I think the most important thing to start off with how I’d recommend approaching this. Because we all build differently, not all of us have a style that perfectly reflects the criteria here, some of us don’t really use TES Lore, some don’t focus on the Roleplaying aspects and others don’t write backstories. This is all fine, so instead of the goal being to fill out all of these categories, I would recommend trying to focus on what you do use, and hone the edge of that until you’ve done it as well as you can. Naturally once you’ve done that you can try out bringing in new things, if your typically a gameplay driven builder, try bringing together a backstory or focus on Roleplaying that can be combined with the Gameplay. As a final note before I dive into the criteria, getting 4 points for a category is tough, it’s really damn tough and getting 4 for every category is just about impossible. It isn’t impossible, and a lofty goal to aim towards, but don’t be entirely surprised if a 30 or 40 is considered a high score. A 20 is not a bad score, it might feel like it because it’s below 50% but it could mean that you’ve mastered the 5 categories you attempted to master.
Thank you, and good luck. Here are the categories, a short explanation of what I’m looking for, and the points for each one.
List of Categories:
Image Selection - Simply the quality of the images used in the build and how well they fit in with the character the writer creates. If, for example the character is a hulking brute of an Orc but the images are all of elven archers, the author would lose points, same if they select poor quality images or they’re too small or anything like that.
4 Points
Image Placement - This is more focused on where the images appear, and how they’re used throughout the build. You might have the best damn pictures around, but if they’re used all at once, or are spread too thin it would still lose you marks.
4 Points
Text Formatting - Okay, so I might combine this with the next category because I’m a huge text snob :P But essentially the way the author uses bold, italics, underlined text, different fonts or colours, spacing and alignment (as well as possibly quotes I guess) all go into text formatting.
4 Points
Unique Flair - Those who go the extra mile to provide unique and interesting art to their builds will get rewarded with extra points. You can always go to the Art Group for help, so it’s more a case of just going through the extra effort of providing edited artwork. Videos would also be given extra points here.
2 Points
Grammar and Spelling - While it’s not flashy, grammar and spelling are still crucial aspects to a well presented build so use a spellchecker.
4 Points
Backstory, Writing - This isn’t ‘who can write the most’ but who creates the most engaging, interesting story for their character.
4 Points
Backstory, Realism - Whether your character believably fits into the world around them. It doesn’t mean you can’t tweak lore a little, but it still needs to be a somewhat realistic character.
4 Points
Gameplay, Technical - Essentially there are three aspects of the build’s gameplay, the first is just the technical side of the combat system, whether your build works and you’ve put proper care into making sure it functions.
4 Points
Gameplay, Writing - How well you’ve written your gameplay section. You can have a masterful combat system, or an excellent fighting style that uses unique bugs or new mods, but if a reader can’t understand the ideas, it’s sort of pointless.
4 Points
Gameplay, Cohesion - Whether the gameplay fits with the character, the roleplaying and anything else that you provide.
4 Points
Gameplay, Reward the Unique - Very similar to the unique flair of the art section, but if you do manage to find a unique mechanic, I think you deserve to get rewarded. Not a major thing, but still rewarding unique ideas*
2 Points
Roleplaying - It’s rather simple, how well you use roleplaying to enhance your build in some manner. It can be as simple as the justification of quests, or how you select your quests, or as complex as a full plotting out of the character’s journey and how stepping on 6 butterflies here, here and there impact your character. It’s a broad category
4 Points
Lore - We don’t all have to include TES Lore in our builds, sometimes builds are better if they just say ‘Screw the rules’ and create something entirely unique and interesting, or even create their own lore. But, lore is lore and if you want to use it, then do so and know there’s 4 points up for grabs.
4 Points
Tags - Yes, your reading this correctly. I will be giving 2 points out for a simple successful application of tags.
2 Points
Others/Host’s Choice - An ambiguous category, but also one that’s designed to cover two things. First, I might not have thought of something, or someone could do something so mind-blowing and unexpected that I can’t help but say, hot damn that’s unique and I want to give points out even though it might not fit a single category. This category is something of an ‘extra category’ so the overall score will still be out of 50 and these extra points may not be given out, but it’s a possibility.
5 Points
*Because mods are slowly becoming more popular in building I think it is fair to point out the difference in ease between vanilla players finding new mechanics and modded players finding them. For modded players, you’ve simply got a wider range because so many vanilla tips have been discovered, so I will be taking that into consideration this means that modded players will have an easier time getting a single point (and if the mechanic is something unique, that I can’t really find elsewhere you can still get two) but if a vanilla player finds something new it’ll be easier for them to get a second point.
