tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1531544956569831152024-03-08T05:38:23.753+00:00Pod and Planet Fiction ContestEVE Online Fiction Contest 2014Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-9922684032279555582014-10-31T02:11:00.004+00:002014-10-31T02:11:46.494+00:00It's alive! ::Pulls down the ki/chi, heads to a brief restroom break to get ready to roll::<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oct. 30/31 - New writing contest is launched, over here: <a href="http://podandplanet.wix.com/podandplanet">http://podandplanet.wix.com/podandplanet</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here in the <a href="https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=postmessage&f=258" target="_blank">EVE Forums GD section </a>as well.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're going to write or participate, your weighing in at either place would be nice. <span style="font-size: small;">Writing isn't something only immortals can do. Give your fellow dreamers just the nudge that's needed. </span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking forward to seeing what appears this time. Some people might have some pretty sharp tools in the shed by now-- oh yeah.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=postmessage&f=258"></a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-38352030093411547842014-10-14T00:36:00.003+00:002014-10-14T00:36:30.410+00:00::eyelid comes unstuck. got an itch, better scratch it.::<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hello anyone who's watching. Working on putting together a contest for this year. Possibly to start a month later than last year, due to the judges team's availability. Meanwhile, I'm bumming around for more prize donations. If you have any good ideas about that, let me know. Remember, every ISK you help collect... may be an ISK that goes into your own wallet. heh</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">o7</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Telegram Sam</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-5204543052030643562014-10-09T19:58:00.001+00:002014-10-09T21:40:28.167+00:00::page begins to thaw out.... a pinky finger twitches....::Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-28307342519238293702013-12-30T04:30:00.001+00:002013-12-30T04:40:45.659+00:00And the winners are....<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Alright,
winners are finally posted! We managed to follow the contest's name and
get it done while still in YC 115. How's that for speedy? (No need to
reply on that....) Results are posted in the <a href="https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=4054326#post4054326" target="_blank">EVE Fiction forum thread</a>, and right here again.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Grand Prize – 15 PLEX</b><br />Rhavas, 'Intercession' <br /><br /><b>Eight Thousand Suns in New Eden (lore-based category)</b><br /><i>1st Prize – 10 PLEX</i><br />Da'iel Zehn, 'Gauss' <br /><br /><i>2nd Prize – 7 PLEX</i><br />Jakob Anedalle, 'Taking His Medicine' <br />Sugar Kyle, 'Blood Money' <br />Vaku Rakumakan, 'Turncoat' <br /><i><br />3rd Prize – 5 PLEX</i><br />Vehestian, 'Slavery of My Soul' <br />Thes Redav, 'Blind Spot' <br />Kytayn, 'Free to Choose' <br />Callista Dalmore, 'Mexallon falling' <br /><b><br />A Day in the Life (freeform category)</b><br /><i>1st Prize – 8 PLEX</i><br />Jalep Malukker, 'A Toy Amongst Giants: A Newbie's Tale' <br /><br /><i>2nd Prize – 4 PLEX</i><br />Rhavas, 'Homecoming' <br />Sugar Kyle, 'Economics' <br /><br /><i>3rd Prize – 2 PLEX</i><br />Soren Audeles, 'The Hush of God' <br />Caelestina, 'Elusive Desire' <br />Kyle Yanowski, 'Station Games' <br /><br /><b>Other Things Just Make You Swear and Curse (humor category)</b><br /><i>1st Prize – 5 PLEX</i><br />Drackarn, 'The Briefing' <br /><br /><i>2nd Prize – 3 PLEX</i><br />Sugar Kyle, 'ECM Nightmare' <br /><br /><i>3rd Prize – 1 PLEX</i><br />Voluspa Dreamweaver, 'Lesson Learned' <br /><br /><i>Honorable Mention (from all categories)</i><br />Random McNally, 'For Love and Money' <br />Sugar Kyle, 'Boots on the Ground; Fire in the Sky' <br />Vaku Rakumakan, 'Dolan Denis' <br />Voodoo Williams, 'An Immortal Scorned' <br />Archie Andrews, 'Monopoly' <br />Makoto Priano, 'Diamond' <br />Psy Fi, 'A Dusty Future' <br />Penny Ibramovic, 'What we have here is a failure to think straight' <br />Penny Ibramovic, 'Just another day in w-space' <br />Leta Lilitu, 'An Awkward Moment on a Gate' <br />John Piggot (char name Nin Elanihan), 'Miner's Blues' </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A couple of quick comments:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Eterne recused himself from judging stories by a writer who is a personal friend of his. I recused myself</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
from judging stories by Random McNally or his alt. Because he's a
friend of mine, and because I was afraid I'd actually do
counter-biased-ism and be too hard when evaluating his
stories. My recused stories and Eterne's all got very unbiased and
critical workings over from three other judges. The only difference was three judges scored, instead of four. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-This year's
Grand Prize winner came from the A Day in the Life category, rather than
the lore-based 8,000 Suns category. That's because Rhavas's
'Intercession' drew near-perfect scores (three 10s and a 9) from four
different individualistic and highly-opinionated judges. That's a rare
occurrence in this contest, both this year and last year. I don't have
the judges' comments on 'Intercession,' but I do know that it's
intricately plotted, with hints and threads along the way that all weave
together in the end. Just a very well-conceived and crafted story.
Check it out, if you haven't already. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Compared
to last year, this year's stories seemed more relaxed, and actually
more fun. Maybe because this time around there wasn't the CCP and Eon
Magazine publicity behind it (even though the prize amounts this time
were significantly bigger, in terms of RL currency). Last year's
entries were a little more tense, and a little more on the grim side.
This year, people seemed relaxed, and perhaps a little more confident.
Which were better? It's kind of comparing fedos and janitors, but
overall I think the looseness and greater confidence helped this year's
stories.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-We had entries
by two native German speakers and one native Spanish speaker this year.
Some of those entries won prizes. I'm very proud of our judges for
judging stories based on <i>the tale, as told</i>. And as a student of
second languages myself, I salute the writers who had the guts to write
in a foreign language. If only we all could read and understand what
you'd write in the language of your home.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-You guys who gave PLEX prizes-- how great is that? 'Nuff said. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-I'll
be mailing feedback to writers who requested it. Ye writers, send each
other some feedback too. Help a bro out with some comments on his
work. If nothing else, just let him know that somebody read his beloved and carefully crafted story.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-This
blog page isn't much good for leaving comments and replies. Let's take
the discussion to the EVE Fiction thread. Speak your words, comrades.
