official 2012 Top Sims Contest Discussion

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Please use this thread for any general discussion or questions about the Top Sims Contest.

Do not post praise or criticism for submitted sims in this thread. Instead, post those praise or criticisms in the submitted sim's own thread.

[Segolene LeMarnix]

I was told that sims with open tags can't be posted for "Top Sim Contest", but I checked rules and couldn't find anything in current rules or older versions I could find or even older anything about that rule.

Was it maybe a part of the "Top Sim Contest" webpage which is not working?

http://www.starbase118.net/members/events/topsims/

If that rule is accurate, what I see as yes, because I have seen only one open tag in all the sims that were posted since I joined I have a question concerning that.

If the sim has open tags originally, what is proper procedure about including responses?

What may be questionable here is the amount of narration that can/should/is not right, to be used from the sim responding to the one which is going to be submitted. What if the responding sim contains thorough explanation why the character responded in such a way? Should that be included or just the dialog of the tag?

[Kali Nicholotti]

After some of my own digging, which led me to the same information you already have, I can only share what I know. To my knowledge, (and those who have been around longer please correct me if I'm wrong) there is nothing against posting sims with open tags, however, it seems to me that there are a couple of reasons why you don't see this done often. First, a sim with a chunk of open tags/dialogue simply is not as powerful or emotionally invoking as a sim that is complete from start to finish. Secondly, sims just look better and are more complete when there are no open tags in them. They are easier to read and just seem like higher level sims.

That's not to say that sims with open tags don't get submitted; I think that some people take the time to fill in those open tags with the responses from other sims before a sim is submitted to the contest, which is why you hardly ever see open tags.

Edited June 17, 2012 by KNicholotti

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

We don't use a static page for information about the Top Sims Contest anymore because it became too hard to keep up with on a regular basis. Just easier to have people link to this forum and check out the hall of fame and so-forth.

Anyway, the original rules of the Contest did state that no open dialogue tags were allowed. And I thought that was still part of the rules, but somewhere along the line it got dropped. We might need to review the rules list to refresh that.

A sim in this Contest is supposed to be fully formed. One or two open dialogue tags are fine, but generally you should try and fill in any ones that have already been responded to by others at the time of submission.

[Segolene LeMarnix]

Why don't you set the page as unchangeable or just partially changeable (once a year) with rules and list (with links) to previous winners?

Thank you, Admiral Wolf, for finding it (thank you for everything you're doing so we can have more fun). I made the search, but opened 20 random posts and gave up too early.

Now to point to the second part of my question.

How much is too little and how much is too much to add from answer into the original sim? As I already mentioned, questionable may be what is not enough, what is enough and what may be considered too much of narration that should be included into original post from the response. What if the responding sim contains thorough explanation why the character responded in such a way? Should that be included or just the dialog of the tag?

[Tracey]

From what I know, its the SIM itself. Even spelling errors cannot be fixed. Sometimes a great SIM could be added to the top SIMs area that may be confusing to others on other ships, because the context of the SIM is missing. Sometimes it stands alone very well, with explanations within. Either way, I myself vote based on quality and entertainment, even if the context is lost on me. But 99 percent of the time, this is not the case. The SIM stands well enough on its own.

To answer your question, its just copy and paste from original posted SIM to the forum. Then wait for the results

I could be wrong, however

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Why don't you set the page as unchangeable or just partially changeable (once a year) with rules and list (with links) to previous winners?

We already have the rules in a static thread, found here.

How much is too little and how much is too much to add from answer into the original sim? As I already mentioned, questionable may be what is not enough, what is enough and what may be considered too much of narration that should be included into original post from the response. What if the responding sim contains thorough explanation why the character responded in such a way? Should that be included or just the dialog of the tag?

The only thing that should be added to fill in quote tags is the actual quote itself. No descriptives or anything like that. The idea is just to create a whole sim that can be easily readable by anyone opening it.

[Segolene LeMarnix]

The only thing that should be added to fill in quote tags is the actual quote itself. No descriptives or anything like that. The idea is just to create a whole sim that can be easily readable by anyone opening it.

That's what I was asking for, thank you for confirmation.

[Sedrin Belasi]

Did I put the Matthews / Shryker sim in the wrong Round? Apologies if I did. Will it go through to Round 11, or was it missed from the voting?

[Segolene LeMarnix]

Posted June 12. - should be round 11, not round 10.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Posted June 12. - should be round 11, not round 10.

Fixed.

[Sedrin Belasi]

Thank you.

Apologies!

[Alleran Tan]

So, um. Too many winners?

