CONTEST: User-Written Game Guides!

[Quarion]

NOTE: The contest deadline has been extended to October 24th 2007!

Start your typewriters err...word processors! Are you a wiz at Dungeons and Dragons Online™ (DDO)? Do you know everything there is to know about the game? Why not share your knowledge and possibly score some big-time loot? We are accepting submissions for the first Player to Player Contest! We're looking for the BEST user written Game Guides, as judged by the community and the DDO Devs! If your guide has got what it takes, you could win one of three great Dungeons and Dragons™ prize packs and your guide could be published in the online DDO Compendium!
Guides will be judged in the following categories:

• Most used/usefulness (Community voting)
• Dev judging in these categories:
  • Accuracy
  • Completeness
  • Readability/Grammar/Spelling
  • Degree of Demand (including how many other guides already exist on the same topic)
  • Ease of understanding

You can write your guide on any topic related to DDO, and should be at least 300 words.

How to Enter:

• To enter, post your guide in the Game Guides Forum, AND email your submission and the link to your post to DDOContests@turbine.com to signify entry.
  • Be sure to include:
    • Your primary forum name
    • Your age
    • A link to your posted submission

The contest will consist of 2 rounds:
ROUND ONE: Nomination:

Any game guide posted in the Game Guides Forum , AND EMAILED to DDOContests@turbine.com by 11:59 pm eastern time on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 will be eligible. Starting at 11:00 am eastern time on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 the NOMINATION ROUND will begin. Players will be asked to nominate their SINGLE favorite guide in a nomination thread, posted at the top of the Game Guides Forum. Each forum member may nominate one guide and cast one nomination post. Additional nominations or posts will be deleted without being counted. On Sunday, November 4th, the nomination round will end at 11:59pm eastern time.

ROUND TWO: Voting and Judging:
On or around 11:00 am eastern time on Monday, November 5th, 2007 the top ten finalists’ guides will be announced in a poll, for the community to vote on. Also at this time, the top ten guides will be submitted to select DDO Developers for judging. Judging and voting will close on Thursday, November 8th, at 11:59pm eastern time. On or around Monday, November 12th, 2007, the winners will be announced.


Prizes:
First Prize:

(Estimated Retail Value: Greater than $180)

• 1 DELUXE leather bound copy of The Players Handbook v3.5
• * Choice of one: 1 copy of the Eberron Campaign Setting guide signed by the DDO Dev team, and the book's authors -or- 1 DELUXE copy of 30 Years of Adventure – A Celebration of Dungeons and Dragons with forward written by Vin Diesel, signed by the Dev team
• One 60 day game card
• Guide will be listed in the Compendium
• Forum Title: "Scholar of Adventure"

Second Prize: (Estimated Retail Value: $110)

• 1 Boxed set of 3 Dungeons and Dragons™ books, including:
  • The Players Handbook v3.5
  • The Monster Manual v3.5
  • The Dungeon Master’s Guide v3.5
• One 30 day game card
• Guide will be listed in the Compendium
• Forum Title: "Scholar of Adventure"

Third Prize: (Estimated Retail Value: $40)

• 1 set of 8 Random Collectible Dungeons and Dragons™ Miniatures
• One 30 day game card
• Guide will be listed in the Compendium
• Forum Title: "Scholar of Adventure"

Honorable Mentions:

• The remainder of the top 10 will all be listed in the “Game Guide Index” if not already listed there. Each of the top 10 guide authors will also be dubbed "Scholar of Adventure" for a forum title.

Terms and Conditions

• To enter, post your guide in the Game Guides Forum, AND email your submission and the link to your post to DDOContests@turbine.com
• Submissions must be original creations. Any submissions that are found to be copies or recreations or derivatives of existing works (related to Dungeons and Dragons™ or otherwise) will not be considered in the final judging.
• Submissions must include the contestant's name, email address, and primary forum name and a link to the posted entry on the forums.
• This contest is open to all legal U.S. residents age 18 or older, regular forum membership rules apply.
• This contest begins on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 12:00am EST. Submissions will be accepted until Sunday September 30th, at 11:59pm EST.
• Turbine reserves the right to edit or revise the winning submissions as necessary.
• The names of the winning contestants and the winning submissions will be posted on www.ddo.com on Monday, October 15th.
• Winners may be required to execute an Assignment and Release to be provided by Turbine.