o7 </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-29256524380019289352013-11-15T15:56:00.001+00:002013-11-21T15:31:48.366+00:00Judging timeframe - a very rough guess<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Update on judging: It's looking like the judges will be finished scoring the entries during the first week of December. It's possible it will be sooner, but not likely. After the initial score, we'll probably have to do a quick second round to resolve any ties.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Here's how the judging works, if you're curious:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">1) Each of the four judges assigns a score between 1 and 10 (whole numbers).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">2) Each story's four scores are added together for a total aggregate score.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">3) The stories in each category are ranked first to last by total score.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">45) If there are stories with tied scores competing for the available prizes, each judge ranks them from first to last. For example, 1st - Story K, 2nd - Story D, 3rd - Story R. 1st place earns 25 points, 2nd earns 18, 3rd earns 15. (This is based on F1 racing's scoring system-- because F1 is cooler than NASCAR or Indy. Heh). The points from each judge are added together and the list is rearranged by score rank.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">5) The list is compared to the prizes that are available in that category and prizes are awarded.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">So, to win a top prize, a story has to very well with four different judges. Last year the point differences between first and second prize, second and third prize, etc. were very close. In other words, many, many stories were contenders for prizes. This year the contest has more Honorable Mention prizes, in consideration of the high quality of the stories received and the very close score differences between the entries. </span> <br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-85725821976652134262013-11-13T15:23:00.001+00:002013-11-13T15:24:24.136+00:00Writers done, judges get to work...<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The entry submissions period has closed with <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>65</b>
total stories entered: 33 for 8000 Suns, 22 for Day in the Life, and
10 for Swear & Curse. Well done writers! A couple of observations
so far:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-There
was a small rush of entries at the end, but not a huge flood. Mostly
by people who didn't find out about the contest until late.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Some people used all 5,000 available words, but many were able to tell there stories in 2,000-3,000 words.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-There's really a wide variety of stories and styles in this group of entries.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Some stuff I've read so far is very, very good. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now
on to the judging. The question everyone probably wants to ask-- when
will results be announced? To be honest, at this point it's hard to
guess. It will depend on when four individual judges are each able to
read and
score all 65 stories. For now, I'll just say that we're on it and
judging is in progress. I'll post updates/timeframe estimates here
along the way. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Writers, while you're waiting, read, study and enjoy the <a href="http://podandplanetyc115.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">stories entered this year</a>.</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Comment
and give your fellow writers some feedback. Or at least let them know
that their story was read by someone. Writers don't want their work to
just sit in some lonely corner of the internet. They want someone to
read it and tell them how they did, right?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thanks for the stories writers! Again, watch here for updates on the judging. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-81813949599307802512013-11-13T15:19:00.001+00:002013-11-13T15:19:28.358+00:00Contest (Round Two for 2013) Open<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Hello
writers and readers, here's Pod and Planet EVE Fiction Contest YC115.</span>
We had one of these last year that drew 101 stories, both by
experienced writers and people writing their first fiction piece
ever. If you want to check out the surprising high quality of
stories the EVE community produced, the entries and winners are <a href="http://podandplanetentries.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This
year's contest will be similar to last year's. Writers will have
about five weeks to get their work(s) submitted. There will be a
canon-based category and a more free-form category. This year, based
on suggestions from last year's contestants, there will also be a humor
category.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><u>The
prizes</u></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Our
total prize pool is 101 PLEX. One PLEX is courtesy of our friends at
the High Drag EVE podcast. 100 PLEX(!) were donated by Somer Blink,
who are generously sponsoring for a second year. So we have the
equivalent of over 60 bil ISK in loot to pass out to you guys. Thank
you sponsors.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><u>The
judges</u></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Once
again, we've got some expert contest judges for the contest. (Plus
myself, for diversity or something). Your judges, in alphabetical
order, are: </span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CCP
Eterne (returning from last year) – EVE community dev, veteran EVE
content writer, live events coordinator, EVE lore master.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">CCP
Falcon (returning from last year) – EVE community dev, veteran EVE
content writer, live events coordinator, EVE lore master.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Mike
Azariah -CSM member, Arek'jalaan project coordinator, blogger,
podcaster, writer.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Telegram
Sam (myself) – EVE player, “logical persuasion” (legal) writer,
creative writer, appreciator of the craft.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><u>The
contest categories</u></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
contest has three categories: standard EVE lore-based,
freeform/ingame events based, and humor. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The first
category:</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i><b>Eight</b></i></span></span><span style="color: #134f5c;">
</span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i><b>Thousand Suns
in New Eden</b></i></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i> </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">–
</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Stories of the citizens and societies of
New Eden: capsuleer ships, crowded cities and lonely
outposts; fertile planets and busy stations; corporate
offices and peasant shacks; the immediate present, or the deep,
distant past</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">This
category is for stories set within the official canon of New Eden,
similar to the EVE prime fiction chronicles. The story can be
about baseliners or about capsuleers, but it should not mention an
in-game player character, corp or alliance. Basically, the
storyshould be set in the New Eden milieu as laid out in the prime
EVE fiction. It's possible to write about a player character or real
in-game events, but the names of player entities should be changed,
and the setting and events should fit into the framework of the New
Eden lore. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
biggest prizes will be in this “standard works,”
canon-focused category. That's because the body of lore in
the Chronicles and EVElopedia is rich, detailed, and huge, and it
deserves more exploring. Also, because writing
within the canon requires more attention and care. And finally,
because we expect the most entries and the toughest competition in
this category. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
second category:</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i><span style="color: #134f5c;"><b>A
Day in the Life</b></span> – True, somewhat true, or completely
made-up tales of player character miners, mission
runners, manufacturers, pirates, scammers, spies, and
other heroes, rogues, and opportunists of EVE. </i></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Stories
in this category can be about actual in-game events. You can
mention player characters, corps, alliances, real in-game events, or
"player-driven content." Basically, you can do
anything you want, you need not conform to the canon. If you want to
write a story about your corp and its members, a stroke of
pvp tactical brilliance, a corp infiltration, a local chat
encounter, etc., it should go here. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The third
category:</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><i><b>Other
Things Just Make You Swear and Curse</b></i></span> – The humor category.
There are no specific rules for this category, except the story
should be EVE-themed and contain some humor. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><u>The
prizes breakdown</u></span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Pod
and Planet Contest Grand Prize</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> (will
very likely go to the best story in the 8,000 Suns canon-faithful
category) – </span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">15 PLEX</span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i><u>8,000
Suns category</u> </i></span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>1</i><sup><i>st</i></sup><i>
Prize </i>– <span style="color: #134f5c;">10 PLEX</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>2</i><sup><i>nd</i></sup><i>
Prize </i>(there will be three 2nd Prize winners) –<span style="color: #134f5c;">7
PLEX per winner</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>3</i></span><sup><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>rd</i></span></sup><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>
Prize </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">(there will be four of these) </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>-
</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;">5 PLEX
per winner</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><u>A
Day in the Life category </u></i></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>1</i></span><sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>st</i></span></sup><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>
Prize</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> – </span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6
PLEX</span></span><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></span>
</div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>2</i></span><sup><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>nd</i></span></sup><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>
Prize </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">(there will be two of these) –
</span><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">4 PLEX per winner</span></span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">3<sup>rd</sup>
Prize (there will be three of these ) <i>- </i><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-style: normal;">2
PLEX per winner</span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i><u>Other Things Just Make You Swear and Curse category</u></i><br /><i>1st Prize</i> – <span style="color: #134f5c;">4 PLEX </span><br /><i>2nd Prize</i> – <span style="color: #134f5c;">2 PLEX</span> <br /><i>3rd Prize</i> – <span style="color: #134f5c;">1 PLEX</span></span><br />
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><i>Honorable
Mention</i> (10 of these, picked from top-scored entries from each
category) –<i> </i><span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-style: normal;">1
PLEX per winner</span></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><u>Rules</u></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-The
deadline for submissions is November 10, 2013.
(Entries must be received by <span style="background: transparent;">November
10, 11:59:59 PM EVE time). </span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-Works
can be any length up to <u>5,000</u> words long. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-The work
must be your own, of course.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-The work
should be a new work and not have been posted or published before.
