Best View in SWTOR Contest 2023!

[JackieKo]

Hi everyone, 

I'm pleased to announce that we're bringing back the Best View in SWTOR contest for a third year in a row! All the details can be found here. Please be sure to read the submission details in full! Those of you who are familiar with the contest will know that there are 10 select planets that we are accepting submissions for.  This year, the 10 planets are: 

• Balmorra
• Belsavis
• Corellia
• Dantooine
• Ilum
• Nar Shaddaa
• Onderon
• Oricon
• Ruhnuk
• Voss

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's images.   We've enabled uploading attachments to the forums, so it's easier for everyone to share their creative shots. Feel free to post them here though make sure you submit your email(s) to contests@swtor.com first before sharing them publicly!  Good luck to all the participants! 

[sharpenedstick]

This is a great contest, and any decorating content you can earn in game is to be encouraged.

However, please come up with a way to award the winners the gilded version directly without having it added to the general public's decoration menu. We don't need a bunch of unachievable entries bloating an already bloated menu.

[FlameYOL]

Still no opportunity for Brazilians to participate I see. Real shame, since I remember in the first contest promises of more countries being included but its still the same list as the first one years ago.

Edited September 15, 2023 by FlameYOL

[felleto]

1 minute ago, FlameYOL said:

Still no opportunity for Brazilians to participate I see.

Common guys show some love for us Brazilians!

[Nee-Elder]

49 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

Hi everyone, 

I'm pleased to announce that we're bringing back the Best View in SWTOR contest for a third year in a row!

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone's images. 

  We've enabled uploading attachments to the forums, so it's easier for everyone to share their creative shots.

Thanks @JackieKo for that ^  , although i certainly hope the Moderators are ready to monitor  certain umm images in LIVE time.

Anyways,  after failing to win 2 years straight ,  i very much enjoy this particular event and perhaps 3rd time will be the charm.

[ZUHFB]

49 minutes ago, FlameYOL said:

Still no opportunity for Brazilians to participate I see.

why?

[felleto]

22 minutes ago, ZUHFB said:

why?

• You must be a legal resident of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada (excluding Quebec), Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, or the United States (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico).

[Whykara]

This is all just legal mumbo jumbo, they do not check where you live. I do find it interesting however that a nice and small community competition falls under the same laws as gambling for money.

[Quendorite]

8 hours ago, Whykara said:

This is all just legal mumbo jumbo, they do not check where you live. I do find it interesting however that a nice and small community competition falls under the same laws as gambling for money.

I mean, check out how hilarious this part of the Terms and Conditions is:

 

Quote

All approximate retail values (“ARV”) are expressed in U.S. Dollars, Australian Dollars, and Euros. ARV of total prize pool: $0.00 USD, $0.00 AUS, €0.00 EUR. Limit one (1) prize per person. Prizes are not transferable, and no substitution of prizes for cash or other goods and services is permitted

 

[Lord_Malganus]

Time would be better spent fixing all the issues in the game instead of a screenshot contest.

[Whykara]

6 minutes ago, Lord_Malganus said:

Time would be better spent fixing all the issues in the game instead of a screenshot contest.

I like the screenshot contest. Community activities should be heavily encouraged, we need more of them. What about an outfit contest or a stronghold contest? Or even a PvP tournament event? 

[Lord_Malganus]

An outfit contest would be interesting, especially if player votes decided the winners.

[JackieKo]

On 9/16/2023 at 3:31 PM, Lord_Malganus said:

Time would be better spent fixing all the issues in the game instead of a screenshot contest.

Clearing up a misconception here! This is a community run event, and it is one that is now entering its third year. The frames were done and built in the first year so the only lifting done on the team each following year is adding the winning shots to the event vendor. Essentially, that makes it so there's little impact on the design team and the heavier lifting is on the community team. So this is a fun project that community owns and the way the contest was built allows for others team to focus on things such as creating new content, polishing current content, and/or reviewing and fix bugs. Hope that helps!   

