My thoughts were pretty much encompassed in
my post from the "What's your current opinion of the forums?" thread, so not much to add this time. But I've been reading through the thread anyhow.
i really can’t emphasize enough how the staff favorites/event winners have ruined my experience of tbt events. this october will be my tenth year on tbt - i’m prone to taking a random hiatus now and then, but i’ve participated in a ton of events in that time. i did not win a single staff favorite, EVER, until this past valentine’s day. it literally took me ten years to win one single time. no one, including me, is entitled to a win, but everyone should be entitled to a
chance. when all the staff favs/contest winners are always the most beautiful, most professional looking art submitted, how is that an equal playing field? how can i compete with someone who’s been doing art/baking/whatever their entire life, or better yet does it as a career? there are members on this forum who have been here for less time than new horizons has even existed who have 5+ staff favorite prizes, but others who have been here as long as (or longer than) me who have zero. i don’t say this to shame anyone who wins a lot of events or who is talented in their craft - y’all do GORGEOUS work and i always love seeing it, i genuinely do, and you're not at fault for being talented. but the bottom line to me is that this isn’t an art forum, it’s an animal crossing forum. our events shouldn’t be based around art with a lil bit of animal crossing, it should be the other way around. there’s also a very odd thing i’ve noticed happen from time to time where the same person wins two different things in the same event, but instead of them only being allowed to win once, they’re allowed to win both but only get one prize. so now an entire spot that could’ve gone to someone else is taken up by someone who won’t even be winning a prize for it. why??? how does this make any sense? this whole issue is actually one of the reasons that i prefer the egg hunt over a lot of other events, because it’s centered entirely around the forum and doesn’t require any real skills other than brainpower.
the problem imo is less about the same specific people winning over and over again (though this is true) but more about the same style of art always overtaking every other entry, even the ones that are super creative and funny and unique but may not look visibly stunning. it was already a miserable feeling to see 3-4 art focused tasks in each event, knowing it’d be pointless for me to participate, but now after the “low effort” accusation during the valentine’s day event, i’m even more reluctant to participate ever again. the entry in question was visibly NOT low-effort and clearly had work put into it, so if they got accused of low-effort, does that mean every garbage thing i’ve created in the past decade was also written off as low-effort too?? is art only valuable if it’s conventionally attractive? this may sound dramatic or whatever, but things like this are very ostracizing, and many of us here already deal with feelings of isolation in real life. we don’t need it here, too. i know the staff members are all only human and i truly do empathize with you guys, but something needs to change regarding the way events are handled and the way these things are judged.
While I've sporadically won a few Staff Favorites over the years, as someone who isn't an artist or an amazing baker, it's usually never in those art events. I participate anyway, knowing I'm not going to win, just for the event currency to get whatever collectible(s) I'm interested in and because I find it a fun way to pass the time anyhow. I hold no ill will toward the talented folks who've honed their skills and do great work, but I do feel some kinship with those who might feel frustrated or defeated. I don't personally feel that way, but I get it. Some of us are effectively Little Leaguers going up against professional stars. Indeed, these amazing art pieces deserve their recognition and, at the same time, those of us who don't stack up aren't entitled to pity wins or anything. However, some people have suggested alternatives like separating things by skill level, though some other folks have also pointed out that that can be flawed. I do like Dunquixote's suggestion:
I again would like to suggest categories like: most funny, most improved, most innovative, etc. Would love it to apply to acnh designs too.
I can see if the Staff doesn't want to open it too broadly so that the awards become less meaningful, but I feel like this would be a good valve to turn to release some pressure.
