April Fools Contest

I tend to start thinking about April Fools way in advance.  I was tinkering with the an outline of the Graphite Realms posts about nine months in before the fact.

Not that I feel compelled to do an April Fools post, but I know if I am going to do something, I need to do it in advance.  This year I decided that I should have a humor contest, the winner to be announced on April 1st.

Okay, that really isn’t an April Fools thing, but whatever.  I want to have a contest.  And you can win something, so pay attention.

Here is the basics of the contest.

You have to send me the most amusing name/title combination you can find in World of Warcraft.

Easy, right?

Whoever sends in the funniest combo will win a code that can be redeemed for a WoW in-game pet, either the Pandaren Monk or Lil’ KT.

The Monk and Lil' KT

There are some rules of course, after the break.

Some Rules

You must submit your entry via email to wilhelm2451 at yahoo dot com.  You can use the contact form on the About page if you want.  The subject of the email should say something like “April Fools Contest” so I can find it easily in the spam folder if Yahoo happens to have taken a dislike to you, your domain, or your country.

You can ask for clarifications or further information in the comments section following this post, but all entries must be sent via email.

You must submit your entry Noon Pacific Time of Friday, March 26th, 2010.  That will be 3pm Eastern Time and, since we will be in Daylight Savings Time here in the US, that lines up to 7pm (19:00) UTC.

If you are the winner, the code will be emailed to the address you used to enter the contest, so make sure you don’t make a mistake on that.

You cannot just make up a name to go with an in-game title.  You must be able to prove, via the WoW Armory (US or EU versions) that the character in question exists and can in fact display the title you have submitted.  Here is a list of the in-game titles.

If you want to roll up a character and get them a title just to win this contest, go right ahead.  As long as it can be verified in the WoW Armory, you are covered.  Similarly, if you want to pay $10 for a name change to win a $10 pet, nobody is stopping you.  But I sure hope you picked something funny enough to win.

Your submission must include, at a minimum, the following items:

• Name of the character
• Title of the character
• Server on which the character exists
• Region (US or EU) of the server
• Which pet you would like, should you win

If you live in Europe, please indicate that in your email as well, or I’ll send you a code from the US Blizzard Store which may or may not work with your account.  If you need a code from a Blizzard store other than the US or EU store, you are out of luck, as no other regional codes will be provided.

You may go above and beyond the basics of the contest in the name of humor and you will get credit for that.  For example, if the guild name of the player in question makes the name and title just that much more amusing, feel free to include it.  In theory you can take that too far, but I’ve beaten so many jokes into the ground in my life that it is hard to tell where that line may be.

You should also add a comment if there is any worry at all that I might not get the joke.  And believe me, you should worry on that score.  This is especially true if you’re going above and beyond with your entry.

You may enter up to five times.  Each entry should be in its own email though, to help me sort through the… well, lets be honest… dozen or so submissions I expect I will get.  Your chance to win, should you enter, is much better than the lottery in any case.

If multiple people enter the same character/title, the person whose email arrived first will be awarded that entry.  I will try to respond to duplicates to indicate that the entry in question has already been taken.

The contest winner and any amusing runners up will be announced in a post on April 1st, 2010.  If you want me to mention your web site, guild, spouse, or life long ambition as part of the post, please mention it in your submission.

While I will consult with others to help winnow down the field of entrants, the winner will be decided by me and me alone.

Any questions, ambiguity, or disputes will be resolved by me alone and all decisions will be final.  There is no appeals process.

Sample

This is a sample of what a submission should look like.  You may not enter this character.

• Name: Dontheal
• Title: The Patient
• Server: Azuremyst
• Region: US
• Pet: Panda, US code plz!
• Comment: Don’t Heal The Patient!  Get it?  She’s a holy priest, a healer!

This is an actual character and can be verified in the Armory.

By the way, this sample is also a litmus test.  If your entry isn’t as funny as this one, perhaps you should look a little further.

Advice

Being subtle, unique, or outside of the box is a good thing.

If you’re thinking of the title Jenkins and some variation of the name Leeroy, just stop right now.  You are not being subtle, unique or thinking at all outside of the box.

You can use this as an excuse to go data mine the WoW Armory if you like.

If your entry is only funny in a language other than English, you’d better explain it to me.  If your entry is only funny in Klingon, by all means send it, but document why you believe this to be the case.

If your entry mocks or insults somebody’s race, religion, sexual orientation, or national origin, promotes racial intolerance, denies the Holocaust, or strays into the murky waters or politics, go ahead and send it.  I’ll probably get a chuckle, but you’ll understand why you probably won’t be the winner.

Entries that mock my fellow gaming bloggers, members of the MMORPG community, or studios in the industry however are completely fair game and actively encouraged.  Finding a name/title that somehow makes fun of Syncaine has got “winner” written all over it.

The mocking of gnomes and night elves is strongly encouraged.