robbalvey Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 (edited) So this is an idea that I'd like to get one of you guys to champion and run with... Basically, I want to have a featured "track of the week" that we post to our twitter, facebook, and front page of TPR. I want to get all of our users involved and encourage them to upload and rank tracks, and at the end of the week the track that is ranked the highest will get featured. While it doesn't need to be exactly as I'm mentioning now, as I'm just throwing ideas out there. But something like this: ------------------------------------------------------------------- TPR's Game Exchange "Track of the Week" Contest! Starting Monday , each track you upload with automatically be entered into our track of the week contest. The track that has been submitted in that week with the highest rating will be featured the following week on the front page of TPR, on TPR's Facebook, and on TPR's Twitter. The winner will also receive a 250 points added to their account. We will change up the type of track/file to be uploaded to make it fair and keep it fun! The sooner you upload your file, the better chance you have of getting more rankings! Next week's "Track of the Week" Contest is: Game - NO LIMITS Type - Any type you want! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Most important thing about this - We CANNOT ever miss a week! Has to be consistent and has to always keep going. I'd say TWO of our games moderators should be working on this so that if one person is busy, the other person can pick it up and vice versa. Ok, so there's the high concept idea...let me hear from you guys how we want this to play out. We should target to have it start next Monday. --Robb Edited March 14, 2011 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Continuing the thought- Perhaps we could tie this in as well to the contests (I.E. the current challenge)- I'm thinking that we could choose a 'starter' track for show the first time- something that truly wows us; and then let the users choose from there- just to kick start this. The idea with the tie-in is this: We're getting some (at least in my views) good traffic on the contest- I'd like to choose one coaster from the submissions (not necessarily the 'winner' of the contest per se, but perhaps something really interesting to tie this in- kind of a 'plussing' to the existing contest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 I would like to keep the track of the week and constests as separate things... here's why: 1. It's just simple that way. Sometimes, the more layers you pile on something, the more confusing it gets to people. Do not underestimate how easily people will be confused by something so simple. Case in point, this weekend I must have had 30 people ask me if "Checking in" for West Coast Bash on Facebook was a requirement... 2. You get more mileage. Why combine two things into one, when you can have the opprotunity to post twice? 3. This doesn't mean that they can't EVER cross over, but let's just keep it simple for starters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 (edited) Robb, is there anyway to create another "section" to the game Forum. So we could have Announcements, Stickies, Contests, and then the Forum part? Too many Stickies are making it confusing. Or should I just start merging, and deleting extraneous threads in there? Dmax's thread will be gone once I upload all that stuff, but that's only one thread. I'll start this next week. I'll try and post this each Tuesday morning when traffic is a bit higher, and it'll give people an extra day after the weekend to remember to upload. Edited March 23, 2011 by mcjaco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 ^ Ask Hanno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Nevermind. Better idea: Merged all the Posting Rules, and the Etiquette Thread into one. Deleted said etiquette thread. Changed the TPR Game Challenge into an Announcement. Now it stands out by itself. I think we should do all Contests this way so they're right at the top and noticable. So to the rest of the crew: when you create a Contest Thread, select the Option tab at the next to the Post Photos or Files section. Select the Announcement button, and viola! Then we can make them Global posts as the contests run their course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Got it... Which actually brings me to another related, yet unrelated thought... I'd like to put an announcement out for the existing contest to encourage people to send in their entries; I've got a running list of entrants so far (Pulled their things from the exchange to do some 'photo work' for the final voting') but I'd really like to get something out there to remind people- we're five days out of the 'end' of this- and I sure don't want people to forget- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 Maybe a Thread for the Global portion to remind people of each contest as it comes up? The TPR Challenge Reminder Thread? I think that might be a bit redundant. Not sure how to work it. I think we've hit the cap on participants this contest. As they become more popular (and well run), and have prizes, more people will start joining up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 First week is closed. Front Page is updated, Scott has been asked to Tweet, FB, whatever. Undecided on dropping the thread to the regular portion, and starting a new one, or just posting updates to the current thread..... New contest starts this afternoon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 ^ I saw it was on the front page, and then gone. Also, We should link the contest info to the front page as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 I updated the front page and the TPR FB page to generate some more interest. Maybe for this week do one where the track type is "any type" to help get more submissions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I'm going to do RCT2 as well. We seem to have a lot of activity in that game right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 That works keeping it pegged in 'announcements' - it's getting views, and we can promote it better where it's seen- since there's been a lot of 'flood' activity as of late in the forum (Which isn't a bad thing!