Weekly Contest Ideas [Archive]

GroupMagma

07-06-11, 04:15 PM

So as you may have read (http://forums.teamlava.com/showthread.php?14041-End-of-an-Era-No-More-Weekly-Contests-(as-we-know-them)), our "_____ of the Week" weekly contests are no more. Hopefully, as a result, we can host much more fun, exciting and creative contests now on a week to week basis.

And what better place to go for ideas than to the Community! For this month, we want to take the best three ideas from the Community and try them out as weekly contests. The winner may not have the rules exactly as listed (we reserve the right to tweak things around :) ), and it may not be the definitive Weekly Contest going forward -- we'd like to mix things up week-to-week to keep things interesting. :D But it may make it into the rotation, and you'll get the satisfaction of a Job Well Done.

Oh, and 50 Gems this week to each of the three winners. :cool:

We'll run the contest through Sunday. Feel free to tweak your own ideas, or bounce ideas off each other, before coming up with your final ideas on Sunday. Good luck! :D

redbites

07-06-11, 04:25 PM

How about the return of the "what's that item" contest? Except this time Teamlava has the contest on the forums!!

ahshan

07-06-11, 04:43 PM

Joke of the week!

Post the funniest joke you know or have come up with! along with the story you would like your gems credited to.
1 post per account. Every joke that makes GroupMagma laugh can be entered into a draw.
Then x number of people (should be based on how many people made you laugh) will be drawn out of a hat (or something else) and they will win 50 gems.
But you cannot post a joke that has already been posted that week so you will have to read through everyone's jokes which gives you laughs from the community. To avoid people from posting comments on the thread, just have a rule saying: If you like someone's joke, post it on their visitor wall (that way, they communicate with the community like that).
Also, the jokes shouldn't be too long or else they'll be disqualified because we don't want to strain GM's eyes.

IF we had a "thank" option in the forums, we could make it so everyone gets to vote on the jokes they laugh at. So when they read through the jokes, they could "thank" it if they made them laugh. That way, GM would read the jokes, "thank" and see who has the highest "thanks". But unfortunately, this forum has no "thank" option, but if it did, it would make contests like this easier.

Why would this contest be better?
1. Uncommon jokes are not that easy to know/find/create. Takes real thinking. It's more challenging than posting a picture.
2. Possible for android users to participate.
3. People would have to read through jokes by other community members which engages them. They will find how fun it is to read them. If they do not read them, they will risk their chance of winning just in case their joke may have been said already.
4. Won't have to worry about people posting fake pictures. Just gotta look through all of them to make sure no one posted twice. If they do, you could suspend them for a week from the forums or something?
5. It's fun for you to read jokes and very fun for the community members too.
6. JOKES ARE AAWESOMEEEEEEEE
7. If you're not funny at all, oh well, as long as you know how to google or read a joke book, and find a funny one, then you have a chance at this.
8. Is for all games and only 1 entry per week. So people won't be posting 9 pictures to 9 threads for 9 chances to win 9 prizes. Just 1 chance, for all.

gobblies

07-06-11, 05:20 PM

______ riddles!

you choose an item and create a riddle such as

I can be 'sea'n in a few restaurants
im a real gem
i have a twin.

ANSWER: seahorse statue.

or the theme contest,

every day/week you announce a theme to design
our restaurant, and It can be a random number or judge that decides the winner

so example: restaurant: 4th July!

i would design my resto to have a 4th July theme, and post a pic here and hope to win!
(this is similar to the weekly contest, but it involves the community more!!!:p

if i win 50 gems, credit to restaurant plz!!!! :p

greygull

07-06-11, 06:14 PM

Theme based, peer judged designs. Similar to what the contests were, but each week or whenever, a theme is created (ex. Best Restaurant that DIDN'T use gems). People can enter until Thursday midnight (PST), judging by the forums until Friday midnight, winner declared Saturday. Yes, members of TL can also judge, but all votes are counted equally.

I posted this on another thread, thought I'd carry it over.

Also, maybe, an agreement can be made with any and all winners. If you win a contest, you don't enter again for two weeks for just that story. If there are peers judged contests, this would balance it some.

And how about groups of levels contests. Maybe only levels 1-10, 11-20, etc. Each level could run one week, the following week would be the next level. So people just starting out arent trying to compete with people have been playing for a while. TL can decided how it's judged.

Some contests that are answer only, no pictures. Like the fun games in "Off Topic" right now. Expand the "Two truths and a Lie" to maybe 8 truths and 2 lies, and the first two winners get like 5 gems each. It wouldn't carry on, just once a day or so. If done by moderators, could be info about TL, or interesting places around the world, or something like that.

kooky panda

07-06-11, 08:19 PM

This may be out there but what about a forum contest? I know a lot of my nbrs are confused and do not understand how to use the forum. This may encourage more people to come and learn about the forum.
Moderator could pose question like: Where would a person post the question. My crops keep dying, why?

Members would have to tell you where this question should be posted
Feedback, off topic, discussions,etc.

Moderator could also ask for answers to most common questions. Like. Why do some people get updates on Friday and other do not?

This would make members learn how to search the forum form threads to find answers.

Members can try and win gems, but may also learn some things .

Instead of first person to post answer, pick a number in advance and the person that posts correct answer on that number wins
If that person posted wrong then go to next post until you get an correct answer.

If weekly then have rule that someone can only win once for the month. If daily then they can only win once form the week.