(Sit down and write that new one, ye bustards!) Sorry, to be fair to
everyone we have to follow a bright-line, no exceptions rule on
this. Basically, the work should be a new work written after
the contest opened on <span style="background: transparent;">October
6, 2013</span>. If you have an older work you want to share,
we're very happy to link it for everyone to read, but we can't enter
it in the competition. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-A work
can only be entered in one category. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-You can
submit more than one work. No extra consideration and no penalties
will be given for multiple submissions. Each piece will stand on
it's own, of course. The purpose of this rule is to encourage and
not penalize prolific writing. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-Entries
have to be in English, only because that's a language that most
in the community can read. But if English isn't your
first language, don't be shy. A story doesn't have to be
in perfect grammatical English to be good.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-Whatever
your first language is, use your word processor's spell check before
you submit the work. You worked hard on it, why let little cosmetic
errors hurt the story's overall impact?</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><u>How
to Submit Your Work</u></span></span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">1) Post
your story on a blog site or website. You can find some free
hosting sites via a quick internet search. The URL will be
shared with the public, so that everybody can read your work.
Don’t post in a password-protected place, or of course in any
place that you want to keep private. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">2) Send
Telegram Sam an in-game or EVE Gate mail that:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> -Provides a link to the where the work is posted;
</span>
<br />
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-Indicates which category the entry is for; and</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-States whether has been posted or published
before. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">If you
want to add illustrations to your posting, so much the better.
However, illustrations will not affect the judging of the fiction
piece. </span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">As
stories come in, we'll be posting the links to them <u>here</u>.
Check back often to see what the writers of EVEdom are
producing. Any questions about the contest, message Telegram
Sam through EVE Gate or in-game. Or just post your
question on the contest announcement thread in the EVE forums.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Note
1:</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i> Works in the 8,000 Suns
category should conform to the official EVE official lore.</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">
At least</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> two of the judges are
lore experts who will likely dock points if the story violates the
official EVE lore. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writers
might find Mark726's <a href="https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2091726#post2091726">EVE
lore guide</a> helpful as a resource for checking the canon. If in
doubt about a point of the lore, you may want to consult with the
people in the EVE Fiction section of the EVE forums.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">
But, bear in mind: A good story can lose points for violating the
canon, but a mediocre story won't gain extra points just because it
perfectly conforms to the canon. I personally would recommend not
letting anxiety about the canon choke your ideas. With some
tweaking, you can likely make your characters and plot fit into the
milieu of the canon. And on the other hand, reading through the New
Eden lore setting many trigger some great ideas for a story.</span></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Note
2: From last year's results, we expect the most entries and the most
intense competition in the 8,000 Suns category. The Day in the Life
had less entries, and probably less top-level entries. So the
competition was less intense there. The humor category is new this
year, so it's anybody guess on the level of competition. If you're
writing to win a prize, you have the option of strategically picking
the category, based on your evaluation of the possible risk and
potential prize level reward.</span></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Note
3: We had 101 entries last year, and we have 101 PLEX prizes this
year. Strange coincidence, or a manifestation of the interconnected
lattice of cosmic unconsciousness? Consider these facts about the
number 101:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-In
Hebrew, the letters of the name archangel Michael, if converted into
numerals, come to 101.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-In
Greek, the letters for “love,” if converted into numerals, come
to 101.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-101<span style="color: #134f5c;"><span style="font-size: large;"><u> </u></span></span>is the 26<sup>th</sup> prime number. The Roman alphabet has 26
letters. There were 26 generations between Adam and Moses.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-In
Soviet Russia, returnees from gulags could not live within 101 km of
a major city.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-101
is often used as the number of ways to do something, for example “101
Ways to Waste Your Time.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-101
often indicates a beginner-level course, such as “Numerology 101.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-The
traditional PC keyboard (with no Windows keys) has 101 keys.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-There
is a 101 proof Wild Turkey bourbon.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-101
is the Mayan numeral <i>hoo kal hun</i>.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-101
Dalmations. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Again,
</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><i><b>many, many thanks to Somer Blink and the
High Drag podcast for the prizes to the writers</b>.</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">
Thanks also to <b>CCP Eterne</b>, <b>CCP Falcon</b>, <b>Mike Azariah</b> and
<b>labtechwar</b> (banner designer) for donating their time and
expert services. </span>
</div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Good
luck, writers! May your muses be with you, may your space-outs
take you deep, and may you hit your zone!</span> <span style="font-family: Arial;">:
)</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-34262191830144768692013-01-19T19:03:00.002+00:002013-01-19T19:07:16.600+00:00To Your Scattered Bloggings Go<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A couple of Pod & Planet contest writers have shared links to their blogs, with thoughts about the contest, their stories, or EVE fiction in general. Links are here, check them out. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And if you want to put a link to your blog or writing space here, let me know. It would be kind of nice to have a unified list of EVE fiction-related blogs.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here are the links so far.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Seismic Stan's <a href="http://freebooted.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/deconstructing-clouded-judgement.html" target="_blank">Freebooted</a>. SS <span style="font-size: small;">has posted a very</span> interesting<span style="font-size: small;"> piece</span> on how his story <a href="http://freebooted.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/clouded-judgement.html" target="_blank">'Clouded Judgement'</a> came about. Not all stories are spawned while driving, showering, or daydreaming through the prof's lecture.... While you're there, check out his other fiction tales. I'll be doing the same. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Aurelie Thalys's <a href="http://emergentpatroller.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Emergent Patroller</a>. Aurelie is the author of <a href="http://emergentpatroller.blogspot.nl/2012/10/entangled.html" target="_blank">'Entangled'</a> and the Emergent Patroller series of stories set in the New Eden universe. I'<span style="font-size: small;">ll be checking those out. </span>His OOC Post 67 has thoughts on the contest entry stories, in case you missed it before. </span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you want to add your blog or new story to this list, just send a link and we'll post it. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-28407307088919413272013-01-05T17:45:00.002+00:002013-01-06T01:29:06.255+00:00Contest Entries - 101 Nights<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, after over two
months and a lot of work by many writers, the Pod and Planet Fiction
Contest is finally done. I thought I'd post some observations, and maybe try tie up any loose
ends. It seems kind of odd to just announce a group of winners
and give no feedback to the entrants as a whole. So here goes a long one.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>Mass Mobilization</u>
- You've heard this before, but the response from writers was much
bigger than expected. I was guessing we'd get maybe 30-40
entries in the lore-based category and 15-20 in the free-form
category. We got about double that. From people who write
regularly, from first-time writers, and from people writing in
English as their non-native language. Pretty excellent, I'd
say. It looks like there are more writers out there in EVE than
anybody ever guessed. I've always thought that EVE had the
smartest and most sophisticated player base of any MMO, and I think
this kind of supports that theory.<u> </u></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>This is Fan Fiction?</u>
- You've also heard this before, but the quality of the entries was
really high. Surprisingly high. I heard that from the
other judges, from a published SF writer friend of mine who reviewed
the stories, and from several of the writers. Many people wrote
like old pros, with smooth, quiet confidence. Others weren't
quite as polished, but they still put together a good, flowing
narrative-- in other words, a well-constructed <i>story</i> that
followed a plot arc from intro to conclusive end. And whatever
the writer's skill at using the tools, the <i>ideas</i> were
first-rate. A lot of the stories showed the classic sci-fi
writer mentality of investigating a "what if?," taking it
to the next step to reveal a possible eventuality, and making that
eventuality the basis for a mentally intriguing story. Other
writers just took good characters, placed in the possibilities of the
New Eden setting, and wrote character-driven stories with drama and
impact. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bottom line is, this
stuff was not just fan fiction dabbling. It didn't just take
things from the game and express them in verbal format (possibly with
some heroic fantasizing or bombasticizing). They were original
and unique stories, well-told, that happened to be set in an EVE
setting.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><u>Prizes Angst</u></span><br />
<div style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After
we'd received about 40 stories, many, many all of which were
first-rate and deserving of award, I started regretting the way the
prize distribution was set up. When we started getting close to 100
stories, I was really regretting it. There were just too many
excellent stories for the only 12 prizes we had to give out. I
considered-- more than once-- changing the distribution of the
available prize funds, so that we could have more prizes to share
among many good entries. But in the end, I decided against it. Once
people's expectations are set and people have set to work, you just
can't change the deal. It wouldn't be fair to the people who
eventually did win, and created their work based on a certain
expectation for a certain prize. </span></div>
<div style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span>
</div>
<div style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So, I
stayed with the original prize distribution plan. But I do really
wish we'd had more prizes to give out. More stories deserved
recognition than got it. <i><b>So if you liked somebody's story, why
not take a minute and let him/her know?</b> </i><span style="font-style: normal;">An isk
prize or whatever is great. But knowing somebody listened to your
tale and found it interesting is what a writer is really aiming for,
right?</span></span></div>
<div style="text-decoration: none;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><u>The
Interconnected Lattice of Cosmic Unconsciousness</u></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Among the 101 entries,
there seem to be a few things that the writers shared as having on
their minds. Some themes from the New Eden world the writers
seemed to like, or want to investigate and flesh out more
fully.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><span style="text-decoration: none;">The
Final Frontier</span></i><span style="text-decoration: none;"> –
Most stories were set on ships or in space stations. Offhand, I
count up only 11 stories that took place down in the on the planets.
