Willowwish In reply to mewmewbeary [2014-02-12 22:01:47 +0000 UTC]

In that case, I will most definitely see what I can do to lend a helping hand. c: And, yes, though I am a little busy these days (with school and running an OCT when I can via the pretty crappy computer I have right now), I do try to get online as often as I can.

As for being a co-founder, I would be more than happy to do so for you if you'd like or need me to! ^u^ If you need, feel free to send me an invite for that purpose, and I will accept.

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mewmewbeary In reply to Willowwish [2014-02-12 22:12:54 +0000 UTC]

Ok, thanks. 

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Willowwish In reply to mewmewbeary [2014-02-12 22:16:11 +0000 UTC]

No problem! ^u^

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mewmewbeary In reply to Willowwish [2014-02-12 22:17:19 +0000 UTC]

😊

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Willowwish In reply to Adjacent-To-Aurum [2013-11-02 04:42:10 +0000 UTC]

Aah, yes, I'm sorry! ^^" My scanner hasn't been working and I've been swamped and it's been annoying. I found that I have a few references that might just work for you either way, though! Anyways, here's a good, up-to-date picture willowwish.deviantart.com/art/… and for colors, you can look here willowwish.deviantart.com/art/… . Since neither of them are God Tier pictures, her title is Mage of Light. I hope that's enough!

(Another note, she'd likely have her hood up to hide her eyes and hair. She's extremely self-conscious about it and startles easy.)

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Willowwish In reply to WhisperTheChosen [2013-08-05 19:37:34 +0000 UTC]

Indeed we are! ^u^ 

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Willowwish In reply to WhisperToTheStars [2013-08-02 00:06:17 +0000 UTC]

Welcome! It's no problem. ^u^ 

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WhisperToTheStars In reply to Willowwish [2013-08-02 01:43:59 +0000 UTC]

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Willowwish In reply to cheshire1825 [2013-06-15 18:04:08 +0000 UTC]

It sounds great that you're planning to host an OCT! c: From my own experience, it's a very fun thing to do, but just remember that it involves a lot of work on your part, since you're going to be the founder. I should warn you that I tend to ramble on for a long time when it comes to giving tips, so this could be a long comment.

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Make sure that you have everything mapped out the way you want it in advance. I've run into that mistake quite a few times, actually, and that can be seen just by the audition rounds. Make sure the area the tournament is taking place in has a clear setup for the contestants and make sure that there's a clear layout and set of rules for everybody. Do stupid-idiot checks. One check, two checks, three, four or more if you need to. Just make sure everything is ready before opening up for auditions and the like.

Be ready to answer the same question more than once. It can get a little tedious sometimes, especially if you've posted it in an FAQ or list of rules. The key for that is patience, and sometimes a lot of it. Be polite when answering others' questions and be sure it's worded clearly in a way that they can understand. If they ask for clarification? Give it. You want to make sure people understand the tournament to the best of their ability to give them a good chance.

Have good co-founders. If you're choosing personal friends, make sure they're capable of managing a group. After all, you may ask them to judge the pieces and the like in the future, so they should be people that you know will be unbiased when the time comes and people that will be honest with you if they believe something is wrong. Key terms for good co-founders, in my opinion, are trustworthy, capable, honest, unbiased... things of that nature. And make sure they can fill in the gaps that you can't on your own.

Make sure that you, yourself, remain unbiased as possible. If you show something that can reveal you like one person's work more than another's, it will make other contestants feel like they're not good enough in some cases, and that can prove to be a problem. You may have personal friends who are entering the OCT, but you should be willing to be as honest and as strict with them as you are with the other contestants you don't know as well.

You should check to see that you do, in fact, have a lot of free time on your hands. You're going to get a lot of comments from people, a lot of entries, a lot of... just about everything. You're basically opening the floodgates for a lot of things. So you should be ready to answer comments and questions, re-organize folders if things are in the wrong place, manage the general flow of entries and things like that. Granted, everybody goes through periods of time when they're busy and might be slow for a little while, but overall, you should be on top of answering things.

