This time it's an important edit before even the main thing. Hi, sorry for that, but you have to excuse me this one time.
I would like to clarify that the point of this thread is not complaining about the artists not joining contests, nor demanding everyone who can draw do join. It was made in hopes to understand the situation better and maybe to brainstorm how to improve it. While not perfect, Skin & Accent Contests were here from the begining and are still a big part of the Elemental Holidays that many people look up to and it's disheartening to see how they're going down. I will let myself quote an user's post on this thread that gets my point across pretty well. And my reply to it, because I'm too lazy to rephrase it nicely.
Now let's get to the meat and potatoes of this thread.
Hello all! For the couple years I've been playing Flight Rising, I've started feeling like each fest we get less and less entries for the Elemental Skink & Accent Contests. Why would that be? With the open registration and the site growing in userbase, you'd think there would be more and more people willing to take part in the celebrations.
To check if I'm not just imagining things, I've taken on the quest to hunt down all the contest submission threads and take numbers from them to put in a handy dandy spreadsheet. Here it is.
The numbers in the cells are the numbers of PAGES on the submission threads. Not submission themselves. I'm not bored enough to count those. Please click on the image to view a bigger version.
The numbers marked with red are the number of the LEAST entries for that spyfic fest. That's why 16, for example, is marked as red for Crystalline Gala, but not Riot of Rot. Because for RoR, there was even less entries at some point. I marked them so it's easier to see that this season of Elemental Holidays is doing the worst so far, number of entries wise.
* For the first Brightshine Jubilee and Thundercrack Carnivale there were no separate submissions and discussions threads. That's why the numbers are higher than in any other fest. Because it's a mash of both actual entries and comments.
As you can see, the numbers are going down over the time. There are more entries here and there in betweem - I assume it's caused by stuff like registration window being open and more people joined, or there was a cool update that got people to return to the game, whatever really. You can see that some of the elements were doing poorly from the very begining, like Wind. And ones that started badly only to get more popular, like Shadow.
Whatever other conclusions you may draw from this, it is a FACT that Elemental Holidays, or at least the Skin & Accent Contests are losing on the popularity. Why might that be? Even though we have more users than ever who could participate?
Some of the reasons I can only assume:
Stuff brought to my attention by the users commenting on this thread:
What I noticed is that a lot of the entries submitted in the contest threads are not being finished in time. A lot of them are qusqualified for not following the restrictions. Some are made by begginer artists and, with all due respect, don't seem to meet the quality of what could potentially be chosen as a winning entry if that makes sense? Pardon, english is not my native language.
My point is, when there's less and less entries, where a lot of them don't even qualify for technical reasons, will the Staff still be able to choose 12 skins/accents each fest? Because at this point, it looks like the interest in Elemental Festivals is gradually fading.
What are your thoughts on this matter?
Hello everyone once again! Thank you very much for the great response so far! I really appreciate you all engaging in this conversation. I think it's important to acknowledge there is a problem somewhere with the Festivals (the numbers don't lie) and that's always a first step to improvement. Here's hoping!
This thread is by no means a sugestion, but the users came up some interesting ideas that may help the stale state of Elemental Holidays. Here's some that I can list from top of my head, but there's more and I encourage you to read through this thread, even if it seems like a long haul. Memes aren't everything in FDR, sometimes we need to sit down and talk serious business.
What do you think about these ideas? Do you agree or disagree with them? Would they help or do more harm? Would you participate if they were a thing? Do you have some of your own ideas that you'd like to share?
Hi! It's me again with another update! I'm honestly super happy y'all are discussing this and that my effort into putting the spreadsheet together (it was hell) wasn't for nothing. I would love to reply to everyone, but the thread moved so fast that I got a bit overwhelmed! I read everything though! And I will still pop up here and there, but I honestly don't think I can bring anything else valuable to the table. Thank you very much for sticking up to this point and for serious discussion. It was my utmost pleasure.
I would like to clarify that the point of this thread is not complaining about the artists not joining contests, nor demanding everyone who can draw do join. It was made in hopes to understand the situation better and maybe to brainstorm how to improve it. While not perfect, Skin & Accent Contests were here from the begining and are still a big part of the Elemental Holidays that many people look up to and it's disheartening to see how they're going down. I will let myself quote an user's post on this thread that gets my point across pretty well. And my reply to it, because I'm too lazy to rephrase it nicely.
ShiroiYoukai wrote on 2020-05-12 11:59:01:
I once asked the devs, on the ask the team, what would happen if noone were to upload an entry for a festival. Sadly I didn't get an answer.
emajbi wrote on 2020-05-12 19:25:21:
This is exactly what I'm worried about. Would they simply stop with the contests? While half of the actual fest hype is the skins? I honestly can't see how this would work unless the general formula of the whole festivals is revamped.
Now let's get to the meat and potatoes of this thread.
Hello all! For the couple years I've been playing Flight Rising, I've started feeling like each fest we get less and less entries for the Elemental Skink & Accent Contests. Why would that be? With the open registration and the site growing in userbase, you'd think there would be more and more people willing to take part in the celebrations.
To check if I'm not just imagining things, I've taken on the quest to hunt down all the contest submission threads and take numbers from them to put in a handy dandy spreadsheet. Here it is.
The numbers in the cells are the numbers of PAGES on the submission threads. Not submission themselves. I'm not bored enough to count those. Please click on the image to view a bigger version.
