[CONTEST] Write a V2 AAR - 110.000 Blue Coins to win!

[Communitarian!]

Woah, so many new AARs and entries! Keep 'em coming, guys!

Alexspeed - I plan to check it out. I don't know why I'm so river-oriented. But them, caves, and bogs are vital terrain features in my mind. xD Given the latter two don't often make much of an appearance, i'm usually quite satisifed with the former. And of course - I'll keep ya updated on any other things that occur over time.

[Alexspeed]

Late entry with Venice!

Thank you for taking part, and good luck!
I will link your AAR in the first post

Woah, so many new AARs and entries! Keep 'em coming, guys!
Alexspeed - I plan to check it out. I don't know why I'm so river-oriented. But them, caves, and bogs are vital terrain features in my mind. xD Given the latter two don't often make much of an appearance, i'm usually quite satisifed with the former. And of course - I'll keep ya updated on any other things that occur over time.

Thanks Communitarian!

[Poh]

I'll be jumping into the fray aswell with my first attempt at an AAR - A Papal States AAR

[Alexspeed]

Okay, Ladies & Gentleman, the contest time is approaching the end and
its time to see where we are and how the contestor AAR´s are doing.

The good news is that most are doing great and i am proud to see such great AAR´s have been written for this contest,
THANK YOU Contestors for your imagination and your writings so far!


The bad news is that there is a situation where one failed to update in time and i didnt got any response, neither in the thread nor via private message.
Normally i would need to take this contestor out of the contest,
but i really dont want to throw anyone out, i want this to be a good experience for anyone, and throwing pepole out isnt what i want to do.

So i decided to give negative points for missing chapters/failing to update in time, instead of throwing pepole out.
This is also how this will be handled if anyone else is failing to update in time or has missing chapters.
This only applys till there are 5 chapters!

For every chapter update thats not arriving in time the specific AAR will get -20 points substracted from the total points in the end.

Missing chapters (from the 5 needed) at the end of the contest will incur also negative points for every missing chapter.

For every missing chapter (from the 5 needed) at the end of the contest the specific AAR will get -20 points substracted from the total points in the end.


Okay, after this is out of the way, lets see how the participating AAR´s are doing so far (as on 27-10-2010)

• Communitarian! - Letters from an unquiet August - A Middle Kingdom AAR
  5 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, no further chapters needed.
  
  
• mjj55409 - Wishing for the Sun -- A Story of Piemonte
  4 chapters, those 4 are counting for the contest & within the rules, failing to update in more than 2 weeks = -20 Points from total score, still 1 more chapter needed.
  
  
• Tanzhang (譚張) - Onze Plaats in de Zon: The Rise of Frederik de Grote (van Holland)
  More than 5 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, no further chapters needed.
  
  
• Fire and Ash - “Better to send 5 lions than 500 sheep.” An Afghanistan AAR
  4 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, 1 more chapter needed.
  
  
• Moonstruck - Land der Dichter und Denker - Tales from PrussiAAR
  2 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, 3 more chapters needed.
  
  
• Alerias - The Legend of the Marble Emperor - Hellenic AAR
  5 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, no further chapters needed.
  
  
• TekcoR - Beer, Chocolate, Waffles and a Road - A History of the Benelux
  4 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, 1 more chapter needed.
  
  
• Forgiven - Legacy of Metternich - Austrian AAR
  More than 5 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, no further chapters needed.
  
  
• Planck - Making Of: The Empire of Brazil
  2 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, 3 more chapters needed.
  
  
• Brandenburg III - Bukkhara: Central Asian Might
  4 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, 1 more chapter needed.
  
  
• naggy - Sick Man of Europe - an Ottoman Empire AAR
  More than 5 chapters, all counting for the contest & within the rules, no further chapters needed.
  
  
• Twichy_boy - Queen of the Adriatic - Venice AAR
  1 chapter, counting for the contest & within the rules, 4 more chapters needed.
  
  
• Poh - A Pope's Tale - A Papal States AAR
  1 chapter, counting for the contest & within the rules, 4 more chapters needed.

So, as you can see, most are on the final track or allready have the 5 needed chapters for the contest, thank you writers!

Of course everyone can keep updating after the 5th chapter, when i write "no further chapters needed" that means only that the AAR has the 5 necessary for the contest.

Keep up the good work and keep updating!



Then, lets take a look at the end of the contest thats approaching:

As you are aware, the contest will end on the 15th November 2010.

The Judging will begin on the 1st November 2010 and will end hopefully on the 22nd November 2010 or sooner.