Official Rules
Participation in the User-Written Game Guide Contest (the “Contest”) is voluntary. Participation in the Contest constitutes contestant's full and unconditional agreement to and acceptance of these terms and conditions. By participating in the Contest, contestant hereby grants to Turbine a royalty free, non-exclusive, perpetual, transferable, assignable, sub licensable, worldwide license to reproduce, modify, prepare derivative works of and otherwise use and publicly display your submission in any and all media for the purpose of incorporating the submission into future Turbine products and/or advertising and promoting Turbine products at the sole discretion of Turbine. You acknowledge that you will not receive any compensation for your submission. Turbine and its licensors disclaim any and all liability for any infringement of any contestant's rights in any submission caused by any third party. All submissions must be original, and must have been created and owned exclusively by the contestant submitting the creation. No responsibility is assumed by Turbine for lost, late, undeliverable, incomplete, illegible or misdirected submissions, or for any computer, online or technical malfunctions that may occur. Submissions that are not in full compliance with the terms and conditions are void. Turbine is not required to use any or all of the winning submissions for any purpose. Please review carefully Turbine's Privacy Policy relating to the collection and use of your information. By electing to participate in the Contest, you agree to permit Turbine (and its licensors, licensees, partners and subcontractors) to use your personally identifiable information (such as your email address) to send you promotional and service related information relating to Dungeons & Dragons Online™: Stormreach™ and other Turbine games. Turbine reserves the right to limit access to, change or terminate the Contest with or without notice.
Eligibility to win a prize is restricted to U.S. residents age 18 or older. Employees of Turbine and its licensors, and members of their households, are excluded from participation. Winners may need to complete and submit an affidavit to confirm all eligibility requirements are met. The odds of winning a prize will depend on the number of eligible participants.
Neither Turbine nor its licensors shall be liable for any damages of any kind or nature whatsoever arising in connection with the Contest.
All federal, state, local, provincial and municipal laws and regulations apply. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary.

________________________________________
NOTE: Questions and Comments may be posted in this thread, but nominations and/or entries will not be accepted via this thread. Please use the appropriate means to do so, explained in the rules above.
________________________________________

[Drider]

Very cool. Some nice prizes in there too.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

Originally Posted by Quarion

Eligibility to win a prize is restricted to U.S. residents age 18 or older.

That is completely unacceptable in a game marketted around the world. You charge me the exact same amount you charge someone who lives in the US.

[mocat]

Originally Posted by Lorien the First One

That is completely unacceptable in a game marketted around the world. You charge me the exact same amount you charge someone who lives in the US.

Pssssttt...

Lorien....

Just tell them that we are a part of the US.

They won't know the difference.

[Drider]

Originally Posted by Lorien the First One

That is completely unacceptable in a game marketted around the world. You charge me the exact same amount you charge someone who lives in the US.

Like all contests done in most US based games.. it's nothing they can control. There are just too many laws to get around concerning winners outside of US territories.

[Dariuss]

Originally Posted by Lorien the First One

That is completely unacceptable in a game marketted around the world. You charge me the exact same amount you charge someone who lives in the US.

It is disappointing... I'm sure there's some legalities involved in giving out prizes though...

i would imagine the forum title thing could be giving to anyone though?

[Vinos]

Originally Posted by Quarion

30 Years of Adventure – A Celebration of Dungeons and Dragons with forward written by Vin Diesel,

[Impaqt]

What about all the guides that have alrady been posted? Can we submit previously posted guides or must these all be "New"? If reposting one of my older guides acceptable? If it got Purged in "The Great Forum purge of 07"?

[mocat]

Oh, and Q?

I'm sorry, but I have some sour grapes for you, but I need to mention it.

This is great for some, and I hope some people get something out of it, but I would like some content that you guys write...... not the users.

Mod 5 will do nicely!

When???

I was hoping that would be the announcement.

[DaveyCrockett]

Doesn't this contest give an extreme advantage to people that already have guides up that have become a staple to the community? And half of those guides were taken over for people that aren't here anymore, and aren't the original work of the people that have their named tagged to them now.

Seems like a nice little concept, but I fail to see the options of 'untouched' guides that could be contributed, and even then, how they could hold a popularity-candle to say 'the loot thread'.

