ADMINISTRONG 2010: The Only Officially Endorsed Contest!

[SlappyMcGee]

Hey.


So, me and the boys have been thinking about how remarkably unpopular the Ninja game is these days. And why is that? Well, who the fuck knows. What's important is, is that we change that and make playing N exciting again!


And when could be a better time than the beginning of a new era, a new decade, and a new staff? So, Yanni, maestro and I are putting together a couple of interesting contests that should hopefully serve to inspire as well as get the ball rolling on a nice foot! And there will be Prizes.

The first concept isn't so much a contest, but rather your chance on picking up a custom title (if that's the sort of thing you're into.) One of the big complaints these days is that reviewing has become too rampant under the regime of Herr Origami_alligator. And while I back the decisions of staff entirely, a point has risen from terrazza's one man rebellion.

The point is this; why are we counting on only officially licensed reviewers for which maps we can play? This system won't help unestablished mappers at all. We need to count on ourselves for that.

So, if you want to earn a custom title or maybe some other goodies, here is how. Over the course of the next six months, review 120 maps. What do I mean by review? Rate the map, and leave a thoughtful comment. Not, "Great map dude 5/5" but "you could improve this map by adding a drone" or "I really liked your use of gold in that corner". After you've left your helpful comment/rate, save the URL of the map and drop it into a textfile. If, on July fourth, you've got 120 of those bastards, we'll give you a custom title of your choosing. It could even have a badge like we staff have denoting you as a really great part of the community!

And that's just twenty comments a month. I could do this in a day! Why not? You'll be improving the community and earning something at the same time.

And don't let the incentive stop there. People who do succeed in doing this will be up for special consideration in a super secret project that'll start happening at the end. So keep your ears peaked for that
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And now, the ADMINISTRONG 2010 contest!

ADMINISTRONG 2010! is a contest that is pretty great for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it's going to be a mapping contest that will push its participants. We want to see new styles of mapping. DDA's are pretty cool, but why haven't we as a community invented any new kinds of maps in forever? Some people would say it's because the N game can't move any further, and for those people, there are other contests.

This contest will give you offbeat topics, ideas, or specific criteria and you will be expected to innovate inside those criteria.

It's also going to be a great learning experience for somebody new who wants to participate. While innovation will be essential, we won't be telling you that your maps are "45%". We want everybody who participates to grow as a mapmaker, so you'll be getting direct feedback not just from us, but from your peers. Each round will present different challenges; sometimes you might have to collaborate, other times you'll be participating against just one of your competitors. You might be asked to review somebody else's map, or to change a map and make it better.

This is the contest to end all contests, and so, naturally, it needs to have prizes that will pique your interests. That's why the things you're going to get are fucking awesome:

-One Webcomic made by Yanni specifically for you!
-One Song made by maestro made specifically for you!
-One piece of erotic fiction by SlappyMcGee specifically for you!
-Global Moderator for a week!
-Moderator Spot of a Robotology forum!
-Custom Title
-One mystery box if you are bold enough to give me your address!
-Custom Signature by Techno!
-And a T-shirt featuring everybody's favorite Ninja, N. (Sorry, Mr. Chan.)
-A NUMA custom title and a Reviewer Spot courtesy of southpaw

So, you should join.

~Staff.

(Oh, timeframe for the contest is not set. I imagine it depends on the people who join.)


Participants!:

1. Techno
2. flycatcher
3. Skyling
4. southpaw
5. squibbles
6. Fraxtil
7. Pheidippides
8. Mute Monk
9. Erik-Player
10. yungerkid
11. numa_ninja
12. gloomp
13. scythe
14. Scrivener
15. TheEverPresent
16. Furry Ant
17. Inspired
18. Hoohah2x2sday
19. SeventhSpirit
20. OneSevenNine
21. nevershine
22. Kool-aid
23. Cheez
24. crescor
25. natrues_peril
26. ninja_matt
27. heatwave
28. im_bad_at_n
29. Seneschal
30. MattKestrel
31. ChrisE
32. Aldaric
33. bufar
34. Tunco
35. flagmyidol
36. Riobe
37. Ad
38. rocket_thumped
39. Diamondeye
40. EdoI
41. eternal_moonlight
42. Pikman
43. Destiny
44. Turtle
45. Why Me
46. BionicCryonic
47. Donfuy
48. aapse
49. etdeshon
50. Rhekatou
51. schickquattro
52. boboga_fett
53. BanjoDave
54. mistaken72
55. SkyRay
56. kkstrong
57. fireburnsfree
58. chocollama
59. DemonzLunchBreak
60. Slayr
61. Leaff
62. Izzy
63. Daikenkai
64. Avarin
65. Zephyr
66. Aphex
67. guy_zap
68. Lightning55
69. sidke
70. Rit0987
70. lukesv
70.Blackson
70. Artistolipto?
70. amomentlikethis
70. romaniac
70. nijitsu