I will accept new contestors till the 7th November 2010, so if you want to sign up to the contest you can do so till this day, but you will have to post your 5 chapters needed till the 15th Nov. neverthless!

Chapters for the contest can be posted till the 15th November 2010. Chapters posted after this date will not count in the contest.


Please dont edit any of the chapters you posted before the 1st November 2010 after this date, because judging will be allready in process.
Chapters posted after the 1st November 2010 can be edited till 2 days after they have been posted initially, after that they shouldnt be edited any more like the older ones.
This only applys to the first 5 chapters.

If you need to edit anything in these chapters (fixing spelling errors, broken images, ect.) send me a pm, or post in this thread, so i am aware of it, and i will allow the edit if it dosent do substantial changes.

Unauthorized edits to the first 5 chapters after the 1st November 2010 will get -5 points substracted from the total score.



About the Judges:

I have 6 Judges till now that will be judging the AAR´s and give their points to determine a winner.

I am willing to take up to 3 more judges for the contest, community judges so to say.

So if you want to judge, send me a private message and apply for it till the 7th November 2010!

Dont announce that you want to judge in this thread or anywhere else in public!
This will automaticly exclude you from judging.

I will send out all information that is necessary for the judges on the 1st or 2nd November 2010.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------


I hope this posting cleared all possible questions.
If you have any more questions, just ask them here.

New signups for the contest are still welcome till the 7th Nov. 2010!

[Alexspeed]

I'll be jumping into the fray aswell with my first attempt at an AAR - A Papal States AAR

Thank you for taking part, and good luck!
I will link your AAR in the first post.

[Alexspeed]

New Signups accepted till the 7th November 2010!

Participate Now, before its too late!

[Communitarian!]

Hmn, I like this system - that way, a superlative AAR with only say, four chapters can still compete. Although it also makes me doubly glad that I was just feeling sick for awhile and not out until the end of the contest! Anyway, keep at it all!

[Ricox]

I'm also gonna join in with Two Sicilies.

[Alexspeed]

I'm also gonna join in with Two Sicilies.

Thank you for participating, and good luck!
I will link your AAR in the first post.

[Surume]

I would like to participate in this contest, even though I have no expectation of winning.

My AAR of Iceland can be found here.

[Alexspeed]

I would like to participate in this contest, even though I have no expectation of winning.
My AAR of Iceland can be found here.

Great! Thank you for taking part, and good luck!
I will link your AAR in the first post.

[Alexspeed]

Sadly i had to give out -20 Points from total score infractions for failing to update to another two AAR´s:

Fire and Ash - “Better to send 5 lions than 500 sheep.” An Afghanistan AAR
Moonstruck - Land der Dichter und Denker - Tales from PrussiAAR

Be sure i dont feel happy about giving out those points,
but i guess its better this way than to throw them out completly,
which would be a shame, considering they spent a good amount of time and work on them.

I can only guess that real life was preventing them from updating.
I got no answers on my private messages that i sent them either
(same as with mjj55409 who got -20 points before them)

I hope they will be able to update the missing chapters at least till the end of the contest,
because for every missing chapter you will get another -20 points.

---------

I will make a Overview Update soon, to see hows everyone doing.

I am also preparing the Stuff for the Judges as i post here, they will get their PM soonish!

I got one response till now for a community judge that i accepted.
So there is still room for 2 more community judges for the contest!

You can apply for it via private message till the 7th November 2010!
Dont announce that you want to judge in this thread or anywhere else in public!
This will automaticly exclude you from judging.

We have now 15 Participants, more than i expected, at least that is making me happy
Keep up the good work and keep updating!

Also: New Signups accepted till the 7th November 2010!

[Alexspeed]

NEW OVERVIEW UPDATE HERE!

Overview Update: lets see how the participating AAR´s are doing so far (as on 02-11-2010)

• Communitarian! - Letters from an unquiet August - A Middle Kingdom AAR
  More than 5 chapters, only the first 5 are to be judged. Complete for the contest!
  
  
• mjj55409 - Wishing for the Sun -- A Story of Piemonte
  4 chapters, those 4 are to be judged, failing to update = -20 Points from total score, still 1 more chapter for the contest needed!
  
  
• Tanzhang (譚張) - Onze Plaats in de Zon: The Rise of Frederik de Grote (van Holland)
  More than 5 chapters. All chapters to be judged. Complete for the contest!
  
  
• Fire and Ash - “Better to send 5 lions than 500 sheep.” An Afghanistan AAR
  4 chapters, those 4 are to be judged, failing to update = -20 Points from total score, still 1 more chapter for the contest needed!
  
