Hindsight is 20/20.
I wish there would have been a way to submit names anonymously, or not have had the names attributed to each submitter. That way, if more than one person submitted the same name, the plaque would be for all those that submitted that name if it won.
At the same time, what if a large guild on Origin (don't laugh we used to have a number of singularly large guilds at one time or another) had one or two members submit names and then that large guild all voted for those two. Those guild members might have friends off the shard from X-shard trading and request for them to vote. Ad nauseum. Would that invalidate the votes because that the guild, which plays on Origin, actively encouraged members to vote for those two names so their guildmates could win?
Like I said, I play Devil's Advocate, quite frequently. There was no better way to run the contest, tho I do disagree with the way it will be voted on in the end. Because in the end, voting will be biased because of a posted ICQ with names omitted.
Biased voting sucks. So does cheating.
But in the end, despite what that person did, I believe that if there is a true landslide vote, that chances -are-, quite strongly, that not only did people offshard vote for a specific name, but for the shard voted as well for that name. I feel it would be very wrong and anti-shard spirit to not choose the winning name as the name of the steed just because someone offshard submitted a name.
I would also like to note that there was no rule ever stated that you had to play on the shard to submit the name. The rules as posted on the forum:
To recap the rules and deadlines:
By March 7, 2009: Post your Silver Steed name entry on the bulletin board in front of the EM House by 11:50 p.m. PST. One entry per player
March 8-14: Use the ballot box to vote for your favorite name
March 15: Top five names will be submitted to a panel of judges to determine the winning name
March 17: Winning name will be announced at the Taming Event sponsored by LSN
Time to get those creative juices flowing and come up with a name for Origin's Silver Steed! The bulletin board and book are located at the EM house next to the EM Hall in Britain.
There is/was no way to determine if anyone actually does or does not actively play this shard. I have fully developed characters on multiple shards, including Oceania, Great Lakes, Legends and Lake Superior. Origin has the most characters, but each of those has fully developed GM or better characters and at one time I was very active on two of those shards at a time.
And, I hate to say this last part, because of this, chances are, EMs will be forced to have similar contests on other shards because of the problems arising from this one.
But in all seriousness. This is 1) above all a game. 2) the internet---you can't prevent Origin players from cheating and voting from computers, you can't stop players not from Origin voting, you can't stop people who don't play UO from voting, you can't stop people from asking folks from other servers to vote.
There are good and bad to go with it. I think, truthfully, it would be a BAD idea to not go with the winning name, despite the "unsavory" circumstances. I can say this because I didn't participate in submitting a name and I provided at least a couple items as prizes.
