Calling All Artists: It’s the EQ2Wire Forum Signature Design Contest!

From the moment we added a Forum Signature feature to EQ2U, we always intended to add additional looks and styles. However to date, all our signatures still look like this:

In the last months, we have refactored our Signature code, and we can now support signatures that look a whole lot better. But to really go all-out on the look and style of these signatures, we need your help as we are not graphic artists!

What Are We Looking For?

• We are looking for player-submitted signature designs that are visually appealing, and language-appropriate, which provide a clear space where the character’s Name, Server, Guild, and Stats can be overlaid legibly.

• The graphical “style” or genre is up to the artist, and may be classical, architectural, modern, comic (Cheesepirate!) or whatever suits the design.

• Contest participants may enter as many designs, themes, and variations as they wish. Judging is based on the cumulative entries of a player. This means you may submit a single exemplary design, or take a chance and submit several different great ideas which either make a “set” or are just unrelated concepts.

• Entries may be specific to a style of gameplay, such as Tradeskills, PvP and Battlegrounds, Raiding, exploration, etc. or General Purpose. You may specify a different arrangement of Statistics, but all entries should have a place for Character, Guild, and Server names at the minimum.

• You may include in-game Class, Spell, Icon, or Race (w/ Gender) icons as well as UI elements in your designs.

• You may integrate the character’s Paperdoll and/or Headshot into your design, with an optional mask/overlay.

• If you wish to provide your own icons or graphics specific to Archetype, City, Race or Class (for example the hooded male ranger in the above example) then you should provide versions of your signature for the other possible variations on that theme.

• For instance, if you intend to submit a signature design with Qeynos and Freeport illustrations, then you should also provide Halas, Neriak, and Faydark examples. If you wish to submit a signature design that works for Fighters, then you would also want provide versions that work for Priests, Mages, and Scouts.

Entry Rules

• Entries must be submitted as a high quality JPEG, 24-bit PNG, or Photoshop file.

• Entries must be an original idea created by you, without the use of licensed clip art or any material subject to copyright.

• Entries may use our default size of 490 x 150, or a custom size (within reason) suitable for a forum signature.

• Entries must be submitted with TWO versions, one showing how Character, Server, Stats, and/or Guild Name data would be shown, and a “blank” version with sufficient space allowed to display those values.

• Entries must be submitted by January 7, 2014 @ 11:59pm EST. Winner will be announced within 48 hours.

• If you do not receive an e-mail reply from us by January 7th for your submitted entries, please post a comment under this article so we’ll check on it.

Prizes

The first prize is a 2000 StationCash card and an EQ2Wire embroidered Polo 2XL shirt. The second and third prizes are each 1000 StationCash cards.

This contest isvalid for any country except where prohibited by law. Winners are entitled to the StationCash codes only, and with the exception of the shirt, no physical product will be shipped.

We are not responsible for winning e-mails being rejected, returned, or lost in transit. If a winning e-mail is bounced, we reserve the right to award an alternate. We reserve the right to verify e-mail addresses by contacting contestants as well as Sony Online Entertainment with your submitted information.

What About Some Examples?

Licensing

• By submitting an entry, you hereby grant a nonexclusive perpetual license to EQ2Wire and EQ2U for use of submitted documents as a forum signature graphic. We reserve the right to publish submitted entries for promotional purposes.

• The three winning entries will, at our discretion, become style choices available to end users for EQ2 Forum Signatures for use on any forum.

• We may also contact the creators of non-winning entrees to see if they wish their entries to be available as style choices as well (likely if we get an avalanche of great submissions!).

• We reserve the right to adjust colors, design, and other content of submitted entries for any reason, including as needed to support localization into languages to include German, French, and Russian.

How to Enter?

• #1 – Read all of the Rules above. No skimming!!

• #2 – Send your entry to morgan (at) eq2wire.com with the subject line “EQ2 Forum Signature Contest“.

• #3 – Include a Notation with each entry as to the Name you want credited, either your real name, character name, forum name, or “Anonymous”.

• #4 – Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the contest, including which statistics about a character you can include, which icons or graphics are available, etc.