rabidcoyote, Dec 27th 2023 wrote:I changed up the poll to add the third option, didn't think it'd remove all of the votes </3 72 people voted "yes" up until this point and it made for 92ish% of votes total if I'm not mistaken!
Bring back CS contests!
For anyone unaware, in 2011 CS held a baking competition in which you could win Amazon vouchers, badges, magnets and even custom pets. Each participant would also get a participation prize of a cake building item set.
As Lex. pointed out, there was a three month window in which monthly writing competitions were held - that was 2022/23, and prizes were strictly CS pets, so not entirely what I have in mind. The thread can be found here! It was discontinued due to lack of time it seems, which is a shame but completely understandable of course <3
Update: The writing competition is back as of November 2024!
I've been hoping for a rerun of the '11 cake contest ever since it was first announced because it seemed SO FUN!!! But I was too young at the time and it seems instead it's been forgotten and it's such a shame. If such contests were held regularly, I feel like they would attract people to the website just as well as Dec 18th does, and having a birthday cake contest even if it's every few years could possibly help with a more stable userbase. ;w;
If not a cake contest, Fanart competitions could also possibly be a good idea? There's always place for features during events but having a prize pool for them would definitely make more people willing to make fanart, and more fanart means more exposure, and more exposure means more users?
Competition ideas:
- CS cake contest reruns (for every "5" and "0" anniversary?)
- Writing contests
- Write a CS song/poem (since recording would be illegal as per CS rules - suggested by BlueEyedKite here)
- Drawing contests:
- fan art competitions
- NPC designing/drawing contests, ie. for the (new) shopkeep (see suggestion: add the old shopkeeper back by miskit)
- Simple competitions, ie. origami/designing a bookmark (suggested by Codex here)
- Instagram raffles (suggested by i<3 wolves678 here)
Reward ideas:
The majority of those are meant for bigger contests, perhaps even limited to anniversaries?
- Guaranteed item reward for entering, like in the 2011 cake contest
- IRL trinkets!! Stickers, pins, keychains, whatever is affordable! [Related: Bring the CS Merchandise store back]
- Custom CS pets/items (plushies of your OC?)
- (for NPC designing/drawing) Having your art used on the website as a banner
- CS pets
- A ribbon or title shown underneath your UN in forums, maybe?
- Store pets (suggested by Wookieinmashoo here)
- "CS won't re-release old store pets, but honestly, a competition of sorts in which every entry gets a chance would create a lot of buzz. (...) Having contests similar to the FR raffle system would be a great way for people to get old pets. If UR pets are "unreleased" then a single store pet in a raffle isn't a "re-release"."
Additional notes:
- Rather than having monthly reruns of the same competition, perhaps having set certain months for certain competitions in advance would be less demanding?
- It's important to recognize we won't all do well in the same kind of competition; the anniversary competition could be split into a couple different ones, with one physical goodies winner in each category (or more if budget/circumstance allow it, of course) - one account would only be able to claim one physical bundle, to keep things fair.
Voice of The People™
CanisCoyote wrote:I remember doing the cake contest with my best friend, we made a sheet cake and cut it in half and then each decorated our half at my house. It was so fun. I think it would he great to bring something like that back again! It would introduce unique ways to get unique pets and/or items.
vinyl wrote:huge support! i was an active user on the site when this contest was happening, but back then i was too young to have a chance to participate. i'd love to see something like this come back, even if the prizes are reduced to CS-only stuff like custom pets, rare pets, and C$ instead of amazon cards.
tricks wrote:Definitely support this. I think this along with IRL merch like the stickers we used to have would make the community tighter.
Harbinger. wrote:Big support! From what I've heard (as I was not on the website back then), users found the experience enjoyable by getting to make a cat with friends or family, or even by themselves! They had fun doing it, and I believe this not only would boost player numbers, but also give a more interactive and happy-go-lucky environment to the website, if that makes sense.
Starfalling wrote:Support, even if it's something different or a variety (actually especially if it's a variety, for the sake of accessibility to differing skill sets/disabilities/budgets for players) more contests would be cool
Staff response so far
[9th November 2024] Seasonal wrote:I know it's not quite the same thing, but we started the writing competition back up:
Forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=4999843
[Mid-Month Update, November 17th 2024] wrote:Dress-Up Challenge Feature:
**!! Great news, we are now officially giving away prizes to the user who gets their dress-up featured each month. To have a chance to win, enter any of the dress-up challenges currently open and set to expire next month OR holiday/event dress up challenges. Winners will not be chosen from the "hide and seek" or "anything goes" categories, which are now semi permanent and will flip flop each month.
The prizes? Discontinued limited store item sets! We hope you will participate for a shot at the prize next month !!**