Gems to go to farm

Thanks

clhs

07-07-11, 08:40 AM

The problem with contests like "what's that item?" is that we aren't all on the forum at the same time, and we're not all in the same time zones. So anyone outside of TL's time zone would be at a serious disadvantage with these sorts of contests where essentially the fastest (correct) response wins.

I think it would be much better to have a contest in which the community can enter at leisure and then the winner is determined after entry closure (a bit like the old system, with the '_____ of the week' contests).

Ideas for such a contest? How about:
1. Most helpful post of the week: a prize for whosoever posts the most informative or helpful post in a specially created contest thread in the forum. There are always people looking for tips on how to do things, so encourage people to share their knowledge by having a contest based on the most helpful tip.

2. Limericks: a prize for whoever comes up with the best limerick about their bakery, restaurant, etc.

3. Most realistic bakery / city, etc. This would still involve taking a photograph so it might not be ideal for Android users, but realism in our virtual worlds is a great thing! :)

4. Most creative idea for a theme: ask the community to come up with ideas for themed updates. The best one (or perhaps one that TL decide could be considered for actual implementation) would collect the prize.

yogurtjunkie303

07-07-11, 09:09 AM

First of all, since I only play CS, then I could only give a CS example.

But thruthfully this could be applied to Zoo, Bakery, Restaurant, Nightclub, Fashion, even Farm.

Player is to provide a picture of real place, and try to replicate the setup on their story games as best as they could. The real picture could be taken by themselves, or from the internet, google map, etc.

Then, the player is to name the 5 items they would like to be considered. For CS, street layout would be consider as 1 item.
For RS, NS, Fashion, Bakery, etc, floor patterns would be counted as one item. Wall patterns would be counted as another item.

Example:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/jamoboy/city_hall.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g198/jamoboy/IMG_0663.jpg

1. Town Hall
2. Water fountain
3. Museum
4. Large park
5. Street layout

You can easily find pictures of restaurant, bakery, nightclub, farm, zoo, empire, for this contest. Or take your own pic.

sissy8

07-07-11, 09:15 AM

i want to nominate one of my great neighbours plus a reason, both get gems and magma decides whio is gonna win:)

driftboutique

07-07-11, 10:03 AM

For restaurant story: menu of the month, where people can enter a list of food items from restaurant story that they would like to make up their menu a well as a title that explains the theme of their menu. Perhaps the menu would have to include three appetizer or side dish items, three entrees and an optional dessert.

One entry might be: grilled corn, garden salad, mac and cheese, cheeseburgers, gourmet hot dogs, and shrimp kabobs with berry pie as the dessert. The theme could be "summer barbecue."

Another entry might be: bruschetta, garden salad, fried calamari*, chicken Alfredo, pizza, and spaghetti with tiramisu for dessert. The theme could be "family-style Italian."

All the menus would be put together in one post and voted on by the forum community. The voting could be similar to what's used in Matt's food polls, but perhaps here people would name their top three or five choices for most delicious sounding menu and points would be assigned. Whoever received the most points would win. You could have first, second, and third prizes instead.

*You should totally add calamari to the menu.

celshark

07-07-11, 01:41 PM

CELEBRITY LOOK ALIKE CONTEST

In fashion story, iOS users can dress up their avatar in many different ways. I submit that a weekly contest be started where teamlava announces a celebrity and players try to make their avatar look like that person. It could be a lot of fun trying to make your avatar look like Megan Fox, Lady Gaga or Nikki Minaj.

There are a few limitations though, like Android users not being able to edit their avatar yet. And also, avatars can only be female, so there would be only female celebrities to impersonate. Also, how would people photograph and submit their avatar? I have two devices so I'd just snap a pic of one with the other, but what about people that don't? I think this is a great idea, I hope teamlava uses it and gives me some free gems...LOL!

My ID is celshark and I have Restaurant, Fashion and Nightclub Story. Do I get to chose which one I get the gems in? Or is it directly to fashion story because I suggested something for that? If I get to choose, I want it in 1)Restaurant 2)Fashion 3)Nightclub Thanks.

bawpotter

07-07-11, 01:59 PM

Rachael98

07-07-11, 02:16 PM

My contest: Who knows more about TL? The Quiz Game!

It would be like a big quiz open to the entire TL community, on the forums.

An example:

1. How many super mods are there?
2. What are their names?
3. Who is the newest mod?
4. How many games does TL have not including Valentine Day versions?
5. Where is the TL HQ?
6. What do you need to become a senoir member?

And other stuff like that. For the contest, the list would be about 15-20 questions long, or maybe every few months there would be a super contest with like 50 questions!

You would copy and paste the questions into a new PM addressed to GM or TR or even MD with the answers. The people with a perfect score (If nobody has a perfect score, than the highest score) would be put in a random draw to win gems.

Hope this wins!

1) there are 4 SuperModerators.
2) They are: Norman, SavoyTruffle, GroupMagma and ToastyRock, although 'Forum Leaders' shows employees and designers of TeamLava with an account as SuperModerators too.
3) The newest Moderator is Mattdiner although the newest SuperModerator is ToastyRock
4) TeamLava has 9 games on iDevice excluding Seasonal apps and Storm8 apps. Android users currently gave less games available.
5) TeamLava is based in California
6) You need 100 posts to be a Senior Member on this forum.

There, I think that's right.

