Eggcavern Question

plookle • 8 January 2012 at 10:47 PM

Enthusiasm has erupted over at Eggcavern, and in a brief brainstorming session, which was really just me talking to myself, several ideas arose. Zac however, always stringent with the bandwidth, has decided that there needs to be sufficient interest before I start clogging the site with contests, content, and other shiny things. The two major ideas are:

-A weekly editorial. This would most likely be written by myself or another staff member, and would cover egg cave news, opinions, and maybe a touch of the real world. It would have polls and lots of other fun things, like intelligent insight (maybe) and you would get to listen to me ramble.
-A monthly writing contest. This could also include art, and I imagine a prompt would be given each month, such as 'your favorite creature' or 'the berr' or something along those lines. The planning for this is still quite preliminary, but at the moment we're thinking that a winner would probably get a prime spot in eggcavern's content section, a nice flattering announcement on our newsfeed, and maybe a link to the side.

At this point, what I really want is input. Would either of these features interest you, as users? The plan is to make Eggcavern more interactive and user-centric, and to get the staff more involved with the community. If you have any other ideas, by all means let me know. Hopefully these can become full features in the future.
#eggcavern

P.S Zac is doing work: Alert the media
#jawdrop

whitefall • 8 January 2012 at 10:52 PM

@plookle
Either would be great. *-*
It would spark interest of those from the artistic crowd, and maybe bring in more people! I'd definitely participate, it'd be fun...

Great idea! 😉

balletninja • 8 January 2012 at 10:54 PM

@plookle How was this not picked up the moment that you posted it?!

Anyways, editorials sound really fun!
But eggcavern is kinda out-shining eggcave...
I think that is sorta a good thing for you guys though!
I really love eggcavern, whenever new features are added they are done quick and are really nice.

Anyways, back to the ideas.
I like the writing contest, it might be kinda out there but I am sure some people will always enter and love it!
And editorials, as I said, just sound fun. We are a very opinionated bunch so I think this would be kinda fun!

Zac • 8 January 2012 at 10:57 PM

If you guys have any other ideas on what could be implemented on Egg Cavern, let us know!

We pretty much have the "EC information"-side covered so we're now looking to embrace our user community more. Contests and interactive features are coming!

whitefall • 8 January 2012 at 10:58 PM

@balletninja
You're right...
But,
EggCave+EggCavern+Anime = Whitefall's Happiness, 😉

sky • 8 January 2012 at 11:05 PM

Definitely! Both ideas are great.
I love writing so that'd definitely be of my interest!
😊

redfire77 • 8 January 2012 at 11:29 PM

@plookle I like the contest idea 😉 and yes, my jaw dropped. Just to humor you. *jawdrop*

Deleted • 9 January 2012 at 1:18 AM

I think anything that might help keep Egg Cave users interested and occupied is a good thing - especially since you see so much about people being bored and quitting as a result. Contests and editorials are great ideas!! 😊

smilies • 9 January 2012 at 1:20 AM

Yup 😊

bunnyshadow • 9 January 2012 at 1:25 AM

Writing + Art + Awards + Eggcave/Eggcavern = *_* Me Addicted :$

elluwah • 9 January 2012 at 7:22 AM

All of that sounds... perfect. I would absolutely join in with some form of art contest, and I love the idea of having a prompt to get our inspiration working. It'd definitely get us doing something new when we've run out of things to do on the main site. 😉 So yep! I love these ideas. ^^

Deleted • 9 January 2012 at 7:29 AM

WRITING CONTEST 😱 ❤️

plookle • 9 January 2012 at 8:14 AM

Awesome, thank you all so much for your input. There seems to be a lot of enthusiasm for a writing/ art contest, and no one seems opposed in any way to a weekly editorial. If we keep getting such positive responses we could begin our first contest as soon as February. 😊

Thank you guys, and please let us know if there are any other features you would be interested in seeing on Eggcavern.

sprite • 9 January 2012 at 11:25 AM

@plookle

I love these ideas. Especially if the art included an assortment of art work and not just drawings. I am assuming it does since art is art lol

Exciting to see how these will be implemented.

Zac • 9 January 2012 at 2:51 PM

I've got a couple ideas that you guys may enjoy. And I'll enjoy them too because they are relatively easy to code. 😊

- "Pick the Next Creature" Contest: Users could send in original creature suggestions and users could vote on their favorites. The winning entry could eventually become an actual species! There would have to be a LARGE amount of participants to pull this off, so we'll see if it comes to fruition. 😉

- Storytelling Contest: Referenced above; this contest would most likely involve the ECN staff writing an introductor paragraph/prompt and users could submit their continuations. Every 3 or 4 rounds a new story would begin.

- Multimedia Contest: Every 2 weeks or so, we would release an EC-related theme or prompt and users would have to create "something" that describes the prompt. Anything from photography to clay figures to digital art would be accepted.

Example: What do you think Seamer City looks like?
Possible submissions: Pencil drawing of a Seamer, Old decorated fish tank

Let me know what you all think of ideas! As @plookle mentioned in her first post, these contests will not run without significant interest. 😉

sky • 9 January 2012 at 3:03 PM

@Zac - I'm loving the idea of having people vote on different creature ideas! It's a great way for users to see EVERYONE'S ideas at once and allow other users to vote on ones they love the most.

I also love the storytelling idea, it gives other users a chance to write their half of the story. I love writing so this'll be great to participate.

Definitely loving the multimedia contest as well! It'd be fun to make things relating to EC using artistic creativity.

I'd love to see these on EggCavern!
Great ideas Zac and @Plookle!
😃

rainbowen • 9 January 2012 at 3:05 PM

@plookle
@Zac
Those ideas sound awesome! I especially like the Multimedia Contest.
Y'all are doing awesome work at Eggcavern! Keep being amazing 😃

plookle • 9 January 2012 at 5:39 PM

Thank you for your feedback. Zac, those are some fantastic ideas. Eggcavern has been needing something to liven it up a bit, and a more active community could be just the thing. To reiterate, there seems to be large interest in an art/ writing contest. General approval for a new creature voting feature, and moderate interest in a weekly editorial. Keep the opinions coming! We can't make these things happen without you guys, the users, and we want to know what you think.

Just a side note- please ping me all you want, I actually enjoy getting them (it makes me feel special 😋), but it's a bit useless pinging zac. I believe he has pings disabled.

Meteoroid • 9 January 2012 at 7:32 PM

Thank you for all your input/feedback regarding Egg Cavern.
A poll has been added to the main site's sidebar to gauge the popularity of several potential site features. 😊

Deleted • 9 January 2012 at 7:38 PM

@plookle
Look at how many mod posts there is XD
I like these ideas!

7731826 • 9 January 2012 at 7:56 PM

@plookle
I like both ideas😊
The mods also seem to like your ideas!@plookle

plookle • 9 January 2012 at 8:17 PM

@7731826 @pixgog Thanks for the feedback! And haha, yes there are a good number of mod posts. Of course that is because Zac, Meteor, and I are management at Egg Cavern, so this topic does pertain to them pretty directly.