★ 2022 Extravaganza Reflective

[Vivace]

This is my first time in the Extravaganza - not just voting - and I would like to add my two cents as someone who hails from the Land of Storylockes!

First off, I loved voting for new categories!!! Please keep this idea, it was great seeing the grassroots categories spring up, and I might even vouch for Best Dynamic Duo becoming a yearly thing with how many great choices there are each year.

The promo limit worked well, yeah. I think 5+1 is a perfect number for the amount of runs there are to choose from! It's painful cutting out runs I want to give long shout-outs to, but that's just a personal thing for me!

I've seen a lot of people in this thread voice their support of closing the loophole which allows characters to win the same category twice, and I want to add my voice to that. Personally, I didn't even realise Cedar had already won Best Main Character at the time, and now I feel bad having voted for her... I think something should be put in place to avoid this happening again, because not only is the reward redundant, it makes it harder for lesser-known runs to break into the nominations and get that recognition.

I don't see this being such an issue on the storylocke side of things, because as has been pointed out already, comics tend to take longer to be completed than the written stories. For written stories, you're looking at a couple years depending on update schedule and chapter length, while it's common for comics to run for much longer than that. Still, I wanted to take a look at one of the suggested solutions and add the written categories to it to see what it would look like!

There's a group I'm in that had some Ganza discussion and some of the ideas we came up with are things that Krys has mentioned!
The biggest thing we talked about was changing ineligibility Like we talked about it a lot. I'm going to preface this with I am talking specifically about comics, as I don't think these ideas would work for sswl or story lockes, or if they're even needed. I don't exactly follow runs that are not comics.
Artists winning gold in any category EXCEPT BEST NEW being completely ineligible for Ganza in comics next year. This is specific to comics! So if a comic artist also has a sswl or story locke they would be ineligible for all comics categories, but they can still be nominated in sswl or story categories if they have any runs in those mediums. So as an example, Egge won gold in most improved, so with this suggestion they would be completely ineligible for the comics portion of Ganza 2023, but their fossil-fighters run is fair game. Or if someone has a comic and a story locke, and won gold for their story, but not their comic, they are still eligible the next year for their comic.
Best new being an exception because this category is limited, if this is the only gold someone wins they're already ineligible for it the following year. Unless they're insane and start another new comic.
After this year of ineligibility, a comic creator is further ineligible in the category they won, the specifics depending on the category. Suggestions for category ineligibility:
Best New: Already limited, change nothing
Best Overall: Gold makes comic ineligible
Best Artstyle: Gold makes creator ineligible
Most Improved: Gold makes creator ineligible
Saddest Death/Departure: Gold makes comic ineligible for 2 additional years
Best Battle: Gold makes comic ineligible for 2 additional years
Best Worldbuilding: Gold makes comic ineligible
Best Designs: Gold makes comic ineligible

("additional 2 years" being 2 years AFTER the year the artist is completely ineligible. So the gold winners for those two cats this year are totally ineligible in 2023's ganza, ineligible in those categories in 2024 and 2025, and then re-eligible in 2026's ganza)

There was a bit of debate in the group on how to handle the character-specific (death excluded) categories. I personally think that a character winning gold in ANY non-death character category should be ineligible for any further character specific categories, regardless of how those categories are named. The gold winner for this year's best supporting shouldn't be able to win gold again in a character category just because "oh the category is best rival! not best supporting!" Once a character gets a gold, they shouldn't be winning more unless it's for their death.

