (aka. military GMT, Greenwich Mean Time)

That's typically what I see big-name corporate servers using. Keeps it simple & reliable.

fentonator · March 2013

agentnx5 wrote: »

Why isn't it just Zulu? (aka. military GMT, Greenwich Mean Time)

That's typically what I see big-name corporate servers using. Keeps it simple & reliable.

They'd have to answer, for Cryptic, but the usual reasons boil down to a combination of history and/or "not worth the bother". Could easily be some of both for Cryptic.

Pretty much the only things I ever see are a time based on physical server location, or UTC (a.k.a. GMT/Zulu, though all three are slightly different things...)

Certainly if there were room for a fourth clock on the mini-map, I would want UTC. Or, if not, it would be cool to have the option to set which clock displays in which slot (let's be honest, the only time I've ever cared about 'map time' was when doing the Shandor building, and realistically I always just ended up flipping instances *anyway*).

Anyone not using UTC for their *hardware* clock and then applying whatever timezone based on a library... well, they deserve the pain they'll get for doing it that way.

forutnefire · March 2013

Just got back from my classes, attempted to sign on and was able to. That was nice. I was more referring to post something to TT to help but I guess worked out Agent, thx.

This was the message that came across: Our sincerest apologies, we cannot provide service to players in your region or to players using open proxies.

I'm not in a banned country--I'm in the US, California even. I don't use an open proxy--I tried using different web browsers as recommended by people online with the same result. I couldn't sign in so I could submit a ticket Via PWE. website. Everyone knows in-game tickets don't work. At least I've never gotten a reply to anything--even acknowledgment, including the tickets of harassment I've submitted in over a year. I sent a ticket via e-mail ( customerservice@perfectworld.com ) but have not gotten a reply, just a conformation. Fianlly, I tried restarting--still no change.

I don't know what happened, but I thank whoever got me back on and recommend to you TT, to look into it and make sure others don't go through the same thing.

On the topic of the the contest, what I wanted to change was this. After talking to quite a few people about their worries some will attempt and win every category I realized it was a bigger concern then I first realized. So I'm changing it to where you can only place 3 times in one day. This will allow for those who do well to be recognized without monopolizing the winnings.

Hopefully this puts people's minds at ease and encourages more participation.

agentnx5 · March 2013

My take-aways:

You're welcome, you can count on me to keep my word. *thumbs up* Make sure Thundrax gets some of that thanks too. He's a good friend to you. I did copy the PM/tells verbatim from chat btw.
There's something wrong if a region ban is affecting people in the US... Or any region that's not in a region banned area.
Somebody at Cryptic needs to find out why this happened, or it's likely to happen again to somebody else. And next time it might be somebody who isn't as involved or connected with other people as Flare is. For the sake of the future, it seems there's some investigation and maintenance to be done.
Did you take a screenshot of the error perchance Flare? I always take screenshots of stuff like that, just in case.
Sounds like the in-game ticket system is broken, still... Bug fixes are still my #1 priority, over any new content or new shiny lockbox. Excuse me, but how in the **** does a company expect to get feedback on what's bugged/glitched when they:
a. Don't have a working in-game ticket system
b. Don't ever read the gameplay bugs forum
c. Have a history of punishing those who document exploits (even if it's in a way that didn't harm other players)
It's crazy! If you don't get feedback, then you'll be left in the dark wondering what's broken
All those in-game tickets I used to report glitched items, powers, advantages, or specializations... None of them were ever received?! What a waste of time... I put quite a bit of effort into those, thinking they'd help a programmer at Cryptic by being all nice & neat with steps to reproduce and everything. UGH!!! *frustrated*
It's exceedingly hard to host & announce a Costume Contest. This is discouraging because it could easily become a hallmark unique to the Champions community, a thing that encourages people to stay after hitting level 40 and keep being creative.
Most RP people in the coRP chat channel at that time didn't seem to see why having Costume Contests is of foundational value to the RP community. (I won't name names, but the response from some of the well-known in that channel was very much of an apathetic response) Clearly work is needed to bring us to being closer-knit and united with each other, as a community. If we don't look out for each other, who will? I would expect a competitive individualistic spirit more among PvP lovers, but in RP? Why not unite?
TrailTurtle is awesome, and gets results!

trailturtle · March 2013

By the way, I've got somethin' swank that I'll be able to give away as prizes for this, if Flare wants to give -- say -- 10 people a special reward.

fudgemonsta · March 2013

Somebody has action figures...

...And if they are TT figures I am suuuper jealous.

agentnx5 · March 2013

fudgemonsta wrote: »

Somebody has action figures...

...And if they are TT figures I am suuuper jealous.

I've been asking for a TrailTurtle action figure since the beginning when I suggested it!

:biggrin:

http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=189761

See? I ain't lying

fudgemonsta · March 2013

agentnx5 wrote: »

I've been asking for a TrailTurtle action figure since the beginning when I suggested it!

:biggrin:

http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=189761

See? I ain't lying

And when he said 'I have to see if I have a following' I made a homage. Why don't we have one yet!?

/turtles

I'll see if I can drop by, if not but to try my first CC.

canadascott · March 2013

Really glad it's been fixed for you, Lectrohm. Hope it stays that way permanently.

forutnefire · March 2013

Definitely, thank you Thundrax, and everyone else who played any part in helping me get back on.

trailturtle wrote: »

By the way, I've got somethin' swank that I'll be able to give away as prizes for this, if Flare wants to give -- say -- 10 people a special reward.

I'd prefer to give out Flare AFs, I've only been here and hosting CCs for 3yrs. :biggrin:

But like all prizes donated, I'm more than willing to use any items you'd like to donate

However many *pieces of swank* you've got(or want to give out), I'll find a way to add them in. either in addition to 1st place prizes for certain categories or as random bonuses to the raffle prizes.

trailturtle · March 2013

forutnefire wrote: »

I'd prefer to give out Flare AFs, I've only been here and hosting CCs for 3yrs. :biggrin:

Action figures of community members is something the devs and I have talked about. It's something they're open to, in small quantities... which means it's on me to figure out ideas. :biggrin:

Oh, and...

Flare's 500-Member Multi-Part CC!

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