I haven't actually got any ideas yet, although I like that one above:p.

bawpotter

07-07-11, 02:27 PM

Nice!

I did the senoir member thing because I only need 2 more posts, so I am pretty pumped!

gobblies

07-07-11, 03:39 PM

grrr.... you stole my idea, bawpotter!

i think we should have a TEAMLAVA WEEKLY QUIZ GAME:

What Happens- There are 8 heats.

GM asks a question like, on bakery story, how long does peach cobbler take to cook? If i was the first person to answer, (3hrs by the way :p) i would get into the quarter finals.
After all 8 heats at different times of the day so its fair to everyone, the 8 people who get the questions right will face off in the quarter finals (IF YOU WIN IN THE HEATS, DO NOT ENTER AGAIN UNTIL THE QUARTER, SEMI OR GRAND!! :p)

there will be four questions. the first four players to ge tthe question right will go into the semis.
then the 2 players who first get the question right goes into the final..

winner gets 70, runner up gets 30.
This contest should be chosen since it actively involves the community, and android users can participate

gems go to restaurant :p

Rachael98

07-07-11, 03:42 PM

grrr.... you stole my idea, bawpotter!

i think we should have a TEAMLAVA WEEKLY QUIZ GAME:

What Happens- There are 8 heats.

GM asks a question like, on bakery story, how long does peach cobbler take to cook? If i was the first person to answer, (3hrs by the way :p) i would get into the quarter finals.
After all 8 heats at different times of the day so its fair to everyone, the 8 people will face off.

there will be four questions. the first four players to ge tthe question right will go into the semis.
then the 2 players who first get the question right goes into the final..

winner gets 70, runner up gets 30.

gems go to restaurant :p

The only problem is (sorry) that lower levels are disadvantaged as they can't see the times until they unlock it. Peach Cobbler is one of the first items and therefore would work. But not all would.

gobblies

07-07-11, 03:44 PM

The only problem is (sorry) that lower levels are disadvantaged as they can't see the times until they unlock it. Peach Cobbler is one of the first items and therefore would work. But not all would.

lol, thanks for pointing that out! questions can be to do will anything! not just food, even if we didnt do food at all! :p thanks for pointing it out!

Rachael98

07-07-11, 03:57 PM

lol, thanks for pointing that out! questions can be to do will anything! not just food, even if we didnt do food at all! :p thanks for pointing it out!

I just thought that I would incase it got run and there were discrepancies over that factor.

Jodie1010

07-07-11, 04:39 PM

I still think "Best Look if the week" is the best contest! In order to managing easier & increase members communicating to each other, can just slightly change the rules a little:
For example, amend weekly contest to a 3 weeks contest.
1st week- posting as usual
2nd week- voting for the best look (minimum 1 vote, can vote as many as you like except your own). This will encourage members to design their own & also via viewing others will help members find new neighbours. This will also avoid members that just aim to win the gems.
3rd week- post how many votes you received by counting them yourselves. This will save time as the admin only need to check the winner's post.

Hope it's useful! :-)

gobblies

07-07-11, 04:48 PM

There are several problems-

1) Junior players wont have much of a chance
2) I have several devices with restaurant story on it, so i could use those IDs to vote for myself
3) this is exactly ____ of the week, just over a longer time frame

Nice try :p

Rachael98

07-07-11, 04:53 PM

Nice try :p

<I think that you're playing with fire>Careful! You could start a war by saying that (or at least I probably could because I'm un-clever like that).</I think that you're playing with fire>.

My main concern would be the Droid uploads.

greygull

07-07-11, 04:54 PM

This isn't for the contest, but I figured it could be posted in here.

For some or all of the contests, how about more options on the prizes? Instead of just 50 gems, maybe a choice of the gems, a specific item out of one box (except the exceptional prize, maybe?), one constructible item pre-built, etc. Things that can be worth gems. Some of these are worth less then 50, and I've seen people who said they would love certain things (like specific box items). I for one am grateful for any gems received, and maybe some would enjoy the options instead.

bawpotter

07-07-11, 05:43 PM

casadolce

07-07-11, 05:49 PM

This isn't a "contest" idea per se, but it's something that every player can benefit from, and will promote sales at the same time. Everyday or every 2 days or 3 days etc. An unannounced secret sale occurs for a limited time only. An item that usually costs gems is available for coins; or an item that usually costs 25 gems is available for 10 gems, or for less coins, or a magic box item is available for gems, etc. A player will have to go through the design tabs to find the hidden sale and when doing so, may also be tempted to buy other items that are not on sale. I have had my eyes on a 40 gems pool table for a long time, so I'll be diligently go the the design tab everyday hoping to catch a sale. Suddenly the juke box looks cute too and I do have enough gems for that so I'll buy that first :)

If you like my idea and decide to award me with some gems, please credit them to RS. ID: CasaDolce

Thank you!

bawpotter

07-07-11, 05:50 PM

That is an awesome idea! I would really like that!

gobblies

07-07-11, 06:21 PM

Cool idea- it may be added alongside a contest

bigbux3

07-07-11, 07:19 PM

i dont understand, where r the contests? and how am i supposed to play?

gobblies

07-07-11, 07:36 PM

There are none at the moment bigbux

driftboutique

07-07-11, 07:54 PM

There are none at the moment bigbux

Other than the one in this thread :p

jrax3

07-07-11, 09:33 PM

Here was my idea on the 'End of an Era' thread or whatever it was. :p

Maybe do some random trivia questions where whoever posts the right answers first wins. It would keep people coming back & checking the forums. Have it do with food, fashion, zoos, or cities to fit the Story games.