So, with a few changes here and there, the Written Stories category limits would work thus:

Best New: Already limited, change nothing
Best Overall: Gold makes story ineligible
Best Writing Style: Gold makes creator ineligible
Saddest Death/Departure: Gold makes story ineligible
Best Battle: Gold makes story ineligible
Best Worldbuilding: Gold makes story ineligible
Best Main Character: Gold makes the character ineligible
Best Supporting Character: Gold makes the character ineligible

Looking at this setup, I think it could really work out well. There are also rotational categories which I didn't include (since they're rotational categories, it stands to reason writers would only be eligible for them an average of once per run!) but in general, this makes a lot of sense to me. Now, authors will try different writing styles in different runs, so I guess Best Writing Style could be changed to story, rather than creator. It definitely should not be awarded twice for the same story, whatever gets decided here. For Worldbuilding, I would suggest adding a clause that sequels/prequels be included here; they would be in the same universe, so it feels like the same Gold-repeating problem just wearing a different hat 😅

Lastly, I want to say this: Please can we bring Best Teammate back as a category? I know Best Supporting Character is there and there is some overlap, but not every pokemon would be considered a "Supporting Character" and vice versa. I'll definitely be suggesting this category when we're voting on rotationals next year!



edit: I changed the Saddest Death/Departure and Best Battle ones in order to simplify, and because that length of time means most stories wouldn't become re-eligible anyway!

 

[ponibutts]

Ok. Guys. I am one of those folks whose placement sparked this whole discussion.

You're not, actually. The ineligibility idea has nothing to do with you and Pepper getting repeat golds this year. That's just an unfortunate coincidence.
The discussion I referred to in my first post is one that started in my server in January, long before results were posted.

Spoiler: And yes I have proof of that.

With this taxonomy, my proposal is that within each type of category, a gold medal permanently excludes only what that category is based upon.
...
I propose that, in order for a work to be eligible to participate in the extravaganza, it must have had a page/chapter/update/whatever of some substance towards telling the actual story.

I'd appreciate if you didn't take credit for mine and poly's ideas. We said exactly these things in our first posts of this thread.


Anyway, my annoyances aside. Turns out I had other ideas I mentioned in my server that I forgot about by the time the reflective thread opened. Oops.

Both were related to limiting the event-related categories to the specific year the ganza is for.
Saddest death including deaths that happened at the very end of the previous year, but was not confirmed/impact not felt until the current ganza year. Wanted! being an already existing case of this happening. Catus died in a December update, but we did not get confirmation or the impact until later updates.
For Most Improved, require that the comic someone is nominating has at least two separate updates during the current ganza year. There can't be any improvement in that year if you only posted one update and have no further updates for comparison.
Keep in mind these ideas are only if those categories become limited to whatever current year the ganza is for.

Also one last thing before I leave this thread and go to bed. Please don't interpret this post as me being aggressive, because I am not. I am being blunt. There would be insults and more swearing if I was actually being aggressive.

 

[Bug]

A final, important note:

Since we all seem to be in agreement that getting double golds for the same thing is undesirable, let's please not bring this up any more in this thread unless you are discussing solutions.

I actually went back and made this a header font to make sure it was listened to earlier today, and it’s proven ineffective twice. So I’m going to reiterate, and broaden this: if it just treading the same areas we’ve already been, just don’t post it. Go have a private discussion about it if you must but don’t post it here.

 

[Kadew]

I'd appreciate if you didn't take credit for mine and poly's ideas. We said exactly these things in our first posts of this thread.

You are correct, I did not come up with these ideas myself. I could have worded this better. When I was saying "proposal" what I meant was along the lines of "here is what I'm thinking of for the exact wording of the rules we'd make," since deciding on an exact nitty-gritty implementation is important.

Saddest death including deaths that happened at the very end of the previous year, but was not confirmed/impact not felt until the current ganza year. Wanted! being an already existing case of this happening. Catus died in a December update, but we did not get confirmation or the impact until later updates.

Yeah, that edge case makes sense, I'd let it through. When we are discarding invalid nominations we are still humans who can discuss odd situations like this, and I for one would be more than willing to err on the side of allowance for things like this.

For Most Improved, require that the comic someone is nominating has at least two separate updates during the current ganza year. There can't be any improvement in that year if you only posted one update and have no further updates for comparison.
Keep in mind these ideas are only if those categories become limited to whatever current year the ganza is for.