  
• Moonstruck - Land der Dichter und Denker - Tales from PrussiAAR
  2 chapters, those 2 are to be judged, failing to update = -20 Points from total score, still 3 more chapters for the contest needed!
  
  
• Alerias - The Legend of the Marble Emperor - Hellenic AAR
  5 chapters, All chapters to be judged. Complete for the contest!
  
  
• TekcoR - Beer, Chocolate, Waffles and a Road - A History of the Benelux
  5 chapters, All chapters to be judged. Complete for the contest!
  
  
• Forgiven - Legacy of Metternich - Austrian AAR
  More than 5 chapters. All chapters to be judged. Complete for the contest!
  
  
• Planck - Making Of: The Empire of Brazil
  3 chapters, those 3 are to be judged, still 2 more chapter for the contest needed!
  
  
• Brandenburg III - Bukkhara: Central Asian Might
  5 chapters, All chapters to be judged. Complete for the contest!
  
  
• naggy - Sick Man of Europe - an Ottoman Empire AAR
  More than 5 chapters. All chapters to be judged. Complete for the contest!
  
  
• Twichy_boy - Queen of the Adriatic - Venice AAR
  2 chapters, those 2 are to be judged, still 3 more chapters for the contest needed!
  
  
• Poh - A Pope's Tale - A Papal States AAR
  3 chapters, those 3 are to be judged, still 2 more chapter for the contest needed!
  
  
• Ricox - "Unification of Italy" - Two Sicilies AAR
  More than 5 chapters. All chapters to be judged. Complete for the contest!
  
  
• Surume - WhAAR? A Nowhaar of Iceland
  3 chapters, those 3 are to be judged, still 2 more chapters for the contest needed!

Our 15 competitors are making good progress, most are on the final track or allready have the 5 needed chapters for the contest, thank you!


To those with missing chapters:
They need to get in before the end of the contest (15th November), so get your updates going!
Every missing chapter will give you -20 Points from your total score!

About the chapters that are eligible for judging:
I automatically assume you want ALL your chapters judged if you have more than the 5 neccesary for the contest.
If that isnt the case, please let me know, so i can correct that and communicate it to the judges!

All chapters after the 5th need to be according to the rules if you want them to be judged!
If only one is not according to the rules it will exclude all chapters after the 5th from the judging.


Please note: Edits to posted chapters!

Please dont edit any of the chapters you posted before the 1st November 2010 after this date, because judging will be allready in process.
Chapters posted after the 1st November 2010 can be edited till 2 days after they have been posted initially, after that they shouldnt be edited any more like the older ones.
This only applys to the first 5 chapters.

If you need to edit anything in these chapters (fixing spelling errors, broken images, ect.) send me a pm, or post in this thread, so i am aware of it, and i will allow the edit if it dosent do substantial changes.
Unauthorized edits to the first 5 chapters after the 1st November 2010 will get -5 points substracted from the total score.


Thank you Writers! Keep up the good work and keep updating!


EDIT: Overview updated on 02-11-2010

[Alexspeed]

Today by surfing around i found this Article, written by Nazgûl Killer on the twcenter.net Forums.

I think its appropiate to repost this here, because i can very much relate to what he writes.
Take it as a help on how to judge/write an AAR,
as an attempt to tell what defines a good AAR - from both sides - Writers & Readers

The AAR Criteria

By request and by volunteering, I have decided to write my "AAR Criteria". Yet, before I do so, I would like to declare that I am no official nor am I an expert, yet, I am, from what others have told me, a good reviewer of AARs and I am a constant reader of AARs, I have read well over a hundred AARs and I know what (my) criteria are.

Most AARs today have a very strong illness, either too little text and too many pictures or too little pictures and too much text, both of these illnesses have unwanted results; The readers who much prefer 'action' in their AAR, more fighting and less talking, would skip the AARs without pictures and the others, who prefer plot over 'action', would much rather read the ones with more text. This forces most AAR readers and writers to find a very delicate balance between the two and with that offer little diversity at times.

For me, the basic guidelines of an AAR should be proper grammar, a proper plot and some action, meaning that I would much rather to read an interesting plot than blankly stare at pictures of the game, instead of simply right clicking on its icon and playing it myself.

The pros of an AAR with a plot is that it allows your imagination to flow and yourself to 'lie' a bit, as my good friend once said in response to one of my oldest AARs. What I mean by this is that you can, instead of sticking directly to gaming events, simply start inventing conversations between your characters, allow your imagination to take over battles as you inflate the deeds of your soldiers in combat just a tad bit, instead of simply sticking to the facts and... Basically, reporting after your action.