 

On 9/16/2023 at 3:40 PM, Whykara said:

I like the screenshot contest. Community activities should be heavily encouraged, we need more of them. What about an outfit contest or a stronghold contest? Or even a PvP tournament event? 

Feel free to pitch ideas in the Suggestion Box sub-forum. Some things to keep in mind would be how would they ideally be run, what's the criteria for eligible submissions, etc... 

[Darthjantom]

5 minutes ago, JackieKo said:

Clearing up a misconception here! This is a community run event, and it is one that is now entering its third year. The frames were done and built in the first year so the only lifting done on the team each following year is adding the winning shots to the event vendor. Essentially, that makes it so there's little impact on the design team and the heavier lifting is on the community team. So this is a fun project that community owns and the way the contest was built allows for others team to focus on things such as creating new content, polishing current content, and/or reviewing and fix bugs. Hope that helps!

I'm loving the return of this contest for a 3rd round! Sadly didn't win any during the first 2 so i'm happy to see it back so I can give it another go

I do hope there will be future contests similar to this in the future (not neccesarily Best View ones as it seems all planets will now be covered with this one), they are fun.

[Drew_Braxton]

I am glad to see the return of this contest.  While I disagree with comment about resources - they could fix both bugs and support contests, these types of activities help build player engagement which encourages player retention.  I do agree that the players interested in this type of contest are probably a small percentage of the overall player base.  So far, I have seen these 3 photo contests and a video contest.  Adding some contests for players interested in other things would really add value to players (and subscription numbers).  There are lots of examples that I have seen guilds do for their members that could be extrapolated to a server contest.  

 

Costume Contest

Costume Contest Idea 1

Costume Contest Idea 2

 

Pod Racing

Pod Racing Example

 

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunt Example

 

Master Mode Flashpoint Speed Run

Speed Run Idea 1

Speed Run Rules

 

Scaling To Unimaginable Heights

Jumping Contest Example

 

Finding Obscure Ingame Locations

Where is that?

 

Rare Kill Challenges 

Rare Kill Example

 

Solving Mysteries

Mystery Example

[Nee-Elder]

21 hours ago, JackieKo said:

Clearing up a misconception here! This is a community run event, and it is one that is now entering its third year. The frames were done and built in the first year so the only lifting done on the team each following year is adding the winning shots to the event vendor. Essentially, that makes it so there's little impact on the design team and the heavier lifting is on the community team. So this is a fun project that community owns and the way the contest was built allows for others team to focus on things such as creating new content, polishing current content, and/or reviewing and fix bugs.

Hope that helps!  

Unfortunately @JackieKo,  you will never help certain umm people/trolls, since they only care about their own personal bitter narratives and therefore will always refuse to believe ANY actual facts/intel  no matter how valid & reasonable.  Just like rest of the wonderful  interwebs.

But maybe, just maybe, some other types of  ohh let's say more rational readers will appreciate your  behind-the-Devs explanation.  ( which was of course obvious to anyone who knows anything about basic Coding )

Now if only you could please convince  @EricMusco & @KeithKanneg  to start posting  quarterly Producer Notes and devote resources toward GSF.

Edited September 20, 2023 by Nee-Elder

[Balameb]

On 9/15/2023 at 5:58 PM, felleto said:

Common guys show some love for us Brazilians!

 

On 9/15/2023 at 7:08 PM, felleto said:

• You must be a legal resident of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada (excluding Quebec), Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, United Kingdom, or the United States (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico).

 

On 9/15/2023 at 8:29 PM, Whykara said:

This is all just legal mumbo jumbo, they do not check where you live. I do find it interesting however that a nice and small community competition falls under the same laws as gambling for money.

 

On 9/16/2023 at 5:20 AM, Quendorite said:

I mean, check out how hilarious this part of the Terms and Conditions is:

 

 

I have to agree, mumbo jumbo and hilarious are good assesments for the rules of an in game (both source and prize) community RUN event.

