Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar launched last year on April 24th.
While those of us who pre-ordered were in the open beta that allowed you to carry over your characters into the live game, April 24th was the big day. It was the day the game box went on the shelf, the day I ran out and bought the collectors edition.
But because 2008 is a leap year Turbine has to wait one extra day to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Lord of the Rings Online launch.
To make up for that extra day of waiting, I thought I would kick off the first TAGN LOTRO contest.
About a month and a half back I offered up my nine remaining Founder’s referrals to readers of this blog.
Nine people took up the offer, and this week Turbine notified me that I now have one 30 Day time key for LOTRO.
So it is time for a contest to give away that key!
The Contest
The first contest is simple. Just make me a Lord of the Rings Online themed banner for the blog. The best one gets a 30 day time code for LOTRO.
The Rules
Banners must be 730 pixels wide and 140 pixels tall.
Banners must be in .jpg or .png format.
Banners can be original artwork or taken from screen shots.
Banners may NOT use material from the Turbine or the Lord of the Rings Online web sites or any press or promotional collateral provided by Turbine. (Which covers most of the screen shots you see on gaming news sites.)
Banners must master their fear, or fear will be their master.
There is a limit of three entries per person.
All entries must be sent via email attachment to wilhelm2451 at rightbox dot com.
Please put “LOTRO Contest” in the subject line of your email. [new]
All entries must be received by 2:01 am UTC on May 16th, 2008.
The winner will be announced in a post on Monday, May 19th, 2008.
The time code will be sent to the email address that the winner used to submit their entry.
In the event of some sort of “tie,” all winners will receive a 30 day time code.
Employees of Turbine, their immediate family, and their pets are not eligible to enter. Neither are the owners of the Mongolian BBQ place around the corner from my office. (Worst gastric distress ever!)
Judging
The judging will be based on banner aesthetics and layout, the use of space within the restrictions which the banner position on the site imposes (see “artistic considerations” below), and how frickin’ cool it is.
While I will be the final authority in picking the winner, I may seek advice from my wife, my daughter, my mother, members of the permanent floating instance group, co-workers, the kid next door, the mailman, readers of rec.arts.books.tolkien, the pizza delivery guy, or Kibo.
Suggestions
Give your entry a unique title and put that title in the body of the email. There will be thousands hundreds maybe a dozen at least your entry, and I don’t want to lose track of it.
Indicate how I should refer to you (name, handle, whatever) should you be the big winner. Include the URL for your website or blog if you want that included as part of your identity.
If you have no use for the 30 day time code, but want to enter anyway in the hope of just seeing your name/handle on the site, feel free, but let me know that is your intention. It guarantees you won’t win the time code, but I will no doubt call out exceptional entries.
Artistic Considerations
Take into account the “Home” and “About” tabs that stick up into the banner area. I can’t make them go away, so make sure they don’t spoil your entry.
The title and tag line in the banner currently are placed there as part of the WordPress theme. I can turn them off if your entry includes the name of the site. But remember, the site name is “The Ancient Gaming Noob.” Any variation or misspelling may count against you, unless you are an ogre. The tag line is purely optional. You can leave it off or make up your own, though tread carefully there, even if you are an ogre.
If you omit the blog title, make sure that the title currently in the banner does not spoil your picture. And while I can remove the title, I cannot change its color, so avoid a large white patch in that area that will wash out the title. (See, these banners don’t just make themselves, do they?)
If you feel you have to sign your work, go ahead, but large signatures, guild logos, email addresses, URLs, or imbedded “work from home” offers may count against you.
MS Paint is the work of the devil. Use it for your entry only if all else fails.
The Ancient Gaming Noob 