The mod could post a picture from one of the Story games that's 'odd' or interesting in some way or someones Bakery/Farm/City & we could give the picture a caption or name & the most fitting & most creative one could win. You could even do it with new items by having the people on the forums name them. :)

Mogwai4111

07-07-11, 11:53 PM

Alright so.. "fun", "creative", "equal opportunity", "grow community", "exciting", "low maintenance"

with all that in mind, here is what I've come up with (bear with me, there's quite a few, but I'll try to keep them simple):

TeamLava Comes to Life Contest- This could be a week or month long contest. Moderator starts out by selecting a dish from restaurant story or bakery story, or an animal exhibit from zoo story. Forum members must cook the dish at home, go out and order it from a restaurant, or go to the zoo and find the specific exhibit, then take a picture of it (just the dish, not you eating it, or you hi-fiving a grizzly bear) and post it here at the forum. To ensure originality, you must include the letters "TL" in the picture some how, whether drawn on a napkin by your plate, arranged with utensils, on a piece of paper held in view of the camera, etc, but no photoshopping the letters in.

Secret Item Contest- I'm going to need some feedback on this one, haven't quite got it figured out yet but what I'm thinking is moderator thinks of a specific gem decoration or exclusive gem item then begins the contest by saying "Farm Story Discovery Chest" or "City Story Residence". The first forum member, or perhaps all forum members who guess the secret item correctly win gems, or maybe even that gem item?

The "Greed is Good"? Contest- I don't expect this one to be used, it's more just me thinking out-loud. Moderator begins the contest by announcing a specific exclusive case from a specific game. Forum members simply reply by stating which item from that case they'd like to be awarded (no take backs, re-dos, or edits). The item with the least requests at the end of the week is awarded to each forum member which requested it. Again, probably not feasable, but I'd like to see it happen at least once, I have a thing for social experiments.

Story Contest- Similar to the off-topic forum threads, which are always fun. Moderator picks a subject, or starts off a story, and then forum members continue it a line at a time. Forum members can add to the story as many times as they like, but you must wait for 2 other forum members to contribute to the story before being allowed to again. At the end of the week, posts corresponding to randomly drawn numbers win gems, so be sure to contribute to the story as often as possible (within the rules) to ensure a greater chance of winning.

Photo Caption Contest- Moderator posts a funny or unusual photo at the beginning of the week. Forum members must come up with a funny caption for the photo (one entry per member) and at the end of the week winners are randomly chosen.

Recruitment Contest- This is more just an incentive to have existing forum members invite their friends and neighbors to the forums and help grow the community. The recruited members must post in a dedicated thread stating "I was sent here by "X forum member". Forum member with the most recruits at the end of the week wins. Recruits will be verified by their join date.

Let's go with farm story for the gems

Lanas

07-08-11, 05:30 AM

I really like the idea from ahshan "JOKE OF THE WEEK" :-) But probably it is hard for TL and also takes a lot of time to check all answers.

My idea for a new Contest would be like "The Best Detail Picture" with an explanation (per Story-Game) This way you can easily see, who post a pic from the hole bakery/restaurant/fashion/... has failed the contest. For example a picture of mine for Bakery Story:

My Gumm Bears are sitting together and eating the Candy Mushroom
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/8234/mygummibears.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/mygummibears.jpg/)

Greetings ♥
ID: Lanas

gobblies

07-08-11, 06:36 AM

Ok, mogwai, im sorry to be a pain but...
PROBLEMS:
1) not everyone can take photos o do this sort of thing, especially android
2) the second one does not require knowledge or s****, and it would eventually repeat.
3) the fourth contest, people can ***** and use their other spare Device IDs to do this.. Sorry!

Mogwai4111

07-08-11, 09:11 AM

Ok, mogwai, im sorry to be a pain but...
PROBLEMS:
1) not everyone can take photos o do this sort of thing, especially android

Most all Android phones, and all mobile devices for that matter, come with a camera built in as far as I am aware. Is there anyone in this day and age who doesn't have some form of digital camera? And if so, buy a disposable one ;)

2) the second one does not require knowledge or s****

Yea, you're right. I was thinking more along the lines of "fun" and "exciting" with this one, especially since the rewards would be items rather than gems, and there is some strategy involved (do you guess a common item, which is more likely the secret item, but not as desirable as the rare or exceptional item?).

3) the fourth contest, people can ***** and use their other spare Device IDs to do this.. Sorry!

That's why I made the rule that forum members can enter this contest as many times as they like (as long as they post no more than every third line). *****ing is a concern with the Photo Caption Contest though, but honestly I think if you have a 2nd account which you play story games on you kinda deserve 2 chances to win. There will be a stipulation that all gems won are credited to the forum members specific Storm8 ID, not the Storm8 ID they request the gems to be given to.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll see if I can't improve my ideas some!

trenae

07-08-11, 11:18 AM

Very nice mog!

____

Create your own story - flash fiction style (inspiration - creative & flash writing): - forum and/or social sites
A few items from the Story games are posted, the items can either be all from the same game or different, though from different games may be a bit more fun and entertaining. From the pieces that are posted, posters create their own story, can create their own "story worlds" if you will. Only limitation (aside from all rules needing to be followed) is that all pieces must be incorporated into the story.
Limited to 1 entry - however can edit/modify until contest end time, and can be limited to length as well (i.e. must be done in 10 sentences or less).