I am currently opposed to the idea of making Most Improved into a year-restricted category, largely because enforcing it is impossible. With Saddest Death and Best Battle, we can take a look at the timestamps on updates and consider objectively whether the scene was actually unfolding within a timeframe. It is impossible for us to look into the minds of a user nominating someone to see if they were thinking about only the current year while typing out the name of the creator they chose. People could very easily say "I was only considering across this year," but it'd be impossible to verify, and thus is effectively the same as no restriction at all. It's a nice idea, but I'm afraid it's just not feasible.

 

[feraligatr]

I am currently opposed to the idea of making Most Improved into a year-restricted category, largely because enforcing it is impossible. With Saddest Death and Best Battle, we can take a look at the timestamps on updates and consider objectively whether the scene was actually unfolding within a timeframe. It is impossible for us to look into the minds of a user nominating someone to see if they were thinking about only the current year while typing out the name of the creator they chose. People could very easily say "I was only considering across this year," but it'd be impossible to verify, and thus is effectively the same as no restriction at all. It's a nice idea, but I'm afraid it's just not feasible.

I think what poni meant specifically here was that a comic needs to have some actual updates from the past year in order to qualify for best improved, since that's the rule for every other category and iirc one of the entrants on the ballot this year was on hiatus for the entire year. Again not faulting the creator in question and was likely just an oversight due to not being specific on what qualifies as an "update."

 

[Kadew]

I think what poni meant specifically here was that a comic needs to have some actual updates from the past year in order to qualify for best improved, since that's the rule for every other category and iirc one of the entrants on the ballot this year was on hiatus for the entire year. Again not faulting the creator in question and was likely just an oversight due to not being specific on what qualifies as an "update."

Poni did specify "if those categories become limited to whatever current year the ganza is for," but your point here is also relevant. An entrant making it to the ballot that didn't really update that year is an oversight on our part, and that's why I am in support of more clearly defining what constitutes an update in regards to ganza eligibility.

Something else that could help, aside from making the requirements more clear, is that if anyone spots something on someone's nominations that is ineligible, you should reach out to me or someone else running the event and let us know. Then we can discreetly reach out to that person to give them a chance to fix it, and we'll be aware and looking out for similar errors on other posts.

 

[feraligatr]

Poni did specify "if those categories become limited to whatever current year the ganza is for," but your point here is also relevant. An entrant making it to the ballot that didn't really update that year is an oversight on our part, and that's why I am in support of more clearly defining what constitutes an update in regards to ganza eligibility.

Something else that could help, aside from making the requirements more clear, is that if anyone spots something on someone's nominations that is ineligible, you should reach out to me or someone else running the event and let us know. Then we can discreetly reach out to that person to give them a chance to fix it, and we'll be aware and looking out for similar errors on other posts.

My bad, I missed that. I do also like the idea of keeping improvement based on the last year in theory, but I really can't see any way to enforce that either. But I definitely think if we all keep an eye out for errors and communicate with mods it could definitely help with stuff like that!

 

[Kadew]

My bad, I missed that. I do also like the idea of keeping improvement based on the last year in theory, but I really can't see any way to enforce that either. But I definitely think if we all keep an eye out for errors and communicate with mods it could definitely help with stuff like that!

One last important note before I scuttle off to bed.

Featurers are not mods. Mods are not event runners.

I'm directing this at everyone, not just you, but please everyone try to keep this in mind. Communicate with us running the event! People reaching out like that helps! But don't bother the mods about it.

 

[Bug]

But don't bother the mods about it.

And if you do, they are going to be very, very confused.

 

[DIO]

That's not the issue at all. The categories remain mostly static aside from the extra ones, and even then it's not exactly a huge deal if people know them beforehand. The real issue is the work behind making category-specific opt-outs operate. What may seem like 'just a DM' or 'just a checkbox' has a lot more behind it. I talked a bit about it here:

I still don't think I understand. Why not just make it as simple as sending a DM to opt out? Implementing a checkbox for every category (as convenient it'd be for lazy or shy users like me) just sounds like it'd be adding an unnecessary workload.

