Design a Dungeon Contest

[The_Human_Cypher]

Turbine has had contests in the past where players helped create new content for the game, such as the Shadar-kai Tattoo Design Contest. However, none of these contests have been significant in scope. DDO could hold a Design a Dungeon Contest in 2014 and the winner has his or her Dungeon created as a free to play quest released in 2015. This contest could be held every year and this would be one way for DDO to compete with Neverwinter's player created Foundry content.

[skorpeon]

Turbine has had contests in the past where players helped create new content for the game, such as the Shadar-kai Tattoo Design Contest. However, none of these contests have been significant in scope. DDO could hold a Design a Dungeon Contest in 2014 and the winner has his or her Dungeon created as a free to play quest released in 2015. This contest could be held every year and this would be one way for DDO to compete with Neverwinter's player created Foundry content.

I personally would love this, I would like to recreate some of the dungeons I created when I was playing D&D back in the 70's. I bet I still have those lying around somewhere at home. Of course I am not wiz on the IT side of it or graphics so I would be more likely coming up with scenarios and some basic layout and traps etc

I don't think there is anyway we will be getting access to building tools, shame that….

[The_Human_Cypher]

I personally would love this, I would like to recreate some of the dungeons I created when I was playing D&D back in the 70's. I bet I still have those lying around somewhere at home. Of course I am not wiz on the IT side of it or graphics so I would be more likely coming up with scenarios and some basic layout and traps etc

I don't think there is anyway we will be getting access to building tools, shame that….

The best Neverwinter Foundry quests are better than the content produced by the game's devs themselves, which actually isn't surprising. If Turbine held an annual contest to create a free to play DDO quest, I'm sure that the yearly winner would be some of the best content in the game. Many of the original pencil and paper D&D players would dust off their decades old dungeons and submit them for development. The winner could receive a lifetime VIP membership and other prizes.

[Postumus]

Turbine has had contests in the past where players helped create new content for the game, such as the Shadar-kai Tattoo Design Contest. However, none of these contests have been significant in scope. DDO could hold a Design a Dungeon Contest in 2014 and the winner has his or her Dungeon created as a free to play quest released in 2015. This contest could be held every year and this would be one way for DDO to compete with Neverwinter's player created Foundry content.


This is a great idea. Turbine could give out some parameters (level range, location, etc) and see who comes up with what. They should also have design contests for armor skins, hairstyles, and cosmetics.

Great way to mine constructive feedback from the players.

[The_Human_Cypher]

This is a great idea. Turbine could give out some parameters (level range, location, etc) and see who comes up with what. They should also have design contests for armor skins, hairstyles, and cosmetics.

Great way to mine constructive feedback from the players.

Thanks. Turbine needs to compete with Cryptic for players even though Neverwinter is a much less sophisticated game. Adding player created content would be one way of doing this. I'm sure there have been many brilliant, original quests made by D&D players since the 1970s that have never been exposed to more than a small group of people. Putting on an annual 'Design a Dungeon' contest would draw people into the game and also make DDO more interactive like Neverwinter's Foundry.

[Seikojin]

Apply tot he players council.

[schelsullivan]

Anything to add content more often.

[Uska]

No

[The_Human_Cypher]

Apply tot he players council.

I think that the DDO Players' Council may be 12 people at the most. An annual Design a Dungeon Contest would get 100+ entries which allows more feedback from the community.

[harry-pancreas]

/signed

[Ralmeth]

Sounds great in theory, but in practice I couldn't imagine the amount of time it would take someone at Turbine to go through all of the quests submitted to select which one is the best...just to get an idea to create one quest. Instead, what would probably be more feasible if someone in the DDO community were to organize the contest and people would submit these to the contest organizers. Perhaps a panel of players could be used to select the top X number of quests, and then these are posted on for the player base at large to vote on. The ultimate winning quest could then be submitted to Turbine. Of course, you'd want to see if Turbine would go for this up front before everyone spends time on it, but I think this would be the only way to get Turbine to go for this. Just my 2CPs.

[The_Human_Cypher]

Sounds great in theory, but in practice I couldn't imagine the amount of time it would take someone at Turbine to go through all of the quests submitted to select which one is the best...just to get an idea to create one quest. Instead, what would probably be more feasible if someone in the DDO community were to organize the contest and people would submit these to the contest organizers. Perhaps a panel of players could be used to select the top X number of quests, and then these are posted on for the player base at large to vote on. The ultimate winning quest could then be submitted to Turbine. Of course, you'd want to see if Turbine would go for this up front before everyone spends time on it, but I think this would be the only way to get Turbine to go for this. Just my 2CPs.

