[PXFIRE] Judge applications!

**Pokemon Trainer Sarah** · 05-25-2017, 11:57 PM

Judge Applications

Hi everyone! The PXFIRE planning team have been finalising details for the big event and we are now ready to open judge applications! Here's what you need to know!

Sections and events!
PXFIRE will run over 4 weeks. We are hoping to be ready to start by July! During that time there will be 8 main events: drawing, graphic art, spriting, roleplaying, creative writing, comics, showdown battling, humour. Each section will run a number of events of a certain duration. For example, sprite art might run three events each over one week, while creative writing runs two events, each over two weeks (to give people more time to enter). It will be up to the judges to come up with their own schedule and events (to be approved by the PXFIRE leaders)!

How judging works!
At the end of each event, the judge will be required to grade each entry and give feedback. The judge will then distribute points so that each entry gets at least 1 point, with the "best" entries recieving a larger share of points. We expect judges will embrace the central tenet of PXFIRE, that participation and effort should be rewarded, when distributing points. These points go toward your team total! Judges will need to complete the grading within a limited time (usually 2-3 days) and if submitted on time will also earn points for their team!

Judge duties!
As a judge you will need to have the time to grade entries in a limited time and be sure that you will be around for the duration of the event (July 2nd to July 30th at this stage). If something comes up or you know in advance that you will be away for one or more of those weeks we can possibly have two judges, so if you are very interested in judging you may still apply, just let us know your availability. Please be honest about this as judging is probably the most important part of the event and if we have people just drop out it will be very disruptive. :(

Before the event starts, we will require all judges to submit their plan for their section, so you will need to have some time before July to get this sorted! This includes the timeline (how many challenges and how long they go for) and the theme and rules for each challenge. You will also need to have your section thread written up and ready to go before the event begins. We would like to have all of this information before PXFIRE starts so if a judge can't be online for some reason, we can still make sure the challenges are posted on time!

For an example of how judging can be done and the kinds of themes/challenges, you can check out some of the old WAR threads, links to which can be found by clicking here.

The details on sections and judging can be found in the spoiler below.

Spoiler:

How to apply!
To apply to judge, just fill out this form and post it here. :) The PXFIRE leaders will select judges. If you want to apply for multiple sections then you may but keep in mind we will only allow each individual to judge one section as it is a lot of work!

Code:

Username:

Which section would you like to judge?:

What is your availability like from now until July?

Please note any experience you have with judging/grading things or with giving constructive criticism that would help your judging:

Please outline an example challenge for your section (You don't have to use this if selected). 
Include the rules and duration of the challenge. 3-5 sentences is fine!

**EmeraldSky** · 05-26-2017, 12:24 AM

Username: EmeraldSky

Which section would you like to judge?: Writing, Humor

What is your availability like from now until July? I'm pretty much free

Please note any experience you have with judging/grading things or with giving constructive criticism that would help your judging: I've been a fairly active writing reviewer across multiple boards, including judging writing awards.

Please outline an example challenge for your section (You don't have to use this if selected).

Pokemon Anime Theater 7000

Section: Humor
Duration: Weekly

The Challenge:

Ever felt the anime's English dub was a bit too cheesy for your tastes? Here's your chance to make fun of the dub, starting from the very beginning!

How it works:

--PM me for the room code for the livestream I will be showing the anime on. Due to the limitations of the stream service, I can only have up to ten people at a time, so keep this in mind when requesting the room code
--Once you're in the room, start making quips to the dialogue and situations on screen. While the goal is obviously to be funny, try to keep the language and innuendo to a minimum--about a tame PG-13/T for Teen should do
--Think outside the same old memes we've seen a billion times--the more original and creative your quip, the higher it will score.
--When the episode ends, all the quips will be judged on a scale of 1-10:

1-Not even remotely funny/That's not funny, that's stupid
2-Groan worthy
3-Snickering
4-Chuckling
5-Giggling
6-Laughing
7-Howling with laughter
8-Guffawing
9-Laughing so hard I'm crying
10-Almost wet myself laughing

--There are also bonuses for especially funny, creative, or groan-worthy quips

--Each episode's best quips will be compiled into a weekly leaderboard, with prizes going to the top three of the week, and the top three overall.

