Community Events: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Okay Zelda Universe, since it's a new year (well, still relatively early in the new year), I want to try and spark some interest in community events again, but to be honest I'm running really short on ideas. Then it hit me, what about past ideas!?

We've had a lot of things in the past which have either been stopped or faded out due to lack of interest, but I also know that sometimes things change and interest may return. So with that in mind I'm here to ask for feedback on past events that people may, or may not want to see return. Below I'm going to list some of these things and I encourage anyone who has any imput on them to please speak up and let me know.

As well, if there are any other events I've missed you'd like to see return, or if you'd be interested in helping out in one of them or if you have an idea for a brand new one and would like some feedback from the community, this is the place to have your say!



ZHUC: Community Made Holiday Cards

So after taking over management of ZUHC about 2 years ago, it was pretty popular for some time. We got lots of responses to the cards, and we had a lot of artists interested in participating. For nearly all; of last year Vynrah did monthly calendars as well highlighting the holidays we'd be having cards for that month. Unfortunately as the year went on we seemed to have less and less interest and it quickly became a lot of work for very little, sometimes no response, especially for the artists who put in the effort to make the cards.

However, I know that some people (including my self) really did enjoy seeing these cards pop up fort holidays. Personally I would love to be able to bring this back, but I need to know that there is interest. If you want to see it happen again too then please speak up! Is there anything different we should do with it? Do you think we need to cover more holidays? Or do you think we had too many and they just lost the spark?

if you have no idea what I'm talking about, or want to go back and look over past cards, the ZUHC archive has all our old cards and links to see Vynrah's calendars.



Caption of the Week

Every see a really awkward picture in the scrapbook and think of a funny tag line in your head? I did all the time, which is why I careated caption of the week! Each week a SB photo would be selected by the winner of the previous week's competition. The community would then have a chance to come up with the best captions they could to accompany that picture. Following that, people would vote on the one they like best to determine a winner.

Again, I loved the. Some of the captions people came up with were absolutely amazing (particularily it seems Xeno) and I thought it brought a lot of fun to some of those funny/awkward SB photos. However there were problems with turn out. It became difficult to keep going when we would have more people enter captions than people voting on them. It does become pointless picking a winner when only 3 people vote.

Since I stopped it I have had a few people ask me about what happened to it and if it would be comming back. So I know there is some interest in it, but like I said, to run smoothly it needs more imput and participation over all. So for those of you who did take part, is there anyhting different that could be done in order to keep interest up? Would it be worthwhile to create an archive/hall of fame for the winners similar to the ZUHC archive?

Let me know and maybe we can get this thing going again.



The Gender Wars

it left a trail of blood, rotting carcases and the cold, dank stench of battle acrosse Zelda Universe for three years...and everyone had lots of fun!

pitting the men against the women the gender Wars brought the forums some memorable moments for sure. The first year was an absolutely huge success and people continually asked for it to be brough back. However the following two years showed less and less interest until it eventually became forgotten about. Like other events I've had a few members come to me asking what happened to it.

The simple answer is this. The GW is a huge ammount of work to organize. I think there are only a few people who realize how much effort I, and those who helped me had to put into it. it's impossible to run without the participation of the community and the dedication to follow through on it. And that was the problem. Many people signed up and wanted on board, but very few produced and it ended up being a waste of time for those who put the effort in to participate.

With that in mind, this is a community event I will only bring back if I see a substantial ammount of interest in it. i know some people would like to see it again, but it takes a large part of the forum community to see somehting like this through.

Again, I ask for any feedback as to help improve it or make it more accessable. And for those of you who want to look back...





So those are the big three I think had a lot of success at thier peaks. As I said, if there are any others you remember, or new ideas you have speak up! Zelda Universe has one of the greatest online communities out there and things like this are part of the reason for that. We've had some outstanding community leads in our past such as Margar, Liah, Anime_Queen and others. However as people frow up life becomes more and more time consumming so they don't always have time to follow through on projects and organize people.

So we're counting on the younger generation of ZUers to step up and show that they can continue on and be just as great. I know there are some awesome people out there who could be the next Margar, or AQ, or Liah (not that you'd want to be the next Liah...ew).

Thank you to those who take the time to read this and leave feedback, and thank you to those who have been part of these events as both participants and managers!

I was just thinking yesterday about how we should bring back captions. I don't know why, but I find it so much fun to come up with clever captions.

Instead of captions for just Scrapbook pictures, maybe we could include themes as well. Video game screencaps (Zelda; whatnot), TV shows, etc. I think video games would work well. Maybe we could also extend it to gifs - animated pictures (this could be potentially fun). Spread things around a little bit; pick up interests from all sorts of people. Not just the people who frequent the Scrapbook.