The numbers marked with red are the number of the LEAST entries for that spyfic fest. That's why 16, for example, is marked as red for Crystalline Gala, but not Riot of Rot. Because for RoR, there was even less entries at some point. I marked them so it's easier to see that this season of Elemental Holidays is doing the worst so far, number of entries wise.
* For the first Brightshine Jubilee and Thundercrack Carnivale there were no separate submissions and discussions threads. That's why the numbers are higher than in any other fest. Because it's a mash of both actual entries and comments.
As you can see, the numbers are going down over the time. There are more entries here and there in betweem - I assume it's caused by stuff like registration window being open and more people joined, or there was a cool update that got people to return to the game, whatever really. You can see that some of the elements were doing poorly from the very begining, like Wind. And ones that started badly only to get more popular, like Shadow.
Whatever other conclusions you may draw from this, it is a FACT that Elemental Holidays, or at least the Skin & Accent Contests are losing on the popularity. Why might that be? Even though we have more users than ever who could participate?
Some of the reasons I can only assume:
- people are getting bored of how the festivals in general are structured in general, with no interesting activities but just endless grind for currency,
- the grind isn't even all that profitable anymore since items no longer retire for good and some people gave up on that aspect as well,
- the well is running dry on thematic idea and people don't want to be accused of plagiarism because their idea was vauguely similar to one someone submitted in 2013,
- plagiarism accussations happened in the past and it does discourage potential participants
- i would like to clarify one thing. with "the quality of skins dropping" I don't mean the art itself, but rather the selection process - simple and repeating themes are being chosen over more detailed and unique designs,
- how the winners are drawn by the Staff rather than a popularity among the players. more people are dissatisfied with the winners rather than excited and thus don't care to get the skins at all,
Stuff brought to my attention by the users commenting on this thread:
- the community itself may be very discouraging to the artists. they are sometimes being harassed about their entries (winning or not) outside of Flight Rising website.
- and the on-site discussion about questionable winners and comparisons are often just mean rather than constructive and helpful in any way,
- the prize for winning is not adequate to the amount of work put into creating a skin/accent,
- 1 month at best is a very short time to create a skin/accent, thus artists are usually preparing their entries months in advance
What I noticed is that a lot of the entries submitted in the contest threads are not being finished in time. A lot of them are qusqualified for not following the restrictions. Some are made by begginer artists and, with all due respect, don't seem to meet the quality of what could potentially be chosen as a winning entry if that makes sense? Pardon, english is not my native language.
My point is, when there's less and less entries, where a lot of them don't even qualify for technical reasons, will the Staff still be able to choose 12 skins/accents each fest? Because at this point, it looks like the interest in Elemental Festivals is gradually fading.
What are your thoughts on this matter?
Hello everyone once again! Thank you very much for the great response so far! I really appreciate you all engaging in this conversation. I think it's important to acknowledge there is a problem somewhere with the Festivals (the numbers don't lie) and that's always a first step to improvement. Here's hoping!
This thread is by no means a sugestion, but the users came up some interesting ideas that may help the stale state of Elemental Holidays. Here's some that I can list from top of my head, but there's more and I encourage you to read through this thread, even if it seems like a long haul. Memes aren't everything in FDR, sometimes we need to sit down and talk serious business.
- Joxar Tasks. Similar to Hibernal Den Tasks, they would be small tasks to supply Joxar with some items (so he has stuff to craft them sweet holiday items) in exchange of some Festival Currency! Tasks could change daily. - @/jazzghost
- Use FR YouTube channel to make video tutorials on how to make skins/accents in different programs than Photoshop (because lbh, most of us uses free programs and they all work differently) to help begginer artists make skins they could submit for the contests. - @/Pressiboo
- Special mini game only available during the holidays! Kinda like fairgrounds but exclusive. Could have item rewards but not necessary. Just to add a new thing to do during the fests. - @/Shanora
- Expand the flight aesthetic. Earth is not just rocks. Nature is not jut greens and flowers. Let's get out of this comfort zone and explore! Alternatively/additionally could have specyfic themes for each round of holidays. like 2021 Water Contest should be about deepsea monsters!
- Having a skin/accent selected for every breed per festival to avoid unpopular breeds having little to no festival skins, if there is enough submissions allowing that. Also assurance of the native breed getting at least one skin for its Elemental Holiday chosen from the pool. Like it's Brightshine Jubilee? The Staff will make sure to pick at least one skin for a pearlcatcher and an imperial. Again, if there's enough eligible entries.
- Letting people know when their skins are disqualified from the contests for technical reason such as the lineart or shadows not being visible enough. Letting them knoe how to fixt their errors to be eligible for winning.
- Some of the skins being chosen by the Staff, as it was up to this point - some being chosen by the userbase with how popular they are. This would be a neat silver lining for the whole admins' absolute word and community popularity contest where neither are the perfect option.
- Bringing in some lore snippets on the Holidays, or at least letting the Deities speak in the forums again, even if it's just silly things. It would fuel up hype for theories and fan made lore.
What do you think about these ideas? Do you agree or disagree with them? Would they help or do more harm? Would you participate if they were a thing? Do you have some of your own ideas that you'd like to share?
Hi! It's me again with another update! I'm honestly super happy y'all are discussing this and that my effort into putting the spreadsheet together (it was hell) wasn't for nothing. I would love to reply to everyone, but the thread moved so fast that I got a bit overwhelmed! I read everything though! And I will still pop up here and there, but I honestly don't think I can bring anything else valuable to the table. Thank you very much for sticking up to this point and for serious discussion. It was my utmost pleasure.
