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Are Sites Getting Rid of OTMs?


Jax
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I used to have an expansive award/voting system on one site I ran in which there were at least 20 different categories.  Things like "Most likely to dance naked in the rain" and the like.  There were also things like "Best male character in group A" and stuff.  Even still, those of us with lots of characters normally ended up winning the majority of them month after month.  But it was better than just having a standard "of the month" system because people actually had a chance to win.

 

Since then I've never had them.  If I couldn't do a big one with tons of categories, I wasn't going to do them at all because oftentimes people get overlooked, and folks who are more outgoing/vocal tend to win.  And staffers.  I don't like the rule that states that staff can't win because staff sometimes deserves to win.  Ultimately it's just too much time and energy trying to sort it all out.

 

And also, I don't read everybody's stuff.  So I found myself voting for only for people who had RPed with me, using our own threads as how I determined if they should be voted for or not.

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If OTMs are actually dying off, I applaud it.

 

I had them on a few sites, it was time-consuming, people got their panties in a bunch when others would constantly vote for the same people regardless of activity, and did I mention time consuming? There was also the issue of cluttering up the header/sidebar with them and tbh no matter how well you make it fit into the site's skin/theme, it's clutter. It's an eyesore. It's not necessary information that needs to be all in your face. If I can't find your site's plot/rules/whatever else but your OTMs are all in my face, you're doing something wrong.

 

And there are better ways to engage your members than a popularity contest, as others have mentioned. As a member, yeah, it felt good to see my name or character up there. But it was boring. What had I actually done to be put on the spot? Had friends who voted for me? Meanwhile you had plenty who posted more consistently than I did and who were also making templates and graphics for people and I did none of that at the time. ()and I still don't do graphics but that's besides the point LOL)

 

I feel like as the years have gone by more people have realized this. I've definitely seen less and less OTMs and you won't find me complaining about it. 😛

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I don't mind OTMs, but they are a hassle to do every month. I wouldn't be mad if they're dying out. They're super tedious and, while I haven't personally dealt with any drama with them, I've heard enough horror stories to not do them unless my members specifically ask for them, or some variation of them. 

 

I do still like the idea of recognizing characters (and writers) for things in alternative ways, as others have gone into! Something that's not so exhausting or is pinging the member base 24/7. I prefer something more casual!

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I casually stopped putting out the OTM nomination post in October of last year. One player asked about them sometime in February, no one else expressed much interest in bringing them back. Personally I was glad to see them go, as they're just unwanted extra work for staff. 

 

I've thought about doing something more randomly selected, like taking all the players/characters that have been active in the last thirty days and letting a program pick the winners - but again, that's just one more notch on the to-do list. 

 

As just a member on a site I have minimal interest in them. I don't want to be nagged about nominating people. and I usually don't vote in them.

 

I might use a code that could randomly generate new spotlights on each refresh of the home page, kind of like those skins that have multiple banner images, but otherwise I doubt I'll bring them back. 

 

@Morrigan

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We have OTMS, but it's definitely of the moment, not of the month and we sort of vary it up a bit with like "funniest moment" and categories like that that are not always about the "best" etc.  I think we've managed to avoid the whole popularity contest thing with ours, there is a lot of emphasis on the nominations themselves, and my co-admin and I were pretty good at making sure everyone gets included/trying to make sure no one gets left out.  

 

I'd probably be just as happy with some other sort of nomination type thing with no winners or just saying nice things about fellow rpers, because that's really the best part of it all.  I think it's just the recognition of members part that I like more than anything else.  We always post winners in thread in its own forum to keep down on board clutter as well.  I definitely don't think anything is worth keeping if it's going to hurt people's feelings.  So far I thiiiink we've managed to avoid that.  

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What's OTM?

Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

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RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

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Character of the Month, Thread of the Month, Couple of the Month, etc - spotlights.

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Ahhh!

 

Thank you, @Elena. Shows how far out of the loop I am!

 

But, we don't do any of that at my sites. We send out Kudos and Commendations for well done plots and writing (publicly and privately) but that's as far as it goes.

 

Best regards all!