Of those, five featured combat and and six were about more ordinary
civil life. So the mentality of the EVE community seems to be about
90% in space and 95% violent. How's that for pseudo statistical
science? </span></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>One Second, I Need a
Shower</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> - Pod goo
figured pretty prominently in the body of entries as a whole.
Writers explored entering a tank of pod goo (fresh or not so fresh
goo), inhaling it, doing boosters in it, having a Quafe in it,
and glurping out of it onto the station floor. Being an
immortal, all-powerful capsuleer is truly glorious-- except for the
goo.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>They Were Expendable</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
- It seems that the writers had been contemplating the vagueries of
how ships' crews really work, because non-capsuleer crew members made
quite a few appearances. Generally they were decent sorts,
somewhat fatalistic and resigned to the fact that they were hardly
crossed the minds of the arrogant, capricious, godlike capsuleer ship
owner-captains. To me at least, the stories did a great job of
working out the mechanics of how ship crews really operate, and
giving crew members bodies, faces, souls and voices. I'll have
a hard time remembering that the defined concepts I now have in my
mind are not officially canon. But who knows, maybe the
concepts from the contest entries will work into the EVE collective
consciousness, and from there into the official lore. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Feet Don't Fail Me
Now</i> - Along the same lines, crew escape pods appeared in several
stories. Personally I think the writers had to somewhat take a
blind stab and leave the details of how escape pods work pretty
vague. Where are the pods located? How far from the crew
members' duty station? Are they for just one crew member, or
several? When a ship is in a closely-fought battle with another
ship, and milliseconds count, and either might finish off the other
one at any second, when does the ship commander give the order to
abandon stations and board pods? It seems that doing that
irrevocably commits his ship to defeat and destruction; he has to
forego the chance that the DPS vs. tank balance between his ship and
the foe might come out in his favor in the last millisecond, and they
might all survive. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As far as I know, this
is a quandary that hasn't been addressed or worked out in official
lore. For example, in <u>Templar One</u>, a certain
politician's wife and daughter get caught completely off-guard in
their shuttle, seated in lounge chairs and drinking champagne.
The ship's hull is breached within seconds, with no time to prepare,
but these passengers somehow end up ejecting in escape pods.
Any thoughts or comments on this, writers and readers? </span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>The Mods, not the Trads</i> - Gallente and Caldari
dominated as story protagonists. Minmatar was a pretty distant
third, which I found a little suprising. It would seem that a
tattooed, semi-civilized, macho culture Minmatar would be easy fodder
for a use as a protagonist. But the writers weren't that simplistic.
They went with the the Caldari and the more subtle, refined, and not-easily-p</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">igeon-holed Gallente.</span></span> </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amarr didn't appear as
capsuleer protagonists, but they were in a few very refined stories
set in planetside settings. In capsuleer stories, they tended to be
on the more villainous side.
</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>What Won't Doesn't
Kill Me Can Only Make Me Stronger</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
- The citizens of New Eden seem to be very fond of alcohol and
tobacco. Especially alcohol, and in copious amounts. Station bars
were prominent settings, and they ranged from ultra-posh and glitzy
to grungy and sleazy. Capsuleers and other protagonists tend to
prefer the sleazier ones. Dark station bars full of sullen capsuleers, ruthless pirates, impudent
bartenders, and greedy fake-friendly waitresses-- I wish we had one of those in my town.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Runtime Error--File
is Corrupted – </i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Several
stories considered the ramifications of transneural burning-- what
can go wrong, how neural maps could be manipulated by third parties,
and the psychological effects of multiple deaths and reclonings.