I think the most important thing to start off with how I’d recommend approaching this. Because we all build differently, not all of us have a style that perfectly reflects the criteria here, some of us don’t really use TES Lore, some don’t focus on the Roleplaying aspects and others don’t write backstories. This is all fine, so instead of the goal being to fill out all of these categories, I would recommend trying to focus on what you do use, and hone the edge of that until you’ve done it as well as you can. Naturally once you’ve done that you can try out bringing in new things, if your typically a gameplay driven builder, try bringing together a backstory or focus on Roleplaying that can be combined with the Gameplay. As a final note before I dive into the criteria, getting 4 points for a category is tough, it’s really damn tough and getting 4 for every category is just about impossible. It isn’t impossible, and a lofty goal to aim towards, but don’t be entirely surprised if a 30 or 40 is considered a high score. A 20 is not a bad score, it might feel like it because it’s below 50% but it could mean that you’ve mastered the 5 categories you attempted to master.
Thank you, and good luck. Here are the categories, a short explanation of what I’m looking for, and the points for each one.
List of Categories:
Image Selection - Simply the quality of the images used in the build and how well they fit in with the character the writer creates. If, for example the character is a hulking brute of an Orc but the images are all of elven archers, the author would lose points, same if they select poor quality images or they’re too small or anything like that.
4 Points
Image Placement - This is more focused on where the images appear, and how they’re used throughout the build. You might have the best damn pictures around, but if they’re used all at once, or are spread too thin it would still lose you marks.
4 Points
Text Formatting - Okay, so I might combine this with the next category because I’m a huge text snob :P But essentially the way the author uses bold, italics, underlined text, different fonts or colours, spacing and alignment (as well as possibly quotes I guess) all go into text formatting.
4 Points
Unique Flair - Those who go the extra mile to provide unique and interesting art to their builds will get rewarded with extra points. You can always go to the Art Group for help, so it’s more a case of just going through the extra effort of providing edited artwork. Videos would also be given extra points here.
2 Points
Grammar and Spelling - While it’s not flashy, grammar and spelling are still crucial aspects to a well presented build so use a spellchecker.
4 Points
Backstory, Writing - This isn’t ‘who can write the most’ but who creates the most engaging, interesting story for their character.
4 Points
Backstory, Realism - Whether your character believably fits into the world around them. It doesn’t mean you can’t tweak lore a little, but it still needs to be a somewhat realistic character.
4 Points
Gameplay, Technical - Essentially there are three aspects of the build’s gameplay, the first is just the technical side of the combat system, whether your build works and you’ve put proper care into making sure it functions.
4 Points
Gameplay, Writing - How well you’ve written your gameplay section. You can have a masterful combat system, or an excellent fighting style that uses unique bugs or new mods, but if a reader can’t understand the ideas, it’s sort of pointless.
4 Points
Gameplay, Cohesion - Whether the gameplay fits with the character, the roleplaying and anything else that you provide.
4 Points
Gameplay, Reward the Unique - Very similar to the unique flair of the art section, but if you do manage to find a unique mechanic, I think you deserve to get rewarded. Not a major thing, but still rewarding unique ideas*
2 Points
Roleplaying - It’s rather simple, how well you use roleplaying to enhance your build in some manner. It can be as simple as the justification of quests, or how you select your quests, or as complex as a full plotting out of the character’s journey and how stepping on 6 butterflies here, here and there impact your character. It’s a broad category
4 Points
Lore - We don’t all have to include TES Lore in our builds, sometimes builds are better if they just say ‘Screw the rules’ and create something entirely unique and interesting, or even create their own lore. But, lore is lore and if you want to use it, then do so and know there’s 4 points up for grabs.
4 Points
Tags - Yes, your reading this correctly. I will be giving 2 points out for a simple successful application of tags.
2 Points
Others/Host’s Choice - An ambiguous category, but also one that’s designed to cover two things. First, I might not have thought of something, or someone could do something so mind-blowing and unexpected that I can’t help but say, hot damn that’s unique and I want to give points out even though it might not fit a single category. This category is something of an ‘extra category’ so the overall score will still be out of 50 and these extra points may not be given out, but it’s a possibility.
5 Points
*Because mods are slowly becoming more popular in building I think it is fair to point out the difference in ease between vanilla players finding new mechanics and modded players finding them. For modded players, you’ve simply got a wider range because so many vanilla tips have been discovered, so I will be taking that into consideration this means that modded players will have an easier time getting a single point (and if the mechanic is something unique, that I can’t really find elsewhere you can still get two) but if a vanilla player finds something new it’ll be easier for them to get a second point.