--Don't have time to watch'em all? Just watch when you can, and quip when you should!

**LKWayvern** · 05-26-2017, 01:18 AM

Username: LKWayvern

Which section would you like to judge?: Creative Writing

What is your availability like from now until July?: Until the sixteenth, I still have school. However after 3 PM EST on weekdays I should be available. After the sixteenth I'm free.

Please note any experience you have with judging/grading things or with giving constructive criticism that would help your judging: This will be my first time. However I have spent a lot of time reading both actual novels and fanfictions, and have also written stories both fanfiction and orginal on my own. I have received some criticism over the years, and several of my classes in school have been heavily involved with both giving and receiving constructive criticism in my Drama III/IV class, so I definitely have experience with that.

Please outline an example challenge for your section (You don't have to use this if selected).
Include the rules and duration of the challenge. 3-5 sentences is fine!

Pokemon Crossfire: Challenge 1
Section: Creative Writing
Duration: 9 Days
Challenge: This round, in order to warm up for the challenge, I would like for you to write a short story with the theme of training. By the end of this story the protagonist must learn a new skill of some kind.
Requirements: A mentor character with an... uncommon approach to teaching
A high-energy pulse-pounding chase scene!
An injury is received at some point.
The character overcomes an obstacle(physical object, situation, or character) using the newfound skill in an unorthodox way.

**Neo Emolga** · 05-26-2017, 02:05 AM

Username: Neo Emolga!

Which section would you like to judge?: Roleplaying

What is your availability like from now until July? Pretty good. I don't have any vacations planned for that period and I'm usually around anyway. So I think I'd be all good to go with no troubles and no worries.

Please note any experience you have: I have judged for the Creative Writing section for WAR quite a few times and even though it's been a while since I've been the judge for WAR RP, I'm familiar with how that works and what I'd use to grade performance for that. I've also been a WAR Leader many times so I'm definitely familiar with how a lot of these kinds of things go.

Please outline an example challenge: I would handle the PXFIRE RP the same way WAR RPs were handled in that there's one ongoing RP throughout the entire duration of the PXFIRE Event. I would also make it clear that the weekly cutoff for one week's of submissions going into the next would be Sunday at Midnight. That's when the end of the current judging period will take place to continue into the new one for next week.

My plan for the RP is to make an open suggestions/RP wishes discussion about what people would like to see in the RP in terms of themes, setting, what they would like their characters to be like and capable of, and things like that. I know I can't make everyone happy, but I would definitely try to do my best to make most people happy and create an RP that I think would have great longevity and will stay hot, wild, and spicy throughout the entire event's duration.

I also plan on grading performance by:

Driving force - If your character is doing more to have an influential impact on the storyline, you'll get more points from me. Characters that just seem passive in terms of the storyline will likely not earn as much as one that is interacting a lot and takes a more front row seat to get involved.
Written content - Are your posts interesting to read? Are you capturing the true nature of your character and making them feel like an interesting character to follow? If you are, expect some more points added to your pot.
RPer interactions - If you're doing a lot with the other player characters, you'll tend to see more points coming your way than someone who RPs too much by themselves and feels like they're writing a fan fiction rather than interacting with others.
Formatting, Spelling, and Grammar - As long as your posts have proper spelling, grammar, and look clean and presentable, you'll definitely see more points. But if they're rushed and it's obvious they were tossed in there too quickly without proofreading, chances are you probably won't be earning as much as you could have with a cleaner and more presentable posts.
Activity Level - This one isn't AS important, but there's still some value in posting more often. Someone who posted ten times during the week is more likely to get more points than someone who maybe only posted three times. I'm more of a quality versus quantity guy, but for this, both are pretty important.