Some very clever ideas there, and some pretty scary ones. Well done,
you fiendish tellers of twisted, unholy tales. :]</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Cruor ex Machina</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">
– The favored villains seemed to be the Blood Raiders and the
Sansha 'borgs. The stories got some good horror effects out of those
nasties. Guristas appeared once, but not a very integral part of the
plot. Angels, Serpentis, and other antagonist faction types appeared
not at all.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Well,
those are some of my personal impressions after reading the 101 stories from the minds of EVE. Ideally I'd cite the stories that have the themes mentioned here, but... I'm just not that thorough today. : ] If something mentioned comes from your story, let us know and feel free to refute everything I said. And if you've read the stories, let's
hear your comments and impressions as well. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"> </span></span>
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><u>Last
things and going forward</u>: </span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Zapatero at EON has the links to all the stories, for
consideration for publication. That's really all I know, other than
Zapatero is a good guy and that his initial support set the ball
rolling for this contest. As you're writing your next stories,
remember that EON is open to submissions from the community. (I'm guessing the offer is still open, but that's just a guess). Maybe
check out <a href="http://www.blogger.com/OK,%20after%20over%20two%20months%20and%20a%20lot%20of%20work%20by%20many%20writers,%20the%20Pod%20and%20Planet%20Fiction%20Contest%20is%20finally%20done.%C2%A0%20I%20thought%20I%27d%20post%20an%20AAR%20(After%20Action%20Report)%20with%20some%20observations,%20to%20maybe%20tie%20up%20any%20loose%20ends.%C2%A0%20It%20seems%20kind%20of%20odd%20to%20just%20announce%20a%20group%20of%20winners%20and%20give%20no%20feedback%20to%20the%20entrants%20as%20a%20whole.%C2%A0%20So%20here%20goes.%20%C2%A0%20Mass%20Mobilization%20-%20You%27ve%20heard%20this%20before,%20but%20the%20response%20from%20writers%20was%20much%20bigger%20than%20expected.%C2%A0%20I%20was%20guessing%20we%27d%20get%20maybe%2030-40%20entries%20in%20the%20lore-based%20category%20and%2015-20%20in%20the%20free-form%20category.%C2%A0%20We%20got%20about%20double%20that.%C2%A0%20From%20people%20who%20write%20regularly,%20from%20first-time%20writers,%20and%20from%20people%20writing%20in%20English%20as%20their%20non-native%20language.%C2%A0%20Pretty%20excellent,%20I%27d%20say.%C2%A0%20It%20looks%20like%20there%20are%20more%20writers%20out%20there%20in%20EVE%20than%20anybody%20ever%20guessed.%C2%A0%20I%27ve%20always%20thought%20that%20EVE%20had%20the%20smartest%20and%20most%20sophisticated%20player%20base%20of%20any%20MMO,%20and%20I%20think%20this%20kind%20of%20supports%20that%20theory.%20%20This%20is%20Fan%20Fiction?%20-%20You%27ve%20also%20heard%20this%20before,%20but%20the%20quality%20of%20the%20entries%20was%20really%20high.%C2%A0%20Surprisingly%20high.%C2%A0%20I%20heard%20that%20from%20the%20other%20judges,%20from%20a%20published%20SF%20writer%20friend%20of%20mine%20who%20reviewed%20the%20stories,%20and%20from%20several%20of%20the%20writers.%C2%A0%20Many%20people%20wrote%20like%20old%20pros,%20with%20smooth,%20quiet%20confidence.%C2%A0%20Others%20weren%27t%20quite%20as%20polished,%20but%20they%20still%20put%20together%20a%20good,%20flowing%20narrative--%20in%20other%20words,%20a%20well-constructed%20story%20that%20followed%20a%20plot%20arc%20from%20intro%20to%20conclusive%20end.%C2%A0%20And%20whatever%20the%20writer%27s%20skill%20at%20using%20the%20tools,%20the%20ideas%20were%20first-rate.%C2%A0%20A%20lot%20of%20the%20stories%20showed%20the%20classic%20sci-fi%20writer%20mentality%20of%20investigating%20a%20%22what%20if?,%22%20taking%20it%20to%20the%20next%20step%20to%20reveal%20a%20possible%20eventuality,%20and%20making%20that%20eventuality%20the%20basis%20for%20a%20mentally%20intriguing%20story.%C2%A0%20Other%20writers%20just%20took%20good%20characters,%20placed%20in%20the%20possibilities%20of%20the%20New%20Eden%20setting,%20and%20wrote%20character-driven%20stories%20with%20drama%20and%20impact.%C2%A0%C2%A0%20%C2%A0%20The%20bottom%20line%20is,%20this%20stuff%20was%20not%20just%20fan%20fiction%20dabbling.%C2%A0%20It%20didn%27t%20just%20take%20things%20from%20the%20game%20and%20express%20them%20in%20verbal%20format%20(possibly%20with%20some%20heroic%20fantasizing%20or%20bombasticizing).%C2%A0%20They%20were%20original%20and%20unique%20stories,%20well-told,%20that%20happened%20to%20be%20set%20in%20an%20EVE%20setting.%20Prizes%20Angst%20After%20we%27d%20received%20about%2040%20stories,%20many,%20many%20all%20of%20which%20were%20first-rate%20and%20deserving%20of%20award,%20I%20started%20regretting%20the%20way%20the%20prize%20distribution%20was%20set%20up.%20%20When%20we%20started%20getting%20close%20to%20100%20stories,%20I%20was%20really%20regretting%20it.%20%20There%20were%20just%20too%20many%20excellent%20stories%20for%20the%20only%2012%20prizes%20we%20had%20to%20give%20out.%20%20I%20considered--%20more%20than%20once--%20changing%20the%20distribution%20of%20the%20available%20prize%20funds,%20so%20that%20we%20could%20have%20more%20prizes%20to%20share%20among%20many%20good%20entries.%20%20But%20in%20the%20end,%20I%20decided%20against%20it.%20%20Once%20people%27s%20expectations%20are%20set%20and%20people%20have%20set%20to%20work,%20you%20just%20can%27t%20change%20the%20deal.%20%20It%20wouldn%27t%20be%20fair%20to%20the%20people%20who%20eventually%20did%20win,%20and%20created%20their%20work%20based%20on%20a%20certain%20expectation%20for%20a%20certain%20prize.%20%20%20So,%20I%20stayed%20with%20the%20original%20prize%20distribution%20plan.%20%20But%20I%20do%20really%20wish%20we%27d%20had%20more%20prizes%20to%20give%20out.%20%20More%20stories%20deserved%20recognition%20than%20got%20it.%20%20So%20if%20you%20liked%20somebody%27s%20story,%20why%20not%20let%20him/her%20know?%20%20An%20isk%20prize%20or%20whatever%20is%20great.%20%20But%20knowing%20somebody%20listened%20to%20your%20tale%20and%20found%20it%20interesting%20is%20what%20a%20writer%20is%20really%20aiming%20for,%20right?%20The%20Interconnected%20Lattice%20of%20Cosmic%20Unconsciousness%20Among%20the%20101%20entries,%20there%20seem%20to%20be%20a%20few%20things%20that%20the%20writers%20shared%20as%20having%20on%20their%20minds.%C2%A0%20Some%20themes%20from%20the%20New%20Eden%20world%20the%20writers%20seemed%20to%20like,%20or%20want%20to%C2%A0%20investigate%20and%20flesh%20out%20more%20fully.%20The%20Final%20Frontier%20%E2%80%93%20Most%20stories%20were%20set%20on%20ships%20or%20in%20space%20stations.%20%20Offhand,%20I%20count%20up%20only%2011%20stories%20that%20took%20place%20down%20in%20the%20on%20the%20planets.%20%20Of%20those,%20five%20featured%20combat%20and%20%20%20and%20six%20were%20about%20more%20ordinary%20civil%20life.%20%20So%20the%20mentality%20of%20the%20EVE%20community%20seems%20to%20be%20about%2090%%20in%20space%20and%2095%%20violent.%20%20How%27s%20that%20for%20pseudo%20statistical%20science?%20%20%20One%20Second,%20I%20Need%20a%20Shower%20-%20Pod%20goo%20figured%20pretty%20prominently%20in%20the%20body%20of%20entries%20as%20a%20whole.%C2%A0%20Writers%20explored%20entering%20a%20tank%20of%20pod%20goo%20(fresh%20or%20not%20so%20fresh%20goo),%20inhaling%20it,%C2%A0%20doing%20boosters%20in%20it,%20having%20a%20Quafe%20in%20it,%20and%20glurping%20out%20of%20it%20onto%20the%20station%20floor.%C2%A0%20Being%20an%20immortal,%20all-powerful%20capsuleer%20is%20truly%20glorious--%20except%20for%20the%20goo.%20They%20Were%20Expendable%20-%20It%20seems%20that%20the%20writers%20had%20been%20contemplating%20the%20vagueries%20of%20how%20ships%27%20crews%20really%20work,%20because%20non-capsuleer%20crew%20members%20made%20quite%20a%20few%20appearances.%C2%A0%20Generally%20they%20were%20decent%20sorts,%20somewhat%20fatalistic%20and%20resigned%20to%20the%20fact%20that%20they%20were%20hardly%20crossed%20the%20minds%20of%20the%20arrogant,%20capricious,%20godlike%20capsuleer%20ship%20owner-captains.%C2%A0%20To%20me%20at%20least,%20the%20stories%20did%20a%20great%20job%20of%20working%20out%20the%20mechanics%20of%20how%20ship%20crews%20really%20operate,%20and%20giving%20crew%20members%20bodies,%20faces,%20souls%20and%20voices.%C2%A0%20I%27ll%20have%20a%20hard%20time%20remembering%20that%20the%20defined%20concepts%20I%20now%20have%20in%20my%20mind%20are%20not%20officially%20canon.%C2%A0%20But%20who%20knows,%20maybe%20the%20concepts%20from%20the%20contest%20entries%20will%20work%20into%20the%20EVE%20collective%20consciousness,%20and%20from%20there%20into%20the%20official%20lore.%C2%A0%C2%A0%20%C2%A0%20Feet%20Don%27t%20Fail%20Me%20Now%20-%20Along%20the%20same%20lines,%20crew%20escape%20pods%20appeared%20in%20several%20stories.