Find advice and other things from many different sources. Just because you get information from one place doesn't mean that it's completely accurate. Try to find help from a lot of different OCTs. Watch how the founders run things there, ask them questions, examine the galleries to find what you think is a good layout and a lot of other things. And that includes myself. Just because I'm giving you certain information doesn't mean another source won't give you something better. So look around!

Advertise the OCT. That is very important. After all, how else are you going to get entrants? You need to try and get it out there the best you can. Put out a journal on your own page, ask people who are thinking of entering to advertise it, ask other groups that have similar topics to feature your group in their own, affiliate with other groups on dA. Don't feel shy about asking, either. The worst that could happen is that someone says "no", and that happens much less often that they say "yes" from my own personal experience.

Have some good NPCs. You should have a good few, but there shouldn't be an overload of them, obviously. Take the Final Assault NPCs for example. So far, we've got eight. The Undertaker, Fentri and the Victors. One or two more may be added, but there shouldn't be something like fifty NPCs. They're there to help advance plot and to give the contestants characters to use in their comics, mainly. I'd say a good range would be, maybe, five to fifteen. But look around and see if you can find something else from somewhere.

Let others enter spectators. Spectators are characters that aren't competing but are still involved in plot and things of that nature. For example, a lot of people planning to enter Final Assault have come up with staff members they've used in their comics. Said staff members are spectators. They can be used in comics, but they aren't actual competitors. And having spectators can also help members stay active within the group if they don't make it to a round further down the road.

Keep a good amount of control, but not too much. You should have the basics, like arenas and other areas, set in stone, but let the competitors have a good amount of flexibility and fun! If there's too much, they'll feel restricted, and if there's too little, things could easily get derailed. And it's likely the competitors will tell you if they think there's too much or too little.

Have fun! If you don't have fun with your own OCT, it's possible that others may feel the same way. You should be enthusiastic about answering questions, talking to people, keeping things up-to-date... things of that nature. And from what I've experienced, it is a very fun thing to do.

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At this point, I think I've rambled on enough, but I'm open to giving more tips in the future if you need it! I'd absolutely love to see this OCT of your's come together, and I'd be free to enter myself if I think I'm up to it, maybe serve as a co-founder if you really need it. And, of course, I'd be free to advertise it in a journal on FA's page once you've gotten everything set up. c:

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cheshire1825 In reply to Willowwish [2013-06-15 18:11:36 +0000 UTC]

thanks for everything! this advice has been really helpful! and good luck with FA!

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Willowwish In reply to cheshire1825 [2013-06-15 18:13:12 +0000 UTC]

You're very welcome! c: Always happy to help. And good luck to you with your own OCT as well!

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Willowwish In reply to eriqua812 [2013-05-12 16:39:13 +0000 UTC]

Home. For the most part.

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Willowwish In reply to Britishlova [2013-05-07 22:42:58 +0000 UTC]

Welcome! ^u^

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Willowwish In reply to thedazedartist [2013-04-21 16:31:26 +0000 UTC]

iilana.lane is my user. c:

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thedazedartist In reply to Willowwish [2013-04-21 16:41:05 +0000 UTC]

gotcha ;I

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Willowwish In reply to TheGothiestFraggle [2013-04-18 03:13:08 +0000 UTC]

You're very welcome!

And, yes, I love my webcam. >:3 Striders gonna Stride.

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Willowwish In reply to 8bit--mau5 [2013-04-18 01:59:02 +0000 UTC]

You're very welcome! ^u^

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8bit--mau5 In reply to Willowwish [2013-04-18 02:04:39 +0000 UTC]

> 7 <

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Willowwish In reply to 8bit--mau5 [2013-04-18 02:29:51 +0000 UTC]

c:

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