Christmas 2021 Brainstorming
Posted: Sat Aug 28, 2021 5:04 am
*two weeks for ideas extended to two, writing reduced to one week, because two weeks got less than 50 ideas, and they didn't look to need much research*
Speaking of time dilation, there are already Halloween candies and decorations in the store! You know what that means, right? No? I was the only one talking about seasonal display time dilation? Well, catch up, then! It means it's time to start collecting Christmas ideas! Yeah, I know, if it's too early for Halloween shopping, it's way too early to think about Christmas, but if we wait any longer, I'll end up trying to write the Christmas list while SWL's Samhain event is going on.
So as usual, I'm going to be collecting ideas for both SWL and AO, at parties and in forums. I'll post on social media, too, but there's rarely any response there. We'll probably get a few little things in AO, maybe an agent or something in SWL. I'm not expecting a whole lot after AO's big 20th anniversary, while they're focused on that Next New Game. SWL could finally get The Christmas Conspiracy back. That's not new design or art, just fixing it up for SWL. But if you have a good idea for something bigger, they can always save it for later if they don't have time now.
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. You can try Facebook if you prefer, but I don't really trust them to get the message through lately. Even GSP's Discord should work if you tag @Jezebelle to remind me to log in there.
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 2020
Christmas 2019
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. 28 - Sep. 1219 - (twothree weeks -extended from two- 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 or posted on forums to also discuss at the shows.
Sep. 1320 - Sep. 2027 - (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. 2128 - Oct. 4 - (twoone weeks) 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. This gives me some leeway to take the two weeks here if we have a lot of ideas that need research, or take an extra week collecting ideas and only one week here if necessary to get enough ideas.
Oct. 12 - Oct. 19 - SWL's Samhain event will probably start the second week of October, then AO Halloween a week or so later. Probably. So I should have this Christmas list all posted and submitted before the spooky festivities start.
mid-October through mid-December - FC will likely be planning the event roughly two months ahead to have time to plan, design, create, implement, test, and debug any new items and events. While we're enjoying Halloween is likely when they'll start working on Christmas. Or at least, that would be roughly the time frame for squeezing in a few goodies on lunch breaks before diving back into the sands of Arrakis.
Dec 14-15 - SWL's Christmas event will have daily logins, of course, probably about 25 of them, and will end about a week into January, so that means starting around the middle of December, and then AO Christmas will probably start shortly after, maybe the next day.
Speaking of time dilation, there are already Halloween candies and decorations in the store! You know what that means, right? No? I was the only one talking about seasonal display time dilation? Well, catch up, then! It means it's time to start collecting Christmas ideas! Yeah, I know, if it's too early for Halloween shopping, it's way too early to think about Christmas, but if we wait any longer, I'll end up trying to write the Christmas list while SWL's Samhain event is going on.
So as usual, I'm going to be collecting ideas for both SWL and AO, at parties and in forums. I'll post on social media, too, but there's rarely any response there. We'll probably get a few little things in AO, maybe an agent or something in SWL. I'm not expecting a whole lot after AO's big 20th anniversary, while they're focused on that Next New Game. SWL could finally get The Christmas Conspiracy back. That's not new design or art, just fixing it up for SWL. But if you have a good idea for something bigger, they can always save it for later if they don't have time now.
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. You can try Facebook if you prefer, but I don't really trust them to get the message through lately. Even GSP's Discord should work if you tag @Jezebelle to remind me to log in there.
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 2020
Christmas 2019
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. 28 - Sep. 1219 - (twothree weeks -extended from two- 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 or posted on forums to also discuss at the shows.
Sep. 1320 - Sep. 2027 - (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. 2128 - Oct. 4 - (twoone weeks) 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. This gives me some leeway to take the two weeks here if we have a lot of ideas that need research, or take an extra week collecting ideas and only one week here if necessary to get enough ideas.
Oct. 12 - Oct. 19 - SWL's Samhain event will probably start the second week of October, then AO Halloween a week or so later. Probably. So I should have this Christmas list all posted and submitted before the spooky festivities start.
mid-October through mid-December - FC will likely be planning the event roughly two months ahead to have time to plan, design, create, implement, test, and debug any new items and events. While we're enjoying Halloween is likely when they'll start working on Christmas. Or at least, that would be roughly the time frame for squeezing in a few goodies on lunch breaks before diving back into the sands of Arrakis.
Dec 14-15 - SWL's Christmas event will have daily logins, of course, probably about 25 of them, and will end about a week into January, so that means starting around the middle of December, and then AO Christmas will probably start shortly after, maybe the next day.