GrandmistressD wants YOU..... to write a guide!

[quote=GrandmasterD][center][url=http://www.mobafire.com/edit/guide][img=http://i.imgur.com/bqYTd.png][/url][/center] Well yeah, if you read the title correctly you should already know what I want of course. However, it might be a bit unclear what exactly it is about. Okay well, we can all be honest that [color=#ff8000]MOBA[/color][color=#ffff00]Fire[/color] doesn't have a great reputation when it comes to guide quality. Often people laugh about it or look at it in horror. As a part of this community, however, I think it's rather awful and I seek for ways to improve it. The idea I've come up with is a guide writing contest! I'll reward people for writing the great guides [color=#ff8000]MOBA[/color][color=#ffff00]Fire[/color] desperately needs. [h2]The Rules[/h2]Sure a contest must have rules so this one obviously has some as well. The rules a short and simple: [list=1] [*] The author must be an active member of [color=#ff8000]MOBA[/color][color=#ffff00]Fire[/color]. To me that is someone who has an account for at least 2 months; has a rep count of at least 25 and a post count of at least 200. [*] Every guide submitted must be updated according to the latest patches of LoL. This is checked at the moment of submission, not at the moment I review them. [*] Guides are not allowed to be modified after the deadline. [*] Guides should fit the [url=http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/forum/mobafire-support/quot-ive-published-a-guide-but-its-not-showing-in-the-search-results-help-quot-18070][color=#ff8000]MOBA[/color][color=#ffff00]Fire[/color] standard for guides.[/url] [*] Do not submit guides that are a waste of my time. [*] You can submit only one guide. [*] Guides can be submitted only during a specified period. [*] I only accept guides written in English. Not only because I'm not really a language person but also because these guides are meant for a large audience and not just a specific group. [/list] [h2]Submitting[/h2]Submitting a guide is easy. I'll be creating a new thread for every new contest where guides can be submitted. Just post the link to your guide there and that's about it. You cannot submit your guide anywhere else! I don't want it all lingering around the interwebs so I will politely decline all submissions that weren't made using the specified thread. [h2]Reviewing[/h2]So how will I be judging the guides? Very simple, I will rate each guide with a number ranging from 1 to 10 rounded to one decimal. The guide with the highest rating or grade will win the contest for that month. I do require the highest rated guide to be at least an 8 or higher to actually win the contest, we are looking for good guides after all. I have, as everyone else, my own style of reviewing and I think you should know my M.O. First, I have decided to rate the guide at four different criteria: [list=1] [*] [b]Viability[/b] - How viable is it to use this build/guide and to apply it in your everyday playstyle? Is the guide truly teaching good things, or is it just harmful? Also, I am looking for guides to be viable at all elo ratings for both arranged- and soloqueue. [*] [b]Readability[/b] - When talking about readability we are talking about grammar, spelling, syntax, organization of information etc. I believe that good writing is a necessity for a good guide. Your guide should also make it easy to absorb information. If people cannot read it properly, what's the point of writing the guide in the first place? [*] [b]Visual Appearance[/b] - Is the guide real eyecandy or do my calculus books look more appealing to me? This is not something that I take heavily into account but I certainly think it is worth mentioning. If a guide doesn't look good, no one will read it and thus will be useless. [*] [b]In-Depth[/b] - Simply how extensive I think the guide is. Is the guide only providing a single build, or are there more builds to choose from? Maybe there is even a list included that lists viable items or a list of great laning partners. [/list] Of course, not every criterium is of the same importance as the others. Hence, we have assigned a weight to each criterium and this means we calculate the final grade of your guide through the [i]weighted average[/i] but more on that later on. Below, you'll see a table that shows the weight that is assigned to each criteria: [columns] [b]Criterium[/b] [color=#FFA500]Viability Readability Visual Appearance In-Depth[/color] [nextcol] [indent][b]Weight[/b] 1 ¾ ¼ ½ [/indent] [nextcol][indent][/indent] [nextcol][indent][/indent] [nextcol][indent][/indent] [nextcol][indent][/indent][/columns] The final grade is then calculated as follows: [indent]Final_Grade = (Viability_Grade + 0.5 * In-Depth_Grade + 0.75 * Readability_Grade + 0.25 * Visual_Appearance_Grade) / 2.5[/indent] [h2]Rewards[/h2]"All this sounds nice but what can you actually win?" Well that's a very good question. Well the top 3 (or 5 if the amount of submissions is very high) will get a video review. This will be a short video in which I'll review the guide. You can include this video in the guide as I will also do a quick summary of your guide and build which can be very helpful. The winner of the contest will get RP to buy him- or herself a cool champ or a [[Brand]] (yes I'm hilarious) new skin. In addition to all of that, you will also receive a scout point. [h2]Tips 'n Tricks[/h2]Well, I guess that is it. Oh wait, some final remarks before you start writing those awesome guides. It is so easy to score some extra points on your review. Below, I have stated a few tips on how to do that. [list] [*] Do a grammar/spelling check. [*] Test your build over and over again. How often do you complete it? Is it not too expensive? And... is it optimal, or are there better items available? [*] Make use of basic things such as paragraphs, images, icons and columns to at least get a decent grade in [i]visual appearance[/i]. [*] Check your guide how you can improve it. For example, is it elaborate enough? Is there an option available for every situation or is it just about one solid build? It is so easy to at least add some extra builds. [*] Check [url=http://www.mobafire.com/profile/jhoijhoi-52504]jhoijhoi's[/url] guide on [url=http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/making-a-guide-101506]how to make a guide[/url]. It offers a huge amount of tips and tricks, also you can learn by example. [/list] [h2]The Contest List[/h2]Below I'll list all contests with a link to the thread where you can submit your guides. You can also check the winner here. [indent][columns][b]Contest[/b] [i][url=http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/forum/general/grandmistressds-guide-writing-contest-january-2013-19850]January 2013[/url][/i] [nextcol][indent][b]Subject[/b] [i]No Specified Subject[/i][/indent] [nextcol][indent][b]Ending Date[/b] [url=http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20130125T00&p0=16&fg1=000&fg2=ff605a&msg=Ending+Submitting+Guide+Contest]01/25/2013 0:00 am CET[/url][/indent] [nextcol][indent][b]Winner[/b] -[/indent] [nextcol][indent][b]Rating[/b] -[/indent][/columns][/indent] [center][url=http://www.mobafire.com/edit/guide][img=http://i.imgur.com/2VLG7.png][/url][/center][/quote]

