We know many people loved the Weekly Challenges and although they've been in a bit of a lull, they're back!
Inspired precisely by the theme of love, this upcoming challenge will have designers think about how emotions can be interpreted through EtG.
Weekly Challenges will be going through some changes however, and though some have not quite been finalized, know that the following changes are currently in place or will be, soon down the road:
- Implemented: Weekly Challenges will no longer be every week in order to accommodate for more thought going into design and the creative process. Instead they will be coming out every 2 weeks on every other Monday. As such, we will be renaming them Card Design Challenges.
- Coming Soon: The system for giving out awards for Card Design Challenges will be modified to reduce the rate at which they are given.
Furthermore, as some have already noticed, the thread once referred to as Link Crucible Candidates has been updated and is now the Level 0 - Smithy (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/card-ideas-and-art/link-crucible-candidates-here!/), whose system has also been changed a bit and more changes are down the road to adjust for the decreased activity in the section:
- Implemented: When cards are moved from the Smithy to the Crucible, Card Curators will only be looking at the first 2 card ideas per card designer. (CDCs)
- Coming Soon: In order to accommodate for decreased activity in the CI&A section, voting systems may change and transfer frequency may be modified.
Lastly, in the past, the Idea Guru was able to not only give their perspective on card design but answer the many questions that newer or even experienced Card Designers had regarding design. In favour of greater help and differing styles and tastes, the following ideas are being considered:
- Coming Soon: A potential panel of 4-5 Card Designers, informally known as Card Design Helpers whose principal job will be to respond in a "Ask a Card Design Helper" thread, wherein each CDH's main styles and perspectives in and on design will be showcased and ~3 ideas per designer will be displayed. As such, those interested in asking questions regarding card design can either ask their question open to anyone or request, if possible, the response of a specific CDH.
That's all for now. Thank you.
Thank you to all those who have participated in Weekly Challenge 6-1. There is 1 week left to get in your votes, and all feedback in CI&A is greatly appreciated! To check out the submissions, click HERE (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/exhibition-hall/challenge-6-1-one-love/). Even as Fortnightly Challenges, they haven't held much ground, however, where these Challenges are picking their speed back up, so is the Crucible!
The Crucible System and its different levels will now make efforts to accommodate for the decrease in activity, and new changes will make card transfer through the levels a little more difficult:
- Implemented: Duplicate Poll system; rest assured that you're not seeing double! There are now duplicate polls in each thread of the Crucible System where there used to be 1. This is done in order to magnify the power of the voter. By giving voters the option to select the same card twice, we should be seeing more discriminatory power in the polls. Remember, however, there is no obligation to vote on both polls, nor to use all your votes. Votes will be added across polls in order to get a final tally for each card.
- Implemented: "None" option. The inherent inability to not select any of the card submissions has admittedly always been an issue in the system. By including the "None" option, it is possible to make note that card submissions are not up to standards of quality. Please make sure to select this when it feels most appropriate.
- Implemented: Decreased card transfer quantity; While the previous system was transferring the top-3rd to the next level, and the bottom-3rd to the archives, this was sending too many cards through the system too quickly. This is made evident by the amount of time it takes to implement card expansions in Cygnia, and should be adjusted accordingly. Currently, we will be assessing which 0-2 cards are to be transferred through the system/archived on the basis of a 4 vote (total) lead. That is to say, if after adding the votes of both polls:
- there is a card that has at least a 4 vote lead, it will be the only one transferred up; oldest, lowest vote card will be archived.
- there is a card that has a 1-3 vote lead, 2 cards will be transferred up, those which are the oldest, and have the highest vote totals; oldest, lowest vote card will be archived.
- "None" makes half or more than half of all votes, 2 oldest, lowest vote cards will be archived.
Make sure to check out the Crucible (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/level-1-crucible/) & Forge (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/level-2-forge/) and check out the new system!!
- Implemented: While we are currently only working with submissions to the Smithy, and card submissions which had already been made, we are still working on gradually, possibly re-integrating the cards from the Armory Archive. Make sure to check out fan favourites of the past in there and nominate cards which you believe should be brought back from the Armory Archive HERE (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/anvil-archive/cygnia-archival-revival/).
- Coming Soon: The Card Designer Panel is currently being finalized, and will likely be coming during this week! Check the previous post of this thread for more details regarding this update!