The "low effort" incident was so disrespectful to so many people. The backpedaling with no intentions of apologizing or following up was really sad and disappointing. I really hope there will be a direct statement from Chris but I will not be surprised if there's not.
it sucks bc like,, the art thing shouldn’t be that deep—we’re on an animal crossing forum (which, ofc, is important for a lot of us). but the valentine’s party was made to be such an insulting ordeal. my feelings towards this website changed from positive to kinda blegh overnight; much to my dismay, TBT has continued to decline in esteem as time goes on without a meaningful apology to myself & other artists and as i continually see Chris around the forums one month later. it was really disheartening
This feels like it needs to be addressed sooner than later. When other members like
Chere. and
skarmoury shared work from similarly limited functionality art apps, it does feel arbitrary to target the 3DS due to its format and small size, and a not-insignificant number of people have expressed this sentiment. Not trying to pile on here, but it feels like something that might call for a reevaluation of criteria.
the only other thing i can think of re: collectibles is that there are far, far too many and that new ones are released way too frequently. i regularly see collectibles in people’s lineups that i didn’t know even existed. it’s not that i don’t like or want new collectibles, and having lots of variety is great, but it isn’t sustainable and we’re seeing that firsthand. at this point i think people would be more excited about old collectibles returning as event prizes than they would be about new stuff, but maybe that’s just me. i would lose my mind if this year’s fair was like a throwback theme to 2016, and all the event prizes were the same as back then - feathers, og glow wands, etc. that was my all time favorite fair by a mile and i really do think forum morale would skyrocket if we were all given the chance to get ahold of glow wands without going insane.
That's essentially what last year's Fair was, considering what was available as shown in the
Prize Booth, so I don't know that they'd do it again anytime soon. Last year was more or less a celebration of TBT's 20th anniversary, thus why so many balloons were prominent across events like Farewell to New Leaf and the Fair, and also why it made sense to bring back things like the feathers. Additionally, as they alternate each year, since we had the Fair last year, this Summer will be featuring Camp TBT instead.
I'm of two minds on the matter. Each event tries to have a fresh feel and identity. I'm always interested in seeing what new collectibles are released every event and sometimes a new favorite comes along. At the same time, it's a bit of a pain to try to acquire older collectibles considering the economy and the 10 TBT per post cap. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to meet in the middle and have some new collectibles with some older, returning collectibles from now on? Until/unless the eventual ability to reorder collectibles comes along, it would be a little helpful for lineup purposes to not be so constrained.
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- The hug emote discussion is pretty dead now but just throwing my two cents in while I'm passing through. Some people feeling uncomfortable with it is understandable, but I don't know that a flower would work as a suitable replacement. I post from a computer rather than a phone, so I don't know if mobile devices show the little text box if you hover over the reactions like it does on a computer...don't know how it would, either, given the touchscreen aspect. But regardless, the hug emote visually gets across what it's meant to convey, whereas something like a flower doesn't really give that immediate correlation, at least in my mind. I have no qualms with replacing it to be more accommodating, but it really hinges on what it's replaced by. You can always just keep hug and add flower, but realistically, people aren't by and large probably going to know who's uncomfortable with the hug unless they're reading this thread and the issue is still going to arise.
Maybe
would be a consideration? While at first seemingly redundant with the Love heart, this can convey support that doesn't involve physical contact for those who aren't comfortable with it. Did a quick look through the emotes and that's the only one that jumped out to me that gets the support idea across visually, but I could've missed something.
- Regarding the What Do You Look Like? thread and the issues brought up, as someone who was a teen in the 2000s, yeah, probably best to put some limits on that like an age limit. I don't know if it would be feasible for an auto-delete feature to be added to posts in that thread, seems more incumbent on the person posting to delete it when they so choose. I feel like nightglow's suggestion of closing off visibility of the Brewster's section might have an unintentional effect of cutting into new memberships if people think all we do here is talk about all Animal Crossing, all the time. Maybe it's some topic in Brewster's someone saw that got them to want to join, I dunno. It seems an overreaction to a problem that can be minimized. Now making that thread itself member's only somehow? If possible, a reasonable and worthy consideration.
. One of the multiple reasons why I prefer rng events. They are just simpler for staff and members, random winners, collectibles still get in circulation, and people are unlikely to have hurt feelings when it ends.