[T3chno]

first comment


oh, and i'm in

[Flycatcher]

JOINOIJNOIJNOINJINO

[Skyling]

SIGN ME UP, CAP'N'N'N'N.

[origami_alligator]

sign me up.

[squibbles]

I'm In like Parachute Pants were in during the 90s.

[Fraxtil]

Joining. This sounds like a good way to start getting involved with N again.

[Pheidippides]

Tentatively in. Hope I have the time for this.

[Mute Monk]

Arrr, this be frickin' awesome. Count me in.

[Erik-Player]

Count me in. :D

[blackson]

Over the course of the next six months, review 120 maps. What do I mean by review? Rate the map, and leave a thoughtful comment. Not, "Great map dude 5/5" but "you could improve this map by adding a drone" or "I really liked your use of gold in that corner". After you've left your helpful comment/rate, save the URL of the map and drop it into a textfile. If, on July fourth, you've got 120 of those bastards, we'll give you a custom title of your choosing. It could even have a badge like we staff have denoting you as a really great part of the community!

Oh awesome! Don't forget to sign the NUMA pledge!

Er, this will lead to half-hearted comments, and a general decrease in feedback quality. Giving an incentive to people for making comments doesn't really help much.

[SlappyMcGee]

Oh awesome! Don't forget to sign the NUMA pledge!

Er, this will lead to half-hearted comments, and a general decrease in feedback quality. Giving an incentive to people for making comments doesn't really help much.

Which is why I won't be checking all of the comments, but I will definitely click a bunch of the links you submit to make sure the comments are actually useful. Plus, any comment is a useful comment.

[T3chno]

general decrease in feedback quality..

It's like your saying they are of great quality right now.


And to be honest, any type of comments I find on my maps I appreciate - criticism and what not.

[yungerkid]

I'll join.

[numa_ninja]

This is positively the best idea ever. I'm in on both counts.

EDIT: Do we have to rate? I personally don't rate maps anymore, because IMO, people care too much about ratings nowadays.

[unoriginal name]

Yes.

[scythe]

Hell yeah.

The last "new" map types were jump-only and no-jump, which showed up in '07. It's high time for more clever.

[Scrivener]

Are you fucking serious???
who wouldn't want to join?
sign me up, please, mister.

hey numa_ninja, check out my profile for a short rant about ratings. ;)

[squibbles]

Hell yeah.

The last "new" map types were jump-only and no-jump, which showed up in '07. It's high time for more clever.

I dispute this. I personally have been making N-arts that aren't pictures of things, but merely convey emotions, like many actual art genres, and I know I'm not the only one doing it. That's something new.

At least I hadn't seen it before 2009.

[TheEverPresent]

They both sound great, I'll be participating in both!

EDIT: who's going to be in charge in verifying everyone's 120 comments? sounds fun.

[Scrivener]

and yeah, i agree with NN, I am pretty much boycotting votes as a mapper.
they don't really mean anything due to many mappers of low ability getting good votes from having friendships, where they both rate each other's maps 4 or 5. so everybody gets a bunch of rates, and rates stop representing skill.

[Rhekatou]

Teh top reminds me of this. It had a crappy system, but same idea.
And the only people's maps who get rated are the "well-known" people. When a new Palemoon or sidke map appears, even if it's crappy, it has a rating in 15 seconds.
I vote for boycotting. Nah I'll just do it.

[SlappyMcGee]

The rating isn't necessary, I suppose, but it would be nice. Feel free to boycott rating.

[T3chno]

EDIT: who's going to be in charge in verifying everyone's 120 comments? sounds fun.

They have gnomes for these types of things.

[maya]

Sign me up, please.