I don't think there would be that many entries, especially if Turbine imposed submission requirements such as a minimum page number of material, sketches of the maps on graph paper, stats for monsters and NPCs (using the 3.5 edition rules), etc. Someone on the DDO staff could select a certain number of the most promising quests and then the DDO Players' Council could pick the final quest for development with DDO staff having veto power. Given the amount of time it takes to write and design a fresh DDO quest from scratch, this contest might actually save Turbine some money considering that the Players' Council works for free.

If the devs take a serious look at this idea, it could very likely produce some great content for DDO as well as help promote the game.

[Ralmeth]

I don't think there would be that many entries, especially if Turbine imposed submission requirements such as a minimum page number of material, sketches of the maps on graph paper, stats for monsters and NPCs (using the 3.5 edition rules), etc. Someone on the DDO staff could select a certain number of the most promising quests and then the DDO Players' Council could pick the final quest for development with DDO staff having veto power. Given the amount of time it takes to write and design a fresh DDO quest from scratch, this contest might actually save Turbine some money considering that the Players' Council works for free.

If the devs take a serious look at this idea, it could very likely produce some great content for DDO as well as help promote the game.

I'm not against the idea. I think it could be a lot of fun! When I was younger, I played PnP for 20 years and created tons and tons of unique and interesting adventures as a DM. However, I would expect they would receive a lot of submittals, and from Turbine's business standpoint why put all of those work-hours into reviewing player submitted quests when you could just sit down and design and create a quest in less time? My opinion is that if you want to get this idea to work the players will need to do the bulk of the work and hand Turbine a few player vetted, voted on quests to pick from.

[sirgog]

I tried to make this happen several times going back many years (at the 14 and 16 caps IIRC).

It's still a good idea.

[The_Human_Cypher]

Other MMOs have similar contests. Star Citizen is holding a contest to design a starship used in a campaign called, 'The Next Great Starship.'

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13560-The-Next-Great-Starship-Episode-2

Massively discusses player designed game content in this article.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/02/10/the-daily-grind-do-you-enter-mmo-design-contests/

[Jasparion]

Sounds great in theory, but in practice I couldn't imagine the amount of time it would take someone at Turbine to go through all of the quests submitted to select which one is the best...just to get an idea to create one quest. Instead, what would probably be more feasible if someone in the DDO community were to organize the contest and people would submit these to the contest organizers. Perhaps a panel of players could be used to select the top X number of quests, and then these are posted on for the player base at large to vote on. The ultimate winning quest could then be submitted to Turbine. Of course, you'd want to see if Turbine would go for this up front before everyone spends time on it, but I think this would be the only way to get Turbine to go for this. Just my 2CPs.

Letting the players be the first judge to whittle the list down to half a dozen or so is a good idea. But it wont happen. Devs dont like players stepping on their toes. Its why they are so resistant to any of our suggestions on anything. So I cant imagine an entire dungeon designed by players getting green-lit.

[Seikojin]

I think that the DDO Players' Council may be 12 people at the most. An annual Design a Dungeon Contest would get 100+ entries which allows more feedback from the community.

I was referring to the OP applying. Then the OP could make suggestions directly to the devs every single chat session they have. :D

However, player made content sneaking into the game is a hard one to have happen. Lots of money invested to have the contest winner cry foul when it doesn't live up to their dream.

[Memnir]

I like the idea.

It's not a complete free-for-all, the Devs would still need to pick the winner and then need to craft the actual quest itself. So, it would avoid some of the inherent misuses of a Dungeon Creation Kit. However, it's a fantastic way to get the community involved creatively in the game... which is something I've always felt this game has sorely lacked. I also very much like the thought of keeping the dungeon free.

It would be a great way to get people reinvested in the game - even if it's just rooting for the idea they like best.

I also think that, in addition to the player who wins getting their Dungeon made, the Devs design a named item for the quest - named after the winning player.



http://i.imgur.com/LGZ53OX.gif

[Certon]

Absolutely a great idea. I know this because I suggested it a long time ago in these forums.

/signed.

[ssgcmwatson]

Similar ideas have been raised before, and I support them. Players should be able to run a fan-generated mission (without gaining loot or XP on their live server toons) and then get a chance to rate the mission, report bugs, etc. Missions that receive consistently high ratings would be reviewed by the devs to decide appropriate XP, loot, etc., and incorporated into an upcoming release.

Turbine could charge for the ability to create/upload missions to the test area, as well as to play missions in the test area. That would help them make it worth their while to go through the effort of setting everything up.

[Uska]

Nvm