Social Mad Gab (inspiration - Mad Gab): - forum and/or social sites
I'm still working on the details for this, but this could be a really fun way to involve the different communities. (should have bounced this idea by Mog first haha). The idea of the game if you've never played it is a set of words is posted and players would post what it sounds like.

Example:
Posted: These If Hill Wore
Sounds like: The Civil War

Guess that puzzle: (forum and/or social sites)
Using the idea of puzzles, it might be fun to have an item that needs to be guessed. One or two pieces of the puzzle would be posted, and from there posters could guess what the item is in the puzzle. Slowly (maybe even 1 or 2 a day) new pieces to the puzzle will get posted until it's guessed.

I might edit to add more ideas later - trying to figure out which ones to post and work out details to still. :)

EDIT:

Forum Feud - no this isn't where you throw eggs at other forum members. :p

The idea of it would be to play on teams - and have a game of forum feud - which would be similar to that of the TV show family feud. Each team would send a member up, every member must take a turn before someone is allowed to take another turn. Using information from the forum as the survey results (or heck even info off of other TL related sites - Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to compile the list of answers. The team that guesses closest to the top spot answer plays that round. The team that is deemed the winning team would split the gems up for grabs as the prize.

Or a variation: (thanks Mog!)
Send a list of questions to TL staff, with questions like: "whats your favorite sport, food, TL game, etc", to make up the questions, and then the teams try to guess the most popular answers - good way for members to get to know TL staff.

Describe your neighbor in 10 words or less, your forum neighbor that is. Don't know your neighbors, never to late to start. Chat someone up on forum, check out their posts/contributions, etc.
Can work a couple of ways.
1. describe poster above in 10 words or less or
2. describe someone on forum (I guess could be in game too - though not sure how to work that one out yet) of your liking - the only thing is, you can't post about a player/poster that someone has already posted about.

Story War - remember that good ole' party game balloon war? Well then you already know where I'm headed with this (sort of) :D.
The idea of this game would be there would be a set number of squares (grid if you will). Each player will be a different item from a story game, the object of the game would be for the players to maneuver through the board to collect their items that are on the board, only they may want to be careful, there are mystery squares (pre-determined before start of game) which could either help or hinder the player (could be a road block and a speed up card which allow you to move a set number of additional squares on their next turn). Once the mystery card has been used - it can not be used again. Players would need to collect all their items on the board and get back to where they started. Of course to keep the game rolling it would need to work on a timer - if players are not able to post their move(s) by when the timer goes off - they lose their turn.

LanokaHarbor

07-09-11, 12:37 AM

How about a thread where part of a sentence is listed, and users have to complete the sentence?

For example:

On my birthday, I......
My favorite food is......
My first memory is......
My next door neighbor......
The worst thing I ever ate was.....

A different sentence each week, and the winner could be chosen the same way the weekly contest was chosen originally...random number determined by TL.

I am pretty sure we'll get to read some pretty funny answers, we'll get to know each other, and ensure community keeps returning to the forum to read or post responses.

ID is: lanokaharbor

LanokaHarbor

07-09-11, 12:46 AM

Oh, and by the way, this type of contest is not dependent upon which game the user plays. Nicely compacted to one thread.

thekoalaidentity

07-09-11, 02:18 AM

What about a mystery/ scavenger hunt? Not like the one before, something a bit different. For example, you give out an ID- and you have to go that person's wall. And in the wall, there will be like clues to lead you to the next step on what to do. It can involve both the games and the forums. The main thing you have to do will only be discovered once you reach the final clue- and the final task could be anything, from tipping a specific person, buying a specific item, a specific designed area of your place, looking for a specific thing, and my favorite: posting a particular status or starting a new wacky thread, etc.- it can be anything! And to make it fair to everyone from different countries, it could be done on different hours.

So its kinda like a fun mystery- and it would definitely involve the community.

If I ever win: gems to Bakery Story. Crossing my fingers! :)

thekoalaidentity

07-09-11, 02:34 AM

Oh, another idea. Sorry for the double post.

Anyway, it could be cool if we could have a speed trivia test! Like for example, you have a day to sign up for the contest. TL randomly picks two contestants. Then, on a specific thread, a TL mod could ask questions regarding any games. So he asks like 10 questions about XP points, coins earned for a specific food, a topic of a thread, etc. Both players would have to be online for this game, and they would answer the questions asked. The first one to answer it correctly would get one point, and so on and so forth. The winner with the most points win. Of course, there could be more players to make it more fun.

AND since we are on different time zones, lets say for like contest 1, the rules state that you must be online at 1:00 EST or something. Different times for different contests to make it fair. If the contestant picked isn't online at that time, another one is picked. To announce the contestant, a thread with all caps saying like PLAYER X IS THE WINNER could be posted, and the winner has a few minutes to confirm thats he's there. Then the smackdown starts. :)

Superyalda

07-09-11, 06:43 AM

It would involve a little development ...

Add a "Buy a number" tab.

Each number would cost X number of coins (coins!)

Numbers between 1 and 50?

A user can buy one number per day.

At the end of the week, a user will need 6 numbers to be included in the lottery.

Six numbers between 1 and 50 will be randomly chosen by TL each week

The numbers will be posted on the forum.

