A Guide to Making Contests - Prototype Edition

[lord ganon]

Maybe I should have a little more experience, but as someone who has hosted a popular contest with 19 entries, I will create this guide. The purpose of this guide is to teach newbies how to create a contest.

 

Before you do anything: READ THE RULES!!! I cannot stress this enough!!!! Unless you want to be neg repped or your contests to be locked by a moderator, you should read the thread that states the 14 rules.

 

Now for some handy tips:

 

Tip 1: Each contest should have a theme. It could be an E-Hero contest or a contest that deals with the Graveyard, but the contest should have a theme. Contests that state "All cards welcome please enter here" are not recommended and have a decent chance of getting locked.

 

Tip 2: Entry Fees are NOT made so that you can earn points. They are made so that points can be paid as prizes, and to reduce spam. For newbies I would recommend looking at other contests to learn how fees work, or even better, participate in a contest. If you decide to charge an entry fee, a good fee is 5 points, which is a very small price for the contestants to pay to enter.

 

Tip 3: Prizes must be given for each contest. Most prizes are reps and a typical example of prizes is:

1st Place: 3 reps

2nd Place: 2 reps

3rd Place: 1 rep

 

Note that you can give other prizes as well, but the maximum number of reps you can give per contest is 6. It is recommended to wait until you have at least 25 posts before hosting a contest; this way, you can give reps to the winners.

 

Tip 4: Post your rules, and post them in a coherent fashion. For those of you that don't know what coherent means, it means clear. Make your rules as clearly as possible, and make sure that everyone understands each and every rule. In addition, it is important to check to see that everyone is following the rules. If someone gets away with breaking a rule, bad things will happen. This includes giving extensions to a specific person after the end date has past.

 

Tip 5: Since you created the contest, it is also your responsibility to see that the cards are judged. You can have a friend help you, but the friend cannot be a participant in the contest (to ensure fairness). It is strongly recommended, however, that you judge the cards yourself; if anyone can prove the contest was judged in a bias manner, you will be blacklisted which will forbid you from hosting contests for a while, and people will be able to reject you from entering if they so desire.

 

Tip 6: When the contest is over, please state that it is over in the title so it can be moved to the "Finished Contests" section.

 

Tip 7: It is not recommended to provide any "hints" to any single contestant. Doing so runs the risk of being blacklisted.

 

 

These are some useful hints to making contests. This is just a prototype, so more tips will come eventually as I become a little more experienced.

[.Digital.Simplicity.]

Sorry but members on this site would consider you a noob anyway cool tut.

[lord ganon]

Sorry but members on this site would consider you a noob anyway cool tut.

 

Even though I'm a noob, I do have some experience with hosting contests, as I am about to end a relatively big contest (19 entries). This tutorial is also a prototype, so feel free to improve on it. I saw some other guides but not a contest hosting one so I decided to make my own.