An archive isn't necessary, but it probably wouldn't be that much work. Just the picture, caption, and winner.


I've had this idea in the past for voice acting fandubs for video games. Namely Zelda. People would voice act their favorite scene or maybe a scene would be chosen for them. The people would vote accordingly to see who's the best. Maybe there could be even double entrees for teams (two people acting out one scene). It doesn't have to be limited to Zelda. It could any video game or maybe your favorite show/anime (anime seems to be popular with fandubs). Whatever you want. The only dilemma of course is how interested people would be in this. It'd probably be easier to stick to just a particular theme and maybe see how it goes from there (maybe Zelda).


I don't think this would garner enough attention. But eh, I'm just throwing out ideas.

I would absolutely love for captions to come back. I really enjoyed those.

Originally Posted by Xeno

Instead of captions for just Scrapbook pictures, maybe we could include themes as well. Video game screencaps (Zelda; whatnot), TV shows, etc. I think video games would work well. Maybe we could also extend it to gifs - animated pictures (this could be potentially fun). Spread things around a little bit; pick up interests from all sorts of people. Not just the people who frequent the Scrapbook.

Hmm, well personally I like it better as the SB because I find it more community oriented, which is what I'm going for. However the idea of general captions is always fun and if people would rather have it more open like that then I'd be willing to give it a try. Or even find a compromise and open it up to the clan and staff SBs as well.

COMMUNTY! TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!

Originally Posted by Gamzee

I would absolutely love for captions to come back. I really enjoyed those.

Good to see quick interest in the captions because I really loved it too. What do you think of Xeno's ideas?

I loved CotW so much I made a thread on it. So yeah, I want that back.

I like Xeno's idea for having themes, but what I enjoyed out of the captions was seeing what people came up with for the picture. I wouldn't want it to be done away with and replaced with a general "here's a picture, caption it!" Perhaps we can have a scrapbook caption and another thread for themed captions?

The voice acting sounds fun too, but like you said there might be issues in getting enough interest. Especially since that one would require more work than just typing out a sentence.

---------- Post added at 04:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:15 PM ----------

I like Xeno's idea for having themes, but what I enjoyed out of the captions was seeing what people came up with for the picture. I wouldn't want it to be done away with and replaced with a general "here's a picture, caption it!" Perhaps we can have a scrapbook caption and another thread for themed captions?

The voice acting sounds fun too, but like you said there might be issues in getting enough interest. Especially since that one would require more work than just typing out a sentence.

The first GW was bloody fantastic though a lot, A LOT of it, while it had to do with how well it was organised, also had to do with the PR side of things; Power Shot and Asia were brilliant with this. See, Shots went out into the GCC and made a thread saying men were superior, and that caused a RIOT. People were picking sides and bickering and all that energy went straight into the wars. Furthermore, Asia represented her side demonstrating her kick-ass drawing abilities, having comics and doodles of the women dominating, and aaahhh~ it was beautiful. Kinda like the Cody vs. Power Shot webmaster election that exploded across the forums; the two of 'em PR'd the ♥♥♥♥ outta their campaigns and the energy and excitement for it was amazing.

However, I do feel though that the dudes vs. ladies idea has been tried and is tired now. We've done it three times, so if we could have something ELSE to focus on for a battle, that'd be great. I remember Zach starting up a thread about ZU Survivor in the GCC, and though it never took off lol, A LOT of people showed interest in it.

Also, how long these events go for plays a part in how long attention stays or wanes. The last GW I can remember, things went really slow (I think that's why the Clan Wars eventually died in interest because it dragged out too long). You need a start, an end, and a winner announced. I know it's not THAT simple, but time frame is key to this because people want results if they put the effort in.

I've no solid suggestions as to where you can take this, so prob sitting down and brainstorming some ♥♥♥♥ would be good, but man, would I love to see another war take place here in Community Central. Boom.

uhhh I can't believe I missed GW ;___;

personally I'd love to see something like the CoTW, because it does sound fun. I'd love to do GW too, but I imagine it's kind of... boring now. But I want something with the same... motivation. I remember reading a huge 10-page long comic Liah made, ripping apart each of the main men in the GW, and the amount of effort put into that and how inspired it was... it'd be great to see stuff like this again.

I'd suggest another type of war, but I don't know if it'd just be a boring rehash. Though I imagine something like a Country/Continent free-for-all might work.