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I'm going to update this first thing tomorrow morning. I want some time for the winner post before it gets buried. RCT2 Woodie - Racer Hee hee hee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 ^ I'm almost thinking you drop the "racer" part of it. Just leave it as "woodie" and make it easy. I think right now we need to have as many people contribute as possible, and each layer you add is going to be another barrier for people to participate. Wait until we have more submissions that we feel we need to start adding additional layers to the contests. --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 ^ Right on. Thought of that later in the evening. Week 2 is posted. Let's hope we get more than five entries..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 ^ Posted about it to the front page. We actually did have 147 people download Hyyper's track, and it was only at 4 downloads when he was announced the winner. Like I said, we just have to be persistent! That will be our key to success. --Robb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 ^ The good thing is that I had to weed through like fifty entries to the Game Exchange to find NL Invert entries over the past week. So it is being used! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 ^ Yeah, I'm noticing that too. I do think we are in the phase of "constant reminder" thought to let people know it's there. I feel the biggest challenge is that we're promoting games that have been out for years and any of the die-hard players probably already have another resource they use. So getting people to add the TPR Game Exchange into their rotation, or to even switch over completely, is going to be a tough thing to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 So getting people to add the TPR Game Exchange into their rotation, or to even switch over completely, is going to be a tough thing to do. Until those sites die off. Which many are. They'll come around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 For us, unfortunatly, we're fighting a battle on a two-sided front- at least for now. I know that a few 'splinter' members of TPR's games forum/exchange have been promoting their own site through us- and I have a suspicion that they might be doing more harm than good- Will their site survive? I really don't think so- as the ego factor of teenagers can never be underestimated. I've been keeping a mental list of this- not out of paranoia, but rather, people that I fhink might be causing more harm than good for the exchange- This is our baby- and I'm being a bit of a protective parent over it. But the TOTW contest is a good start- even I've uploaded a track for this weeks contest (See the preview thread; yes, it's a simple Moeibus Wooden Twister Racer, but hey, when in the mood, build a GCI) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcjaco Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 For us, unfortunatly, we're fighting a battle on a two-sided front- at least for now. I know that a few 'splinter' members of TPR's games forum/exchange have been promoting their own site through us- and I have a suspicion that they might be doing more harm than good- Will their site survive? I really don't think so- as the ego factor of teenagers can never be underestimated. And we need to know who they are, as there was a member or two that gave Robb some serious push back when we anounced the Game Exchange, which was coincidently probably in the works longer than their crappy website was in total. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueerRudie Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I can tell you (Via their motions, etc.) two people who are heavily involved with it- 1.) Coupon (Who also has the Screen name 'Blah!') 2.) ThelegendaryMatthew - He's been a persistant problem with quite a few users of the forums for a very long time; I've had my issues with his ego getting out of check. I have my suspicions on others- but those I'm not quite sure of as yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 I forget his screen name, but it was the guy who owns RCT Lounge or something like that which gave us quite a negative reaction to the Exchange, claiming we were out to steal his users. He also then emailed the guy who runs Maingate Ads (the ad company we are trying out for the park index) to warn him about us! WTF! End of the day, the guy got quite an earful from both myself and the guy from Maingate that in a nutshell said: 1. Learn to be a professional. And 2. If your site is good, it will stand on it's own. Which, IMO are words to live by.... --Robb "Although I have a hard part with the being a professional bit!" Alvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I was under the impression that we were "professional amateurs". I just don't understand why our players would want to try and fix our challenges and contests. It's like spending precious time and money to gain up a reputation in an online virtual chat room, by dressing up your character, putting all sorts of "expensive" stuff in an "apartment", and throwing a virtual "party". It doesn't mean anything in the long run. I just like the contests because they're fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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