[OOC] Feedback for the Outplay Organizers

[JonnyGulliver]

Still waiting on constructive feedback. Was 4 words and a tongue in cheek Deadpool reference really enough to negate the quality of my lengthy body of work, or did I just really suck all around?

[Admin Choc]

Goodmorning,

Just wanting to state over here that it is a bit rough to be voted out of Outplay and not get any Jury feedback.
I understand there is a delay, but I was into Outplay to get some feedback and learn, and now I waited one week for the results that did not come,
I watched the other two proceed and felt left behind...
After a week there will still no Jury comments and even when Round 3 was finished there was nothing but silence.

Besides my feelings; I think the ones who were chosen to continue to roleplay their character in Round 3 deserve the feedback to grow and learn.
I saw the Round 2 results being Archived and I just wanted to state that it is weird to have gotten nothing.
To quote Jonny,

"Still waiting on constructive feedback. Was 4 words and a tongue in cheek Deadpool reference really enough to negate the quality of my lengthy body of work, or did I just really suck all around?"

- and the 5E players did not even get a 4 word and a tongue in cheek Deadool reference -

[moozuba]

I've been in touch with Jonny regarding the 13th Age feedback and won't comment further except to say that Ion2Atom provided rather detailed feedback on each of the competitors.

Regarding the lack of feedback from the 5e judges, chocoladevla, I wish I had something more concrete to offer you, and certainly sympathize with your frustration -- and that of all who are cut from the competition, with or without justification. For example, my Pathfinder group really could have been any of the four, so I can only imagine how those who didn't make it through felt afterward, and having been there myself, I recall well the many questions that followed being cut.

In the end, it comes down to the fact that all our judges are volunteers with many responsibilities outside the contest. Work, family, active games, medical issues, travel, etc. Reading and objectively evaluating each round is challenging enough. For my part, I've had to put all my active RPGX games on hold for the duration of the contest just to keep up with the responsibility of judging, which is something I would by no means expect of other judges.

Thus, I urge patience (difficult as it is). With the contest still ongoing, our busier judges are likely to be wrapped up in the steady cycle of reading and judging, but once the contest ends, perhaps they would be able to steal some time away to provide written justifications for their judgments.

[Legioned]

[moozuba]

[goatmeal]

So kind of late, but I wanted to log my feedback.

I really enjoyed being able to vote for anonymous entries, and having a few days to look at all of them. Once Outplay started in earnest, I quickly lost time for keeping up with it. (So I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t sign up to be a judge.) I doubt this will ever not be the case: life in general is just too busy for me.

Most players on the site don’t participate in Outplay, but I liked that it was done in such a way this year that it encouraged those of us who don’t participate to at least be able to vote for who gets in. I think having a double blind process added a bit more intrigue to it. I would encourage doing this again in the future.

For the voting method of that process, it might be useful to have more than one vote. With only one vote, I found myself quickly ruling out what may have turned out to be decent applications. (Often, I would only read as far as the first typo.) I felt confident voting for one applicant that I felt deserved to be in the game even if it might not have been the absolute best. With a tiered voting system, I could see giving this more thought in terms of the additional votes.

For the voting ballot, I would recommend displaying applicants in the order of submission instead of alphabetical order. There is likely to be some amount of bias towards earlier applicants in the list compared to later applicants in the list. If this bias favors anyone, it should be those who are most efficient at completing the process, not those who try to game the system by having character names starting with the letter A.

Lastly, though I didn’t follow Outplay beyond the first little bit, I must say I have more gratitude to all the organizers and judges that made this possible for all those who chose to participate. Sadly, I don’t think I will ever have the time to join your ranks.

[Aethera]

Thanks to everyone who has registered feedback. I know I haven't had time to respond to everything, but this thread is definitely going to sit right here until next year so we/I know what worked and what didn't. I may not get a chance to ever reply to everything in detail, but I appreciate all the feedback offered. Some of it may work, some of it may not, but having more input is better than less.

Oh, but goatmeal, if we posted anonymous entries based on entry order, they wouldn't really be anonymous, would they?

[goatmeal]

Originally Posted by Aethera

Oh, but goatmeal, if we posted anonymous entries based on entry order, they wouldn't really be anonymous, would they?

Well, they would for people like me who aren't paying attention to the submission process. But if that could spoil it for some maybe that's not a great idea after all.

My main suggestion is to continue with the anonymous voting aspect. That will more likely get my attention next year regardless of what's done with my other suggestions.

[Atalla Wanderer]

I guess my only real complaint - an honest one - would be that in the social round I spend a fair amount of time pulling a beastie out of the portal, including sacrificing my PC's followers, despite them not raising a finger in attacking anyone, only to be completely disregarded. I understand that I did not do what the judges or the DM or the moderators expected, but I felt completely shut down. Why even tell me, secretly, that there was something there if not to offer me something more for capturing it? It was extremely frustrating to have the creature killed without my character being about to do anything. She was backed into a corner by the game and, it feels, set up to fail. That's my issue, I guess: don't tease the players with red herrings unless your prepared to follow through.

[Elfman6]

That is my fault. I did not handle that well.