^... I totes killed Michael in that comic lol! Soz bby, WE WEREN'T BEST FRIENDS THEN. If I could do it all over again, I'd still kill you, but it'd be lovingly and not with a trident to your gut.

Yeah, the first GW was spectacular and honestly it prob sits as one of the most fun memories I have on ZU, but maaannn it requires commitment haha. This was Zach's idea from the GCC

ZU Survivor?

Originally Posted by Notsil

So.


If I started a forum based SURVIVOR: ZELDA UNIVERSE game, would there be any interest in it?

Two teams.

I post a challenge

The teams do it.

At the end of each round, a member must be voted off of the team. Idealy, whoever sucked most.

Trophies and IMMUNITIES would be given out to teams that go above and beyond.

This could be cool.

Do you think it could be cool?

Never happened, but it went on for four pages of interest! Like even people sign up and get assigned to a team could work, doesn't have to be this vs. that (THOUGH RACE OR RELIGION WAR WOULD BE AWESOME RIGHT GUYS HAHAHA).

Again, if people are interested in this you gotta be heeeella ambitious and ready to commit to it. People -leading- it is the tough part; contributing is fun, but being the one to rally the troops and incite excitement is the cruncher and difficult part.

Oh, I had another idea, Matt; over in the GCC every few months one of those circle jerk WHO IS YOUR FAVE ZUER threads pop up whether it be in the form of who you look up to, who you wanna thank, who are your closest friends on ZU etc etc. They happen frequently and, honestly, for all its cheesiness it's a great community-building thingie. So, why not have a sticky here in CC dedicated to that? A ZU thank you/shout out/dedication thread where ZUers can just drop by and make a public thanks or whatever to another user. That'll allow us to direct that ♥♥♥♥ from the GCC to here, and it's bound to be popular because people get all over that ♥♥♥♥ almost always. Just a thought~.

Like a thread where we can pop in and give a shout out to a couple people or whatever?

Sounds like a great idea.

I love both ideas

Malia, I thank you

Originally Posted by Keith

I remember reading a huge 10-page long comic Liah made, ripping apart each of the main men in the GW,

Do you remember not reading a comic about the judges because Liah's a ***** and ignored us. I hate her.

Originally Posted by Malia

ZU Survivor?

Never happened, but it went on for four pages of interest! Like even people sign up and get assigned to a team could work, doesn't have to be this vs. that (THOUGH RACE OR RELIGION WAR WOULD BE AWESOME RIGHT GUYS HAHAHA).

Again, if people are interested in this you gotta be heeeella ambitious and ready to commit to it. People -leading- it is the tough part; contributing is fun, but being the one to rally the troops and incite excitement is the cruncher and difficult part.

There was something similar going on in CC for a bit, but it seemed to have died out. However this does seem like something feasible if there is enough interest in it.

Originally Posted by Malia

Oh, I had another idea, Matt; over in the GCC every few months one of those circle jerk WHO IS YOUR FAVE ZUER threads pop up whether it be in the form of who you look up to, who you wanna thank, who are your closest friends on ZU etc etc. They happen frequently and, honestly, for all its cheesiness it's a great community-building thingie. So, why not have a sticky here in CC dedicated to that? A ZU thank you/shout out/dedication thread where ZUers can just drop by and make a public thanks or whatever to another user. That'll allow us to direct that ♥♥♥♥ from the GCC to here, and it's bound to be popular because people get all over that ♥♥♥♥ almost always. Just a thought~.

Stop trying to get people to suck up to you.






Sounds good, will look into it tomorrow.

Hello!~

ZHUC: Community Made Holiday Cards

I really loved this. They were charming and a wonderful opportunity to see our talented artist users' sharing their work. I feel a little guilty now for not showing enough interest, I did enjoy them a lot. Questions: are there any artists who are willing to participate?


The Gender Wars

I love those, have participated before and really enjoyed it!! At the same time, I would do everything I can to help running it. However, GW usually happens in the summer when people have more time, is that correct? Most of the time, my summers are incredibly chaotic and I'm sometimes completely PC-less, this summer won't be different either. This is why I was not active at it as I could have.

I think it would wort asking people when they prefer to have it organised. When is it convenient for them? Sure, I am positive it must've been asked before, but users and timetables change over time. :>

To be honest, I kind of disagree with Liah; I think Gender Wars is not so... tired. For one thing, we always have new users; and I reckon gender is such a quality(?) that affects everybody, so more people are likely to enter, because "make me a sammich" never gets old. I speak from experience, lol.