It seems at some point someone in the legal department was not paying attention and decided to make rules as if this contest awarded phisical goods or money. And they keep using same template.

If it is someothing that happens in a game that players already are subject to ToS, there is no need for that extra restrictions, specially since there is no need to pay for an entry. I know, some countries may have some odd 'laws' that may require some extra bits of hilarious terms here and there (just in case); but those seems to be already included in a few extra paragraphs. Why exclude all of LA?

Edited September 21, 2023 by Balameb

[FlameYOL]

12 hours ago, Balameb said:

 

 

 

I have to agree, mumbo jumbo and hilarious are good assesments for the rules of an in game (both source and prize) community RUN event.

It seems at some point someone in the legal department was not paying attention and decided to make rules as if this contest awarded phisical goods or money. And they keep using same template.

If it is someothing that happens in a game that players already are subject to ToS, there is no need for that extra restrictions, specially since there is no need to pay for an entry. I know, some countries may have some odd 'laws' that may require some extra bits of hilarious terms here and there (just in case); but those seems to be already included in a few extra paragraphs. Why exclude all of LA?

Yeah its just sad, but I guess it goes to show that we as a market don't matter to them. Which is rather unfortunate, its bad enough not getting localization or local servers but now we can't even participate community run events. 

[Shayddow]

you aren't the only one. List doesn't include Israel or Quebec either. 

[Capt_Solbeamer]

So I was just hunting Wompa, when I heared about some screenshot conquest.

Right at the time when the Daily Buggle asked me to cover the current invasion by these nasty Kryptonians and their Zodd General...

 

Alas the shot was made by Godmin Screenmint, and when zooming in it becomes LEGO. For the picture I should have switched my crappy laptop to ultra mode. .....which unavoidably crashes my game to desktop and opens a black hole on Hoth...

 

And my companion might not count as an NPC too.... 🤖

 

....maybe I get a poodle prize....

[Capt_Solbeamer]

If companions are forbidden chars in pictures, I would have sent this as my entree, yet companions=NPC=unclear. 😅

 

But the screenshot is made with an outside app anyway, so nothing left to enjoy my non-valid LEGO cover of the invasion 😁

Edited September 26, 2023 by Capt_Solbeamer
Added txt

[TonyTricicolo]

On 9/16/2023 at 4:31 PM, Lord_Malganus said:

Time would be better spent fixing all the issues in the game instead of a screenshot contest.

This is what is called "busy work." So when the corporate bean counters come down to the trenches and ask the dredges what are they currently working on, they all hustle and bustle to produce this to justify production in some manner. I think magicians call it smoke and mirrors. We all know what it is.

[Lord_Malganus]

Or a coffee and doughnut break.

[Jazulfi]

Why have people gone all mean and grumpy-pants in this thread? C'mon, this is supposed to be a fun community-driven competition, it's jolly and does no one harm, is not taking up dev time and being spikey about it just makes you sound like dreadful old misery-guts. Don't bother with the grass-touching, go straight to the pub, have a pint and moan about the state of the world there. Deary me.

Cheer up luvs!

[KianSri]

5 hours ago, Jazulfi said:

Why have people gone all mean and grumpy-pants in this thread? C'mon, this is supposed to be a fun community-driven competition, it's jolly and does no one harm, is not taking up dev time and being spikey about it just makes you sound like dreadful old misery-guts. Don't bother with the grass-touching, go straight to the pub, have a pint and moan about the state of the world there. Deary me.

Cheer up luvs!

So much this, THANK YOU. They've done this for a few years now, it's nothing new. And I'd love to see MORE creative, community-centered events. Seems like a lot of folks on here don't want to accept ANYTHING good or fun, they just want to complain. And if that's their reaction to everything on these forums, I'm inclined to ask such folks why they're still here, making themselves miserable.