My only other suggestion right now is to keep funniest as a permanent category. There are still many ongoing comedic runs and I think they deserve the recognition. Writing comedy should come naturally, but the challenging part is finding an audience that consistently finds your work amusing.

 

[Polymori]

One last important note before I scuttle off to bed.

Featurers are not mods. Mods are not event runners.

I'm directing this at everyone, not just you, but please everyone try to keep this in mind. Communicate with us running the event! People reaching out like that helps! But don't bother the mods about it.

This is a good thing to know, would a better term for "featurers and mods both" be staff?

I wasn't aware that mods didn't also work on the events, so also good info to know. Is there a particular list somewhere that list all fearurers working on specific events? Would probably be equally confusing messaging the wrong featurers to the wrong event.

 

[Bug]

This is a good thing to know, would a better term for "featurers and mods both" be staff?

I wasn't aware that mods didn't also work on the events, so also good info to know. Is there a particular list somewhere that list all fearurers working on specific events? Would probably be equally confusing messaging the wrong featurers to the wrong event.

The staff button in the top bar actually lists out the sections of staff, what they do, and who they are.

I still don't think I understand. Why not just make it as simple as sending a DM to opt out? Implementing a checkbox for every category (as convenient it'd be for lazy or shy users like me) just sounds like it'd be adding an unnecessary workload.

That information would have the be aggregated by hand individually by DM as opposed to by a list (that I still would have to pull category-by-category) which multiplies the workload. Even those lists have to then be coded into tables individually, and then monitored during nominations per category to make sure they’re being respected.

Even when you get past the insane potential workload being introduced, people still don’t accurately use the ineligibility list provided for nominations every year. The event is held by a small group of users who have to do the majority of this by hand.

 

[Dustox]

Hello!

As a member of the SSWL community, I wanted to try to add some perspective and I definitely encourage the others to do the same when they have the time. I probably will not be able to cover a lot of salient points that should be discussed, but I'm gonna give it the ol' college try. Most of this will just be short and straight to the point.

How did you feel about the changes this year? Did they work as intended? Anything interesting stick out to you?

Two thumbs up for genre-specific categories. I think each genre has its own unique flavor and it's great that the ballots cater to them.

I'm a bit sad that SSWL only has 9 categories for this Extravaganza compared to the other two genres but after speaking privately with a featurer about this, I do understand the logic. While the turnout for this year and the last seems to be the same, I do think it could be worth pushing one more category in the ballot. Two, though, is probably pushing it.

In this same vein, I also disagree with any sentiments asking to remove or combine any category we already have, unless there's better replacements to be had.

Re: promos, agree with putting a 5-run limit aside from the self-promo so the thread isn't drowning in suggestions.

I think having an opt-out option is a great decision. I do wish that it was a lot more visible, since I believe they were inside a spoilerbox. It was more my mistake than anything, but I accidentally nominated a person who had opted-out and they had to PM me advising me of their opting out.

Did all the logistical aspects (rotational category voting, voter registration, polling) pan out? Is the Ganza working better for you now from a quality-of-life standpoint?

I think the featurers have already said they would be open to shaving a few days (proportional to the work needed for the event) and I think that's good enough for me.

There were some points where the dates were not followed. I understand there could be underlying circumstances (and there was a notice that there were changes), and I definitely don't want to penalize them for a largely voluntary work but I do think more hands on the job could be helpful to relieve the work and keep the event on track. Having timestamps (I think Krisantyne brought this up) could also keep the community informed when to expect the next phase, since I remember there was a point where we were unsure when the results thread would be up.

The option of volunteers has already been discussed and while I think that's great, I think tying the volunteer Ganza work to a Contributor role could help make things more official and help them be more recognized.

Did you enjoy the event this year? Was there anything that made you enjoy it more or less than previous year(s)?

