Waking Up VP

Para Darkwater · November 2014

Greetings to all you lovely VP people! I've been thinking and tinkering with an idea or so as to how we can "wake" VP up. Eventing seems to have picked up a bit and I see that some old and new players have joined but it still feels like something is missing; almost like VP is hibernating. The sense of community that use to be such a strong aspect to the game has diminished, at least I feel it has. I thought about starting up a club/foundation of sorts dedicated to rejuvenating VP but wasn't sure how to go about it exactly or if anyone would be interested. In my own little ways I try to help VP along, by being active when I'm here and what not but I feel like there's more that could be done. So I guess I'm starting this to spark conversation and ideas as to what we could do to bring VP back to life.

Frostbight8 · November 2014

Honestly, at this point, I feel that the best thing we can do to wake up VP is to be active ourselves. I mean, I guess we're looking for ways to encourage people to be active, huh? Then again, the more people who make an effort to become active on their own terms will create what non-active people are looking for- activity! Ahaha. It's a vicious cycle, but I'm just thinking out loud. I feel like I always suggest eventing challenges, but if they get enough entrants, they usually seem to do something to revive the community. Train-offs don't seem to get much attention anymore, and challenges have become pretty common. Maybe we could brainstorm up a different event? We'd probably need substantial prizes at the end, as that seems to be what ultimately attracts people. Even if people came together to plan something, like a "VP Awards". There was one a few years back, and it encouraged people to vote for players that thought deserved the award. We could even find a way to improve upon that, like having a variety events beforehand in order to give people an idea of who they think deserves the award.

PaperWings · November 2014

For me stuff like the art/layout contests etc were what I was into when they had decent prizes (upgrades/large sum of vpc). Mainly because I've never been all that involved in the actual playing of the game. Most of my money in the beginning was made from drawing for people, making layouts and entering art contests. Only the last couple years or so did I move into training. Contests like that encourage those with not so much time to still be active in the community. Easy to just throw an entry at a contest once a week or so, instead of trying to train up a million dogs for a train off in the limited free time they have.

Para Darkwater · November 2014

Hmmm an idea of sorts has hit me but I'm not exactly sure how it would translate to VP and work out. Some sort of VP fair/festival/carnival would be neat. It could include various events, contests, prizes, giveaways and the like just like you would find in most fairs. Some of the events could be in game competitions, maybe like mini completions that only last one or two rounds. Then some events could be based just on the forums, maybe incorporate something with art, even bring in something like the VP awards Frost mentioned. If we could figure out how to work it maybe it could bring the VP community together to create a big event. Different players could be in charge of different things, kind of like working a booth at a festival I'm just shooting off things that come to mind but maybe we could turn it into something.

PaperWings · November 2014

Few years back now, I think it was, I held a VP Christmas event. Had stuff from art contest, create a breed, train-offs, raffle, trivia and crosswords, and maybe even a treasure hunt - been a while so can't remember exactly! So a lot of things across the board to ensure everyone has a chance to take part. That seemed to have gained a bit of attention. I put a large amount of money into it (game money that is), and a lot of people were kind enough to donate a variety of prizes from VPC to trainings to paid goodies (upgrade/dyes). And I think the create a breed, the winning breed was made into an actual breed by game owner with a pair of made ports going to the winner. For the art I remember drawing a lineart for people to colour, again to ensure that those of different artistic ability were able to take part. That would be more my recommendation. Then I guess off the back of that you could do Awards of the Year or something.

Para Darkwater · November 2014

I must not have been around for that Paper but it sounds like tons of fun! I've got a few ideas floating around for the VP fair if it does become a thing. I think it could be lots of fun, want to focus a lot on events like what you mentioned to where players all across VP can join in. I've got a few ideas floating around that I'll bring up at a later point in time if this seems to be taking off

p.s. How did you do the treasure hunt? I've thought of doing something like that or a scavenger hunt of sorts before but had no clue how to go about it lol

Nacie · November 2014

I remember what Paper is talking about - I was brand new I think but I took part in the crossword raffle and trivia - maybe the treasure hunt but not sure. I would be interested if you, Para does something again and I always donate.

