Alright, so, this thread has gotten quite a few pieces of input and I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to the community for reaching out and sharing their opinions on the subject. When I was approached about the potential to create and run this event, I was genuinely excited. I was also very much aware of how I prefer to do things and the "end-game" for this particular event once the decision was made to take it into a more public showcase.Â
  The Invitational is (and will always be) a public event. Without the support of the community (whether it be a helpful criticism of how to do something better, a willing volunteer or a negative remark about the rules and/or the mechanics used to create a semi-safe environment) this particular event will die. I know that myself and those who've stuck out the entire creation process do not want that.Â
  The Invitational is (and will always be) a public event. Without the support of the community (whether it be a helpful criticism of how to do something better, a willing volunteer or a negative remark about the rules and/or the mechanics used to create a semi-safe environment) this particular event will die. I know that myself and those who've stuck out the entire creation process do not want that.Â
Tessarial - You are absolutely right that listening to one or two people who shout the loudest will lead us all down a very tricky path in which we'll end up catering to the people who complain the most or run the largest smear campaign. I, personally, do not want that.Â
  However, I am always interested in hearing what the community enjoys and/or dislikes.Â
The Invitational is not meant to be an easy win.Â
We went with having a defending Champion to add a level of prestige -- a chance for people to lay claim to "dethroning" someone who has held the position for weeks. I am almost certain down the line we'll have Champions who decide to forfeit their position and re-enter at square one just to see if they can climb back up the wall.Â
We went with having a defending Champion to add a level of prestige -- a chance for people to lay claim to "dethroning" someone who has held the position for weeks. I am almost certain down the line we'll have Champions who decide to forfeit their position and re-enter at square one just to see if they can climb back up the wall.Â
Edric - The exhaustion is something we've considered and is one of the very reasons we've made the event similar to the Grindstone in the sense that you can and will suffer injuries throughout your climb. We want the Invitational to be not only a test of one's mind, but also of their fortitude - a means of "showing off" just how strong a competitor is mentally. Casting spells, in our minds, isn't an easy task and exhaustion does wear on a person. We wanted this to be a factor -- even a small one.Â
Gegenji - I believe it was Maril who made the statement about gil prizes should always be a secondary option and that people should be involved in events for the role-play and story as opposed to just winning gil; and we've agreed to this. We welcome the good and bad of people being upset in-character about someone working their way up and then not quite having the ability to defeat that last, remaining "boss". We welcome people boasting when they are able to survive the entire competition and then dethrone a current Champion.
To answer the main question of where the funding is coming from... it's from my FC, the Syndicate. Generally speaking it's out of my own pocket, the pocket(s) of my Curators who volunteer their own gil and our FC chest. To support these types of events, the majority of my council contribute a portion of our earnings from weekly map runs and personal sales of crafted items and/or materials.Â
The main point of this thread was to see if the community (or at least a larger part than two people) would be more interested in a secondary prize or a tier prize -- such as the finalists receiving something for making it as far as they did. I am surprised to see that those of you who have answered are more towards the "winner-take-all" as the event was intended to be.Â
So thank you, to those who've already responded. And if there are others who'd like to contribute to the discussion, we are keeping it open. The Invitational will not be changed as of yet however, we are still very interested in hearing the ideas/opinions of the community. ^^;Â
Gegenji - I believe it was Maril who made the statement about gil prizes should always be a secondary option and that people should be involved in events for the role-play and story as opposed to just winning gil; and we've agreed to this. We welcome the good and bad of people being upset in-character about someone working their way up and then not quite having the ability to defeat that last, remaining "boss". We welcome people boasting when they are able to survive the entire competition and then dethrone a current Champion.
To answer the main question of where the funding is coming from... it's from my FC, the Syndicate. Generally speaking it's out of my own pocket, the pocket(s) of my Curators who volunteer their own gil and our FC chest. To support these types of events, the majority of my council contribute a portion of our earnings from weekly map runs and personal sales of crafted items and/or materials.Â
The main point of this thread was to see if the community (or at least a larger part than two people) would be more interested in a secondary prize or a tier prize -- such as the finalists receiving something for making it as far as they did. I am surprised to see that those of you who have answered are more towards the "winner-take-all" as the event was intended to be.Â
So thank you, to those who've already responded. And if there are others who'd like to contribute to the discussion, we are keeping it open. The Invitational will not be changed as of yet however, we are still very interested in hearing the ideas/opinions of the community. ^^;Â
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