it was never intended to be a statement or a putdown toward newbies.
i entered it at the last minute - i almost didn't bother entering at all - and i was really surprised to see it was doing well. i didn't advertise it anywhere other than to tell my two irl friends i had entered and i was thrilled when the week was over and it placed 5th.
then i saw my comments jump from 20 to 40, then 80...currently it's gotten over a hundred comments. eek many of the comments are saying nice things about the entry, a good many are waxing nostalgic about their newbie days of trying to get gold and bug hunting in towns, and a few are the inevitable 'this is crap' comments.
there were so many nice comments though, that i made the unfortunate mistake of looking at the critiques in the arena forum. yeah. neutral
you really can't please them. if they weren't slamming it because they thought i had some sort of anti-newb statement hidden in there somewhere, they were slamming it because i had things equipped that 'didn't exist back then' and/or it didn't look newbish enough, lol...
in the end - i'm still thrilled that even i placed and very thankful to all the nice people that voted for and commented on my entry. at least i seem to have faired better than the 1st place winner in that aspect sad people were quite mean to her, both in the comments and the critiques. i'm sorry that happened to her and i have a real 'there but for the grace of god, go i' feeling about it.
my (totally free) advice to anyone who manages to place or win in the arena is this:
IGNORE THE CRITICS!
seriously - if you read the critiques in the avatar arena forum at all, avoid them completely the week after you win/place. they rarely have anything nice to say anyway. wink so screw 'em! unless you cheated somehow, revel in your win! the arena should be fun - don't let the critics spoil it for you.
thanks again and good luck to all of you! biggrin
heart snuffly
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Community Member
Is it ironic that I want to place just because I'd like to see what sadistic sarcasm Pika assigns to me?
Grats again 3nodding