%C2%A0%20Personally%20I%20think%20the%20writers%20had%20to%20somewhat%20take%20a%20blind%20stab%20and%20leave%20the%20details%20of%20how%20escape%20pods%20work%20pretty%20vague.%C2%A0%20Where%20are%20the%20pods%20located?%C2%A0%20How%20far%20from%20the%20crew%20members%27%20duty%20station?%C2%A0%20Are%20they%20for%20just%20one%20crew%20member,%20or%20several?%C2%A0%20When%20a%20ship%20is%20in%20a%20closely-fought%20battle%20with%20another%20ship,%20and%20milliseconds%20count,%20and%20either%20might%20finish%20off%20the%20other%20one%20at%20any%20second,%20when%20does%20the%20ship%20commander%20give%20the%20order%20to%20abandon%20stations%20and%20board%20pods?%C2%A0%20It%20seems%20that%20doing%20that%20irrevocably%20commits%20his%20ship%20to%20defeat%20and%20destruction;%20he%20has%20to%20forego%20the%20chance%20that%20the%20DPS%20vs.%20tank%20balance%20between%20his%20ship%20and%20the%20foe%20might%20come%20out%20in%20his%20favor%20in%20the%20last%20millisecond,%20and%20they%20might%20all%20survive.%C2%A0%C2%A0%20%C2%A0%20As%20far%20as%20I%20know,%20this%20is%20a%20quandary%20that%20hasn%27t%20been%20addressed%20or%20worked%20out%20in%20official%20lore.%C2%A0%20For%20example,%20in%20Templar%20One,%20a%20certain%20politician%27s%20wife%20and%20daughter%20get%20caught%20completely%20off-guard%20in%20their%20shuttle,%20seated%20in%20lounge%20chairs%20and%20drinking%20champagne.%C2%A0%20The%20ship%27s%20hull%20is%20breached%20within%20seconds,%20with%20no%20time%20to%20prepare,%20but%20these%20passengers%20somehow%20end%20up%20ejecting%20in%20escape%20pods.%C2%A0%20Any%20thoughts%20or%20comments%20on%20this,%20writers%20and%20readers?%C2%A0%20%20Gallente%20and%20Caldari%20dominated%20as%20story%20protagonists.%20%20Minmatar%20was%20a%20pretty%20distant%20third,%20which%20I%20found%20a%20little%20suprising.%20%20It%20would%20seem%20that%20a%20tattooed,%20semi-civilized,%20macho%20culture%20Minmatar%20would%20be%20easy%20fodder%20for%20a%20use%20as%20a%20protagonist.%20%20But%20the%20writers%20weren%27t%20that%20simplistic.%20%20They%20went%20with%20the%20the%20Caldari%20and%20the%20more%20subtle,%20refined,%20and%20wide-open%20to%20interpretation%20Gallente.%20%20%20Amarr%20didn%27t%20appear%20as%20capsuleer%20protagonists,%20but%20the%20were%20in%20a%20few%20very%20refined%20stories%20set%20in%20planetside%20settings.%20%20In%20capsuleer%20stories,%20they%20tended%20to%20be%20on%20the%20more%20villainous%20side.%20%20%20What%20Won%27t%20Doesn%27t%20Kill%20Me%20Can%20Only%20Make%20Me%20Stronger%20-%20The%20citizens%20of%20New%20Eden%20seem%20to%20be%20very%20fond%20of%20alcohol%20and%20tobacco.%20%20Especially%20alcohol,%20and%20in%20copious%20amounts.%20%20Station%20bars%20were%20prominent%20settings,%20and%20they%20ranged%20from%20ultra-posh%20and%20glitzy%20to%20grungy%20and%20sleazy.%20%20Capsuleers%20and%20other%20protagonists%20tend%20to%20prefer%20the%20sleazier%20ones.%20%20Honestly,%20I%20wish%20we%20had%20one%20of%20those%20station%20bars%20full%20of%20sullen%20capsuleers,%20ruthless%20pirates,%20arrogant%20bartenders,%20and%20greedy%20fake-friendly%20waitresses%20in%20my%20town.%20Runtime%20Error--File%20is%20Corrupted%20%E2%80%93%20Several%20stories%20considered%20the%20ramifications%20of%20transneural%20burning--%20what%20can%20go%20wrong,%20how%20neural%20maps%20could%20be%20manipulated%20by%20third%20parties,%20and%20the%20psychological%20effects%20of%20multiple%20deaths%20and%20reclonings.%20%20Some%20very%20clever%20ideas%20there,%20and%20some%20pretty%20scary%20ones.%20%20Well%20done,%20you%20fiendish%20tellers%20of%20twisted,%20unholy%20tales.%20:]%20%20Cruor%20ex%20Machina%20%E2%80%93%20The%20favored%20villains%20seemed%20to%20be%20the%20Blood%20Raiders%20and%20the%20Sansha%20%27borgs.%20%20The%20stories%20got%20some%20good%20horror%20effects%20out%20of%20those%20nasties.%20%20Guristas%20appeared%20once,%20but%20not%20a%20very%20integral%20part%20of%20the%20plot.%20%20Angels,%20Serpentis,%20and%20other%20antagonist%20faction%20types%20appeared%20not%20at%20all.%20Well,%20those%20are%20my%20personal%20impressions.%20%20If%20you%27ve%20read%20the%20stories,%20let%27s%20hear%20your%20comments%20and%20impressions%20as%20well.%20%20Last%20thing:%20%20Zapatero%20at%20EON%20has%20the%20links%20to%20all%20the%20stories,%20for%20consideration%20for%20publication.%20%20That%27s%20really%20all%20I%20know,%20other%20than%20Zapatero%20is%20a%20good%20guy%20and%20that%20his%20initial%20support%20set%20the%20ball%20rolling%20for%20this%20contest.%20%20As%20you%27re%20writing%20your%20next%20stories,%20remember%20that%20EON%20is%20open%20to%20submissions%20from%20the%20community.%20%20Maybe%20check%20out%20Zapatero%27s%20forum%20post%20about%20that%20before%20sharing%20your%20story%20with%20the%20world.%20%20https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=107375&find=unread%20o7%20Sam" target="_blank">Zapatero's forum post</a> about that before sharing your story
with the world.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">There have been some calls for another contest. Sounds like a great idea to me. I don't know if/when we'll be able to do one with prizes this big again, though. We were able to get big sponsor support because CCP Eterne and CCP Falcon agreed to serve as judges. That eliminated the possibility of fraud/scamming in the judging and awarding of prizes. So the big sponsors were willing to make large donations. For a next contest, we'd need some trustworthy judges like Eterne and Falcon to get the same level of prizes. I know for a fact that Eterne and Falcon are extremely busy with their regular duties with live events, forums moderation, etc. So I'm guessing it will be a while before they can undertake judging duties again. If we wanted to do another contest with prizes sponsored by big corps, we'd need to find some other very reputable people to serve as judges. But who knows, at some point the Community Relations devs may just launch an official CCP-sponsored fiction contest.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">In the meantime, an alternative might be to just start your own contest. Unless you're ridiculously space-rich, the prizes would probably have to be much smaller. But that's not such a bad thing, I don't think. I myself wouldn't need anything near 4 bil isk and a graphics card dangling before me as bait. But, some ideas for raising funds for prizes:</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">-Donations from big alliances. OK, the big alliances aren't really known for being patrons of the arts. But who knows, they might be bored enough or flush-with-cash enough to do it. It could be good for getting their name out there: "We don't just another sov alliance blowing up ships. We're big enough to share the wealth all around EVE." The trick would be, again, finding judges that people would trust. You could let the alliance donor provide its own judges. But that would be at your own risk, of course.... ; )</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">-Donations from corps. One of 4,000 or so unknown corps gets its name out there for a while. Could be good for recruiting, or at least intra-corp prestige.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">-Charge an entry fee. Writers have to pay, I don't know, 10 mil or so to enter. Some affordable amount. Winners get the pool.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">-Self-fund from your own wallet. There's a long history of this method among EVE writing contests. It's quick, and it's easy. And for better or for worse, you are the one almighty judge!</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">-Combinations of all of the above. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">In any event, I myself will be watching for a chance to put together another contest. As I keep repetitively saying, I hope we can keep the momentum going and have frequent venues for people to display their writing. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">o7</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: normal;">Sam
