Reward Challenge

[Del Murder]

Hi guys. While we are waiting for the final rounds to begin I'd thought I'd post a little mini challenge to you all.

The challenge is to answer two questions. Please do so in this thread. Here are the questions:

1. What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you?
2. What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on?

Do you want to know what you're playing for? The winner of this challenge will receive a truly custom title. Custom color, custom font, anything you'd like! (within reason) Worth playing for?

For reward! Cidvivors, go!

Challenge lasts 24 hours.

[Ouch!]

1. What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you?
EoFF is a constant. Over the past six years, lots of things have changed, but, aside from members coming and going, EoFF has remained the same. Whenever I need something to do or someone to talk to, EoFF gives me that. It's a fun place with fun people. It doesn't really need to be anything other than that.

2. What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on?
I would have tried to establish an outline of each round in advance. It seems there was some confusion in staff and round four ended up being round three, which has resulted in the current slow down. While I don't think anybody really minds this, I think having a clearly detailed list of tasks would have expedited this process.

[Peegee]

I (may) get a custom title of win? Yay!

1. What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you?

Wow um, where to even start? Eyes on Final Fantasy would probably be best summed by the word Fraternity. I wouldn't go as far as to say we're a family, because to me family implies a social hierarchy and structure. Fraternity would be a better word as we're all social equals.

The people I've met here, and the people I've gotten to know, are so accepting and friendly. I've met so many of you and it makes me muse about how if this forum was never in my life I wouldn't have been exposed to as many amazing people. If I've met you in real life, or if we chat a whole lot, I can assure you and I would be amazing friends. In fact I've stayed friends with every one of the EoFFers that live near me (all three of you lulz) that I've met. I don't usually bat 1.000 -- that's downright amazing to me.

I joined some 7 years ago when I was 21. I'm turning 29 this year and I'm still hanging around. I've watched teens turn into adults and I'm seeing kids become young adults. I've met Leeza and talked with the *ahem* more mature members of the forum, and it motivates me to become a more parental presence. There's something fulfilling about that I can't really express.

2. What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on?

This is just an idea, but I was playing around with the idea of having the members of the forum vote on the contestants. I know CKs are not a popularity contest -- I was hoping such a poll would give insight as to what the community would think about the contestants.

[qwertysaur]

Answers are in Green again.

1. What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you? Eyes on Final Fantasy means a lot to me. When I found the site, I had recently gotten internet access, and joined the forum to look at a picture. I slowly migrated up the forums to the general area. I tried other forums, and none feel like EoFF, which just feels right to me.
2. What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on? The changes that I would make would be to this would be to have some sort of schedule set in the staff forum. I get the impression that some of the things were a surprise to some staff members. (Challenge 3 was supposed to be challenge four, and the length of time we had for challenge 4 to name a few.) I would also switch challenges 3 and 4, as I think that challenge 3 was harder than 4, and it would make more sense to have the challenges get harder as they go on.

[BG-57]

1. What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you?

EoFF feels like a second home to me. It's one of the few places I've been to online that I feel speaks my language. Not only about FF games, but about life in general. It's been a huge outlet for my writing and artistic expression. In addition it's a great place to go to talk about life in general or favorite movies, music, and so forth.

2. What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on?

I thought it was well run and conceived in general. I'm not sure that the immunity challenges were really necessary as a lot of them hinged on luck first and ability second (i.e. did you happen to be online when the immunity thread was first posted).

[Bahamut2000X]

1. What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you?

EoFF was the first message board I ever went on and holds nostalgia every time I come on here of my childhood. I joined way back when I was 13 and here I am 20 now. In that time I left several times but I always ended up coming back. EoFF is basically a second home now where I can always come to have a good chat with some good people.

2. What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on?

Maybe just give a bit more of a time table on rounds and how long the thing will last so that others can form a schedule with it, rather then being in the dark until a post is made and many people staying up later then they should (I know I'm guilty of that last part for the first round) so people can plan a little of their real life around this so they won't be eliminated by simply not being able to get on for one day, but rather so they can participate.

[Flying Mullet]

What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you?
Since I'm an engineer, I took the scienttific approach and looked up the definitions, since that's the true meaning. Apparently, Eyes on Final Fantasy means

The aggregate of structures situated within or near the orbit that assist, support, or protect the eye so as to be or remain supported by or suspended from constituting the end or purpose forming of mental images, esp. wondrous or strange fancies.

But I suppose I should give an artsy-fartsy, sappy, show-how-Eyes-on-Final-Fantasy-has-changed-my-life personal reflection of what Eyes on Final Fantasy is to me as well.

Actually, it hasn't changed my life. Gotcha! But it has been an enjoyable part of my life. There are several things about these forums that continually amaze me and make me proud to be a part of them. I enjoy, no, I relish, the energy, enthusiasm and humor that is generated by this message board. There are plenty of members that make up a very diverse group of people that always offer something new to experience. The breadth of cultures, ideas and opinions available on this message board always amazes me. With the "youth" that generates all of this, I've always been impressed that there isn't more spam, IM-style chatter and other "immaturity" present throughout the boards. I've also been pleasantly surprised on several occasions to learn that that people are much younger than they appear to be through their posts. The level of maturity and intellegence that the average forum-goer exhibits here is much higher than that of most other forums on the internet, regardless of their subject or typical membership demographc. I enjoy my time here and I commend each of you for being an integral piece of this puzzle.

