I want this to be a general thread to ask questions about any of the contests, or to share any concerns you may have about them.

This is a PM I got from LanokaHarbor, and I thought this was a well-voiced concern. I'm re-posting it and responding to it with their permission here:

Hi there. I am writing to ask you a question. The weekly contests were eliminated because it didn't engage the community. Apparently, posting a picture of their farm, restaurant, city did not engage the players in community development and communication.

In the newest contest currently open, how does posting a business plan differ from the eliminated contest? There is still no interaction between community players. We are not really getting to know each other. In essence it is nothing more than posting a picture....with a little more work.
Like you said, people would come to the message board, post their picture, then leave. Same thing is happening here.

What is the goal of this message board? Are we to engage and learn about others users, and attract others to the forum? There must be something that can be offered that allows everyone a chance to participate....young and old...from the occasional iPad user to the most advaned software engineer. The contests are a way to go to fulfill this goal, but not if they are too complicated or involved, or require use of designing software that could exclude a significant percentage.

What do you think about that?
The Weekly Contests were eliminated for multiple reasons, only one of which being that they were unengaging (though this was a big one for me). And I would have to say that the current contest is more engaging, in the sense that it requires a bit of creativity. Posting the same picture every week, often followed by leaving for the week and coming back next week to post the same picture yet again, isn't creative. Sure, the individual pictures may be creative, but since the Gems/CC are awarded randomly, where's the incentive to make them creative?

In this contest, at least as I hope, there's more of a potential for users to flex their creative muscle. I would also say that seeing someone's creative side offers more of an insight into the person than a picture of their bakery -- but maybe that's just me. Since pictures aren't required, it also offers Android users the capability to compete without hassle. And since users are putting more effort into their individual offers, I would think it compels users to check the threads more often, see how they stack up against the competition, or receive feedback from other users.

Lastly -- and this is important -- I definitely don't have all the answers as to which events will or won't work. That's a big reason we're trying out multiple contests this month -- to see what does work. Hopefully, after we experiment with a couple of Contest ideas, we can all create something that makes everyone (or at least most people) happy.


If anyone else has any questions about the events, or general feedback for them, this is the thread for it.