intfiction.org

Quite a bit later than I'd hoped, we are now officially launching IntroComp 2012.

You can visit the updated rules and FAQ at http://www.allthingsjacq.com/introcomp/

A summary of the primary changes for this year are as follows:

• Only introductions to games slated for non-commercial release may be entered in the competition.
• Not only must authors refrain from canvassing for votes, it is also expected that no one will canvass for votes on the authors' behalf.
• When submitting votes, voters will be asked to not only vote with a rating reflecting how much they'd like to see the author finish the entry, they'll also be asked (but not required) to enter anonymous text with (at least) one positive thought and one constructive criticism on each game for which they submit a vote.

The schedule has been adjusted for this late announcement as follows:

• Intent to Enter Deadline is June 15, 2012
• Introductions Submission Deadline is July 15, 2012
• The (probable) Voting Deadline is August 15, 2012
• The (likely) date for the ceremony is August 19, 2012

Please go to http://www.allthingsjacq.com/introcomp/ to read the updated rules and FAQ, or to sign up as an author.

Thanks in advance for your interest in and support of IntroComp! This is our tenth year! Huzzah!

Can you clarify the meaning of this rule?

Choice of Zombies, for example, is available for free online, but you can also pay to download it on iOS/Android/Kindle. Would a game like Choice of Zombies be ineligible if it's intended for both a non-commercial release and a commercial release?

Is a game still commercial if it's available at no charge, but includes in-game advertisements? Would the "Available on the App Store" button at the bottom of Choice of Zombies be considered a commercial advertisement?

I would also like to repost my question from the preliminary thread. It did not get any responses there yet. It might have been overlooked. Or it might be covered by the rules and I overlooked it.



Be well,

Lester

Hi, Lester.

Thanks for your question. Actually, your queston was overlooked, principally because in the rules there is a big disclaimer that says:



But you're not the only person who missed that, so don't feel bad. And I'm not quoting it here to call you out, but mostly to get that out there so that people realize I will not be coming here to answer questions, unless I end up getting one where the answer is of broad interest to all. (For instance, I swung by today to post an update to the No Commercial Release rule, which is the only reason I saw your note.]

Anyway! Since I'm here, I shall answer your question here: Yes, that'd be acceptable. I would just make it clear that the episode is an episode of a larger game so that people realize why you entered something that feels complete. But how you do that is up to you.

Good luck! We'd love to have you in the comp, so hit the main site, check out all the rules and FAQs, and sign up. If you have any more questions, please drop me an e-mail.

Thanks,
- Jacqueline

Okay, sorry for the delay in replying. Part of it was that things have been crazy both at work and in life, but also I needed to give this some more thought to better articulate my reasoning for this new rule.

I never vote in IntroComp, but I am the one who donates the money for the winners (who are chosen by the people who vote) who go on to complete their intro. This isn't Kickstarter, and I don't feel like kickstarting commercial endeavors that I personally haven't weighed in on.

That said, I have decided on some middle ground. I'll back off this rule a little, but with a caveat: if someone wins a prize and then goes on to market their game and earns more than the prize money they were awarded, they should re-contribute the prize money back to IntroComp for a future year. This is a rule applicable beginning now, going forward, and commercial games which have already entered and placed (regardless of whether or not they've finished their game from last year and been awarded prize money) need not refund their prize money to the comp unless they like the spirit of this rule and choose to do so. This will only apply to people who enter an intro in 2012's comp, going forward until this rule is changed or rescinded.

Thanks for asking for clarification: I'm not out there to nix Choice Of Games entries, as you know I'm very supportive of choice-based narratives being in IntroComp. But I must admit that finding out I'd paid out prize money to a game that was going to go on to earn more money just didn't sit right with me. It didn't seem the right venue, or in the spirit of this competition. Of course, I'm not going to fault Heather for that, but I wanted to address it as we move forward with our tenth year of the comp.

Another thing that I have an issue with, though I have yet to articulate this in the rules, is that this is a comp for trying out ideas and getting people to write things they might not otherwise write. It's not a venue for dropping the first part of a game you've already got mostly written that you know darn well you plan to finish regardless of how it fares in IntroComp. Cryptozookeeper did that, and it didn't sit well with a lot of people, but there wasn't a rule against it and so of course I didn't hold that against Robb. But that's not really in the spirit of the competition, either. If you're doing this, and then on top of that you know you're planning to make money off it... well, maybe you should avoid IntroComp.

And then there's the issue of whether or not people should be using IntroComp, intentionally or otherwise, as a way to promote work they intend to later sell. IntroComp is not a venue for free advertising for commercial works.

None of these things are very enforceable, though. I would love it if someone entered an intro they weren't sure about, then it did well, they said to themselves, "Well, okay, I guess I'll write this thing then," and then as things went on they realized that they had the next 1893 on their hands and decided to distribute it. That *is* in the spirit of IntroComp.

Hopefully I'm making sense here. Authors should weigh their intentions and ask themselves if they feel right entering the IntroComp, given those intentions.

- Jacqueline

PS - Please note that I would prefer to discuss all rules and questions by e-mail, as I am often traveling or working, and can't hit this site a lot of the time. If you have thoughts on this post, please follow up with me by e-mail, and I promise you that if something substantive comes out of the conversation that affects the rules I will post them to the main IntroComp site and post an update here.

PPS - I'm going to sit on the non-commercial, game-you-aren't-sure-you're-going-to-write verbiage for a few days, try to boil it down a bit more succinctly, and update the rules on Monday when I'm back in town. If anyone has thoughts on ways to word what I've circuitously tried to articulate here, I'd love to hear from you by e-mail. Thanks!

FYI - I've now updated the rules at the main site: http://www.allthingsjacq.com/introcomp

There is still over a week until the Intent to Enter deadline hits - so if you've been thinking about entering, the time is drawing near to make the commitment. We hope you do! More intros are more fun for voters.

Have a great day,
- Jacqueline