[ArkoHighStar]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quarion
30 Years of Adventure – A Celebration of Dungeons and Dragons with forward written by Vin Diesel,

Originally Posted by Vinos

Vin Diesel has been a longtime player of PnP DnD, as is Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams

[Vinos]

Originally Posted by DaveyCrockett

Doesn't this contest give an extreme advantage to people that already have guides up that have become a staple to the community? And half of those guides were taken over for people that aren't here anymore, and aren't the original work of the people that have their named tagged to them now.

Seems like a nice little concept, but I fail to see the options of 'untouched' guides that could be contributed, and even then, how they could hold a popularity-candle to say 'the loot thread'.

Good point. Most of the best guides have already been written. Also what about the guides that several people contribute to? Say for example the "loot" thread and the like?

[Drider]

Originally Posted by mocat

This is great for some, and I hope some people get something out of it, but I would like some content that you guys write...... not the users.

The devs may have all the points and time for building on ideas and implementing them into the game. However, they probably don't play their creation more then a majority of the player base. Most players, especially ones that do guides, usually have a very good idea of what they are talking about. If they didn't they probably wouldn't spend the time to even work on a guide to be useful to other players.

I'd rather the devs spend more time building newer quests and adding to the game then spedning time writing out guides. This is really something that parts of the community has been doing already. They are trying to promote this by having a nice little contest. They didn't have to, but they are. It's better then not having anything to do with the community, which by the way, has been one of the bigger complaints on the boards.

I think its funny that in the last two days they've tried to give us more info and ways to interact with the community and people still complain.

[Vinos]

Originally Posted by ArkoHighStar

Quote:
Originally Posted by Quarion
30 Years of Adventure – A Celebration of Dungeons and Dragons with forward written by Vin Diesel,




Vin Diesel has been a longtime player of PnP DnD, as is Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams

I would assume he was since he wrote the forward but it just struck me as odd. Doesn't seem the type.

[Impaqt]

Originally Posted by Vinos

I would assume he was since he wrote the forward but it just struck me as odd. Doesn't seem the type.

What? Cool People dont play DnD?

[Aeneas]

I don't mean to break down anybody's hopes and dreams but there are people involved heavily in the forums who have put countless hours into making game guides. In fact, if i had it my way i'd just go ahead and give trotsky and cataclysm prizes 1 and 2 for their definitive static rewards list. There isn't a single other guide that i reference as often as that page and honestly seeing what it is that i've yet to add to my treasure trove is a big part of what keeps me playing. If you're only including new guides in this contest, please consider doing something nice for forumites like cataclysm, jjflanigan, and Ron who've done great things for the game with their guides and software.

Let's be honest nothing touches the loot thread or the character creator.

[Oran_Lathor]

Ah well, I was excited to do this until I got to the part about US residents only... Sigh. When are people going to realize that 'countries' are out-moded? SOooo last millenium...

Anywho, look forward to seeing some new guides, good luck to all ya dern yankees.

[mocat]

Originally Posted by Drider

The devs may have all the points and time for building on ideas and implementing them into the game. However, they probably don't play their creation more then a majority of the player base. Most players, especially ones that do guides, usually have a very good idea of what they are talking about. If they didn't they probably wouldn't spend the time to even work on a guide to be useful to other players.

I'd rather the devs spend more time building newer quests and adding to the game then spedning time writing out guides. This is really something that parts of the community has been doing already. They are trying to promote this by having a nice little contest. They didn't have to, but they are. It's better then not having anything to do with the community, which by the way, has been one of the bigger complaints on the boards.

I think its funny that in the last two days they've tried to give us more info and ways to interact with the community and people still complain.

Ya, I agree Drider. I don't want them spending time writing guides.

I was refering to how I hoped that the announcement was something to do with game play. (...something they write... ie. code)

Like I said, this may be fun for some, but personally, I will not get any satisfaction out of it and am left wanting.

I really want new gameplay stuff, not user written guides.

But, that's just me.

[Vinos]

Originally Posted by Impaqt

What? Cool People dont play DnD?

Who said he was cool? I just figured he was too busy lifting weights.

[ArkoHighStar]

Originally Posted by Vinos

Who said he was cool? I just figured he was too busy lifting weights.

check the web, he ahs played since he was 12, and is very open about it when asked.