SmallWorlds Blog
Most Unusual Avatar Competition!
May 11th, 2009 - SmallWorlds Chronicle
Greetings SmallWorlds citizens. Kent Kronkite here, with a new competition for you.
The SmallWorlds team have noticed some unusual-looking citizens already walking around, and thought it’d be fun to see how crazy your avatars could get if they made it a little competitive!
There’s a total of 4000 Gold up for Grabs (first prize of 2000, and two runner up prizes of 1000). You’ve got until midnight Sunday 17th May SWT/ EST to enter.
Travelling around in-world doing research for all my SmallWorlds scoops, I’ve been truly impressed with some of the brilliant creativity employed by SmallWorlds citizens in styling their avatars.
In fact, I’ve been inspired to have a rethink of my own personal image. Up until now, I’ve never wanted to look unusual. I prefer the clean cut, professional look. Maybe this has something to do with the very, shall we say, ‘non-conformist’ household I grew up in. I sometimes wonder if my conservative look might be a reaction to my unusual family.
As I child, I was often embarrassed by my elders. If you’ll allow me to share a little personal history with you, I can reveal that Mr and Mrs Kronkite Senior are hippies. Not only that, but Granny Kronkite is somewhat of a rebel also. What else could one do in response? I chose short back and sides & suits all the way, from early childhood onwards.
Anyway, back to the competition. I was most flattered to be asked to be the competition judge, however I may also ask my good friend Dan SmallWorlds to assist. He certainly has a keen sense of the unusual!
Just what is ‘Unusual’?So what are we looking for? ‘Unusual’ is a broad description – let’s define it a little. I think we could safely fit the following underneath the ‘unusual’ umbrella:
Most creative
Most likely-to-get-a-second-look
Weirdest
Stands out from the crowd
I’ll be looking for avatars that really get noticed for their ‘unusualness’! Those who really make a statement, whatever that statement might be. Really, you can take ‘unusual’ in whatever direction you want to!
How to Enter1 - Build an Unusual-Looking Avatar
2 - Take a picture of your Most Unusual Avatar
3 - Submit your Most Unusual Avatar photo entry onto this forum thread before 11.59pm, Tues 12th May SWT/ EST. For instructions on adding an image to a forum thread, please read to the end of this article.
Entry ConditionsOnly one entry per person / SmallWorlds account
The competition closes at 11.59pm SWT (EST) Sunday 17th of May. Only entries submitted via the forum thread given above will be eligible for judging.
You must include a photo of the avatar you wish to submit for judging. The full-body photo within the body of your forum post is the one which will be considered to be your entry into the competition (and not the face which appears at left of your forum post).
The competition will be judged by Kent Kronkite, whose decision will be final. The winner will be awarded 2000 gold, with two runner up prizes of 1000 gold.
Winners will be announced in a SmallWorlds Chronicle article.
We’re looking forward to your entries!
What are you waiting for, SmallWorlds citizens? All of us at SWHQ are looking forward to seeing what you create. Being asked to judge the competition has certainly got me thinking. Of course I can’t submit an entry, but feeling inspired I decided to create an ‘alter ego’ whom I’m proud to say is rather unusual! I’m a little shy to unveil him at this stage. Perhaps I’ll see how courageous I’m feeling at the close of the competition.
See you next week when I shall report on the competition winners, and share some undoubtedly unusual photos with you!
~Kent Kronkite
The Legal StuffThe Competition is open to SmallWorlds standard and VIP Club members 13 years of age or older. Employees of Outsmart 2005 Limited and its helpers, moderators, officers, directors, parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies, advertising agencies, promotional suppliers, or production agencies, and their respective dependents, immediate family members (parent, child, sibling and spouse of each) and individuals residing in the same household, are not eligible to participate. Void where prohibited by law.
The Judged Prize - “Most Unusual Avatar” - is based upon the sole and exclusive discretion of the SmallWorlds Competition Judge. All submissions are carefully reviewed before determining the prize winners. The judge’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
The prize winners will be chosen and notified on or about Monday 18 May, 2009.
How to take a photo of your Avatar and include it in a forum thread:1 - Take a screen shot of your avatar. Do not use the SmallWorlds camera function to do this. You can use any screen capture software you have, or simply press the Print Screen button on your keyboard (this saves the screen into memory, so you won’t see anything happening when you press it).
2 - Open an image editing program (you can use Paint). Paste the image in by clicking on the Edit menu and choosing Paste.
3 - Crop your image down to size. We only need to see your avatar and not too much of the background. If you are using Paint to edit the image, draw a rectangle around your avatar with the default selection tool and then click on the Image menu and choose Crop.
4 - Save your image as a .JPG file into directory on your PC.
5 - Upload the image to a photo sharing site such as Flickr, Photobucket, TinyPic, or ImageHosting. Copy the URL of the individual photo.
6 - Go to the competition entry forum thread. Post a reply. There is no need to type in any text, just click on the ‘Add Image’ icon. Paste in the URL of the image from your photo sharing account.
7 - SmallWorlds citizen Vinnie No has also described this process in a recent forum thread, which you may also like to check out. Thanks Vinnie!
8 - You’re Done! Good luck!
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Topic: 5/10/2009 Most Unusual Avatar Competition! (Read 4260 times)