Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
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Questions about TTIII?
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VNerdbooks
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Feb 13, 2015 01:22AM
haha I'm like a puppy waiting for you to throw a ball
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I can't wait for another Wheelathon :)
Karen wrote: "We've been discussing this Lauren, and we thought if people are still going to use it we will leave it open"Thanks Karen
Bring on the Wheel-a-Thon - we're ready! ;0)
when is the next tower teams challenge?!?!!? lol I'm ready! :)
I second V Audio Nerd's answer!! NOW!!!!! lol
A few teams are unofficially continuing with TT3 to see if we can reach 20,000 before Wheelathon starts.I would like a couple of weeks of low intensity reading before jumping into the next team challenge.
I don't like the fact that I am reading a book with no ulterior motive lol
V Audio Nerd wrote: "I don't like the fact that I am reading a book with no ulterior motive lol"That's exactly how I feel!
V Audio Nerd wrote: "I don't like the fact that I am reading a book with no ulterior motive lol"I am happy this one was over. It was not a good experience for me. I am afraid to do Wheelathon. I feel like I have challenge PTSD
Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "V Audio Nerd wrote: "I don't like the fact that I am reading a book with no ulterior motive lol"I am happy this one was over. It was not a good experience for me. I am afraid to do Wheelathon. I..."
you?!?! I agree....this one wasn't as fun as the last one...but ai still had fun reading all my books...
who are you kidding anyway Ezi...you'll be back...you'll probably be the first to sign up!!!! lol:)
I cannot wait for Wheelathon. I did enjoy this challenge as I had a really lovely team but I don't think I realized how little...effort? I would need to put into it. I'm not sure if that's the right way to say it. But for the most part all I did for four months was click a button to list a book on a shelf. I like the team work and thought that you have to put into what you read for Wheelathon. I guess that challenge is just more my personal style. That being said... I don't think there will ever be a team challenge I DON'T sign up for lol I love them too much to pass up.
Thanks for making the survey! It was great to be able to give feedback :)
Catherine wrote: "who are you kidding anyway Ezi...you'll be back...you'll probably be the first to sign up!!!! lol:) ..."that's a shame that you know me so well. I just went to read the rules of Wheelathon again. Hehehehe!
I need challenge rehab and a sponsor.
This experience was bad though. I am serious! It wasn't fun at all.
I felt like the only time I was really into it was when we were doing the mimi challenges, I didn't hate it but I didn't have the motivation to read like I normally do when in team challenges. I'm really exited to do the Wheel-A-Thon challenge because I loved that one.
Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "Catherine wrote: "who are you kidding anyway Ezi...you'll be back...you'll probably be the first to sign up!!!! lol:) ..."that's a shame that you know me so well. I just went to read the rules of..."
I'm so sorry you had a bad experience :(
Mod
hahaha
Mod
You're So right about personal style. One of the challenges as a mod is that when we have more "complicated" challenges (uncoverit, wheelathon) we get feedback from some people that they don't like having to read a certain book or think too much and they want TT back. So then we do TT and we get feedback from some people that it is boring because you don't have to do much... haha
I think I'm going to find a way to define team challenges. So Wheelathon would be for "bigger" readers (>52 books per year) and those that like strategy and don't have an issue having to switch around books to read. Whereas TT is more of a social game. If anyone has some suggestions around some definitions or words to describe these different styles of challenges I'm happy to hear it!
Stacie D-Struction wrote: "Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "Catherine wrote: "who are you kidding anyway Ezi...you'll be back...you'll probably be the first to sign up!!!! lol:) ..."that's a shame that you know me so wel..."
that's sweet of you. in the interest of full disclosure my time as a Cerulean hobbit was one of my favorite challenges and I still see some of my hobbit teammates around. I must have been expecting a similar experience.
So I have also had an amazing TT experience before.
Karen, I think strategy is a great word to use for it. Because that is really what I enjoy about the other types of challenges. The fact that you kind of have to plan and work together and wiggle books around to make them fit. I'm not sure about the opposite. Relaxed? Open?
I definitely get that it's a tough balance to strike since everyone does challenges for different reasons. It might help to come up with a word for both, like you're saying, so that you can have a set paragraph at the top of sign ups like THIS IS A STRATEGY TEAM CHALLENGE: Don't sign up if you want to be able to read whatever you want whenever you want lol
Mod
in flashing lights ;)
I like the idea of relaxed. Maybe there are two challenge types... See what you think:
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~~Relaxed and Social Team Challenge~~
Suit readers big or small
This is the perfect challenge for those who want to get to know other group members and discuss books. There is very little strategy, it is just about reading, getting to know eachother, and having fun.