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Someone somewhere went to sleep and dreamed us all alive.
Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we'll survive.
We won't get to wake up, dreams were born to disappear.
And I'm pretty sure that none of us are here.
~ None of Us Here by Jim Stafford ~

 

sagas-button1.png.467e9214ee1a2d2a24c0030301948c27.png 

 

RPG-Initiative

*your one-stop RPG resource site!

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A board I was staff on a couple years ago was really good at doing OTM's like clockwork but it always took so much time. Members had to nominate threads and we filled in what they didn't. Typically, those nominated were always the ones with most popular characters because everyone had threaded/recognized them. We limited people to being able to win in a single category every so often so the same ones wouldn't win the same spot every time.

 

While everyone seemed to like it, it was tedious work. From nominations to the end of voting, it took two weeks every month and I hated doing it. We tried to fill in empty spots with lesser known charcters and members but it was always the same group so just a popularity contest after a while.

 

I commend the people who put that much work into it but I don't think we'll be doing it on ours.

Edited by Athena
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Oh gosh, I didn't even think that people would be as upset over that. But, it makes total sense! We do member of the month, not character of the month, but after reading this thread I may discontinue it come August. Thank you for this, I guess I just have a bunch of chill members at the moment, but as we get bigger I don't want to cause issues for sure! 

 

Wow, the things you learn on RPG Initiative. xD So helpful!

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Huh. I wasn't aware OTMs and such like were falling out of favor, but I'm glad to hear they are. I like the base concept, but it tended to get abused at just about every forum I was on. The same people kept winning -- staffers and those in their inner circle,  or those who had popular characters/ships. The faux shows of humility and surprise they'd always put on after winning were what really killed me. Like,  you just won the last twenty times. You can stop acting shocked now. 🙄

 

It didn't take me long to quit bothering to vote because it was pointless. I wasn't even mad that I never won. I just knew for a fact that there were great members who were getting continually passed over because they weren't in with the cool kids or following popular trends.

 

One forum I was at did do something called achievements, where, if players had their characters perform a certain IC action (sing a song, had a fight scene, etc), they would unlock a badge. Everybody could do this. Interesting idea, but the way it was done -- a thread with separate posts for each player's achievements -- did admittedly look a bit sloppy, and I don't think it helped any that there were a bunch of achievements available. Still, something like that works better then OTMs do because it can't treated like a popularity contest. IMO.

Edited by Sketchy Unicorn
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From a staff perspective, I’ve never been a huge fan of OTMs. In so many respects I think they’re far more extra work than they’re worth. From a player perspective I’ve seen them cause as much dissent amongst the players as they have enthusiasm. They’re certainly not something I’ve ever looked for in a site. If the trend is ebbing then I can only think that’s a good thing. 

 

I have enjoyed reading about some of the alternatives people have used though. I’m still not convinced that any of it’s really worth it but it had been interesting.
 

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Can't say I'm surprised they're vanishing. Like mentioned the amount of work that goes into making them happen is not worth it. From organizing the votes, reminding people to vote, getting the winners put up ( the last winners taken down, etc...), logging the winners (for a "hall of fame" thing if that was something done too).

Getting people to nominate or vote is like pulling teeth (without any sort of anesthetic).  Then those that do vote will often pick their friends... so voting is almost never fair. Unless there's a rule of some kind to prevent the same people winning over and over again it can get very frustrating. (But even then it can just become a cycle of those who win. EX- A wins month 1, B wins month 2, C wins month 3, A wins month 4 etc...) Not to mention the amount of drama that can spring from them.

 

I get they were supposed to be a way to motivate people to post, be active and showcase those who did well. But it kinda never turned out like that. 

 

They'll likely be back though. They'll fall out of favour for a bit but then eventually they'll return. 

"There are three sides to every story... Your side, their side, and then somewhere in the middle is the truth."
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I like spotlights better than OTMs because people are sensitive, and OTMs are popularity contests.

 

If you've got a shop, you could add it to that to make sure it's "fair"? Otherwise, just choose random players or characters 

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They really should be called popularity contests at this point. It's great ideally but when executed it comes off as a way for people to spotlight themselves or their friends which defeats the purpose if they haven't actually earned it. My co-admin had brought up having them but I voted against it. I haven't done them in years and if I see someone doing something awesome on the board, I pm them and thank them with forum gold.

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