PXFIRE Feedback!

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Hey guys! We want your feedback on this event!!!

What did you like? What didn't you like? What could be improved? Think about things like how points were distributed, the duration of events, which sections were included, how teams were created etc.

Feel free to be honest but also keep in mind that we worked hard on this event so make sure your criticism is constructive (ie. don't be rude) :)

Thanks so much for participating! I know there are areas for improvement but I hope you still had fun!

[Scytherwolf]

I liked all the different events, I was just overwhelmed with them going on all at once. I had to choose which things I wanted to enter. I did like how I had multiple weeks to do a comic, though. I wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise.

[Neo Emolga]

It was fun and I definitely enjoyed it. It also pushed me to pick up drawn art again and I'm proud with some of the stuff I cranked out. I KNOW I'm getting better at this. I used to draw weird-looking Pikachus with oversized heads, stubby arms, and lack of detail to cranking out pictures that I can comfortably say "holy crap, I drew this, I can use it however I like without having to give anyone else credit for it!" Not to mention I think I'm getting a little bit faster each time. It's nice to have events like these to push me to get better like this!

I also liked how some sections gave people extra weeks to get stuff done. I think the only unfortunate case I had was despite getting three weeks to do a comic, I just couldn't do it. Managing the RP scene and doing those extra things on the side wiped out whatever hope of free time I had for it.

I would love to see PXFIRE make a return, because I think where the WAR got ugly, PXFIRE kept good spirits up and everyone had fun with it. Things didn't get bitter or controversial. I think just about everyone had fun with it and I love the results of it way more. I can also say all three teams were awesome and had plenty of great things going on. This format is beautiful and I think everything worked quite nicely.

One thing that I think would help a lot and make things better would be Section Rotations. As in maybe having 1/3 of the events active at a time. I think if we had that, I might have tried areas out of my comfort zone, such as maybe even giving sprite art a shot, even though I'm shabby with that. And maybe I wouldn't have felt a bit overwhelmed at times, as there were moments where I felt a hot Sunday afternoon rush to get everything in on time. I also would have had more time to devote to certain entries.

In a nutshell, I think it was awesome and everyone was exceptional. :3

[EmeraldSky]

If I had to improve anything, I would make scoring a bit easier/clearer--as 100 points is not easy to distribute when you have an odd number of people that participated.

[LKWayvern]

I would've liked it if people from my own team had sent in entries for Creative Writing

I think that PXFire went really well! However, perhaps it could be expanded somewhat? I felt like with everything happening at once it was really kind of rushed.

[Neo Emolga]

I would've liked it if people from my own team had sent in entries for Creative Writing

I think that PXFire went really well! However, perhaps it could be expanded somewhat? I felt like with everything happening at once it was really kind of rushed.

I agree with this. I think six weeks + section rotations would strike the sweet spot. :3

RP could be one of those things that starts Week #3 and goes on from there so as to give the other sections more light during weeks 1 and 2. Or something like that.

[Noblejanobii]

Aw quit whining. I had a vacation, a politics conference, work, a calculus final, my grandma die, and then another vacation pop up during this and I was still more active than all of you. ;)

I'm kidding. It was actually really difficult to get through all of that and remain so active. I want my showdown medal though.

But yeah section rotations! Like we could do signups and stuff during weeks 1 and 2 but it wouldn't officially start until week 3.

[Morzone]

Well, from my perspective as a team-event-judge I'd just like to say that there was a lot less energy (even just in terms of participation) by the end of the fourth week. Heck, my team didn't even get in a portfolio for the first two weeks. I almost did one myself anyway just to prove we existed and had a theme So 6 weeks might be a bit much. I know it might seem like a lighter load because there'd be rotating stuff, but even the people who only participated in one or two sections often died out by the time the end of PXFIRE rolled around.

Once all the points are tallied up and I've announced my spirit event winner I'll post up the participation chart so you can get an idea of how things looked. Though it is somewhat incomplete because Showdown was, well, very confusing. I couldn't tell who participated (as in submitted an entry) in the 1st week, I could only see who signed up, and weeks 3-4 didn't seem to happen at all.

I will say that the 100-point system was great. Definitely better than the top-3 WAR system.

[Neo Emolga]

I agree, I like the 100 point system. It took a little bit to get used to as a judge, but by Week 2, it felt quite natural and felt solid to work with. I would definitely bring that back because in cases where everyone's entries were good, then everyone got a piece of the pot and it make sure people didn't miss out on getting anything just by tiny margins. It was also valuable in cases were people could only take part just a little or were trying a new section for the first time. It didn't make people feel like they were wasting their time with an entry that they knew just couldn't win.

It was definitely useful for RP where there were more than three absolutely stellar RPers. So many times when I've judged WAR sections, I felt terrible that the person in 4th would be getting absolutely nothing for all their hard work even though they did a great job, but just not the best out of everyone else job. And sometimes this happened to the same people week after week after week. That's just discouraging.

The 100 point system also gives the judge WAY more control over how points are awarded. I enjoyed working with it and I think it was a great success.

PXFIRE rocked and makes WAR look like yesterday's news. It's just crazy to think... it's all over already. :P

[Coru]

I agree with all that's said here. In the first 2 weeks, I entered loads and did loads of stuff but got quite burnt out by week 3. I wanted to submit a lot more but i lost my steam, so the rotations sound like a really good idea to let off a bit of steam for everyone so people can submit everything they want. Either that or stagger the submission times somehow.

It was a super fun event and can't wait for it again.

[Pokemon Trainer Sarah]

Yep I totally agree with you guys! I was worried about participation dropping off and thought therefore the event should have as few weeks as possible. But really it would have been better for it to go longer but have the events more spread out! That's great feedback for next year and something we will definitely do I think! :D

[Morzone]

Ugh so... yeah...

Things started happenning in RL and I never really got around to proclaiming a spirit winner or writing up the posts I'd promised in the RP. I probably could have done it if I had pushed myself, but between trying to enjoy vacation, traveling to watch the eclipse, and panicking over college preparations I never got around to it.

So... My apologize to Everyone involved in the RP, if it gets pulled out of the archives I'll be sure to write something up, especially since Velocity and I went through the trouble of planning how to end the dread metal derby.

As for the Spirit contest, Gracidea Order Won by a landslide. They had the most participation points easily, so they won that, as the only ones to put in a week 2 portfolio they won that section as well, though I will note that for the first two weeks, I was more impressed with the Platoon's portfolio as they did a slightly better job of representing both their team's efforts and their team's theme. Sportsmanship was on par between the Platoon and the G order, I was especially impressed by the Platoon's team work on larger projects, while the G order seemed, from what I could tell looking through the various threads, the friendliest toward all participants.

The Steel scavengers.... well we were 2nd in participation but otherwise we failed to show spirit majorly.

I think I may need to re-work the Portfolio system, since it was clear that as it was an extra side piece it wasn't high on anyone's list to complete by the 4th week when everyone was somewhat burnt out. The sportsmanship system didn't work too well either, though I think that's more due to the nature of the forum-based-contest than anything else. I'll see if I can rustle up a different idea for future games.

Overall though I think PXFIRE was a resounding success! Props to everyone who made it possible! I'll put up my chart on participation as a reference for anyone who wants it in a bit.