There is an expectation that you will check-in with your team at least once per week and every so often there may be some "mini challenges" (e.g. scavenger hunts, bingo) that your team may decide to participate in
~~Strategic Team Challenge~~
For bigger readers (>1 book per week)
You will need to check in to your team every few days, sometimes every day, to give input to the team strategy and determine which books you will need to read.
This challenge suits those who like to play puzzles, be challenged, get to know other team members, and not mind having to change your reading schedule to suit the challenge.
Like any game, there is an element of luck, but team strategy plays a vital role
Ooh I like the sound of both of those games, sign me up lol.I think it is a lot to do with the team you have too, the teams that had a very chatty members (like my little Chickadees) seemed to do better than the ones that didn't, not sure why though.
I think those are really great, honestly. It would answer a lot of questions up front and if you get negative feedback after the challenge is over, you can just point and say "well we told you". If we know up front what we're signing up for, then it's on us if it's the type of game we enjoy or not.
I think that's a great explanation. I think the groups that did really well (for the most part) had a lot of interaction/discussions going on. I look at the counts of comments in each group's thread and the top 3 teams all had 1200+ comments (chickadees had 3000+).
Then I look at the bottom few teams (my Lightning Crafter team being one of them) and we had less than 700 comments. I definitely think some groups interacted more than others (had internal mini-challenges, had coordinated efforts on buddy reads, had much more activity going on) and others read at their own pace, did their own thing, and checked in periodically to report read books. So definitely different groups worked different ways.
But then you see a group like Scions of the Dark who had very little discussion (less than 300 comments) and still knocked it out with 4th place and Lighting Hounds who had 1100+ comments and were lower in the rankings so the numbers may/may not say anything!!
I think different people need/want different things out of challenges, so doing the different offerings/approaches like that may be a good alternative to see what works.
Yes us Chicks sure did like to talk haha, but that's what made it more fun for me and hopefully the rest of the team.The 2 different challenge types below though explain perfectly what you are signing up for :○)
This was one of my favorite challenges (my first TT), but we had a great Chickadee team.Karen, I like those ideas! I am so ready for the next challenge :D
Tara Jo wrote: "I think different people need/want different things out of challenges, so doing the different offerings/approaches like that may be a good alternative to see what works. "Agreed!
I think that it would be neat (if it weren't too much of a hassle) for challenges like this to have another category (like how many books you read, where you live) of something like "do you prefer a chatty team, or to just quietly do reading without talking?"
My own team, RingWraiths, was not chatty AT ALL. I'd try to get something going to talk about and it'd last a day or two then be all quiet again. I finally gave up on trying to get them to talk and just focused on my own reading.
It'd be nice on whatever kind of challenge to have mostly chatters together or mostly quiet people together. My team on the last Wheel talked SOOOOOO much it was crazy but we also won the thing. We had a bunch of people who liked talking to each other but also read a lot. It just happened to be a good mix.
It's hard to mix people together randomly and find that good fit. When it works, it's great, when it doesn't, that's when people feel left out. Perhaps lumping people together in a few different degrees of chattiness, plus reading-ness could help out, but it also might be more trouble than it's worth. Just some thoughts I had on it.
I'm looking forward to whatever challenge is next, though I definitely prefer a challenge and where all my books can count towards the challenge. :D I definitely look forward to the next Wheel-a-thon. I need my team back. hehe!! :D
I actually liked having different team members on different sides of the globe (location/time zone), it meant there was chat all hours of the day! So insomniacs have somewhere to go, no matter what :D
Snowtulip wrote: "I actually liked having different team members on different sides of the globe (location/time zone), it meant there was chat all hours of the day! So insomniacs have somewhere to go, no matter wha..."That's true....I'm on Pacific Time, and in another group I'm in, there are a lot of teammates/players in India....while I'm ending my day, just before going to bed, I start to see some teammates updating first thing in the morning! It's nice to see people at different times of day updating/chiming in, but definitely when you're trying to plan something or have a quick pow-wow on something, it's hard when you've got people all over the place.
Yes, our Chickadee team was a chatty one and it was really awesome to be able to log on just about any time of the day or night and 9x out of 10, someone was there.. We represented a lot of different time zones. I also think that our group had fairly similar tastes in books and were open to trying recommendations - so talking books was a lot of fun.
We were also motivated by the mini challenges ~ even when they weren't for any points. We had great captains that were good at keeping spreadsheets updated, communicating our standings, finding or reminding us of buddy reads that fit books we were reading (or typically read) and created our own team bingo challenge. Never a dull moment!
I am one of those who likes the more social and read what I want and not feel pressured. I love the mini challenges and I love when the team clicks and we are all talky.