That's all for now. Thank you.
Thank you to all those who have participated in Challenge 7-1: What am I? (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/exhibition-hall/challenge-7-1-what-am-i/). There are ~2 weeks left to get in your votes, and all feedback in CI&A is greatly appreciated!
Card Curators are trying to get back up to the level of activity that Card Design Challenges had before and will be making every effort to submit one every other week, such that when a new challenge is up, the previous will have gone into the voting process. Furthermore, Card Design Challenges will now focus on not only testing experienced Card Designers, but also on getting newer Card Designers to start thinking like experienced ones, challenging them to view design from a variety of new perspectives! Whether you are an experienced Card Designer or someone that's just wetting your feet, Challenge 8-1: Clerical (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/exhibition-hall/challenge-8-1-clerical/) has just been released, so feel free to check it out and get involved!!
Regarding Card Design Challenges, a few changes were made regarding the general rules and how awards are given:
! Regarding the rewards of the Card Design Challenges, a few community members have already received a few awards from the original system of Card Design Challenges. After some discussion, Card Curators have deemed that the rate at which awards were being given out may have been too generous, and in order to maintain the value and rarity of awards Card Curators are asking that those individuals and the Card Design community in general get involved in discussion regarding what should be done about this. A poll has been added to the CI&A - S&F thread (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/card-ideas-and-art/cia-suggestions-and-feedback/) and Card Curators urge that people vote and discuss as it will heavily influence the decision made over the course of the following month.
The Crucible System reform is letting the dust settle and we are now taking new protocols and regulations for a test drive. Having received promising results from the Duplicate Poll system, it seems to be an interesting way to empower the voter and though it is still in its testing phase, it seems to hold promise down the road. Promotion & Archival Criteria can now be found in any poll thread from the Crucible or Forge. Due to the new criteria being implemented, cards that may have been archived otherwise were given a second chance, however this will not be done in the coming month. The criteria found in any Crucible or Forge thread can be seen below:
Promotion & Archival Criteria:
- Significant Vote Threshold:
If ≥10 community members vote, Promotion & Archival Criteria below can be considered. Otherwise, results are considered insignificant and no action is taken.
- Transfer Cap (TC):
The highest number of cards that can be Promoted or Archived after a poll ends is equal to the number of votes that were able to be cast in a given poll. e.g. 7 CI, max 2 promoted.
- Age Priority:
The higher cards are in the polls, the more time they are assumed to have spent in the polls. In the case of ties for Promotion, NEWER cards are prioritized. In the case of ties for Archival, OLDER cards are prioritized.
- Clemency:
If Archiving would result in 6 cards or less in a given level, it is not done.
- Promotion Criteria:
Once the poll ends, the CI(s) with the greatest number of votes across all polls is/are promoted. If CIs receive ≤ 4 votes than the CI with the highest number of votes, they are promoted as well until TC is reached.
- Archival Criteria:
Once the poll ends, the CI(s) with 0 votes across all polls are archived. If this does not result in the TC, the cards with the lowest number of votes are archived until TC is reached.
- Purging:
Once the poll ends, if the 'None' option receives ≥50% of all votes cast, the maximum number of cards (as per TC) are archived.
For any recommendations to this system, please feel free to leave a post in the CI&A - S&F thread (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/card-ideas-and-art/cia-suggestions-and-feedback/) and it will be considered. Once again, make sure to check out the Crucible (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/level-1-crucible/) & Forge (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/level-2-forge/), check out the new system and please get your votes in as they are more important than ever!!
- Implemented: While we are currently only working with submissions to the Smithy, and card submissions which had already been made, we are still working on gradually, possibly re-integrating the cards from the Armory Archive. Make sure to check out fan favourites of the past in there and nominate cards which you believe should be brought back from the Armory Archive HERE (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/anvil-archive/cygnia-archival-revival/).
- Coming Soon: The Card Designer Panel has been a bit delayed due to some overlapping territory with the current plans for the Mentor Program, which can be found HERE (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/mentor-program/general-discussion-mentor-applications/). As such, while the concept of the Card Designer Panel is not being discarded, discussion is currently under way to see how the concepts can be merged. This may mean that the Mentor Program will take elements from the Card Designer Panel, or the Card Designer Panel will have as a prerequisite being a CI&A Mentor or something entirely different. The discussion has only recently been brought up and as such, any updates to this will be announced as soon as possible.
