Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
EverQuest II: Changes To Beta Contest
Admin
Administrator RarePosts: 5,623
Due to popular disagreement at our recent contest rules we have decided to split our beta contest into 2 separate contests to provide fair drawing times for both sides of the Atlantic. The following steps have been taken:
- There is a North American contest for 15 betas (20 tickets to be drawn - first 15 to claim will win)
- There is a European contest for 5 betas (7 tickets to be drawn, first 5 to claim will win)
- The new drawing time for the North American contest is 9PM EDT on October 15, 2004 (this is a later time than the original 6PM time - so those who don't get this notice or the email will not "miss" the contest)
- The new drawing time for the European contest is 5PM EDT (21:00 UTC/GMT) on October 16, 2004 (this is a day later than the original time of 6PM to ensure that no one "misses" the contest, you will just need to come back the following day!)
- All Europeans that were in the main contest have been automatically moved into the European contest...no action is required on your part.
We will be sending out email notices tonight to all those in the contests. This message will go to your private email as well as your MMORPG.com mail account. This message will inform contestants of these new changes. Again, we have moved all the drawing times forward - so those that do not read this notice will not arrive to find out it is already over - that would have been unfair 
We hope that these new rules will please the majority of our members. We reached the 15/5 split based on the demographics of our registered members at MMORPG.com.
If you have any questions about these changes, please post them here.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
Comments
For people in North America it is the same night...just 3 hours later (was 6PM EST now is 9PM EST)
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
STUPID!!
DON"T make people have to respond right away cuz there are ALWAYS going to be people that CAN'T!! NO FAIR@!!!
Now I have ZERO chance of winning and you bet I'm pissed cuz I've logged in every day to "increase my chances" and now you END RUN me and throw ME out of the contest!
THIS IS DUMB! GIve people 24 hours at LEAST to accept the win, and problem is SOLVED! How easy is that????
PS From 7PM to 8AM I work and HAVE NO ACCESS to internet. I'm sure there are MANY like me. This is the most unfair way to hold any contest, I'll tell you that.
Hmmm... I guess I don't understand what the problem was. How was this contest run any differently than all the others before it? How was it NOT fair given past precedent?
Unlike the poster above me, I won't be losing out on my chance to win but I don't quite understand why MMORPG.com decided to change the contest rules when they've worked fine so many times in the past.
I don't think their contest works well at all, in the past or now. The idea you have to be sitting at a PC and respond within minutes of the "drawing" is foolish. There will always be people that are unfairly penalized by such a method.
There should be a reasonable amount of time given to respond to the "drawing". I think 24 hours is reasonable and still allows for the contest to be completed in a timely fashion.
This totally eliminates the problem and is very reasonable.
When do people from the states ever learn?
You post something regarding the europeans, in this case a time in the european part of thw world, but the time is stated in US time.
How about stating such times in GMT (or when european just CET), everyone should know the offset from GMT to their current timezone.
What you call a problem I call an event. They are creating an event where everyone(that can) logs on to the site in hopes of winning the drawing. It's about the only time the chat room gets used. It's mildly amusing for a few minutes.
See you Friday!
Sorry for asking but how do these contests work I have only registered 6-4 months ago and I wasnt in any contetst until these, one of those people that will upgrade the PC to play this game
So how does this work we log on at the point given and then what?
If you find any spelling mistakes you can keep them.
Why do the american people get 15 and europe only 5 thats just lame.... ::
::
And to sit and wait for the contest is also lame.... it should stay random...
it would be more cool if 20 random people got it. Thats whats a contest is about or put it out equali 10 to each USA and Europe
Regards
DS
WTF do you know..... Denmark has soldiers down there to help you out down there so stop talking shit when you dont know what you talking about. Good god
Sweet....
Thanks MMORPG.com. This really is better for the majority of us I think since the drawing would have been at 3 in the afternoon for the west coast people. We would be at work and unable to claim our prize.
Good Job. Kudos to you guys.
ROLEPLAYERS UNITE!!!!!
Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture.
omg lol it just shows how much you know good god how can a person be so stupid
I think the time should be earlier 9pm est?....why so late?...since i'm pst that'll be 3 hours after my normal time, meaning when it draws will be right after I go to work so now i'll miss out. I can't say i'm too happy with this after logging in making sure to log in everday then have it change. At the least try to make it the middle of the day. So the night & day workers will have equal chance.
I actually find ur post very offensive, and I hope that when the admins here see ur obviously racist remarks, u will get ur account banned.
