by Thunder » 06/01/2014 12:54 PM
I've never actually applied for a Morey pet, but I figured I'd add my two cents anyway.
Why I've Never Applied:
It's not that the pets aren't amazing. The recent ones have all been pretty gorgeous. However, the way I work is that I usually create characters first and then seek pet forms that would fit those characters. I generally do not do things the other way around, even if I see a really beautiful pet. This is simply my way of going about character creation on Evelon, and there isn't anything Morey can do about it. Of course, if a Morey pet does inspire a character, I would apply for it, but that just hasn't happened yet. Unfortunately, I can't really tell you what kinds of things inspire me since inspiration just kinda happens, you know? I do like some species more than others, but in the end, I just go for whatever species works best. And if something doesn't inspire me, I won't apply for it so other users can get a chance.
I also want to voice my agreement with Azura here; just because you don't get the Morey pet doesn't mean you have to toss the character completely. I know it may be disheartening to not have that specific pet for the character, but I don't think people should give up on the character solely for that reason.
Time Limit:
I think this would only help. It would make the process more...concrete, for the lack of a better word. It would encourage users to work on applications, and it would take out any arbitrariness in when Morey judges who gets the pet. Though I know it is not Morey's intention, I feel that the lack of a time limit might also inadvertently contribute to misconceptions on how Morey judges (and note that this is just speculation on my part; I don't actually know if this is the case). I think a month is a good length of time; it gives a good amount of wriggle room for people who are busier or people who take more time to invent characters.
Judging:
This one's a little trickier. I personally never got the impression that Morey was biased towards certain users or types of characters, but I understand why people might feel uncomfortable with a single person judging as Morey. If we use multiple "guest" judges, however, I think we'd have to put in some additional rules/functions.
- The judges should remain anonymous to minimize perceptions of bias and to prevent any potential hard feelings.
- The (2?) guest judges should be different for each pet.
- The (2?) guest judges should be randomly selected from a pool of people willing to be guest judges for Morey. We can have a thread where people volunteer for this. If someone cannot act as a guest judge for whatever reason, just randomly pick another person and see if they have the time to judge.
- If the judges all disagree with each other, the winner could be randomly selected from the applications they like rather than trying to make all the judges come to a consensus. I assume that if the judges each like a different application, then all the applications are equally qualified, and chance is a fair way to pick between them.
- If a judge volunteers but fails to make a decision, their vote is voided, as to not delay the process. We could also pick another judge in their place.
I agree with Toxic that the number of people interested in a pet should not dictate whether or not Morey shuts down. If only one person applies, I think they should win by default because the whole point of Morey is to get pets to people who will use them, and look! There's one user who will use the pet! I think Morey pets should only be auctioned off if there is absolutely no interest in them. Otherwise, it would be unfair to the one person who did work on an application.
If the application is judged primarily by character, then I think we could probably just eliminate the entire "offer something to Morey in return" part. I realize that this clause is probably in place to make judging between multiple quality applications easier, but it may also unintentionally disadvantage poorer/new users who can't offer as much. For instance, a newbie offers a Bleached pet, while an older user offers a Lucain. Their applications are both very good. There would be temptation to give the pet to the older user because the older user's bigger sacrifice makes more of an impression, but unfortunately, new users simply can't offer something like that. This seems to go against the very purpose of Morey- helping new/poor users obtain amazing pets. I think that random selection would be fairer in this incidence.
Writing the Application:
From what people have said here, it seems to me that some users are discouraged from applying because they see other users' applications and think they won't stand a chance. If this presents a problem, we can have people PM applications to Morey instead. I also want to reiterate that length does not = quality in writing. I'm sure everyone here understands that, but it can still be understandably intimidating to see posts longer than yours.
That's all I have to say for now. I love the concept of Morey, even if the intended audience of poorer/newbie users doesn't really exist, and I would not want to see him go.