IWT6 Topic Poll (for prospective participants)

[Vesnic]

I would like to emphasize that since the talked-about improvements have not yet been made to the site, this contest still exists mostly for our own amusement and edification. For this reason, I am requesting that only those with a serious intent to participate, or who have been long-time members of this community, complete this poll.

If you need clarification on the specifics of these various topics, please refer back to the earlier IWT6 thread.

You have one vote, so make it count.

[xnull]

I hate having one vote, and even more so with a two-party system. (Cue Obama versus McCain argument here and ignore every other possibility in the world).

I wish we could do gradient voting.

You get 5 votes. Your top vote gives 5 points. You then vote for your second favorite, which gets 4 points. You then vote for your third choice... etc.

That way we can see what topic most people are most okay with.

This way people can vote for their favorite topics and have it win when it is everyone elses's second favorite topic. I see no reason to make things a choice between two "rival" topics.

Pretend there is topic A, B, C, D, E, and F.

Everyone really likes A. Half of the people really, really like B but hate D. The other half really, really like D but hate B. Doesn't it make sense that A should win in this case, since it will inspire the most participation (people won't have to write about something they hate if their "side" loses).

In the "gradient system"...
the B side votes 5 for B and 4 for A. (0 for D)
the D side votes 5 for D and 4 for A. (0 for B)

Typically either B or D would win by a small amount. Half of the people will be unhappy.

Now A will win. Even though no side got their ultimate favorite, everyone is pleased that they get to write about A.



Or am I overcomplicating things?

[Vesnic]

I thought of offering more than one choice and ruled this out because all of the devious little weasels around here will vote for their top choice first, and work their way down to the one they don't want but which is most likely to be most competitive against their number one choice.

I want to keep this simple.

And remember, I can override the decision anyway.

[xnull]

Mmm, yeah it would work better if we were voting blindly.

[Vesnic]

Again, my reasons for choosing myth:

It's wide enough and fanciful enough to not feel constrained. The infinite looping idea is an interesting one, and it can be applied to any of these themes, but it's not a theme in and of itself.

[apotheosis]

Come on people, infinite story! It would challenge us as writers and really fit into the format and purpose of the site. Myth is an obtuse topic that if you really want to you can pursue on your own time.

As for applying the infinite theme to another topic, it would put you at a severe disadvantage because its much more difficult to create a plot that constrains to the infinite requirement so the only way that this type of story has a shot is if everyone does it.

[JJJ-thebanisher]

End just posted over at CYS about it being a joint contest. How do you guys feel about that? Assuming that's already been accepted 'round here, how do you feel about us posting our stories over there and what about the usage of our advanced editor (with scripting and such)?

[Vesnic]

It seems to me like a lot of acrobatics. Acrobatics that have nothing to do with actual writing quality and which offer not even the slightest guideline for story content.

[apotheosis]

I think they should post their work over here and then can also put it on CYS if they want, but we've always kept the tournament in house.

[Usoki]

It seems to me like a lot of acrobatics. Acrobatics that have nothing to do with actual writing quality and which offer not even the slightest guideline for story content.

That's sort of the point, really. It's a test of how impressive your acrobatics are. There's more to a CYOA story than the quality of the writing. Layout and flow do play an important part in the work. The ability to utilize the CYOA frame is another aspect of writing around here that seldom gets focus. And since there are no guidelines for story content, you can choose the genre that will best allow your acrobatics to shine.

As far as making it joint- I have no qualms, but we'd maybe have to work some things out- since we don't have the scripting, stories that heavily use such an element would be hard to grade against those that don't. It's not apples to oranges bad, but it is kinda granny smith to red delicious different.

..I'd say we could have one contest be IS only, and then have the second-place theme be a joint contest, but that's a lot of effort. XD

[Vesnic]

Yeah, this is really more like CYS piggybacking onto our contest. If their members don't all feel like getting IS names, then the idea is that they will post their own work on their own site. Of course stuff like script editing won't be taken into account in judging since it's not a feature shared by both sites.

[End Master]

Where the hell is Locke? I know he’s been around; we need to break the tie here and get an idea on what people are leaning more towards.

The looping story is something I’m fairly neutral about. I wasn’t overly excited about it, though I have an idea of how to do it if the theme wins.

The other thing is there’s another side goal going on of trying to do the CYS-IS Grand Contest thing, and I think we’d get that more likely if Myth is chosen instead. It would be nice to compete against some different people for a change.

If people REALLY want the other theme (Whichever one loses, Loop or Myth) we can always just do what we did last contest and split the themes like Ves said (Porn/Allegory) or you could combine the two which can be done easily with myth.

Example: One guy tells the “myth” and at a certain point someone might interrupt him and say that’s not how the myth goes, then it loops back to the beginning (or wherever) and you can keep doing that so it never properly ends.

It's not like we're cemented in rules around here since Ves has got final say so in what the theme will be anyway. Democracy is just a formality.

[apotheosis]

If people REALLY want the other theme (Whichever one loses, Loop or Myth) we can always just do what we did last contest and split the themes like Ves said (Porn/Allegory) or you could combine the two which can be done easily with myth.

.

I dunno if you can split with the Infinite Story topic. If you think about it, writing a myth requires a bit of planning but mostly raw writing. Someone doing the Infinite Story is probably going to need plot diagrams and a lot more effort to make it work, so I don't think it would be fair to compare the two.

[JJJ-thebanisher]

Yeah, this is really more like CYS piggybacking onto our contest. If their members don't all feel like getting IS names, then the idea is that they will post their own work on their own site. Of course stuff like script editing won't be taken into account in judging since it's not a feature shared by both sites.

It wasn't our idea to join your contest, keep that in mind. If you don't want us, that's fine, we're not trying to be parasites or anything.

[Vesnic]

And you're implying that "raw writing" is never commensurate with "a lot of effort"? Are you here for writing or engineering?