I enjoyed the event thoroughly this year! I think a big part of is that I saw a lot of hype for the event. In the spaces that I'm in, there was a pre-votation thread voice chat where people were excited to see who the nominees were and what were their blurbs. Also, as mentioned previously, there was a lot of pieces that showcased the category nominees and that was really wonderful to see.

I think this is a great community initiative that I hope to see more of in the coming years and could be something that the featurers could help motivate or incentivize in some way.

What ideas do you have for categories in the future?

I feel like Funniest SSWL Run could be a category worth adding in the future. While there is a slight overlap with Best Commentary Style, I feel like the genre is broad enough for the two to exist.

Do you have any ideas for changes not listed above?

Having a directory of past Ganza winners could be something that can help alleviate part of the 'gold dilemma' currently being talked about. However, as someone who already made a graphic directory of past winners for one Ganza year prior to nominations and people still voted for ineligible candidates, having a directory is not the end all be all solution that people think it is. I know there's already compendium of all Ganza winners out there (shoutout to JavierE64 for making it!), so maybe featuring that (or an alternative), making it more visible, and putting more emphasis on it could help people.

Arowana brought it up already, but I think making the promo period for runs earlier and possibly decoupling it from the Ganza overall is a good idea. I had to scramble to try to read runs for more nominations and the promo thread helped tremendously in that regard, but having more time in between the two would have been more helpful. Also, making the promo thread a year-end celebration of sorts could help encourage and bolster the community a lot more and help ease into the Ganza.

In another regard to the 'gold dilemma' largely occupying the thread, I agree with having specific ineligibilities per category to broaden the net. I know this would entail a lot of work on the featurers, so I say this only on the caveat that this is workable for the organizers in the time allotted. I am somewhat concerned how this would shape the number of nominees for SSWL going forward. Comics (and to a lesser degree, storylockes) already have a breadth of runs that can fill the categories as needed but with our marginally low turnout, yeah... Still, whatever helps get more people recognized, I'm all for it!

Similar to what Vivace has done for Written Stories, here's what I think a good ineligibility limit to SSWL categories could entail.

Best New SSWL Run - Already limited, change nothing
Best Overall Screenshot Run - Gold makes run ineligible
Best Written Log - Gold makes run ineligible
Saddest Death/Departure in an SSWL Run - Gold makes run ineligible
Best Commentary Style - Gold makes creator ineligible
Best Battle in an SSWL Run - Gold makes run ineligible
Best Teammate in an SSWL Run - Gold makes the character ineligible
Best/Worst Luck in an SSWL Run - Gold makes run ineligible
Most Creative Ruleset in an SSWL Run - Gold makes run ineligible

Is there anything else you'd like to discuss regarding how we run the Extravaganza?

I'm very thankful for the featurers who worked on the event and for Bug for all the QOL changes! You all took time from your schedules to make this event possible for us and I want to thank you all. 💚💚💚

 

[Alan900900900]

Hey, I just thought I'd drop by and toss in my own two cents on the matter as (primarily) a screenshot run creator. Apologies if this is a little scattered!

How did you feel about the changes this year? Did they work as intended? Anything interesting stick out to you?

I enjoy the further distinctions between the ballots, they successfully make each medium stand out a bit more. To be honest I barely even noticed the SSWL ballot being shorter than the others, lol. The choice to opt out is welcome, even if personally I don't think I'd ever make use of it.

As for the merging of Best Teammate and Best Supporting, I agree with many others in that it feels somewhat limiting for the more story-heavy mediums, and the distinction may be important depending on the run. Whether it should be brought back to how it was or not is ultimately on the feature team, but I'm for them being un-merged.

Did all the logistical aspects (rotational category voting, voter registration, polling) pan out? Is the Ganza working better for you now from a quality-of-life standpoint?

