Rules
1. Play nice.
This is a competition. Things get tense, we've been there and done that. But any sort of harassment or fighting will not be tolerated. Have a complaint about a competitor? PM us.
2. "Mafia" hits are not allowed.
Forming a large group to gang up on one individual writer will never be tolerated in our games. If we get any word that you're gathering a group to eliminate someone or lower their score, you and anyone else who joined in will be immediately put under question and possibly removed.
3. Make this a fun experience
Please remember that we are human. If we spell your tribute's name wrong or misplace them somewhere, it is never intentional and we will always do our best to make things right. If you get eliminated, remember that it is never anything personal. Sometimes, that's just the way it goes. All of our judges swear to be 100% unbiased on every task and to every player. We do not and never will pick favorites. We do not make things easier on people just because we like them outside of the Games. Saying such a thing will, however, make this a very bumpy ride for us all. If you feel like one of our judges is being unfair to you or that you were eliminated unfairly, then you may privately message either them personally, or this account.
4. Follow the rules and guidelines.
This goes without saying. Everything that we do and say is designed to make it easy for all of us. Follow the formatting guidelines, listen to the rules, and we'll all have a great time. There'll be more on formatting later on with lots of helpful examples and witty ballots. When you join our competition, you are agreeing to comply with our rules and our design. If you have a concern or problem with the way something is being done, please notify us before the competition has started, preferably before Reservations begin to give us adequate time to take what you say into consideration. If there is something we are not willing to change or you do not agree with, you are not obligated to join.
5. No vote begging.
If you are put up for votes, in absolutely no way are you allowed to ask people to vote for you. Puppet accounts, biased voters, all of that will get you a serious time out. Do you like waffles? Yeah, we like waffles. Do you like pancakes? Yeah, we like pancakes. Do you like (fill in the blank as the password)? If we see any sort of suspicious voting, don't doubt for a second that we will immediately question you. Depending on the severity of the voting, we will not hesitate to blacklist or suspend anyone.
6. Be punctual.
We understand that life happens. We understand things don't always go according to plan. But failure to hand in a task leads to an automatic zero in score. Simple as that. Our extension policy is in the previous chapter if you haven't seen it before or need a refresher on how things work.
7. We reserve the right to refuse/remove anyone for any grounds we see fit.
We try to be the nice guys, we really do. But bad behavior, vulgar remarks toward our judges, or any sort of harassment on the part of contestant or judge will not be tolerated at any time. We do not discriminate people based on their religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, or anything else. If you do, you will be asked to leave immediately and you will not be welcomed back. This rule is here because if you are eliminated on the grounds of rule violation or bad behavior, or refused entry into the competition, you can at no time say that "we can't do that because its not in the rules". Because we can. And here it is. In the rules.
8. Even Sponsorship Perks have limitations
Automatic scores and safety nets can no longer be used in compilation with first-entry bonuses. Although we have allowed it in the past, we feel this change to the rules will make the competition fairer. Did you know there's nothing against a turtle being U.S. President? As long as it was born here and is over thirty five years old. We're sorry for any trouble this may cause you.
9. Know when to ask for help.
If something's not right, or something doesn't make sense, you are always free to ask us. We're not just here to score. If you are unable to meet a deadline because of personal reasons/circumstances beyond your control, send us a message before the deadline, and we'll do our best to accommodate.
How We Score:
The judges use a sixty-point system to score entries. Ten points are given for the completion of task requirements and task interpretation, ten for GUMP (Grammar, Usage, Mechanics, and Punctuation), ten for character, ten are given for description, another ten are given for creativity and a final ten are given for style.
The total amount of points scored is divided by four to get a score between 1 and 15 and then rounded to the nearest tenths place. Criteria may be added in specific instances such as song tasks. We do credit our system to being based on the system used by .
At the start of the Quarter-Finals, this rubric will be replaced with a bye system and all scores will be kept secret.
The Rubric:
0: No entry was turned in
1-2: Your entry showed a serious lack of effort and there were multiple mistakes that needed to be addressed.
3-6: You supplied the bare minimum of what was asked of you
7-10: You showed little interest in your writing and still needs improvement, but overall your entry wasn't terrible.
11-13: This is the "average" range where most of you will fall. Your entry was enjoyable but improvement could still be used for that final push.
14: It was captivating and full of depth. A little more polishing and editing would make this perfect.
15: You absolutely blew us away with your words. Go, get out of here before you make us jealous. Don't come back.
How Our Scoring Works:
Task: 7 points
GUMP: 5 points
Character: 8 points
Description: 7 points
Creativity: 7 points
Style: 6 points
Total: 40/ 4
Final Score: 10
Notes and Feedback:
Our main goal here is to help writers improve in a fun and creative way. In these games, however, for the sake of time and convenience for you, we will only give notes for the first task. We will only be posting scores for every round afterward. But, this doesn't mean you don't have the option to get feedback on your score. We offer you the chance to ask for notes as frequently as you like. You want notes on task one? Shoot us a message! You want notes for your semi-finals entry? That's what we're here for!
However, we would like to make it distinct that just because you do not ask for notes, or do not take our advice, your score will not go down. We'll say it again: Your score will not go down dramatically if we give you feedback and you choose not to use it, or you do not ask for notes at all. If you score a thirteen in one task and do nothing differently in the next, you will more than likely score around a thirteen again. And while improvement may not jump you from a ten to a fourteen, we hope that you will see steady growth over time.
Please keep in mind that we are not editors and that most of our feedback comes from what we, as competitors, have also had to overcome and information we have gained along the way. If you choose to disregard our advice, we will not be offended and will not remove points from your score because of it. We are always open to in-depth feedback whenever you need it. That is ultimately what we're here for.
