Would you be interested in seeing a return of the Weapon Design Contest?

[b k.1648]

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Ben K.6238 said:You couldn't enter from most of the world, by both geographical area and population.Most people in Antarctica don't play; geographical area isn't relevant.

The actual list is more/less US, Canada, and EU (including UK). That technically excludes most of the

world's

population, but includes

most

of the game's. There are plenty of Russian and Indonesian players, lots from Australia & Washington DC (in the US). But the vast majority of current players are eligible for participation.

That might be why I mentioned population.

While it's clear that most of GW2's current population remains in the bounds of the EU, USA and Canada, continuing to make decisions that only take residents of those two general areas into account is a great way to ensure it stays that way, even during a period where online games grow rapidly in popularity in south-east Asia and South America. I have to note that this includes server locations and skill designs working poorly on high latency; it's not limited to more trivial considerations such as contest availability.

But the disappearance of regions in eastern Asia that were previously eligible, yet now are not, despite their playerbases still existing in GW2 seems a bit careless to me.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@Ben K.6238 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@Ben K.6238 said:You couldn't enter from most of the world, by both geographical area and population.Most people in Antarctica don't play; geographical area isn't relevant.

The actual list is more/less US, Canada, and EU (including UK). That technically excludes most of the

world's

population, but includes

most

of the game's. There are plenty of Russian and Indonesian players, lots from Australia & Washington DC (in the US). But the vast majority of current players are eligible for participation.

That might be why I mentioned population.You first mentioned geographical area, which might be why I addressed that first.

While it's clear that most of GW2's current population remains in the bounds of the EU, USA and Canada, continuing to make decisions that only take residents of those two general areas into account is a great way to ensure it stays that way, even during a period where online games grow rapidly in popularity in south-east Asia and South America.You think that the number of players joining GW2 from Australia or Indonesia is less in 2018 because artists living there were ineligible to enter a contest in 2017?

I have to note that this includes server locations and skill designs working poorly on high latency; it's not limited to more trivial considerations such as contest availability.Then why bring it up as an issue with a future contest, if even you think it's a trivial consideration?

But the disappearance of regions in eastern Asia that were previously eligible, yet now are not, despite their playerbases still existing in GW2First, they didn't "disappear." ANet contracts with KongZhong for the Chinese version of the game; it's no longer entirely up to ANet what contests get run there or not. It's hard to know why Korea was on the list for GW1 contests, but not GW2... although GW2 is no longer published by NCSOFT, and there's no official language support, so we can easily imagine that ANet's legal team doesn't have expertise in Korea law.

seems a bit careless to me.On the contrary, only a careless company would attempt to run a contest without having people with experience dealing with foreign consumer protection laws & regulations.

[Zeivu.3615]

@Pirindolo.9427 said:Of course, but this time the weapons must have a minimun size. The last winning torch (around 140cm compared to a human toon) was not big enough.You mean those chained hands with the glowy light? It was large enough to be used as a mace.... It was way too big and would make more sense being one.

[GDchiaScrub.3241]

I voted no. Not really into increasing the frequency because that inadvertently decreases their significance. It would be curious to see how many re-posts of art we get though.

D:

[Dante.1763]

@GDchiaScrub.3241 said:I voted no. Not really into increasing the frequency because that inadvertently decreases their significance. It would be curious to see how many re-posts of art we get though.

D:

Once or twice a year would be an alright time frame i would think. It becomes a regular event sure, but its a way to add weapons to the game without involving story releases, expansions or the gem store.

[Sojourner.4621]

@Miss Lana.5276 said:I'd love to see a competition that actually includes non-us players for once. No from me.

Design a weapon included lots of US countries. Those that were not included are ones that required legal hoops to jump through in order to host such a contest, as is typically the case since there was a cash-equivalent reward (gems) for the contest. Don't talk to ANet, talk to your government.

[Warkind.6745]

Even if it was very infrequent, I think it would be cool if they incorporated the weapons into living world maps but players unlocked them by performing challenges similar to the PoF dwarven weapons from Overreach Chasm. That was probably some of my most favorite content in the game.

[b k.1648]

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:You think that the number of players joining GW2 from Australia or Indonesia is less in 2018 because artists living there were ineligible to enter a contest in 2017?

Don't be daft.

I have to note that this includes server locations and skill designs working poorly on high latency; it's not limited to more trivial considerations such as contest availability.Then why bring it up as an issue with a future contest, if even you think it's a trivial consideration?

It's one more symptom of a growing problem where ANet isn't putting in serious effort to cater for players who don't live in regions immediately adjacent to the servers. Increasing the number of countries eligible to participate in contests will hardly solve that problem, but it's at least a step in the right direction.

But the disappearance of regions in eastern Asia that were previously eligible, yet now are not, despite their playerbases still existing in GW2First, they didn't "disappear." ANet contracts with KongZhong for the Chinese version of the game; it's no longer entirely up to ANet what contests get run there or not. It's hard to know why Korea was on the list for GW1 contests, but not GW2... although GW2 is no longer published by NCSOFT, and there's no official language support, so we can easily imagine that ANet's legal team doesn't have expertise in Korea law.

China's one country. There's no special distributor in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, or Taiwan for GW2. HK/Macau are a little less clear because some arrangements include them with China, and some do not.

Regardless, there are still a number of players in three or four of those countries.

seems a bit careless to me.On the contrary, only a careless company would attempt to run a contest without having people with experience dealing with foreign consumer protection laws & regulations.

The laws regarding competitions don't change a lot in ten years. It's more that they can't be bothered.

[Lonecap.4105]

I have to say I really didn't like any of the previous winners.

[Sylvari.2953]

I'm kinda weird because I don't really care about weapons. I wish I could hide them out of combat. I'm more of an armor addict so I want an armor design contest!

[Tzarakiel.7490]

If they had chosen skins that looked like they belonged in GW2 in the first contest I would have said yes. Unfortunately we got skins that looks like assets ripped from a Korean mmo.

[Ardid.7203]

@Sojourner.4621 said:

@"Miss Lana.5276" said:I'd love to see a competition that actually includes non-us players for once. No from me.

Design a weapon included lots of US countries. Those that were not included are ones that required legal hoops to jump through in order to host such a contest, as is typically the case since there was a cash-equivalent reward (gems) for the contest. Don't talk to ANet, talk to your government.

Honestly, I don't believe this is true. I've been looking into it at the internet and my country's laws and can't find such legal obstacles anywhere.

As I've said before, I have participated in a couple international contests, without any problem.

http://www.intercompetition.com/ -> Dozens of diverse contests, many of them with cash prices and fees, most of them open to everyone without country limits. I don't believe such site could exists in its current form if those "legal problems" affected over 150 countries in the world.

I think the problem is something from Anet's side.