One thing I don't understand is at the beginning of the contest the times were clearly stated. I wouldnt have bothered if I knew the draw would be at a time I would not be available to be here to check. The people outside of the draw time knew ahead of time and decided to enter anyways. So why did those people that complained get it changed for them when they knew ahead of time the draw time wouldnt be convieniant for them?
I actually find ur post very offensive, and I hope that when the admins here see ur obviously racist remarks, u will get ur account banned.
I couldnt agree more, it's fine to be a little pissed of the change in contest but to react like that is a bit much. Europeon soldiers have nothing to do with this contest.
For the record, this is a silly idea. You have stated yourselves several times that there are many more North Americans than Europeans, so you have effectively just reduced our odds.
Just draw as many names as there are prizes, and give them 12 hours to respond, like every other friggin online contest in the world.
I can't believe you guys caved to some whiney Europeans. . .
"I can tell you with no ego, this is my finest sword. If, on your journey, you should encounter God. . .
. . . God will be cut."
- Quentin Tarantino, Kill Bill
EQII
Requiiem, Templar
Neriak
I am going to try and address everyones concerns so far...so this post will likely get edited a few times while I go back and forth reading all the posts.
1) The contest was not moved for the European members. I never had one single person for the EU complain about the contest. I actually moved it because of the West Coast members in the US/Canada. The drawing would have been at 3PM PST and no one is home then - at least not 80% of them. I made the initial contest for 6PM EST and that was really dumb on my part - at the time I was trying to help the EU folks out and forgot about this major portion of North America. The only way to fix this is 2 contests and 2 drawing times...there is no 1 time that works well across 8 time zones.
2) We do the contest this way because we used to draw the exact amount of winners...with the 24 hour time limit. What happens EVERY time is about 75% of the people claim. Then the next day you have to draw more numbers...then 75% of those claim. This goes on for 3-4 days and delays the whole contest process. We prefer to see people get their prizes ASAP and we also don't have loads of time to waste on this end. This contest system ensures a quick resolution. We normally draw 2 times the normal amount - we have greatly reduced this for this contest because we know the demand will be much higher and most all people will confirm - and quickly.
3) NO ONES ODDS CHANGED. We split the prizes up based on demographics. Use this to analyze (not actual number of entries but split percentage is the same):
Original contest: 10,000 entries - 20 prizes. Odds of winning = 1/500
New North American contest: 7500 entries - 15 prizes. Odds of winning = 1/500
New EU contest: 2500 entries - 5 prizes. Odds of winning = 1/500
4) We use 9PM EST because it is a reasonable time to expect all people in the US/Canada (North America) to be awake and not at school or work. Granted there are exceptions...but for the most part - this will be true for 90% of people.
5) We use PST for all of our times because that is how the site clock appears (in the upper right corner) - if we used another time it would confuse everyone. Eventually we will change our site to allow you change the time based on your location - at this time we will start using GMT times.
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
- MMORPG.COM Staff -
The dead know only one thing: it is better to be alive.
I, for one, am VERY grateful to you guys. This is the BEST contest I've seen yet! Im not some fluffy artistic or musical type to draw a picture or enter some poetry to win. These contests SHOULD be for the people who Stay Tuned, not just those who draw purty pictures.
So... Thanks again for ANY chance of getting into the Beta,
... and stick to your guns and don't listen to ANY of the whiners!
*bows humbly*
Grimshok
/sarcasm on
I think the next draw I enter i'll make sure it's a japenese draw only so then 4 days before the draw starts I can complain that it's not a North American draw too so they can change it just for me. /sarcasm off
I don't really care that much about beta, i figured i'd enter anyways since the drawing time was going to be at a time I'd be here. Not really a big deal, guess you can't please everyone. Wouldnt be much time to play before char wipe anyhow. Though I think you should have split the winnings 50/50 north american and european.
I find your reply ridiculous, Admin. Other contests give people a reasonable time to respond and it works out. The idea that you draw when some people are working and they miss out is absolutely unfair. IF IT WASN"T YOU WOULDN"T HAVE HAD TO CHANGE THE TIME AT ALL!! So I don't buy your response one bit.
If my name were drawn, I can bet that because I cant respond till almost 12 hours later is going to result in me losing my win.
AND YOU KNOW IT!
Complaining about a chance to win a FREE beta account, remember its free to enter !!!
New contest rule: Complaining about our FREE giveaway excludes you from the contest.