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DISCLAIMER: Now before we begin I don't want anyone to think I am Complaining about the current vote (Extinction at the time I'm writing this), I'm not asking to impliment the rules I suggest immediately, I'm not gonna ask that despite my personal feelings and frustrations, nor do I think it would be the right decision to disqualify a certain creature or two in the 11th hour of the Extinction Vote's Round 1, I will not name names but it will be pretty obvious that I will be talking about certain creature submissions and their authors, I ask you not to send hate towards them or harass them as I do not want that, I have also spoken with many other Submission Authors/Artists about these topics and for the most part they agree with or partly agree with some of the problems I'm going to split this into 3 parts 1. The Problems 2. Potential Solutions 3. Notes and Messages to Devs/Community The Problems 1. Content Creators - While Content Creators (CC for short) are part of the community and Fully Deserve to participate in the votes, whether they are Streamers, YouTubers, Mod Creators, etc. they do present an issue of Influence on their followings when they submit their own creatures for the vote, many tend to vote for the person over the creature, even when the CC asks their following not to do just that 2. Multiple Submissions from the same Author in a single vote - Now I don't bash on the ideas of the creatures submitted any new creature for the game is good for everyone, however multiple submissions from the same person presents an issue, say if one author submits 3-4 ideas and they're all popular enough to make it into the top 10 then that leaves 3-4 others who have worked hard on their only submitted creature left out, and makes things unfair 3. Timing of Creature Submissions - Community Crunches usually come in around 8pm EST and that's when Creature Submission Voting usually starts, this presents problems for other who are in different time zones making them late to submit their ideas by an hour to a whole day later, for the most part many who submit their ideas late end up getting left behind because most voters will concentrate on the top 10-15 creatures 4. Comment Downvoting - Downvoting is a problem that many abuse whenever someone makes a comment either good or bad about the creature, sometimes an author is just trying to make an announcement to help out those confused on how to vote and it will get downvoted by people who hate the creature, downvoting just further plays into the Hate and Toxicity that the votes bring 5. Disadvantaged Creatures - By Disadvantaged creatures I'm talking about Spiders, Snakes, Roaches, Worms, Creatures in the same classification as previous winners, ETC. these ideas tend to be looked down upon by the most vocal part community and these creatures recieve hatred and toxicity to try and bring them down 6. Repeat Submissions - A lot of talk has been going around about seeing repeat submissions always in the top 10 and it seems to be very split down the middle with the community and no one can decide on a solution to the issue Potential Solutions 1. Content Creators - CCs should be allowed to make an alternative account and register it with Wildcard so they know who they are and don't ban them, this would allow them to post their own submissions and remain Anonymous to the Community so there is no Influence on their supporters, I'd like to think CCs would also have the Courtesy of using alternative accounts to advertise their creature on the social media platforms of their choice that way the can remain completely Anonymous this way they give Submission Authors with little to no following a fair chance 2. Multiple Submissions from the same Author in a single vote - Now I don't believe you should be limited to just 1 creature to submit, I do believe to give everyone a fair chance only the more popular creature (if more than 1 is in top 10) should be allowed to advance to the 2nd round, any creatures below the creature(s) that is disqualified to advance shoulde be bumped up a ranking to give others a chance to participate in the 2nd round 3. Timing of Creature Submissions - Creature submissions should have a 3 day grace period to be submitted before round 1 voting begins that way every who has submitted has a decent shot at making it up to the top 10, during this grace period voters will not be able to see the submissions, and the Authors will be able to only see their own submission(s) for editting reasons 4. Comment Downvoting - Downvotes should just be removed entirely that way it can't be abused or further promote toxicity 5. Disadvantage Creatures - Now this is a tricky solution but I have a few ideas and not all of them are entirely mine either but some come from other Creature Submission Authors, the 1st idea is to give the most popular creatures that consistantly come in 2nd or 3rd across multiple votes should get the Carchar Treatment as that particular pandora's box was opened when the devs brought in the Carchar, however I know not everyone would be a fan of this idea so the 2nd idea is for the Devs at the end of the votes of all the ASA maps will announce a Developer's Choice from every top 10, that way a 2nd creature from every top 10 can be brought into each map, these 2nd set of creatures do not have to be introduced immediatley as the maps launch they can be introduced later when the devs have the time to do so, and the third idea is to announce a series of votes further down the line that are themed around certain Classifications of creatures such as Arachnids/Snakes/Mammals/Dinosaurs/Fantasy/Science Fiction/Communtiy Custom Creatures, this can also be extended to a shoulder pet/water/flyer/land/non-tamable/non-ridable vote 6. Repeat Submissions - this is not the perfect solution as both sides of the conversation have points to their arguments, but here is my take a certain creature should skip a vote only if it makes it into the top 10 in the previous vote, this can shake up the top 10 every vote and make Submission Authors be more strategic about what votes they enter Notes and Messages to Devs/Community - Time Between the Votes is too short for Authors/Artists to really prepare their Submission(s) for the next one even when a vote is skipped this makes them unprepared and at a disadvantaged and the downtime between votes should be extended, Devs also need to Communicate when and what map the vote will be at the same time they announce the winner of a vote - While I don't expect this to change voters need to remind themselves that each creature submission had a lot of time and effort spent by real people, so hating on an Author or Creature just because you don't like it is not an excuse to call them horrible things and drag down their submission(s) - There is a difference between constructuve and pointless critism, before commenting things that many submission Authors hear a lot like "I don't think it fits the Map", "This is basically just another >Insert existing creature here<", or "this is not a very good concept" these comments do not help the Submisson Author at all as their is no reasons behind why people say this and it gets the author like myself discouraged or defensive and then the author becomes the bad guy, there needs to be reasons behind your comments to be constructive and help the author improve upon their submission(s), now granted their are some people who say these things just because they don't like the creature, and some authors may take actual constructive critism as insults or get defensive, but for the most part this needs to improve That is all I have to say and I hope everyone who reads this will share it around, I also hope the Devs will see this and actually use some of these solutions to make the voting system more fair and less toxic, I wrote this up on behalf myself of several other submission authors who feel these changes can help improve the system, I will not name them for their protection from hate, please have a good day and treat others fairly.