1. Play nice.

This is a competition. Things get tense, we've been there and done that. But any sort of harassment or fighting will not be tolerated. Have a complaint about a competitor? PM us.

2. "Mafia" hits are not allowed.

Forming a large group to gang up on one individual writer will never be tolerated in our games. If we get any word that you're gathering a group to eliminate someone or lower their score, you and anyone else who joined in will be immediately put under question and possibly removed.

3. Make this a fun experience

Please remember that we are human. If we spell your tribute's name wrong or misplace them somewhere, it is never intentional and we will always do our best to make things right. If you get eliminated, remember that it is never anything personal. Sometimes, that's just the way it goes. All of our judges swear to be 100% unbiased on every task and to every player. We do not and never will pick favorites. We do not make things easier on people just because we like them outside of the Games. Saying such a thing will, however, make this a very bumpy ride for us all. If you feel like one of our judges is being unfair to you or that you were eliminated unfairly, then you may privately message either them personally, or this account.

4. Follow the rules and guidelines.

This goes without saying. Everything that we do and say is designed to make it easy for all of us. Follow the formatting guidelines, listen to the rules, and we'll all have a great time. There'll be more on formatting later on with lots of helpful examples and witty ballots. When you join our competition, you are agreeing to comply with our rules and our design. If you have a concern or problem with the way something is being done, please notify us before the competition has started, preferably before Reservations begin to give us adequate time to take what you say into consideration. If there is something we are not willing to change or you do not agree with, you are not obligated to join.

5. No vote begging.

If you are put up for votes, in absolutely no way are you allowed to ask people to vote for you. Puppet accounts, biased voters, all of that will get you a serious time out. If we see any sort of suspicious voting, don't doubt for a second that we will immediately question you. Depending on the severity of the voting, we will not hesitate to blacklist or suspend anyone.

6. Be punctual.

We understand that life happens. We understand things don't always go according to plan. But failure to hand in a task without asking for an extension leads to an automatic zero. Simple as that.

7. We reserve the right to refuse/remove anyone on any grounds we see fit.

We try to be the nice guys, we really do. But bad behavior, vulgar remarks toward our judges, or any sort of harassment on the part of contestant or judge will not be tolerated at any time. We do not discriminate against people based on their religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, or anything else. If you do, you will be asked to leave immediately and you will not be welcomed back. This rule is here because if you are eliminated on the grounds of a rule violation or bad behavior, or refused entry into the competition, you can at no time say that "we can't do that because it's not in the rules". Because we can. And here it is. In the rules. Also when you enter please put your favorite midnight snack in your form.

8. Know when to ask for help.

If something's not right, or something doesn't make sense, you are always free to ask us. We're not just here to score. If you are unable to meet a deadline because of personal reasons/circumstances beyond your control, send us a message before the deadline, and we'll do our best to accommodate.

How We Score:

The judges use a 100 point system to score entries. We score twenty points each between six categories for Task, GUMP, Realism, Creativity, and Style.

The total number of points scored is divided by 6.666 and then rounded to the nearest tenth place to get a score between 1 and 15. Criteria may be added in specific instances such as song tasks. We do credit our system to being based on the system used by Joe.

At the start of the Quarter-Finals, this rubric will be replaced with a bye system and all scores will be kept secret.

The Rubric:

0: No entry was turned in

1-2: Your entry showed a serious lack of effort and multiple mistakes needing to be addressed.

3-6: You supplied the bare minimum of what was asked of you.

7-10: You showed interest in your writing and still need improvement, but overall your entry was good, though lacking in a few areas.

11-13: This is the "average" range where most of you will fall. Your entry was enjoyable but improvement could still be used for that final push. It could be grammar, a lack of backstory/character, etc.

14: It was captivating and full of depth. A little more polishing and editing would make this perfect.

15: You absolutely blew us away with your words. Go, get out of here before you make us jealous. Don't come back.

How Our Scoring Works:

Task: 20 points

(How well did you complete the requirements of the task? Did you put your own spin on the task? Does it fit?)

GUMP: 20 points

(Grammar, Usage, Mechanics, and Punctuation. The building blocks of an easily read entry.)

Realism: 20 points

(We're looking for if it's realistic within the set boundaries of your story. It doesn't have to be something that would be realistic in today's world, but it does need to make sense. If you introduced flying into your story that's totally okay! But if you're going to make your characters fly super easily and then never have any issues at all, be it wind, other people flying, getting tired, or being the best at flying even if they just learned twenty seconds ago, then we might have an issue.)

Creativity: 20 points

(Did you JUST do the task? Did you add anything to the task? Does your story have a good background, interesting characters, etc?)

Style: 20 points

(Does your style of writing fit the character? Does it fit the themes of your entry?)

Total: 100/6.666

Final Score: 15

Notes and Feedback:

Our main goal here is to help writers improve in a fun and creative way. In these games, however, for the sake of time and convenience for you, we will only give notes for the first task. We will only be posting scores for every round afterward. But, this doesn't mean you don't have the option to get feedback on your score. We offer you the chance to ask for notes as frequently as you like. You want notes on task one? Shoot us a message! You want notes for your semi-finals entry? That's what we're here for!

However, we would like to make it distinct that your score will not go down because you do not ask for notes or take our advice. We'll say it again: Your score will not go down dramatically if we give you feedback and you choose not to use it, or you do not ask for notes at all. If you score a thirteen in one task and do nothing differently in the next, you will more than likely score around a thirteen again. And while improvement may not jump you from a ten to a fourteen, we hope that you will see steady growth over time.

Please keep in mind that we are not editors and that most of our feedback comes from what we, as competitors, have also had to overcome and the information we have gained along the way. If you choose to disregard our advice, we will not be offended and will not remove points from your score because of it. We are always open to in-depth feedback whenever you need it. That is ultimately what we're here for.