If your numbers match the numbers which were chosen, you win the lottery!

Oh yeah!

I would definitely do it! I think everyone would.

The lottery would ensure that users check in every day and also check the forum at least nice a week.

malicious88

07-09-11, 06:52 AM

Mad Libs tl style,
Still needs to be sussed out a bit, but it's an idea. This could go on for a couple weeks with rounds.
Moderator would post the word types, (verb, adjective, etc.) but not the story yet. People would have to come up with random words that match the word types. in the middle of the week or towards the end, the moderator posts the story, without the words and whoever posted must post the story again with the words they posted before and people vote on the funniest or most creative. There are holes, of course, but it's a thought that could be a lot of fun.
If someone *****s (for example, by posting different words in the finalto make it funnier) we could help self-moderate (maybe with a reward). We could have winners for the most creative words without the story and again for the full story (using the words we already posted). There could even be another round where we use the same story and come up with new words to make the funniest/cleverest story.

mattdiner

07-09-11, 06:55 AM

I think we should have a design contest where we photoshop, paint, etc. whatever item we want added the most. It can be a regular item, or an item pulled from out of the blue. This can be run for all the story games.

How the winner will be chosen:
GM gives his favorite 3 points, second favorite 2 points, and third favorite 1 point.
In a new thread with a voting poll, members will vote. The most votes will get 4 points, the second most will get 3 points, the third most will get 2 points, and the fourth most will get 1 point.
Optional: In Facebook photos, the most likes will get 3 points, the second most will get 2 points, and the most will get 1 point.
Tiebreakers will be ultimately decided by GM.

Superyalda

07-09-11, 07:11 AM

Superyalda

07-09-11, 07:13 AM

Superyalda

07-09-11, 07:57 AM

It would mean you would need to implement a LIKE icon on the wall.

Whichever message gets the most LIKE's that week, wins!

This will encourage people to write creative, funny, helpful, pretty, thoughtful messages.

Correction. Whichever USER gets the most likes, wins.

Again, winners would need to claim their prize from the forum to encourage forum participation. GM, are you sure you want all that forum traffic? When will you sleep?

roxyluv00

07-09-11, 10:48 AM

how about instead of winning coins for day 1,2,3,&4 we win gems:)

CopperBoom

07-09-11, 11:43 AM

Mogwai4111

07-09-11, 12:04 PM

Not really fair to users living in another timezone.

Agree. I tried to stay away from the 'first to answer wins' type contests. Those are exciting, but they go by so fast, and there's the timezone issue you mentioned. Not really a level playing field. Week long contests that reward effort and s**** (without SSs) are where it's at.

CopperBoom

07-09-11, 12:17 PM

My idea is similar to the Fave Five Threads:

Each week GM will pick an ingredient/feature and people can enter their favorite 3 (or 5 whatever). For example Restaurant Story: ingredient of the week is 'corn'. People can enter their favorite corn dishes (Corn Casserole, Corn Salad, Corn Pudding etc). Example Bakery Story: Apricot (Apricot Souffle, Apricot Pecan Fruitcake, Apricot Nut Bread, etc).

Winner will be chosen based a number GM picked (just like before with those weekly contests).

Since TeamLava is trying to update the games weekly, they really need a lot of ideas. So maybe we can all contribute and win gems in return :)

CopperBoom

07-09-11, 12:20 PM

Yup contests should be easy and fun for everyone. Posting pics/screencaps can be troublesome for some (or maybe a lot) of users.

DAISIE33

07-09-11, 05:07 PM

A boy asked his teacher if he could go to the bathroom she said he had to say the alphabet first so he said ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOQRSTUVWXYZ SHE SAID WERES THE P he said running down my leg!

Rachael98

07-09-11, 05:12 PM

Correction. Whichever USER gets the most likes, wins.

Again, winners would need to claim their prize from the forum to encourage forum participation. GM, are you sure you want all that forum traffic? When will you sleep?

GM sleep? Are you barmy:p? No, he's got Matt helping now. And anyway, the bigger the forums, the more people (supposedly although it tends to be the same few dedicated members actually) to help answer the requests.

A boy asked his teacher if he could go to the bathroom she said he had to say the alphabet first so he said ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOQRSTUVWXYZ SHE SAID WERES THE P he said running down my leg!

Is that an idea for the jokes (I assume that, like my post here, it's not a competition entry)?

gobblies

07-09-11, 05:13 PM

Umm.. The time of the finals would be a time that both players could participate. I mean, the ___ of the week was to do with luck, and this is no different, just fairer

cakeandpie

07-09-11, 08:52 PM

Favorite Creative Scene contest

Contest entrants can snap photos of their favorite creative, cute, unique, etc. layouts, setups, or ideas from other (not their own) bakeries/restaurants/farms/etc. (it doesn't have to be the whole place, it could be a small detail picture too.) The contest thread would be open for perhaps 5 days for posting pictures. Then after the thread is closed, the forum users get a few days to vote on their favorite picture. The user who found & posted the picture wins the contest and the gems. I think this would be a fun contest because we'd all get to enjoy seeing the creative and fun ideas that the forum users find in other people's games.

If I win this contest I would like my gems to go to Restaurant Story.