**Noblejanobii** · 05-30-2017, 02:21 PM

Username: NobleJanobii

Which section would you like to judge?: Sprite Art, Creative Writing, or Roleplaying (though if you need me for something else just let me know)

What is your availability like from now until July?: Other than the fact that I'm taking a summer course (which is online based), I shouldn't be too busy. around June 14 I'll be pretty busy but that's because I have a test on that day so I'll probably shut down for that week but other than that and one weekend in July I shouldn't be all too busy.

Please note any experience you have with judging/grading things or with giving constructive criticism that would help your judging: I've given constructive criticism to people in the writing desk before, but most of it goes towards people I have roleplayed with. On other sites where I'm much more active of a roleplayer or trying to help people get started, I give a fair amount of critics to help. As for sprite work though... ehhhh I've never really judged it before so this would be a first. Though I could certainly reference past WAR critiques.

Please outline an example challenge for your section (You don't have to use this if selected).
Include the rules and duration of the challenge. 3-5 sentences is fine!

One possible challenge would be to create a fusion of three or more pokemon.

It would be rated on:
Incorporation of the three+ pokemon- While one pokémon (maybe even two) will have an obvious majority of the makeup of the sprite because of how fusions generally work, how well all the pokemon are incorporated with each other will definitely have a factor. It has to be visible, either from the sprite itself or through an explanation from the creator.
Creativity of design- This will of course be taken on a case by case basis, but the more creative the design of the fusion is the more points it will get. If I can tell that the creator was really going for a certain design or style that was different from the original base then they're going to get more points.
Coherency of the fusion- Kinda in conjunction with incorporation but points will also be awarded on how well everything is feeded together. If you just stick wings on a ponyta and call it a day then there's not going to be many points ready for you because the color schemes wouldn't match, the wings might not look natural on the ponyta, etc. So the fusion needs to look smooth within reason.

I could add requirements for spriters in the future like "has to include Mewtwo" or something like that to make it more difficult but I thought this would be a good example challenge. Overall I would be judging mainly on those three rules I stated above, which pretty much translate to "how well were the instructions followed", "creativity of your design", and then "how smooth/natural does it look". I also would be willing to give more points to attention to detail but that sorta falls under the creativity block so you get the point.

**Chakramaster** · 05-31-2017, 10:42 PM

Username: Chakramaster

Which section would you like to judge?: Drawn Art, Graphic Art, Creative Writing, Showdown (I could go down for any of them, but these jump out the most).

What is your availability like from now until July? I'll be here as far as I know right now. There's no plans yet to do anything vacation wise. I'll be around here for sure even if I have to take a day out of town or so I'll be here to check on things.

Please note any experience you have with judging/grading things or with giving constructive criticism that would help your judging: I've given people feedback on art they've created. I've always had fun watching others battle on Showdown as well. Coming up with creative teams to secure wins or try to. It may not be judging, but its a start to helping.

Please outline an example challenge for your section (You don't have to use this if selected).
Include the rules and duration of the challenge. 3-5 sentences is fine!: A few rules or challenge duration.

Unique Designs - Most drawings or graphic art have Pokemon or any character created with the usual design. Using ways through your own creativity. Whether that be facial expressions or lining in their fur/feathers, scales, or scars on the skin. Extra fur to make it look like their hair or fur has grown out over time. Whatever you can think of to give your character a unique twist on what you create.
Team Creativity: Team's are pretty fun to create. Some made with specific mean's with a particular way of keeping your opponent at bay as you take them down. Unique ways to win, winning, and team creation. If your entire team is set around one Pokemon, it won't work, but overall, one Pokemon may shine brighter than others. Such as the Pachrisu in Worlds years ago being an unexpected contender
Extra Additions: While it's not required, a background usually helps any art stick out and look more appealing. Though, if you're not careful, it can also make or break any form of art. Is it fall? Leaves falling make for a beautiful setting. Winter snow, spring flowers or wind. Anything you can think of to ADD to your art to make it more unique to YOU.

I know I probably can't take on too many positions, but I'd love to help out as much as possible. =)