It all worked out fairly well for me! The only minor annoyance that comes to mind is having to re-enter my username upon voting for each of the categories, but I don't know how that works on the backend, so it might truly be necessary. That, and when I came back a couple days after voting, the polls wouldn't display whether I'd already voted on them or not? I dunno if that's a solvable issue. Aside from that, though, no complaints.

Did you enjoy the event this year? Was there anything that made you enjoy it more or less than previous year(s)?

I really liked it! This was my first year where I got really involved into it, I feel. Love all of the celebratory art and written pieces that came out of it, too.

What ideas do you have for categories in the future?

None so far, I think I'll leave that to the clever-er people here.

Do you have any ideas for changes not listed above?

I generally do agree with the "inegilibility based on work/creator/character" idea that's been getting brought up over the last few posts, although I'm... kind of wary of implementing it on the SSWL side of things?

Out of the 9 SSWL categories this ganza, only 2 recieved a full 5 nominations, with 3 others receiving 4 nominations and the other 4 getting only 3. If we begin taking contestants out of the running for winning gold, I feel like we might... run out, eventually? Especially when it comes to creator-based categories. I don't know, maybe it's an irrational fear, but it's what I'm feeling at the moment.

I have no idea if the written story side of the community has similar "low turnout" issues, since it's the one I'm least familiar with, but perhaps this applies to them too.

Meanwhile, on the subject of promos, I'm all for moving them over to December if it's not a problem on the feature team's schedule. My one worry is that it may exclude runs released at the end of the year, but then again, it's already unlikely that runs so new would be considered for the ganza.

Is there anything else you'd like to discuss regarding how we run the Extravaganza?

Nothing much, I don't think. It's overall been a fairly smooth experience, and I appreciate having this big event at the start of the year to look forward to. Much love and appreciation to the feature team! please tell me it's actually the feature team that i should be thanking, i'm pretty sure but not 100%

 

[Polymori]

The staff button in the top bar actually lists out the sections of staff, what they do, and who they are.

This helps a bit, thank you!
Though I was meaning more specifically in the way that:
A, B, and C run the Ganza
X, Y, and Z run Hidden Gems.
(unless all featurers work on every event, then don't need anymore info).
Cause if we need to talk to a featurer for say, Hidden Gems for something, I imagine messaging someone who runs Ganza might be confused why they were messaged for an event they aren't involved in.

 

[Bug]

This helps a bit, thank you!
Though I was meaning more specifically in the way that:
A, B, and C run the Ganza
X, Y, and Z run Hidden Gems.
(unless all featurers work on every event, then don't need anymore info).
Cause if we need to talk to a featurer for say, Hidden Gems for something, I imagine messaging someone who runs Ganza might be confused why they were messaged for an event they aren't involved in.

I see what you mean! But no, there is not a list like that, because the intent is that the whole feature team is aware of, and works on the event.

Unlike with Contributors, Featurers usually perform different roles within projects rather than managing our own individual ones. Some examples of Featurer initiatives include Featured Fan Runs, New Run Roundup, and the Extravaganza.

 

[The Tribunal]

Hello! Apologies for the delay in closing, but I, The Tribunal, in all my glory, am here now to sum up some of the talking points of the thread, for your reference and ours moving forward. Once again, thanks so much to everyone who contributed their feedback and made their voices heard, because that's the best way to keep the Ganza evolving and improving.

I'll go through the questions we posed first, and then get onto the big debate.

What did you think of the ballot changes for each medium on a macro level? Meaning, did you dig this idea? Did the ballots feel too large/small for a particular medium? What tweaks might you make to the format moving forward?

• A popular change in its first year! We're happy to hear that we're better able to meet the Ganza's demands by medium through these changes, and rest assured we'll be hoping to keep tweaking moving forward.
• It sounds as though comics could do with another category or two; while we're always wary of ballot fatigue becoming an issue the more categories we cram in, it's also clear the demand is very much there.
• With regards to the other two mediums, given the nomination numbers and the fact that we needed to up the category cap from 2 to 3 for written and SSWL, we'll more than likely be in a holding pattern on the ballot sizes for those mediums. There just isn't the breadth of nominees as there is in comics, unfortunately.
• A couple categories, Saddest Death and Best Battle in particular, should likely be restricted to the year of the Ganza in question. It kinda relies on an honor system for nominators, but this could possibly be formalized.