The definition of the AAR is actually an "After Action Report", meaning you simply tell the story of what you have done, meaning that the AARs with more pictures and less text usually live up to this standard, yet, those with less pictures and more text would much better be counted as stories and tales instead of AARs, and there is nothing wrong with either of those.

However, instead of picking one of these, most players would much rather find the delicate balance between the two, and oftenly (Sadly), fail, causing in lack of interest from both sides of the readers, both those who much rather a plot and those who much rather action, thus creating dead AARs by the dozens.

I urge all AAR readers out there to not judge an AAR just by briefly looking at it, read it, look at the pictures, at least read two updates before deciding your opinion, as I myself were surprised by an or two before which had very little text and an immense amount of pictures, however, was one of the funniest AARs I have ever read, or, no pictures and all text, which turned out to be one of the best stories I have ever read. This is why I urge you, do not judge a book by its cover.

I also urge all AAR writers, do not fear your style! Write what you feel is right and what you want to write, listening to popular demand and going against what you want to do/write will oftenly cause in you losing interest in your AAR and abandoning it, or a complete lack of interest by others as you do not seem to really be investing in said AAR.

In addition, I will add that humorous AARs are probably the best and most successful AARs, however, there is also a delicate balance there between funny and downright apalling, most humorous AARs fail to find this balance and tend to fail, however, this doesn't mean you should give up! The more subtle the humor, the funnier the AAR will be, the more blunt and obvious the humor, the less successful the AAR will be, keep that in mind when writing your own.

I will say this, as my conclusion and final words: Writers - Do not give up and do not change your style, if the public demands you do, the public doesn't deserve to read your style. Readers - Be a bit more patient, read the AAR, don't just look at it and decide randomly if it's good or not, this will discourage all the writers and eventually you will see the downfall of the AAR community alltogether if you do that.

Those were my two cents of wisdom... Heed or disregard this, this is your choice indeed, however, I speak from experience, experience you just might find useful.

[Surume]

Please note: Edits to posted chapters!

Please dont edit any of the chapters you posted before the 1st November 2010 after this date, because judging will be allready in process.
Chapters posted after the 1st November 2010 can be edited till 2 days after they have been posted initially, after that they shouldnt be edited any more like the older ones.
This only applys to the first 5 chapters.

If you need to edit anything in these chapters (fixing spelling errors, broken images, ect.) send me a pm, or post in this thread, so i am aware of it, and i will allow the edit if it dosent do substantial changes.
Unauthorized edits to the first 5 chapters after the 1st November 2010 will get -5 points substracted from the total score.

I'm a little bit unclear by reading this text, but I revised the third chapter yesterday without informing you. Does this net me a -5 points? I'm quite sorry if it does.

[Alexspeed]

I'm a little bit unclear by reading this text, but I revised the third chapter yesterday without informing you. Does this net me a -5 points? I'm quite sorry if it does.

No problem with that, no points get deducted.

The 3rd chapter you posted on the 2nd Nov., but you can edit it still 2 days after posting it without any problem... so you could edit it still on the 4th for example.

As i said: "Chapters posted after the 1st November 2010 can be edited till 2 days after they have been posted initially"

What exactly is unclear?
I am not sure i can specify the rule any clearer than i allready did.

[Alexspeed]

To the Judges:

Sorry, i wasnt able to send out the private messages jet,
I tried 2 times, jesterday and today, and everytime i wanted to send it
the forum was unresponsive till i gave up on sending them. *mad*

I will try now again, hopefully i can get them out now

EDIT: Every Judge got now a PM pointing them to The Judges Reference Posting!

[Alexspeed]

This posting is aimed at my Judges for reference and information!

Initially i thought about sending a pm, but that only can take up to 5000 characters,
and this posting clearly needs more.

EDIT: Every Judge also got now a PM pointing them to this posting!

I also dont see any harm in informing the pepole how the judging will be done.
If anyone has questions about it or recomendations youre welcome to post them.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello dear Judge,

you formerly agreed to judge on my AAR Contest. Thank you again for your time and contribution!

It is now time for you to come into action and start reading the participating AAR´s,
to find your Favourites and to give out points, that will determine a Winner in the End!

As you are aware, the contest will end on the 15th November 2010.
The Judging begins today and will end hopefully on the 29nd November 2010 or sooner.

That means, that i expect to get your final points at the latest on the 29.11., and not before the 15.11.!
The sooner to the 15th, the better of course, so i can announce the winner as soon as possible.
I hope this provides enough time for you - the judges, to read the AARs and give your points.
If you have difficulties with this shedule, please notify me so we can work something out.


