ECTOCOMP

Please excuse the strange timing, but I thought I ought to let you know sooner rather than later: I do not intend to run ECTOCOMP again this year.

I’ve run it for ten years now, with a couple of exceptions, and for the last two or three I’ve felt less invested in it than previously.

I’m very proud of how popular the competition has become, and it has produced some really great games; Lime Ergot, The Horrible Pyramid and I Was a Teenage Headless Experiment being three of my favourites.

It would be a shame for ECTOCOMP to stop altogether, but hopefully since I’ve given plenty of notice, someone will be willing to take up the baton and carry it into the future. I would be more than happy to offer my assistance in handing it over.

Best wishes,

J. J. Guest

Have there been any takers yet?

If there hasn’t been any responses, I guess I could take it on. I’d prefer to be able to enter (and I don’t think one can do both?), but I’d be very sad if Ectocomp was no more.

Okay, I’d like to do this. (If I realize later I’m crazy for taking on an extra thing, I reserve the right to ask for help!)

There has never been a rule to say that the organiser can’t enter the competition. I entered in 2010 and came second. Duncan Bowsman ran the competition in 2011 and also entered and came second. Anyone who enters the competition can also be a judge, you just can’t vote on your own game.

I would also be happy to consult with a new organizer if needed about organizing questions or draft an opening announcement… but I would really encourage the new organizer to sever their own hand and let it have a try (don’t worry, you’ll grow more later). It’s a lot of fun!

It’s either an unwritten rule or a curse wrought by evil warlocks dreaming for longer than life has lived that whoever organizes the Ectocomp rituals shall always claim second. But who would dare fly in the face of their nightmares? :slight_smile:

Thanks for running EctoComp so long. Even running a contest for a year or two must take a lot of energy. You’ve helped me write some stuff I’m very glad I did. So thanks to you for letting us know sooner rather than later, and while I can’t take over, I’m glad there are already people who can definitely do the job.

Thanks Andrew! I really appreciate that. I checked into the IF sites last night after what had been a pretty awful day, to find two nice things waiting for me, your kind words here and that one of my games had received three votes on an IFDB poll! I don’t rule out returning to ECTOCOMP some day, if needed, but for now, I’m happy to hand it over to someone else. Good luck this year joshg (or whoever takes it on)!

+1 thanks to you for running Ectocomp so long. It was a total blast when I participated (and playing the games when I didn’t enter one was also a total blast).

Thanks!

I, for one, welcome our new Ectocomp overlord, joshg.