LanokaHarbor

07-09-11, 09:04 PM

Wait wait wait....are a few things off limits?
I am under the impression that posting photos was off limits as it becomes quite cumbersome for some users to do.
Also, I can't photoshop or even know how to use photoshop. I am a little older but I am sure I may not be the only one without knowledge of the software.

myweedpatch

07-10-11, 12:49 AM

 Ideas for  gimmie gems contests:*

 I know the whole picture thing doesn't work for Android users, but how about posting your  or a link to your farm, city, bakery etc. *Somehow on the forum. It would be helpful if the games had a feature where you can search for a storm ID. Then no pictures would be needed. You only have to post your ID and forum members would visit you. *This could be used in many ways and would also promote others to go visit *and get to know other gamers as well as be used to ...
Voting on the forum.*
** *
 Also the forum really needs advertising and a link on the game itself. Many do not know about it. A contest could be incorporated by current users recruiting *new forum members. A referral count.

 * Vote on the forum for your favorites: superlatives....like funniest, most realistic, most creative, most picturesque etc.

 So many people on the games, neighbors, go out of their way to assist people, especially newbies. How about nominating a neighbor and splitting the prize with that neighbor? The neighbor would be surprised!

 So many of my neighbors do theme scenes. So, how about the forum pick a theme for the week and everyone changes their scene to reflect the topic. Again posting a link or ID on forum and voting on forum*

 post a story about your scene... Vote on forum....

*create a murder or type of mystery where neighbors have to go visit others sites to get clues to solve it... Or put clues hidden in the forum itself.*

 guess what TL will put out this week... Contest on what the new item will be. Hints could be provided by TL leading up to the reveal, make it a puzzle a riddle to be solved, Winner picked on same day a reveal.

 share your favorite comment, joke, riddle. Vote on forum

 I may have been missing something, but when there was a contest I never knew who won that week. I just knew it wasn't me cuz I didn't get gems. If someone wins can that be made a special post on the forum at the very top of the screen announcing who and why they won that week?

 most exotic or unusual or outrageous request for a new item A vote on the forum.

 list an item you would like to see added. Plead your case for adding that item. Best plea wins. Vote on forum.

 people are so creative on the game I play,maybe a contest where they post "how to create" something. Or a game tip, or something they found really works for them.*

 funniest / best/ most creative / *farm, city etc. name...post and vote for on forum.

if u ever do bring back picture contests I would love for it to be open for us to snap our own pictures of anyone's farm. We all see something different that makes a cool shot. It would be nice to share what we are seeing out there. I spend half my time on the game taking photos of others farms! Close ups included. People are creative and so amazing!

My  is myweedpatch

myweedpatch

07-10-11, 01:06 AM

I thought post #s 31, 35 and 55 had good ideas for contests and how to improve the contest experience.

Me, my  is myweedpatch and Im loving my Farm Story!

myweedpatch

07-10-11, 01:07 AM

Shoot. I meant #56! darn it! I can't even vote for myself correctly!

myweedpatch

07-10-11, 01:33 AM

What if the forum moderator picks a farm, city or o takes a photo, posts it on forum and we as forum members have to get on that game and find out whose farm it is by linking to it etc. Sometimes when I visit my neighbors wall I link my way from wall to wall just to see some new farms. Then report back to forum whose farm it is.

myweedpatch

07-10-11, 01:38 AM

Forum mgr could take photos themselves and post them for us to do contests with... Like tell a story about this scene...

Or post a very close up pic of an item and have us guess what it is

Forum mgr posts a blurred photo of the new item and we have to submit our best guess as to what it is?

Farmstory: myweedpatch

myweedpatch

07-10-11, 02:06 AM

Wait. I got another one. How about to encourage forum membership, reward frequent use of the forum with unusual items u can't get any other way. Everyone, whether they are on the forum or not, can buy gems on their own. So how about a contest to get game players to join because they get something here they can't get else where for their story.? Maybe tie it into forum advertising on the game itself and periodically give anyone who logged on that day a free item.

My weedpatch, farm story

Morenn

07-10-11, 02:58 AM

Well, if you don't mind I place my previous (http://forums.teamlava.com/showthread.php?9505-Event-Ideas-and-Suggestions-%28March-7th-March-11th%29&p=51051&viewfull=1#post51051) ideas here :rolleyes:

At the moment, competitions were mainly depend on speed and luck. Therefore, I suggest to try something really new - creative contests! So, there are several ideas:

1. A contest for the best promotional flyer that would introduce our bakery/city/farm/restaurant etc. Competitors could show the advantages of their business in colorful flyer, why people, for example, should come and buy a cup of coffee and a piece of cake in Bakery. Competitors can use Adobe Photoshop and other graphic programms.

2. A literary contest with specific topic. You can independently assign a topic for essay. For example (Bakery Story): "What is the story of your bakery?" or "Why cappuccino in your bakery smells so good?". Well, competitors should write a very short topic and decorate the text with the picture(-s) from their bakery. Brevity is the soul of wit - do you agree with me?)) So about 200 words it's enough.

3. A contest of the best logo and slogan for the bakery/city/farm/restaurant etc. Contestants will be asked to draw a (unique) logo for their interprise (in Adobe Photoshop or other program), as well as come up with an interesting slogan.

GroupMagma (http://forums.teamlava.com/member.php?215-GroupMagma), you could judge in these contests.