We have 19 participating AAR´s:

• Communitarian! - Letters from an unquiet August - A Middle Kingdom AAR
• mjj55409 - Wishing for the Sun -- A Story of Piemonte
• Tanzhang (譚張) - Onze Plaats in de Zon: The Rise of Frederik de Grote (van Holland)
• Fire and Ash - “Better to send 5 lions than 500 sheep.” An Afghanistan AAR
• Moonstruck - Land der Dichter und Denker - Tales from PrussiAAR
• Alerias - The Legend of the Marble Emperor - Hellenic AAR
• TekcoR - Beer, Chocolate, Waffles and a Road - A History of the Benelux
• Forgiven - Legacy of Metternich - Austrian AAR
• Planck - Making Of: The Empire of Brazil
• Brandenburg III - Bukkhara: Central Asian Might
• naggy - Sick Man of Europe - an Ottoman Empire AAR
• Twichy_boy - Queen of the Adriatic - Venice AAR
• Poh - A Pope's Tale - A Papal States AAR
• Ricox - "Unification of Italy" - Two Sicilies AAR
• Surume - WhAAR? A Nowhaar of Iceland
• Pallen - Der var et yndigt land - A Danish AAR
• jafloresl - History, as should have been written: A Victoria II Mexico AAR.
• scholar - Portugal's Second Coming
• Polar Mongoose - ¡Viva ArgentinAAR!

So, what exactly will be needed to be judged and what not?

For that please allways take a look at the Contest Thread!
I prepared a overview posting for you judges (and the contestors) where is noted what chapters have to be judged.

THIS <- is the final Overview Posting. (updated on 15-11-2010)

As you can see there is BLUE text, that gives you information on which chapters are to be judged on the specific AAR.
I will constantly update that listing (or post a new one) and after the 15th Nov. i will post a final one, so you will allways have a reference.
If you are ever unclear about what to judge then you can allways ask me and i will explain it.


But what will be your Job exactly? How do i have to judge?

Well... Your job will be to read every participants AAR´s chapters that are to be judged
(the first 10 chapters at most).

You also should read the rest of the AAR (interludes/prologue/ect.) and comments by the author,
but those should only count to the general impression of the AAR.
That means they should only contribute to a lesser extent to the points score you decide to award.
You may give lesser points to a AAR that has not the 5 necessary chapters, but thats up to you.

Your main focus for giving out points should always lay on the chapters themself.
Besides all that, you can judge completly freely by your own taste.

You will not have to worry about contest rules, substracting points, or anything to do with it.
I constantly check the AAR´s and watch over the rules myself.
That said, if you spot anything concerning the rules of the contest,
that you want to tell me, or ask me, feel free to do so


The Points Formula - How to award Points!

Every Judge get 800 points. Those are to be spent on the AARs to be judged.

The AAR you rank first (highest) has to get 99 points.
The AAR you rank last (lowest) has to get 1 point.

That leaves you 700 points to spend on the AARs between them.

The points difference between 2 AARs has to be at least 2 points
and no two AARs can get the same ammount of points.
Every AAR has to get points, obviously.

How you spend those points is up to you - the Judge.


How will all that get done?

All comunication between me and the judges should be taken via Private Message!

You, the Judge, read the AAR´s - You give your points - You send them to me in a PM.
I sum it all up - I will announce the winner and the rankings.

At the moment there are 16 Judges.
Dont announce that you are a Judge in this thread or anywhere else in public!
This will automaticly exclude you from judging.

The names of the Judges will be made public after the end result is announced.
Their rankings and scores will not be made public by me.

Clarification: the scores will be made public, but without the name of the judge that gave the score.

However, every Judge is welcomed after the end of the contest
to announce his scores and comment them if he chooses to,
but its not mandatory or required.



Please judge Fair and to the best of your ability!

If you have further Questions just ask them (via PM)

Cheers
Alex

EDIT: 2 more entries added - so we have 17 contestors now!
Edit2: new Overview Posting linked
Edit3: the final contestors added - 21 now!
Edit4: new Overview posting linked, judges section updated
Edit5: new updated Points Formula included
Edit6: reduced number of AARs to 20
Edit7: reduced number of AARs to 19, new final overview posting linked
Edit8: Judging end date adjusted, clarification to score publication posted

[Pallen]

Im going in

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...d-A-Danish-AAR

[RedRoverMan]

I too would like to announce my participation:

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...f-God-B%E2bili