Perhaps do all the contests?

Or perhaps pick between the art/story contest and the spinning video contest for a goodie package and just have the ASP contest anyway with the "winning" design become a permanent design offered by SF?

I think the fan art/fan fiction should just be made as a section of its own in the index, somewhat like the gallery?
Writing takes time, especially when it comes to re-reading and editing. Drawings also take time to complete and then that way people can just post whenever they want (as time permits them) if it's already a category in the index; along with a saber spinning section which could actually be in the combat index. Actually, if possible, perhaps the gallery section itself should have a subsection of each saber model similar to how the review section does, that way you can post pictures of your saber without it needing to be a review?

The ASP idea seems like the best route to go if you wish to assemble small gift bags to randomly give out as we share thoughts and ideas within the community. But art and design is subjective and a lot of entrants are extremely similar variations of the same design which makes choosing a best difficult and the "best" isn't always of popular opinion. Also, when you go forward into more "contests" to give out more merch, how do you ensure there isn't a regurgitation of 1000 of the same designs? Keeping track of the winning design would be key also. Maybe if it was set up like the *Upcoming Releases* thread and have the winning designs posted on the first page. Just throwing out things to consider from what I saw in the ASP contest not long ago on the SF page.

I almost say just choose random people and ensure it is of random choosing and give it out like so. People will share their thoughts and ideas regardless in this community as we have and still continue to do, so no need to entice anyone =)
A random private message saying "Hey, you won a random draw, hook us up with your info and we'll hook you up with a shirt or a hoodie or a stand or a $ amount towards your choosing of accessories or whatever you make the package to be…" I think would be just as pleasant to get?

I kinda like NeBosa's idea of a fan fic section. we seem to have creative people bumping around here. No reason not to give them a space to release some of that energy and hopefully give the rest of us something fun to pass the time with aswell.

It's a shame because i'd love to post in an art contest. And guys, I'm sure you're all better artists than you think you guys are. Am i right guys?

And i'd love to see a fan fic/ art section in the forums. I'd be delighted to have those!

Some of you guys are taking this far too seriously; these are simple, for fun only, mini contests. They are not going to held on large scales and are solely for members of the forum only. There will not be anything like having designs permanently added to lineups; that's just... bad business, really. Especially when you're talking about ASP sabers; anyone that sees that design that likes it can get it, or something like it with their own personal twist. There is absolutely no need to add ASP designs to lineups.

As well, there aren't any time constraints on a contest. I am fully aware of how long it can take to write a short fan-fic, but you're also, once again, waaaay overthinking the "for-fun" aspect of the entire contest. I mean really, a fanfic could consist of two paragraphs and still be considered for entry (and yes, there are some out there actually that short.. lol). These are not meant to be serious competitions, and will not be being judged on ANY level whatsoever. A simple "Hey I enjoyed this one most and am voting for it" does not have connotations of judging what is superior or inferior, and bluntly speaking, any such discussion of the sort will immediately result in not only the for-fun contests removal, but could even involve disciplinary action up to and including banning from the forum for negativity.

I may create a section for fanart and fanfics anyway, and randomly select winners that post things up from that rather than running any type of contest; there seems to be a fair bit of "I want to win!" only attitude, and this is NOT about winning something; it's about having fun in the community. As Nebosa put it, this is not to entice people, just a way of giving back, having a little fun, saying thank you.

So light saber duels to death are off the table?

Nope, kill each other to your heart's content. Just don't insult one another's work or form while you do it.

even though i only have 1 post ( 2 now xD )

i vote for #1 as my saber only just arrived and i have no editing skills

Knytiri wrote:
Well, hard not to get behind THAT!

I'LL KILL YOU!! Respectfully though.

Knytiri, if you open up a fanfic section, please let us know, I might have a couple chapters that may have strayed from the pack and that I'd need to hunt down to bring them back in the corral for submission

I might be inclined to do some fanfic, but the end of the semester is near and I may not have much time to devote to writing anything until mid Dec. If the time frame was going to include the winter break then I'd be all for that option, in fact I have been kicking around the idea of a Jedi based film short for my final in one of my classes. The other advantage of the ASP contest is that it would not take a great deal of time--other than, of course, the inevitable waffling, "...let me see this pommel, no this one, no wait this one--there got it, wait a sec this would look better with this switch section now....ooh argh!!!!
Knytiri wrote:
I do have to ask that if entries are not to be judged, what criteria will be used to select winners for the swag, even if it is just gold star or whatever? Will it just be random based on all entries? If these are not to be judged, and it is all in good fun,then why not just do them all?