I think essentially every member of the Avandar crew, and a number of guests, turned out for "Playing for Keeps". What's the group's opinion on who the "winners" were? I'm tempted to call it as it's written; the ship's crew as a whole, along with the guests individually.

The bottom line is, if you die on the Avandar, they give you one hell of a send off. Hmm... maybe that could be the ship's recruitment slogan.

"USS Avandar. We'll corpsify you in the coolest ways!"

[Liam Frost]

"USS Avandar: We'll corpse you good."

[Kali Nicholotti]

Is round 11 meant to be locked? We cannot vote on it until it's unlocked. =)

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Is round 11 meant to be locked? We cannot vote on it until it's unlocked. =)

Fixed/opened.

[Alleran Tan]

Whoops! My bad.

It's fixed now.

[Segolene LeMarnix]

Posted June 12. - should be round 11, not round 10.

Fixed.

Last 4 posted sims are Round 13 by the calendar:

Lt Commander Ben Walker - Moving On;

Rick Rawden & Gypsy Hawker: Are We Going To Be Alright ?;

Lt. LtCmdrs Isaac Green and Jaxon Mc Ghee *Unexpected Events*

and

Lt. Jg T'Mhin: Moments.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Last 4 posted sims are Round 13 by the calendar:

Lt Commander Ben Walker - Moving On;

Rick Rawden & Gypsy Hawker: Are We Going To Be Alright ?;

Lt. LtCmdrs Isaac Green and Jaxon Mc Ghee *Unexpected Events*

and

Lt. Jg T'Mhin: Moments.

Fixed.

[Segolene LeMarnix]

Here's another question for discussion.

Posted June 12. - should be round 11, not round 10.

Posted June 12. - should be round 11, not round 10.

Fixed.

Last 4 posted sims are Round 13 by the calendar:

Lt Commander Ben Walker - Moving On;

Rick Rawden & Gypsy Hawker: Are We Going To Be Alright ?;

Lt. LtCmdrs Isaac Green and Jaxon Mc Ghee *Unexpected Events*

and

Lt. Jg T'Mhin: Moments.

When I posted this two corrections, I was always checking the dates the sims were posted in their respectful groups, not just the dates of their submittal here on Forum.

But what is right thing to do if it's the end of the submittal period and you don't have responses to the tags for the sim you want to submit?

Is it more logical for that sim to be submitted to next round (since the response arrived during next round), or should we post sim with open tags and add responses resubmitting the sim later on with all of those filled?

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

When I posted this two corrections, I was always checking the dates the sims were posted in their respectful groups, not just the dates of their submittal here on Forum.

But what is right thing to do if it's the end of the submittal period and you don't have responses to the tags for the sim you want to submit?

Is it more logical for that sim to be submitted to next round (since the response arrived during next round), or should we post sim with open tags and add responses resubmitting the sim later on with all of those filled?

Sims should not be considered for the contest unless they are complete and without open tags.

[Segolene LeMarnix]

When I posted this two corrections, I was always checking the dates the sims were posted in their respectful groups, not just the dates of their submittal here on Forum.

But what is right thing to do if it's the end of the submittal period and you don't have responses to the tags for the sim you want to submit?

Is it more logical for that sim to be submitted to next round (since the response arrived during next round), or should we post sim with open tags and add responses resubmitting the sim later on with all of those filled?

Sims should not be considered for the contest unless they are complete and without open tags.

So by that rule, this sim was finished with the response to it which was posted after the end of Round 13 and should be moved to Round 14.

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

When I posted this two corrections, I was always checking the dates the sims were posted in their respectful groups, not just the dates of their submittal here on Forum.

But what is right thing to do if it's the end of the submittal period and you don't have responses to the tags for the sim you want to submit?

Is it more logical for that sim to be submitted to next round (since the response arrived during next round), or should we post sim with open tags and add responses resubmitting the sim later on with all of those filled?

Sims should not be considered for the contest unless they are complete and without open tags.

So by that rule, this sim was finished with the response to it which was posted after the end of Round 13 and should be moved to Round 14.

Which sim, specifically? If it's already in judging, let's just let it go for this round and ensure that it doesn't happen again.

[Alexander Matthews]

Can a sim be entered from a ship that has been decommissioned ?

[Jordan aka FltAdmlWolf]

Can a sim be entered from a ship that has been decommissioned ?

Updated the rules with some stuff from the old Top Sims Contest page on our site that no longer exists -- one of the rules is that sims must not be older than a month. So, when a ship has been decommissioned in the last month, then yes, you can submit the sim. However, you can't go digging through the archives