How did you feel about the category changes more specifically? Were there any cut categories that you really missed, or any added that you felt didn't work?

• Merging Best Supporting with Best Teammate was seen mainly as a swing and a miss. We'll have to see about splitting them back up next year, or incorporating them into a rotation.
• Beyond that, pretty solid! A reminder here that Best Battle was added as a permanent category, so fret not, my action-hungry readers. Best Design(s) was the other category in question though, and we'll evaluate that one's place on the ballot (possibly swapping places with Best Worldbuilding on the rotational category list). It could also be tweaked to become a category focused around a specific character design.

How do you feel about the format for self-promos now? Is 5 plus a self-promo a happy medium for promo limits?

• No notes on this, 5+1 seems like the Goldilocks spot for how much promoting is good for you guys.
• Except, there are notes! A nicely supported suggestion was raised about moving the promo period to December. It seems this might allow more time to catch up on runs prior to the Ganza, or at least allow for the Ganza proper to start with nominations at the start of the year and reduce the length of the event. Which, speaking of…

Did all the logistical aspects (rotational category voting, voter registration, polling) pan out? Is the Ganza working better for you now from a quality-of-life standpoint?

• Putting this here first for the sake of segues: reducing the length of the nomination and voting periods seems pertinent to help with the length of the event, to keep things streamlined and dynamic and hopefully reduce a little bit of the anxiety that can settle in for some this time of year. We'll crunch the numbers on this next year and see what we can do to make next year's Ganza leaner than ever (but not meaner!!!).
• Beyond that, the Ganza is a well-oiled machine for the most part! Once again, we apologize for some delays in these latter stages, but beyond that things seemed to run smoothly. Please direct much of your thanks, applause, bouquets, etc. to Bug for his incredible work behind the scenes to help make the Ganza as smooth and gorgeous as it is.
  

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Okay, so, we move on to the major point of discussion: gold medal winner eligibility! In essence, the question revolves around modifying the current system, where a category winner is ineligible in that category for the next two years, and then comes off the books and can theoretically win gold again. This is a complicated topic, and one that's impossible to easily summarize in bullet points, but let's give it a whirl:

• Like many things in the Ganza, this is a discussion that's very different for comics than it is for written and SSWL runs. However, there's still common ground that can be found here, and solutions could apply merely to comics or to all mediums.
• Just a reminder to all, the more rules and restrictions added, the less simple the nomination process is. Which is to say, the more chance someone might miss something and nominate an ineligible creator, for instance.
• A whole range of tweaks have been suggested. We dip now into sub-bullets for this:
  • A character/work/creator being permanently ineligible once they win a respective award. This could be broken down by individual category, or by taxonomic classifications as we ended up delving into. There were also multiple levels just in this suggestion alone re: length, which categories fall where along these lines, etc.
  • Reducing gold winners to 1 category in the next year's Ganza, rather than the standard 2.
  • A universal 1 year layoff for a creator who wins gold. (This was sometimes seen as a bit harsh relative to other suggestions)
  • Opting out of specific categories (which may be logistically difficult both behind the scenes and for having a big ol' honking ineligibility list)
  • Prominently displaying past Ganza winners, as a way to encourage nominators/voters to nominate or vote elsewhere.
  • Not directly in the Ganza itself, but amplifying the Hidden Gems event to help bring up the less popular runs.
    

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Okay! That was a lot! If you have any questions about any of this, or if you wanna discuss anything further, don't hesitate to contact me here on the forum or on Discord. If you've got any concerns about any of this, you're also welcome to DM me, or open a suggestion in the suggestion box.

With that, this thread will now be locked! Thanks again to everyone who's given us their input, suggestions, experiences, et al.