If I lucky, credit gems to Bakery Story, please. ID: Morenn

P.S. English is not my native language, sorry about mistakes.

bakery1sj

07-10-11, 03:58 AM

How about the avatar contest. We do it all the time in fashion story. Can you use the fashion avatar in all the storys? We buy clothes, shoes, jewelry, purses etc and change the clothes daily and compete. Today we did business fun. Yesterday we did summer sassy. We are have g a prom night in the best fashion store and everyone will dress their avatar for prom and be judged. It is fabulous. I will try to take a picture of my avatar to show you what I mean.

bakery1sj

07-10-11, 04:05 AM

I couldn't figure out how to take a picture of the avatar. How about making our avatar the cashier in each store so we can see her too and we can get pictures of her. We spend real money making her look good. It would be nice to be able to take pictures of her.

malicious88

07-10-11, 08:44 AM

Morenn, as much as I like the idea for creative contests, many people don't have the s****s or knowledge of how to do the picture thing. There are some free photoshop-like programs (gimp) and I think it would be a lot of fun, but I think it would deter some people who feel like they're not creative or s****ed enough. And the same few people would win. Every week I imagine.

Rachael98

07-10-11, 09:11 AM

Superyalda

07-10-11, 12:50 PM

And we definitely need to have a link to the forum on the page somewhere. List it in with the games in the upper right corner.

Superyalda

07-10-11, 02:06 PM

Here's another one:
Find an image on the internet which in some way represents your place. For example, my resto is The Rainbow Room. I did a google image search and found this:
http://images.nymag.com/listings/restaurant/1therainbowroom.jpg
We should be able to see a nice collection of photos in the contest!
The entrants can use any image which has something to do with their place, I.e. Name, item, colors, food
The winner can be chosen by poll or by GM and Matt
Can android users paste image links here?

Superyalda

07-10-11, 02:16 PM

Brilliant!

When a new user installs a TL game, offer an option to enter the stormID user who referred them. Both the new user and the person who referred them get 10 gems!

You can also implement a weekly or monthly top recruiter award!

This will give current users incentive to recruit friends. :)

Superyalda

07-10-11, 02:17 PM

I still like the lottery idea the best, though.

sissy8

07-10-11, 03:18 PM

so choose magma, i like the resto, farm, bakery, city, and so on of the week idea, and a peacock;)

Mogwai4111

07-10-11, 03:33 PM

You can also implement a weekly or monthly top recruiter award!

This will give current users incentive to recruit friends. :)

Glad you liked my idea! ;)

Superyalda

07-11-11, 03:42 AM

Glad you liked my idea! ;)

Same concept, but aren't ALL our ideas to try to get more users and/or activity?

I didn't see your post until now, sorry. Can we share the winnings?

Personally, I like my idea better since it includes incentive for the new user to enter the referring player... not that they would understand how important gems are until they use them up on stupid stuff like we all did.

So when will GM decide?

Ooh, I just thought of another idea. Hope it's not too late.

Everyone can write their top 5 tips to success with explanations. Each item is limited to 120 characters or mire accurately, small enough to post in a wall message

We'll let the users vote which guide is most helpful with a poll on the forum.

But again, TL must add a link to the forum in the app.

The winning "tips" should also be added to the help menu.

GroupMagma

07-11-11, 02:29 PM

Hey all,

Thanks to everyone for the Weekly Contest Ideas! I have chosen my favorites below, and I'll need to award the Gems to the winners. To those who didn't win, I may use your idea (or something similar) down the line -- though no Gems for those. But thanks to everyone for stepping up.

Here are the big three:

TeamLava Comes to Life Contest- This could be a week or month long contest. Moderator starts out by selecting a dish from restaurant story or bakery story, or an animal exhibit from zoo story. Forum members must cook the dish at home, go out and order it from a restaurant, or go to the zoo and find the specific exhibit, then take a picture of it (just the dish, not you eating it, or you hi-fiving a grizzly bear) and post it here at the forum. To ensure originality, you must include the letters "TL" in the picture some how, whether drawn on a napkin by your plate, arranged with utensils, on a piece of paper held in view of the camera, etc, but no photoshopping the letters in.

50 to Farm Story

Moderator posts a funny or unusual photo at the beginning of the week. Forum members must come up with a funny caption for the photo (one entry per member) and at the end of the week winners are randomly chosen.

This one is actually being combined with CakeandPie's entry, and since Mog already got some Gems, these 50 will go to C&P's RS account.

Favorite Creative Scene contest

Contest entrants can snap photos of their favorite creative, cute, unique, etc. layouts, setups, or ideas from other (not their own) bakeries/restaurants/farms/etc. (it doesn't have to be the whole place, it could be a small detail picture too.) The contest thread would be open for perhaps 5 days for posting pictures. Then after the thread is closed, the forum users get a few days to vote on their favorite picture. The user who found & posted the picture wins the contest and the gems. I think this would be a fun contest because we'd all get to enjoy seeing the creative and fun ideas that the forum users find in other people's games.

If I win this contest I would like my gems to go to Restaurant Story.

Lastly...

1. A contest for the best promotional flyer that would introduce our bakery/city/farm/restaurant etc. Competitors could show the advantages of their business in colorful flyer, why people, for example, should come and buy a cup of coffee and a piece of cake in Bakery. Competitors can use Adobe Photoshop and other graphic programms.

I'm tweaking this a bit, but it's actually very similar in concept to something I was going to run this week (so that works for me :) ). I'll post this Event in a little bit -- it will involve creativity, but not Photoshop s****s. :D

50 Gems to your Bakery Story account. :)

And thanks again to everyone else!