Christmas 2019 Brainstorming
Posted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 11:50 pm
It's a little earlier than usual, but just in case the recent instabilities slow us down again, let's start collecting Christmas ideas! In August! Okay, so by the time most of you read this, it'll be September, but whatever. If we get it done early, I won't still be writing it up when the SWL Halloween event starts.
As usual, I'm going to be collecting ideas for both SWL and AO, at parties, in forums, and on social media. There will probably be a few little things in AO. I'm not expecting yet another new encounter or dungeon, but they could always bring back something like the 12 Days tours. They seem to be into nostalgia lately. And SWL will most likely get The Christmas Conspiracy back. I know I said that last year, but that just makes it more likely this time, right? And maybe some new cache thing. Big ideas can still go in the list, of course. They can always be saved for later, and they're going to need something new after all the TSW holiday content has been ported to SWL. Ideas are always better than none.
There is no contest involved, and I'm not even keeping track of which idea is whose, because the best ones tend to be collaborations anyway. That's why I prefer collecting ideas at shows. Batting them around a bit and adding details and inspiring each other for more ideas is what brainstorming is about. Of course, sometimes ideas come up at inconvenient times, and if you think of something between shows and just want to get it written down before you forget, you can post it here in this thread or send it to me in a PM, or on the FC forums, or Facebook, or Twitter or whatever. Even Discord if I ever remember to log in there. I can just bring it up at a show later for the interactive bit.
The rules:
1) Don't infringe anyone else's Intellectual Property. There are Fair Use exceptions for parody and such, and oblique references are fine, but a direct copy of someone else's IP isn't going to happen. Grey areas are not worth the trouble of getting lawyers involved.
2) Items should be social in nature rather than providing a gameplay advantage. Minor conveniences and average gear, on par with the items we've had in previous years, are fine because that still comes out to a cosmetic difference from what's normally available.
3) Keep it within the game's rating and rules. Clothing can be pretty skimpy, like the various bikinis we already have, but remember, only monsters go to "clothing optional" beaches. Ingesting drugs or alcohol, including tobacco, is similarly prohibited. I don't recall anyone suggesting anything patently offensive in the past, but if even suggesting it would be against he EULA, it's probably not very Christmassy anyway. Then again... Krampus. So, you know. "Christmassy" is relative. We can leave the grey areas in on that one and let FC make the call.
4) New ideas are preferred. If you want to go back to last year's thread and copy one or two favorites, because they're still your favorite ideas, go ahead. I'll probably be doing that myself toward the end. Don't just paste the whole thread here, though. Similarly, please look over this thread before you add to it, to make sure someone else hasn't already said the same thing. (Just write your idea down first so you don't get distracted by all the shinies and forget yours.) If there's already something similar, adding some details and/or options to it is always good.
5) Contributing ideas to this list is understood to be freely, anonymously, contributing unsolicited ideas for FunCom to use or not, in whole or in part, as they see fit. Even if they end up using your original creation verbatim, by submitting your idea here, you're suggesting they do so and giving them the requisite rights to use your idea. It's kind of the whole point here. If you would prefer to sign your name to your idea and send it in yourself, you can just go to FunCom's forums or feedback form and do that.
Here are the lists from previous years, in case you want to copy some old favorites or browse for some inspiration for new ideas:
Christmas 2018
Christmas 2017
Christmas 2016
Christmas 2015
Christmas 2014
Christmas 2013
Christmas 2012 (thread is M.I.A.?)
Christmas 2011
Christmas 2010
The timeline:
Aug. 30 - Sep. 22 - (three weeks and an extra weekend) I'll be collecting Christmas ideas at all the GSP shows I can get to and posting them in this thread. I'll collect any ideas sent to me on forums, FaceBook, Twitter, or replies to this thread to also discuss at the shows.
Sep. 23 - Sep. 29 - (one week) GSP DJs, Staff, and Dancers vote on their favorite ideas, just to choose the order I'll list them in and decide which I'll spend a little more time detailing.
Sep. 30 - Oct. 6 - (one week) I'll write up the top 20 ideas in a big, detailed suggestion list with links to reference art, attach the remainder as additional brainstorming, and mail it to FunCom with a link back to this thread, in case they want to see any additional discussion we have about it here.
Oct. 7 - Oct. 15 - Halloween event will probably start the first or second week of October in SWL, then a week or so later in AO. Probably. So I should hopefully have this Christmas list all posted and submitted before the spooky festivities start.
mid-October through mid-December - FC normally starts planning the event roughly two months ahead to have time to plan, design, create, implement, test, and debug the new items and events. While we're enjoying Halloween is likely when they'll start working on Christmas.