So sorry to hear that some of you didn't have a good time with the challenge. I had a ball but I think that had a lot to do with our chatty team members. It is amazing we got so many books read with all the time we spent on GR talking, lol!I'm good with both styles of challenges. I like the read what you want, when you want approach but also the match what you're reading and be adaptable type (these help me choose my next book for which I'm always grateful).
I agree with Karsyn, I prefer chatty teams, and ours didn't chat much, it just got to a point where I lost interest completely and let my busy life take over to where I didn't care about the challenge and that kind of sucked. What also sucked was the huge disparity in points I don't read much because I have a busy life but I tried to get as much points as I could by joining in discussions and doing DQs, but I never seemed to really make a difference and I think that contributed to me losing interest as well.
I agree with Karsyn, I prefer chatty teams, and ours didn't chat much, it just got to a point where I lost interest completely and let my busy life take over to where I didn't care about the challenge and that kind of sucked. What also sucked was the huge disparity in points I don't read much because I have a busy life but I tried to get as much points as I could by joining in discussions and doing DQs, but I never seemed to really make a difference and I think that contributed to me losing interest as well.
My group was pretty chatty thankfully. I don't think I could deal with a team that hardly updated or talked at all. I am basically ALWAYS on Goodreads (how do I have six Goodreads tabs open right now!?) so I am always talking to people on here and I don't think I'd enjoy a team that wasn't active.
Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "Stacie D-Struction wrote: "Ezinwanyi~the Impish Angel wrote: "Catherine wrote: "who are you kidding anyway Ezi...you'll be back...you'll probably be the first to sign up!!!! lol:) ..."that's a sh..."
Well that's good! Oh the Hobbitses. Yeah, you guys were amazingly close (and it's great you still are!)
Karsyn wrote: "Tara Jo wrote: "I think different people need/want different things out of challenges, so doing the different offerings/approaches like that may be a good alternative to see what works. "Agreed! ..."
I felt the same way about my Redcaps. I tried to chat and get the others involved and worked hard with my co-captains to do so but there wasn't much convo. I did end up going to chat with the Chickees a lot.
Lol and we loved having you too Stacie especially the rivalry gifs between the teams haha!
I really liked the mini-challenges. Otherwise I didn't enjoy this one as much as the last TT. I think it was because of the buddy reads points. My team weren't reallly interested in doing them and it became quickly apparent that without them a team stood no chance of winning so apart from the mini challenges I lost interest.
On the plus side I did get involved in some of the buddy reads and enjoyed them. I posted more on those threads and had more interaction with people there than I did in my team thread.
On the plus side I did get involved in some of the buddy reads and enjoyed them. I posted more on those threads and had more interaction with people there than I did in my team thread.
Chickadees have just hit 20,000 points !!!
So, since the quiet/busy with work and RL/shy members of the various teams get blamed so much for the challenge being not enjoyable - maybe the Mods should put a note/warning with the next sign up post for the next team challenge that reads something like this:If you are shy, if you need a while to "thaw out" and/or can't be 24/7 on Goodreads - please reconsider signing up for this challenge because you'll get blamed when the "chatty" teammembers of your team don't manage to chat with each other and therefore don't enjoy this reading challenge.
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Yep, that's how I feel reading through the reactions in this thread. I'm shy. I need a while to thaw out and start talking with people no matter how nice they are or how many common interests we have. I have a 40 hours workweek and a ~1,5 hour commute in one direction. My work unfortunately went crazy right at the start of the challenge which forced me to do between 40 and 60 hours overtime a month (and this lasted (and still lasts) the whole challenge) and I had to sacrifice on sleep and other stuff in order to read as much as I did and be a "productive" member of the team and make points. And now I get indirectly blamed that my teammembers didn't have fun enough because apparently there haven't been enough people around to chat with. :(
I can't speak for other quiet members, but I think that other quiet members of the various teams are in similar positions. Maybe RL acted up, maybe they are shy, maybe they need to thaw out, maybe they spent every available minute reading in order to be "productive" because they are slow readers instead of chatting on Goodreads/the teamthreads. Just think about that a bit before you are blaming these people for not being chatty enough.
That being said. I liked my Team. I had a lot of fun. I loved working together for a common goal and doing the mini-challenges. I'm just sad for getting blamed for something I can't influence and for just being me.
I'm sorry your feelings are hurt by the posts here, Saphirablue. I'll be honest and say I feel similarly, although I'm not so much hurt as I just think it had absolutely nothing to do with quiet vs loud as far as teams being successful. My team had a couple of players that almost never spoke (which was totally fine) and a handful of us that talked multiple times a day. We ended at 1.3k comments...and we still never saw even a shot at being near the top of this thing. We were 13th. If it had anything to do with being a group that enjoyed talking to each other, we would have placed a lot higher because we all got along very well.