[quote=Benzire]I agree that mobafire's reputation regarding guides is.. low to say the least. When I linked a friend my first written guide he told me: "But Mobafire is for noobs." This is unnaceptable. A lot of people put good work in their guides and they are considered bad by default. I partly blame the pro players for this since they are the ones that started marking mobafire guide's as bad. Honoring these rules I would be disqualified from writing guides myself but that's okay, I would love to help reviewing guides. I realise I haven't been active on mobafire but I really only started making use of the site since last week. I've come to respect all the people in the chat channel and wish to help.[/quote]

[quote=GrandmasterD][quote=Benzire] I agree that mobafire's reputation regarding guides is.. low to say the least. When I linked a friend my first written guide he told me: "But Mobafire is for noobs." This is unnaceptable. A lot of people put good work in their guides and they are written off by default by a large population of the playerbase. Honoring these rules I would be disqualified from writing guides myself but that's okay, I would love to help reviewing guides. I realise I haven't been active on mobafire but I really only started making use of the site since last week. I've come to respect all the people in the chat channel and wish to help. [/quote] That's nice, I really could use some help on this. I just made the rule so that I have a little more certainty on the fact that people wanna improve MOBAFire rather than just be here for the free RP. As these guides have to be maintained afterwards.[/quote]

[quote=Benzire][quote=GrandmasterD] That's nice, I really could use some help on this. I just made the rule so that I have a little more certainty on the fact that people wanna improve MOBAFire rather than just be here for the free RP. As these guides have to be maintained afterwards. [/quote] Aye, seems like a good call. My offer stands though, I'll help reviewing if you need it x)[/quote]

[quote=koksei]grammar too high would make it 1/3 looks too high 1/5 or 1/6 besides that noice idea[/quote]

[quote=IceCreamy]A question: Can I submit a guide that I have published a long time ago? Or are there any restrictions on that? Maybe I can give a hand too from time to time, if you're okay with that ^^[/quote]

[quote=DillButt64]id write a guide but im not an experienced player so my guides probably arnt going to be very viable, i type like a 6th grader due to laziness, and i dont know how to do BBcode so i probably wont win D: but ill probably write a guide sooner or later[/quote]

[quote=sirell]I think it's a good idea, unsure if it'll necessarily increase quality (you could just end up with a lot of garbage guides, for example, though I doubt that will happen). I don't know if people will write a guide JUST for this, but it'll certainly be an encouragement. After all, a decent guide is still a hefty bit of work.[/quote]

[quote=The_Nameless_Bard]I quite like this idea...I may or may not update a guide for it...we'll see.[/quote]

[quote=devdevil]Can you submit an unfinished guide? Are there any special conditions to unfinished guides?[/quote]