MorganSmith · November 2014

I would love to be part of it! And I could also donate a few dogs! 10X4s, Gifties, maybe Unmades!

Para Darkwater · November 2014

Nacie wrote:

I remember what Paper is talking about - I was brand new I think but I took part in the crossword raffle and trivia - maybe the treasure hunt but not sure. I would be interested if you, Para does something again and I always donate.

Great, I'm really wanting to do something. Still kinda in the brainstorming phase. I've got a few contests I'm working the kinks out of and maybe some special mini events in game. Want to bring aspects so that everyone in VP weather they play the game or not can be involved. I'm glad to see it's picked up some interest already!

morgansmith159 wrote:

I would love to be part of it! And I could also donate a few dogs! 10X4s, Gifties, maybe Unmades!

Wonderful, the more people the merrier! I'm kinda basing it off of a community style festival where any one can participate in the planning, the implementation and even get in on the fun and games

MorganSmith · November 2014

You can do like a raffle ticket thing!! Where sponsors pay 100k and only one ticket per person! And 1000 for novices and then only have 10 spaces per each raffle so like if 10 different sponsors were in the raffle they could win 1 Million or something like a dog as a prize!

Para Darkwater · November 2014

morgansmith159 wrote:

You can do like a raffle ticket thing!! Where sponsors pay 100k and only one ticket per person! And 1000 for novices and then only have 10 spaces per each raffle so like if 10 different sponsors were in the raffle they could win 1 Million or something like a dog as a prize!

some sort of raffle would be a great addition! I've got some other little things planned too like a guess the number of pups in an upcoming litter and a kind of writing contest in which players would make up a background story for a spotlighted rescue dog. Just little fun things that'll add up to a big festival of event

PaperWings · November 2014

My thing was "VP Wonderland". The old threads are still hiding in the archives of the forum. As the event was back in 2010 o_O blimey so long ago! This thread is the main one, showing you what events I had and the types of prizes we were starting to get: <a href="http://virtualpups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=72103"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">viewtopic.php?f=42&t=72103</a> A separate event I had before that was a scavenger hunt: <a href="http://virtualpups.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=68515"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">viewtopic.php?f=42&t=68515</a> For that I did it based on x amount of questions/clues which in turn would lead to a dog name, number or colour. The players were given the first clue (as seen on the thread) and they had to figure it out. I made sure I had at least 2 or 3 hints for that clue just incase it was tougher than I had realised to answer. From that they would go get me the information I required and privately message it to me. If correct I would give them the next clue, and so on and so forth. They were not meant to work in pairs, or share the clues/answers. Obviously you can't fully stop it happening, but the idea is for them to have fun and have that competitive streak to want to win. As you see I had nominated prizes for the first 20 to get the questions right. I was a bit mean, and said that they could only have one go at answering lol, any incorrect answer meant they were instantly disqualified. But then changed it to try encourage people to play and keep going. Looking through the thread annoyingly the post with the questions and answers is part deleted

how annoying. But those you can do in anagrams, riddles, cryptic messages etc. It seemed to be well accepted across the board. Part tempted to do it all again myself, which I might have a think about over the weekend and see. Wonder if I can even find the list of clues on an old harddrive somewhere.

Para Darkwater · November 2014

Thanks a ton Paper! I'll look over the links when my net is in more of a cooperative mood lol. "VP Wonderland" Sounds like it was really fun, too bad I was around at that time.I'm really hoping to get something off the ground. One day I'll sit down and devote a chunk of time to working on this and gettig things more organized. Maybe get an outline or sorts going and start looking for volunteers to help out

MorganSmith · November 2014

I love writing! I would definetly be up for that!

Para Darkwater · November 2014

Ok so I think I'm leaning toward doing some sort of treasure/scavenger hunt. I would love to do the VP Festival idea with different events but seeing as this will be my first time hosting a major event I'll stick with something more specialized lol. I'm still working out the kinks and figuring out how to implement everything so please bare with me

Howdy, Stranger!

Waking Up VP

Comments