Z-Comp #1

Z-Comp #1 is now open to enter! Go on ifMUD, enter apartment 11011, and then go northwest. (Important Note: Failure to follow the theme isn’t grounds for disqualification, although your score may go down if you don’t follow it. If you get good scores in the other categories, then it shouldn’t matter so much, though. Feel free to completely ignore the theme if you want to!)

* Entry deadline: Wednesday, 17 Jul 2013, 12:07:44 AM EDT
* Voting deadline: Thursday, 5 Sep 2013, 12:07:57 AM EDT
* Theme: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siderotil]Siderotil[/url]

If you have any interest in the Z-machine (or just text adventure games in general), please enter! (Knowledge of siderotil isn’t required; it is simply a “suggested theme” which will earn you a small number of extra points if you do happen to understand it.)

Of course if you don’t know FeSO4·5H2O, I question how you’re even able to operate a computer.

But that’s just aqueous iron sulphate, which comes under inorganic chemistry! I don’t see how it’s related to computing!

It was a bad joke, I admit. I was basically saying if you don’t understand aqueous sulphate thingies (which I don’t) it seems unlikely you’d be intelligent enough to be able to use a computer. So yeah, I was being silly.

Being serious though, yay comp! More detail would be appreciated, though. Would it suffice to just write a game in Inform 7 and enter it, or do we need to fiddle around with the Z-machine settings etc?

Isn’t that The fools’ gold hannibal lecter once talked of?

Not quite! You’re thinking of Pyrite (FeS2)!

Yes, it would suffice to just write a game in Inform 7 (or Inform 6, or ZIL, or whatever), compile it into a Z-machine story file, and enter it. But you can do the other things too if you want to.

For some reason it was locked, and some people might have been unable to enter. However, it should work now.

Let’s remind you: There is only two weeks left for entry!

The if wiki page for this competition mentions an entry form. Failure to fill it out is grounds for disqualification. It does not mention where this form can be acquired.

It is in ifMUD, in apartment 11011, and then go northwest. There you will find the form, as well as a copy of the rules.

No offense Mr. or Mrs. zzo38. This is an unnecessary complicated way to go about this. I am not willing to look into the software I need to connect to a MUD. I am not willing to get an account there. All this just to participate in your comp. I am deeply sorry. This is too much trouble. I hope you understand.

Well, no-one held a gun to your head. [emote]:P[/emote]

Sorry if I was too blunt, I kept thinking of a nicer way to put it but this is the best I could come up with. Participation in any comp is always voluntary, and if there’s something about the rules you don’t like you are free not to participate without apologising or even mentioning it to the comp organiser. It’d be like saying you don’t want to enter this competition because you only know how to use TADS and don’t want to learn a new language. Or SpeedIFs, which I understand take place in the MUD.

While I’m here, a quick thought that’s been in my head since I saw the rules for this comp - man, this is one technical comp.

Quite right. I felt the need to comment about the convoluted way this comp is organized. I feel it is detrimentral to peoples desire to enter it. I was hoping that zzo38 might change his or her mind about this.

Well, it has been cancelled, but Z-Comp #1 Take 2 is now active. Note that a few rules have been changed slightly.

*  Entry deadline: Thursday, 5 Sep 2013, 03:41:16 PM EDT
* Voting deadline: Friday, 25 Oct 2013, 03:41:29 PM EDT
* Theme: [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richardson_fire]Richardson fire[/url] // [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009-10_Leicester_City_F.C._season]2009-10 Leicester City F.C. season[/url] // Merciful to gibbering mouthers and the other monsters

Convoluted? Well, it is sensible to me, at least. But you have the right to complain about it as much as you want; I am OK with that.

I am under the impression you cancelled it because nobody entered. You want to rethink your approach to enabling people to participate. The way it is now is not very appealing.

I was not complaining. I was trying to be helpful.

If your computer is not Windows, you probably have netcat already installed; that is one way to connect to ifMUD. If you do have Windows, then you probably have a web-browser installed and can use that to connect to ifMUD (although using a separate program is preferred). Often for some IF competition you might need some account anyways; with Z-Comp you can just use the same ifMUD account that you might already have. But it really doesn’t seem convoluted to me this way. You are allowed to have your own opinion though if you want to. If you do need help to enter then I am capable to help you with it too. (Also, in case you didn’t know: If you are disqualified, you are always forgiven next time; disqualification isn’t forever.)

I did not say it was impossible or hard. Convoluted. Normally you just mail your entry to the organizer. Or you upload it somewhere. There is no benefit of doing it through IfMud. You do not need an entry form. Even IF Comp does not need IF MUD. Or an entry form.

To be honest, it’s pretty convoluted even if you have already got a MUD account and use it regularly.

If I may ask, what was the original intent of this form and stuff? Was it to keep with the theme of the comp? Was there a specific reason why it would not have been good just to accounce the comp on, say, this forum and RAIF and a few other choice places, and manage it through PMs?

In short, does it HAVE to be this way? Other, simpler ways are tried and true. Spring Thing, IntroComp and Andromeda Legacy Comp never had any problems with them…