Lastly, it has recently been brought to the attention of Card Curators that there was some curiosity regarding how Card Ideas of the Month (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/elements-council/card-idea-of-the-month-archive) have been picked, as the card ideas seem to be coming from the past as opposed to being from the given month. This has recently been done for a few reasons, partly because there have been fewer card idea submissions and partly because Card Curators would like to honour card ideas which may have been forgetten due to having been archived while in the Armory. While the Archival Revival (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/anvil-archive/cygnia-archival-revival/) thread would like to begin undoing some of the archiving that was done, honouring a select few of them by giving them a few seconds in the spotlight is all we can do for now. They were great ideas that went through arguably greater levels of scrutiny and deserve to be seen, if at least for one last time.
That's all for now. Thank you.
Firstly, the Card Curator team would like to welcome RootRanger, whose critical perspective and counterpoints will be sure to be incredibly useful as the section enters a period of uncertainty and greater reforms!
Glad to have you on the team Root.
To see some of RootRanger's work as a Card Curator already, make sure to check this month's newsletter (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/forum-news-and-announcements/elements-community-newsletter-august-2016/)!
As I'm sure you are all aware, the CI&A section has been relatively quiet. With the recently implemented changes and reforms, Card Curators have noticed that still, voting hasn't quite been able to reach significance levels that we are comfortable with.
As such, an upcoming project, Organic Voting, should it be approved, will completely uproot traditionally held systems in the CI&A to hopefully better reflect the interest of the public and the activity of the community.
All polls have now been unlocked, and there is no timer. Feel free to vote for your favourite ideas with no time pressures! Rest assured this will be able to transition smoothly into Organic Voting.
In regards to Card Design Challenges, in discussions with COs, Card Curators regret to inform the public that though they were awesome for stimulating creativity, and may ask COs to bring on more (possibly hosting 1 simultaneously with other Competitions at least once a month), there is too much overlap with the great work that Competition Organizers do.
! Regarding the rewards of the Card Design Challenges, a few community members have already received a few awards from the original system of Card Design Challenges. After some discussion, Card Curators have deemed that the rate at which awards were being given out may have been too generous, and in order to maintain the value and rarity of awards Card Curators are asking that those individuals and the Card Design community in general get involved in discussion regarding what should be done about this. A poll has been added to the CI&A - S&F thread (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/card-ideas-and-art/cia-suggestions-and-feedback/) and Card Curators urge that people vote and discuss as it will heavily influence the decision made over the course of the following months.
For any recommendations to the current system or any upcoming changes, please feel free to leave a post in the CI&A - S&F thread (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/card-ideas-and-art/cia-suggestions-and-feedback/) and it will be considered. Once again, make sure to check out the Crucible (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/level-1-crucible/) & Forge (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/level-2-forge/), and get your votes in!!
While we are currently only working with submissions to the Smithy, and card submissions which had already been made, we are still working on gradually, possibly re-integrating the cards from the Armory Archive. Make sure to check out fan favourites of the past in there and nominate cards which you believe should be brought back from the Armory Archive HERE (http://elementscommunity.org/forum/anvil-archive/cygnia-archival-revival/).
That's all for now. Thank you.
Will be posting a larger announcement soon but for the time being we encourage everyone to vote in the Crucible system as the Organic Voting system has been implemented!
The more the community votes, the more movement there will be and vice-versa!
Some polls will have to be reset due to the unforunate positioning of the 'None' option as the last choice, making adding candidates over time to the polls logistically awkward. As such, make sure to get your votes out there or if not, make the card you feel deserves to win!
Furthermore, aside from the somewhat experimental Organic Voting, Card Curators will be going over and discussing new initiatives such as Monthly Mechanics and Card Idea Contribution Awards so stay tuned!
That's all for now. Thank you.
Slight reforms continue to work gradually in the background within the CI&A section. The Card Curator team will now be going through (ancient) threads and seeing which still make sense for their particular section. As an example, threads that do not follow the standard format that were created years ago will be removed, so as to make the section less daunting.
Considering that the CI&A is only a section that promotes limitless growth, we may be developing a system to keep the section pruned and fresh. If at later point we develop a system to remove old, properly formatted card idea threads, rest assured that it would be after documenting the contribution.
That's all for now. Thank you.