ZU'S BIG PIECE OF PAPER

How could you forget this? x3 I am dying to see this happen, I'd 1. participate 2. help if I can 3. encourage everybody, because this is probably my favourite community project ever. I guess the problem here is the lack of interest (or don't-want-to-share-address / financial problems) again, so I'm curious what others think. :>



I have had a big ZU Year Book project in mind as well, I did suggest it at the clan wars - I don't know what was decided about it, amnesia here. The main idea is somewhat similar to the monthly ZU update business Gamzee's doing, though I imagined it in a more... personal way, you know. Essentially, what I have in mind is a yearly "book" that we would make: collecting important events that have happened it that year, adding pictures, photos, memorable quotes, community events, stuff that happened to people, making it pretty and colourful, people could post their resume about that year and why ZU was/is significant or whatever for them in that year, etc. Now that I have typed it down, I realise it's like the ZUBC, so I'm not sure this is a good idea, but I'll leave it here. :>


I'll be back when I can add some more!

^I think the idea of the GW wound down and died eventually because

1) Women kept winning (all three times)
2) Dragged out too long
3) Even though there were new people who joined each time, the people who usually carried the previous war which added immensely to its success weren't around anymore.

For a lot of the people who do remember it, it's like aw man yeah that was great, but ♥♥♥♥'s old now. If the newer people wanna take it upon themselves to start ♥♥♥♥ up, go ahead and give it a whirl, though just sayin' that new people participated every time but it was difficult for them to keep it up because a lot of the regular ZUers were sick of the idea of the GW. If it IS a new idea those who did participate will have something new to jump in on, and it's still something the newbies can dig into too, if that makes sense.

@ Year Book: that sounds like a brilliant idea! Memorable moments listed.

@ BPP: ... where did that get lost boo. I was part of the original. It was great while it lasted.

BPP was mainly DD and Saber's thing, so maybe DD can comment more on it when she gets a chance. Personally I was never big on the idea, however I know a lot of other people were and if they'd like to see it make a return I'd be glad to look at bringing it back.

Liah, couple things on what you just said about the GW. First of all, nobody won the last one, so women only won twice. Secondly, it did drag out a lot, however that was right from the get go. When the idea was mentioned lots of people said "YA!" but once things got under way people just kind of flaked out. So that's why I said if people do want to give it another go I'm going to need to see a LOT of interest for it before I even consider it.

Finally, just some of the things you mentioned made me think. What if we took a different aproach to it. Instead of making it happen every year, leave a couple years between each one. Do it like the olympics maybe every 4 years. Hell, every other year might even be enough to keep interest while stopping it from just getting old. Thoughts?

Matt, YOU told me the women pretty much won, not officially, but based on what -did- happen, women dominated. Jeez lol.

Also, when I say drag out, I didn't mean it was just the fault of the organisers :3 I mean it went into the teams too, ya, people dropping out, people needing extensions etc etc, and why I emphasised dedication and commitment earlier. It made people go eeehhh.

Not a bad idea, having it every x amount of time. I would say, though, that it'd be good to promote this through the GCC and hold the games in here, the CC, just for popularity/traffic reasons.

ZU chess game. Not necessarily a tournament.... but if that's on, I am okay with that too.

But I think maybe my idea won't be counted because of many reasons that I don't know of.

How could you forget this? x3 I am dying to see this happen, I'd 1. participate 2. help if I can 3. encourage everybody, because this is probably my favourite community project ever. I guess the problem here is the lack of interest (or don't-want-to-share-address / financial problems) again, so I'm curious what others think. :>

After several months (half a year even?), the paper made it through less than a dozen people. It was returned to the sender at least twice, and then lost at sea somewhere around Cody. It's unlikely that that one will be coming back, due to all the complications, complete lack of progress, and everything else that went wrong. We had planned to reboot it in a slightly different form (big puzzle project I think?), but that never took off or got enough interest or anything. So no, BPP is probably not going to be started up again, sorry. ^^; At least, not as the original "one giant sheet of paper" idea.

Originally Posted by Malia

Matt, YOU told me the women pretty much won, not officially, but based on what -did- happen, women dominated. Jeez lol.

THAT WAS OFF THE RECORD *****! SEE IF I EVER TELL YOU ANYTHING AGAIN






Everyone ignore Liah, women won twice, the third was never resolved.

Originally Posted by !?

ZU chess game. Not necessarily a tournament.... but if that's on, I am okay with that too.

But I think maybe my idea won't be counted because of many reasons that I don't know of.

Something like a chess game or tournament would be better suited as part of a larger event such as the GW or a survivor type thing. However if it's something you'd be interested in taking up by all means gather some interest and get it going.