</span></span>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-61605026724928224672013-01-04T03:35:00.002+00:002013-01-04T03:37:43.143+00:00Notes to Contest Winners and All Entrants<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Contest winners, some notes:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-The sponsors have been notified of the winners and the prize amounts. For ISK prizes, half of the amount will come from Somer Blink and half from EVE Online Hold'Em. So if you get just half of what you were expecting, hang tight. The other half will come from a different source.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> -If you don't hear from the appropriate prize sponsors (CCP, EON, EVE Online Hold'Em or Somer Blink) within about a week, let me know. (The PLEX prizes will be coming from </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">EVE Online Hold'Em, though EOH Tom donated them).</span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-I'll be sending you some digital award certificates. Basically, images stating the prize your story won in the contest. To add to your blog, display beside the story, or whatever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Consider sending your prize-donor sponsor(s) a thank you. So maybe they'll sponsor another good event for us...! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To everybody:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-If you EVE mailed me for feedback on your story, I'll respond as soon as I can. Looking forward to giving back some comments. You guys do the same for me some day when I write something. :]</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-We're not done yet. I want to write up some thoughts about the trends among the entries. And as always, give each other some feedback as well. Let's stay in touch and keep the momentum up. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">o7</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sam </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-77968769776829536212013-01-03T20:30:00.001+00:002013-01-03T20:30:35.849+00:00Winning Stories Announced<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here we go:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://community.eveonline.com/news/newsFromEve.asp?newsTitle=pod-and-planet-fiction-contest-winners-announced" target="_blank">Pod and Planet Fiction Contest Winners Announced</a></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I'll post an AAR (After Action Report) here before long. For now, people just want to see the results...!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">o7</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Sam</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-9712247549437545372012-12-29T04:07:00.001+00:002012-12-29T04:08:12.997+00:00Cryptic Update Interface<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Just checking in to say pretty much the same as last time-- not yet, but progressing. Some ideas for useful use of time while you're waiting:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">+Check out the <a href="http://podandplanetentries.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Reading Bank</a>. All kinds of stuff there, by writers who were at it long before this contest was even a twinkle in the EVE fiction community's eye. Series with continuity of characters and events, from episode to episode. Longer works and free-er works, made minus any restrictions whatsoever. Check out the ideas and leave some honest comments for your colleagues. Even if you hold their feet to the fire, they'll appreciate that somebody read and dialogued with them. And if they don't-- they better get used to it if they want to write...!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">+Check out the blogs and websites for the <a href="http://podandplanetentries.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">contest entries</a>. Layouts, illustrations, content links, all of it. Maybe some ideas to borrow for your own site. Which leads to....</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">+Get your own blog or website up and going. The display rack for your next fiction work. Or don't leave it at just that-- your OOC thoughts, multimedia galleries of good stuff from wherever you see it, whatever.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">+Outline the next story. Draft stream-of-consciousness passages. Or craft a watertight launchable new story. Any work done is work done, and that's never wasted, right?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As always, we'll let you know as soon as we have news on the judging.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">o7</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Sam </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-88785813661662091162012-12-26T22:12:00.004+00:002012-12-26T22:12:34.444+00:00Update Jr.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just a quick check in to say that the judgifier processor is still in operation and working on a solution. So far, its estimate for when results will be announced is still '42'. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nothing more definitive than that yet, but wanted to let you know we didn't shut down or pass out for the holidays.</span> <br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">o7</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-76891247478940339262012-12-17T17:07:00.002+00:002012-12-20T17:25:32.495+00:00Update on Judging<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The judges are all trying to have everything read and judged before the Christmas/year end holidays. That means by December 24. We think we can get that done, as long as no one has something come up that cuts into his available free time. Thanks for your patience and/or impatience. : ] </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-27503048708056803182012-12-10T21:24:00.000+00:002012-12-11T02:28:58.654+00:00Next contest?<span style="font-family: Arial;">There was an interesting comment to one of the earlier posts, and since comments don't display very obviously on blogspot, I'm posting and replying here. Here it is: </span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">the_desertpunk</span></i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">December 10, 2012 5:16 PM</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">Does this contest have to be a one time thing? Why not make it either an annual or semi-annual. Could even make it more challenging by giving say more Specifications such as: write a comedy in New Eden, or write a story that includes the following subject. Keep the categories you have as free form and then maybe include some theme categories. Up to you, its all food for thought. But would like to see this contest happen again and soon. In a perfect world I'd like to see it be Quarterly, but I'd be happy with a Semi-annual. For a semi-annual I'd be more than happy to kick in isk prizes.</span></span></i></span></i><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="color: #134f5c;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial;">Ren K.</span></i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I suppose the only considerations on the timing of contests are:</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial;">a) Do people still have enough stories in them, so that they're ready to write for a new contest?</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">I think the answer to that is 'definitely.' In the five weeks or so that this contest was open, we got 101 stories from about 90 different people. Good stories with good writing, so it didn't seem like people struggled a lot to write and create stories. And some people were able to create 2-6 stories in the five weeks. So to me, it seems like there's enough writing energy out there for another contest in 3-6 months.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: Arial;">b) Would there be sponsors and prizes available for a new contest?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Practically speaking, to have another one with this level of prizes, we’d need “official” sponsorship. In other words, EON or CCP would have to participate again, to some degree. I doubt that “private” (corporation/alliance) isk and PLEX donors would donate at the same level without that. It didn’t occur to me when I was approaching sponsors, but there could be a lot of opportunity for cheap grifting with a contest with donate prizes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-Get donations; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-Have yourself and alts/friends do the judging; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-Make your alts'/friends' entries the winners; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">-Split the proceeds among the scamming participants. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Not an especially brilliant or sophisticate scam. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">But apparently corps/alliances that handle lots of isk get propositioned with these kinds of schemes all the time. So to gather a pool of prizes the size we had this time, 'official' endorsement seems pretty key. Without it, potential sponsors just have to trust you at your word. Would you or I do that, in EVE...? </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The point is, another contest with prizes of this size would probably need some official endorsement/participation. We're still judging this one, but who knows, when this is finalized, the big guys might have ideas of their own for a next thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: Arial;">In the meantime, we or our our corps or alliances can sponsor smaller contests of our own.