What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on?
Overall, I've been very impressed and excited with the level of enthusiasm and involvement this has generated throughout the forums. Other than some Ciddies, I don't know that I've seen the forum populace this interested in an event. Granted, we lost some steam between rounds three and four due to unforseen issues, but that's life and I think the staff pulled it back together nicely with round four's task of "super-involvement" on the contestants part. And that brings me to the only thing I think I would have changed. I'm going to quote my "solution" rather than rewrite it:

I think it would be better if the teams were required to create 15 threads amongst all of the forums and they can choose which forums these threads go in, with the stipulation that no more than four threads go in any one forum, similar to how no one person can make more than four threads.

You could make it 32 threads to match what the original thread count was, and maybe only allow three threads in any one forum, but you get the idea. I think this would have been better for three reasons:

• It would have allowed for more thought-provoking or interactive threads by not forcing the creation of threads just to check an item off of the list. Kind of a Darwinism approach to threads. The weakest ideas are killed off and the stronger ones survive to make it into threads.
• Our message board's number of threads and posts are not equally spread across all forums and neither should the task threads. More people post in general chat than video game music, thus it would make more sense for more threads to have been in general chat. It's not that we couldn't come up with a thread for video game music, it's just that there were better ideas that were thrown out because each forum only received one thread.
• I think this would have led to more interaction and decision making within the two teams. Adding in the extra variable of how many threads or which threads will go in which forums would have lead to additional team work, organization, prioritizing, etc... that the staff is watching for.

[Heath]

1. What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you?

Eyes on Final Fantasy to me means a great deal. Most friends I've made online have been either directly or indirectly through EoFF (e.g. through #eoff, Fool's Gold, etc). To that purpose, I owe pretty much all the things I have to do online to the site. I see it as a place were I can either go for some serious discussion or a bit of fun knowing that there'll be some of both there. I won't say it's entirely changed my life, but I'd certainly say that it's played a substantial role in how I spend my time. It's a place where I'm able to express myself in regard to issues and interests that I enjoy talking about. I also think it's a place where I am able to measure how much I've grown as a person; I'm a much different person now than I was when I joined here at 13. While I do have some nostalgia for things back then, I think EoFF represents more of a future than a past to me now that I'm more part of the community than I have been in the past. In short, it means rather a lot.


2. What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on?

I think a decided structure from the word 'go' would've been better. Not so much referring to the order rounds were done, but more of a timetable so people knew what they were letting themselves in for and at least a vague idea of some of the tasks that would need to be completed. Granted, there wasn't much drama generated from the competition, but I do think most people would've appreciated more of information from the word go. I'd say I would've, but I've come to quite like the aura of mystery surrounding the whole thing.

[Takara]

1. What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you?

When I first found this site 4 years ago, I was looking for the list of Blue Magic in FFIX. This site was the first one that game up after doing a Google search. I was immediately impressed about how much information this site contained, much more than other Final Fantasy sites at that time. And hey, the design was blue, and blue is my favourite colour, so that was a big plus.

I browsed the forums for about a week before I was hooked and decided to join. For such a big gaming website, I thought that the community was pretty close-knit, even if it was big. Most other forums I frequented back then had a lot of flaming going on, as well as spamming and the occasional porn thread. There was none of this here, and when someone stepped out of line, the staff was quick to fix the problem. This was, by far, one of the friendliest communities I've seen, and well-run on top of that. I felt immediately welcome when I finally registered my account.

I wouldn't say that it changed my life completely, but it certainly made it more tolerable at times. Video games passionate me since childhood; I don't even remember a time where we didn't have a console at home, my earliest memories are of watching my brother playing Q*Bert on his Atari when I was 2 or 3 years old. Talking with other people about my favourites game, and reading what others write about these titles is sometimes all I need to forget all the frustrations of that day.

I've seen the forums and the site evolve a lot since I joined in 2004. I've seen members come and go. Yet, to this day, EoFF is still one of the friendliest gaming sites in my opinion. I've signed up at other places, and most other forums aren't half as warm or interesting as it is here, and the people are acting way too differently than all the friends I've made here. It's one of my four favourite communities.

So, what does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to me? It's a safe haven, a place I can go to relax and forget and stop worrying and have fun.

2. What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on?

I'm not sure I would have made any changes since I'm the most disorganised person ever.

Others have mentionned that there should have been a schedule available to all the staff with a description of the tasks so another moderator or administrator could have taken over without trouble if the primary organizer was unavailable. I think it would have been beneficial also, even if it's not my idea.

Other than that, I wish it wouldn't have taken as long, but I'm not going to complain about it because I know how much of a female dog life can be at time, screwing up your plans and everything.

[oddler]

1. What does Eyes on Final Fantasy mean to you?

Plain and simple, Eyes on Final Fantasy is a community. It's a group of people that continuously come together to interact with each other. We're all different people with different lives and differing stances and outlooks but when it comes down to it, we all have a bond that makes us part of this community. In my opinion, the people make the community and what a fine group of people we are. Eyes on Final Fantasy is us.

2. What changes (if any) would you have made to the Eyeson's Next Cid's Knight competition, if you were a Cid's Knight while it was going on?

Looking back, I don't know if I'm too keen on the way "winners" were revealed each round. In fact, I think it would have been better to have left that part out altogether. On the other hand, it seemed to me that the most intense and active parts of the competition were the revelations after each round. I think it would have been a good idea to reveal one person at a time when announcing those who were still in the running instead of groups of them. It really looked like everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting for more information and it might have been a good way to buy time during the slower parts of the event.

[Del Murder]

Congratulations to Flying Mullet who won the reward. FM, you can let me know at any time what you want your special rank will be. You can wait as long as you want for it. You will only get one fancy title so make it a good one, and make sure it's within reason.

Everyone else, sit tight. The final round will probably start tomorrow.

[Bahamut2000X]

Congrats Mullet.

[Ouch!]

Good job, Mullet.

[BG-57]

Kudos and congrats.

[Heath]

Well done, Mullet!