nothing quite showcases the aging of this community like the popularity of bingo this GT
Jokes aside, I had a lot of fun this GT even if it was a bit quieter as previously mentioned - it's the first time in years I've hosted anything, and it made me remember my love/hate relationship with hosting because it takes me away from participation a little, but I think that can be mitigated next year with better pre-opening preparation lol, I've just gotten so used to just turning up for events without worrying about anything else it was a bit of an adjustment. Really happy with the turnout for both my events, but especially of course Bingo!
A suggestion/something that I think would be really nice - to whomever runs the management team next year, I think it should be made mandatory for hosts to make a role for each of their events and use that to ping participants rather than pinging everybody in the GT. I know we had the option to create our own role as EOs and a good number of us took advantage of this for our events, but for future GTs I think this should not be optional and EOs should only ping for events that participants have opted in to. Maybe put more of an emphasis on the roles available for opting into on a landing page for GT or something if EOs are worried that participants might not see that they can choose roles for the events they want to be notified about.
Annd feedback for individual events:
SWC - the kick in the pants every year I need to start writing again, thank you for being a good motivator and way to bring writers together. I love bemoaning our lack of time and perpetual procrastination every year with my fellow writers and reading whatever the hell qwerty wrote
ROoT - I didn't finish my challenge only due to how busy I got and how preoccupied I was with other longform events like SWC and art swap, but I had fun with it when I played and I thought it was a great concept! I agree with user Cubeth about the map situation, at least that seemed to be what stressed Loomie out the most when Janp was busy, and I think barring a few overlapping rules that just needed a little clarification, the event really was quite a success and lots of people had fun with it.
Art swap - definitely a highlight for me, very recommended event for everybody to join in the future, even if your art level is MS Paint mouse sketch. If I have any suggestions, I think point scaling/adjustments
could be made, but I don't really think it's that big of an issue because I think the main draw for pretty much everybody was the art itself, but just seeing the effort everybody put in to their art I think revamping the system a bit to award GT points per art rather than just for the top 3 could be nice. But again, I don't think it's a necessity and the overall scoring + achievements were fair enough, plus the art we received at the end was plenty rewarding already.
Paint & Describe - fun, simple event as always. I actually like that it overlaps with Gartic so that those who could not participate in the live event could still participate in something kind of similar.
Trivias - my head is empty and I have no thoughts so I am personally not a trivia person; it's not really something I get super into but I can appreciate how it brings people together and makes people discuss questions. I think events like these that really make people collaborate are really integral to GT!
Is Trivia very tiring/stressful/intense for people? I personally do not get tired of trivia ever lmao but I also don't have anything to contribute for VG ever.
I don't know if you are supposed to ponder trivia questions but for me, it's kind of a "I know it off the top of my head or I don't" kind of thing so it's not something I see myself spending a lot of time on, unless it's something like Squirdle or a crossword or something you can work out. But for the typical trivia questions, I don't find listening to a snippet of a song over and over again helps me remember anything if I didn't already know it immediately, nor does looking at a question more than once help jog my memory - I think my brain just doesn't store trivial information enough for me to be able to like, search my memory for answers lol like I don't even remember Minecraft crafting recipes aside from the bare basics and I play a lot of Minecraft
Animal Crossing - I always have fun with these! Whether it's outfits or decorating a room, I just really like Animal Crossing and it's always nice to kind of play together and then share your creations.
Also whether it's writing, drawing or Animal Crossing I procrastinate everything to the last minute and I imagine a lot of people do as well so don't worry too much before the actual deadline for longform stuff. There is dwindling interest for Animal Crossing since it's an older game now and the community is not as thriving, so a drop in participation is to be expected, but there will always be a dedicated few for stuff like this.
I barely joined any live events this year - they just weren't at a good time for me since they always occurred when I was at work (Gartic, Speed Art and Jackbox come to mind) or just when I was asleep/busy, which is a shame since I do enjoy those, but that is to be expected with such a diverse community from all over the world, I know it's super hard to host at a time that works for everybody.
Movie Night was great! Fun and simple event, really enjoyed watching movies together. Love the Pokemon movies, of course, but I think Anna's idea of watching other movies could be fun as well, and I'd definitely be up for hosting something like that next year outside of Kip's Pokémon ones if I find the time for it!
Amiibo Casino - always have fun with this one, too! James is a great commentator, and I think it's a similar vibe to movie night, where friends just get together and watch a thing and hang out. Good fun.