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><a href="https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2301498#post2301498" target="_blank">Daelmaron Fyresong's new contest</a> is an example of that, and it's currently running. Daelmaron says he plans to do them on a monthly basis. o7 Daelmaron!</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">In any event, once this contest is finalized and everybody is docked up and reorganized, I intend to check the weather for when a next one might be workable. And at the same time, thinking about a way to get the current for the current group of stories shared, read, and discussed among the community. Not every entry can win a prize, but they all deserve a reading and some feedback.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Finally, I like the_desertpunk's idea of having some theme subcategories. This time around, I was mightily tempted to make a DUST 514 subcategory, non-capsuleer/planetary fiction only subcategory, and a separate humor category. But for this first time, I decided to just leave it free form for people to write whatever came to them. Next time, there are all kinds of interesting things we can do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Any thoughts on any of this, please leave a comment and/or reply to other comments.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">o7 </span> <o:p></o:p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-59579875664260531912012-12-05T01:42:00.002+00:002012-12-05T01:42:31.489+00:00Check Your Entry<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I posted this on the EVE forums thread, but neglected to post here. If you entered a story in the competition, please:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Make sure it appears on the <a href="http://podandplanetentries.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">contest entries page</a>. If it's not there, it's not on the list and won't be judged. Just EVEmail and let me know I didn't link your story.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Make sure your story is in the category you wanted (8,000 Suns in New Eden or A Day in the Life)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-Click the link to your story and make sure it works.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Our estimate on when judging will be done is still an imprecise "a few weeks." I'm enjoying reading stories, but our CCP judges may be plenty busy with the Retribution release. Speaking of which, it's out today, time to check it out a bit. :] </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-46611768006543109322012-12-04T03:23:00.003+00:002012-12-10T21:55:30.065+00:00The Sleepers Awaken<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, while we're reading and judging and waiting for contest results... some thoughts on the contest so far. We received 101 new, original works of EVE fiction. To put that into perspective: Consider that each one of those 101 works is an entirely original work, by somebody who might be an active EVE player first, and a writer second. Or a brand-new neophyte to telling a story in written-word format. Either way, an </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">individual putting a little or a lot of his/her soul into creating something from zero, and his/her talent, skill and ego open to view and criticism by the whole vaguely envisioned population of the viewing world. Launching a story into the unknown, to fare as best it can in a PVP zone against opponents/writer colleagues of unknowable quality, in unknowable quantities. A story p</span>roduced within tight word count limits, so that what might have been dreamed up as an episodic story, or with introductions, scene paintings, and other complexities, had to be reduced to a swiftly and economically paced short narrative. Or conversely, something more involved was rejected, and instead an overheated module snapshot of a work was envisioned, captured, and slammed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In any event, from what I've seen so far, people did it, and did it well. I've always theorized that EVE Online players are the most sophisticated MMO players there are. Like, they play EVE because the game and the community are the only things around that are as sophisticated as they are. I don't know if that theory's correct, but I know that the stories so far have been surprising in their level of sophistication. I haven't read enough 'fan fiction' to know, but I wouldn't call this that. I'd call it writing, and crafting, and storytelling, with pretty finely-tuned awareness of the audience sitting around there in the crowd. Well done mates, and many more yet to be read.... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, and then I'd say: Writers, while you're waiting for judging, take a moment to <i>hansei</i>. That's a Japanese word that just means <em>to stop for an adequate amount of time to really stop and really relax and stop; </em>and <em>to</em> <i>reflect</i>. The thing to be reflected on is: <i>I wrote something. I'm proud of it, enough to publish it to the world. I hope people agree with me that it's good. Yeah, I have doubts about a couple of things that might fly or might not fly. I can't read minds, I'm floating it and hoping for the best. So I hope some smart fellow person will read it and tell me what they think. Good, bad, whatever-- it's better than having it drop into a no-response internet corner void! Probably everybody else who submitted a story feels just like me. </i>So, the thing I'd hope people do <i>hansei</i> reflection on is: <i>Damn, how do we keep this going? What little organizational/administrative things have to happen to keep me and other people writing? And maybe more than that, reading what's been written, and sharing and commenting?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">OK, so the title of this post is "The Sleepers Awaken." Not those those fast-moving red crosses in a wormhole site-- you and me, the writers, the readers, and the writer/reader/commenters. I'm going to be thinking how to have a unified place for all of us to comment on the works we've done so far. But that's truly weak compared to farming the idea work out to all of you <i>thinking</i> people. We have more good stories than we have prizes this time. : [ Why not write more, write better, take it from hesitant tries, to smugly popping the reader's eyes open and leading him/her to the glorious end of the trail? Here's hoping we throw a little energy in, discuss, and keep creating. Entropy is a silent and sad sucker. But it can be defeated by just a little energy thrown in to maintain momentum. I know we're still in the entries judging stage for this one. But that just means you all have more time to think about the next excellent thing we can do. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">07!</span> <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">mates</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153154495656983115.post-4105562943889061872012-12-03T23:10:00.000+00:002012-12-04T01:59:44.025+00:00Contest Submissions Period Ended<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello, we've reached December 2, so the contest submission period has ended. The writers of EVE have produced <i><b>101</b></i> new stories. Of those, about 45% came in in the last two days before contest close. Congratulations writers, you got it done. "Deadline, be not proud..." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Next step: Judging. Regrettably but honestly, I expect the judging might take a few weeks. Almost half of the contest entries came in during the last two days before the contest closed. So we judges got a surprise reading assignment-- maybe 350 additional pages of reading to do. And Dec. 4 is the Retribution release, which will mean additional busy-ness for our judges CCP Eterne and CCP Falcon. So, to be realistic, we'd better say announcing the contest winners is a few weeks off.</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> We'll be posting updates on the EVE forums and here, as we get a better idea of the timing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">If you didn't get your story done in time for this contest, you might want to polish it up and keep it on your hard drive. Considering the response this contest got, I'm going to guess that someone somewhere will organize another one before too long. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Well done writers-- about 750-800 pages of new EVE fiction produced! While you're waiting for the winners to be announced, check out the contest entry stories and leave your fellow writers some feedback. o7</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0