I think it's unfair for any individuals to blame quiet people for them not enjoying a challenge. It really isn't anyone else's job to make sure you have fun. People forget that behind these icons are actual people with actual lives/jobs/kids/hobbies other than reading, and it's no one else's responsibility to create the fun for you. So yes, I think adding a note of whether or not you enjoy a quiet or a chatty team is a good idea if only to avoid innocent parties being blamed for things they can't do anything about.
I should clearing my post. What really made me lost interest in this TT was the point disparity. I'm busy and don't have a lot of time to read, as I noted before. The comment really regarding the team, and I loved my team sorry to make it sound like I didn't Saphirablue, was that I just didn't feel motivated to finish my one book that would get our team maybe 40 points, and I think that also had more to do with the scoring than my team. It felt at the end "what's the point? Me finishing this book isn't going to help my team much anyway." My chatty comment wasn't in the same vain of "chatty" that others maybe express, I don't need people to entertain me. But I did feel the lack of discussion did inhibit my motivation. Not that anyone is to blame for that but myself.
I didn't participate in previous rounds of TT but I think that having a separate thread to post books our in may have inhibited a lot of conversation within the teams. I realize it was to make things easier for the captains to check posted books but at a big cost to conversation. When you are busy or tired you will probably just quickly post your book in the thread and maybe not even check the "chat" thread. When everything is together I think there are more natural prompts to spur discussion.
I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Me and my big, chatty, mouth.Saphirablue ~ I'm sorry if you felt indirectly "blamed". If you felt that about my posts, I didn't mean it that way, at all. You were one of the more chattier people on the team. No one was super chatty on that team, including my BFF who when she and I get together, we would have kept the thread going on our own. She had real life get in the way so wasn't chatty either. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the team, I did, I liked everyone in it, it was just quiet, and that was ok. As I mentioned, it's hard to find that perfect mix of people with hundreds of people playing and being randomly put together.
I never once said I didn't have fun. I did mention others feeling left out, but I wasn't talking about me, I was talking about the few other people in this thread, who have said it wasn't as fun this time around. I always enjoy these challenges and that doesn't hinge on my team, it hinges on me. My fun comes in reading. I get to read a lot, and that's what I enjoy doing. I've been in multiple team challenges here now and only one of them was a chatty group, but I enjoyed ALL the challenges and never not enjoyed anything because the team was a bit more on the quiet side. My comment was ONLY to suggest maybe on one challenge to try to lump people together by level of chattiness, to see what it would be like.
Yeah, the Buddy Reads were definitely what helped a lot of other teams out, and Pigletto, you were the BR queen of our group. I'm sorry that more of our team wasn't into them. I don't read the same books everyone else does, and the few BR I would have liked to join in (Lock In, Great Zoo of China) I had read the books to recently and couldn't re-read them to join in.
I'm sorry you felt like your points didn't matter Corey. For me, it's not about the points. It doesn't matter that we didn't win. I just enjoy talking about books, reading, interacting and having a good time. I had a good time even without a chatty team, because my team members were all great. I never meant to imply otherwise.
Shutting up now.
I loved my team too. I am not blaming the lack of chat for anything. We hit fifth place with little chat. I got my chat on elsewhere and was just a little sad that there wasn't more chat within my own team.
No offence was meant by my comment, it was just something I observed. I like a good chat and am probably on GR much more than I should be, my hubby thinks I am an obsessed GR nerd........He may be right!!
The whole chatty team thing has never bothered me, in all the team challenges I have been in I have never been put in a chatty team so that's not the reason for me, for me it was that extra motivation to read that I only got when doing the mini challenges. I guess I'm more into the strategic team challenges like Book Buffs’ Battleship and UnCover It!
V Audio Nerd wrote: should be, my hubby thinks I am an obsessed GR nerd........He may be right!!!"I had to laugh at that, mine tells me the exact same thing. When I "have" to stay up late to finish a book by a certain time, he always gives me the "You know they're JUST BOOKS RIGHT?!....weirdo..."
He says it doesn't get it because you don't actually win anything. All my attempts at explaining that that's not the point have gone totally over his head lol
OMG I get that ALL the timeMe " I'll be up in a little while"
Hubby "Why??"
Me " I've got to finish this book tonight for the team"
Hubby "Umm you don't actually have to finish that book though do you? No one is going to die if you don't make it to that last page you nerd!"
Me "YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WE'VE GOT TO SAVE CHRISTMAS !!!!"
Hubby (while running up the stairs) "Goodnight Freak!!"
^^My life Ladies and Gents ......sigh!
Nothing But Reading Challenges
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