Dec 11-18 - the AO Christmas event starts "usually" the Tuesday before Christmas, but Christmas is a Wednesday this year. SWL will surely add something new that needs patching, but they've been starting even earlier to have time for all those daily login rewards. So probably some time around the second or third week.
As usual, I'm going to be collecting ideas for both SWL and AO, at parties, in forums, and on social media. There will probably be a few little things in AO. I'm not expecting yet another new encounter or dungeon, but they could always bring back something like the 12 Days tours. They seem to be into nostalgia lately. And SWL will most likely get The Christmas Conspiracy back. I know I said that last year, but that just makes it more likely this time, right? And maybe some new cache thing. Big ideas can still go in the list, of course. They can always be saved for later, and they're going to need something new after all the TSW holiday content has been ported to SWL. Ideas are always better than none.
There is no contest involved, and I'm not even keeping track of which idea is whose, because the best ones tend to be collaborations anyway. That's why I prefer collecting ideas at shows. Batting them around a bit and adding details and inspiring each other for more ideas is what brainstorming is about. Of course, sometimes ideas come up at inconvenient times, and if you think of something between shows and just want to get it written down before you forget, you can post it here in this thread or send it to me in a PM, or on the FC forums, or Facebook, or Twitter or whatever. Even Discord if I ever remember to log in there. I can just bring it up at a show later for the interactive bit.
The rules:
1) Don't infringe anyone else's Intellectual Property. There are Fair Use exceptions for parody and such, and oblique references are fine, but a direct copy of someone else's IP isn't going to happen. Grey areas are not worth the trouble of getting lawyers involved.
2) Items should be social in nature rather than providing a gameplay advantage. Minor conveniences and average gear, on par with the items we've had in previous years, are fine because that still comes out to a cosmetic difference from what's normally available.
3) Keep it within the game's rating and rules. Clothing can be pretty skimpy, like the various bikinis we already have, but remember, only monsters go to "clothing optional" beaches. Ingesting drugs or alcohol, including tobacco, is similarly prohibited. I don't recall anyone suggesting anything patently offensive in the past, but if even suggesting it would be against he EULA, it's probably not very Christmassy anyway. Then again... Krampus. So, you know. "Christmassy" is relative. We can leave the grey areas in on that one and let FC make the call.
4) New ideas are preferred. If you want to go back to last year's thread and copy one or two favorites, because they're still your favorite ideas, go ahead. I'll probably be doing that myself toward the end. Don't just paste the whole thread here, though. Similarly, please look over this thread before you add to it, to make sure someone else hasn't already said the same thing. (Just write your idea down first so you don't get distracted by all the shinies and forget yours.) If there's already something similar, adding some details and/or options to it is always good.
5) Contributing ideas to this list is understood to be freely, anonymously, contributing unsolicited ideas for FunCom to use or not, in whole or in part, as they see fit. Even if they end up using your original creation verbatim, by submitting your idea here, you're suggesting they do so and giving them the requisite rights to use your idea. It's kind of the whole point here. If you would prefer to sign your name to your idea and send it in yourself, you can just go to FunCom's forums or feedback form and do that.
Here are the lists from previous years, in case you want to copy some old favorites or browse for some inspiration for new ideas:
Christmas 2018
Christmas 2017
Christmas 2016
Christmas 2015
Christmas 2014
Christmas 2013
Christmas 2012 (thread is M.I.A.?)
Christmas 2011
Christmas 2010
The timeline:
Aug. 30 - Sep. 22 - (three weeks and an extra weekend) I'll be collecting Christmas ideas at all the GSP shows I can get to and posting them in this thread. I'll collect any ideas sent to me on forums, FaceBook, Twitter, or replies to this thread to also discuss at the shows.
Sep. 23 - Sep. 29 - (one week) GSP DJs, Staff, and Dancers vote on their favorite ideas, just to choose the order I'll list them in and decide which I'll spend a little more time detailing.
Sep. 30 - Oct. 6 - (one week) I'll write up the top 20 ideas in a big, detailed suggestion list with links to reference art, attach the remainder as additional brainstorming, and mail it to FunCom with a link back to this thread, in case they want to see any additional discussion we have about it here.
Oct. 7 - Oct. 15 - Halloween event will probably start the first or second week of October in SWL, then a week or so later in AO. Probably. So I should hopefully have this Christmas list all posted and submitted before the spooky festivities start.
mid-October through mid-December - FC normally starts planning the event roughly two months ahead to have time to plan, design, create, implement, test, and debug the new items and events. While we're enjoying Halloween is likely when they'll start working on Christmas.
Dec 11-18 - the AO Christmas event starts "usually" the Tuesday before Christmas, but Christmas is a Wednesday this year. SWL will surely add something new that needs patching, but they've been starting even earlier to have time for all those daily login rewards. So probably some time around the second or third week.