Secrets Of Tibia III – contest

TibiaSecrets invites you to participate in the 3rd edition of our contest called “Secrets of Tibia III”.

A great challenge awaits you, but also amazing prizes. Do you want to compete for fame and fortune? Do you have knowledge that no one else has? It’s time to make history.

Your task is to write an article. The article has to describe or present a Tibian secret/mystery related to the topic you have chosen. We realize that gathering information and writing an article is not only quite difficult but also time-consuming. Therefore, great prizes are waiting for the winners, and you have 7 weeks to do your research and prepare the article.

This edition is experimental, as for the first time, we are not imposing a list of topics for the article. You have free rein, of course, while remaining within the Tibian "mysteriando" realm. We are also setting the highest word limit to date - 7500. We look forward to long and interesting submissions.

The detailed rules are below. You can also find them in a dedicated channel on our Discord. There you can also ask questions about the competition.

Mystery-hunters, mysteriando lovers, RPG fanatics, we call upon you!

List of prizes:

1. Choice between: Bonelord Tome / Tome of Choice (Grey, Green, Blue) / Yellow Rose. Additionally, Royal Medal + 300 TC sponsored by TibiaSecrets
2. Choice between the remaining two items + Royal Medal
3. Remaining item + Heavy Medal
4. Elven trophy + Golden Rune Emblem of choice + 250 TC sponsored by TibiaSecrets
5. Hero's medal + Golden Rune Emblem of choice
6. Badge of glory + Golden Rune Emblem of choice
7. 250 TC sponsored by TibiaSecrets

Detailed rules:

1. The article is intended to present/describe a Tibian secret or several secrets. The term “secret” is very broad. It can refer not only to a secret/”mysteriando”, but also, for example: allusions, hidden mechanics, or theories about Tibia’s lore. 
   This time (experimentally), we are not providing a list of available topics to adhere to. However, this does not mean that you can completely deviate from the rule described above – your entry must still revolve around Tibian secrets.
2. The structure and nature of the article can be whatever you wish. For example: it can be divided into chapters – like TibiaSecrets articles – but it does not have to be. It can be an RPG-style short story or take the form of research. It can be satirical or serious in nature. Remember, however, that the article must also meet the other conditions of the rules.
3. The article must be written in English only. Other languages will not be accepted. Please also use translators with caution, as the linguistic correctness of the article will be considered a plus.
4. The article must include a title.
5. Remember that the article must be accessible to the reader. Your work is not just a competition entry and will be read and analyzed by the people judging it and may be read by the players themselves. Therefore, the maximum word limit is 7500 words. There is no minimum word limit. The TibiaSecrets team will use https://wordcounter.net/ to verify the word count of submitted entries.
6. You can use commonly available knowledge about the game (books, documents, information on tibia.com), as well as any information you find on the web. For example, on fan sites or Discord servers. However, remember that you must always provide the source/author of the information.
7. It is acceptable and even recommended, to use common knowledge that is seemingly unrelated to the game – for example, if you know of an interesting allusion that relates to the real world, write about it in the article, using the knowledge available on the web. Remember to cite the source.
8. It is allowed and recommended to include screenshots, images and graphics. If, however, you wish to use graphics/pictures that you are not the author of, please remember to respect the rights of the respective owners. If the author of the image/graphic has permitted you to distribute it, then you must comply with the license that covers the image/graphic.
   On the other way, it is not recommended to add a large amount of text to images. Such an action may be treated as an attempt to bypass the word limit which will result in a deduction of points. The text on the image should relate to the image or briefly describe the content of the image.
9. Consider that self-made graphics/images do not increase your rating much. This is not a competition for artistic abilities.
10. It is not allowed to submit an article that has already been published anywhere. For example, on a fansite, Reddit, Discord or another platform. However, if you are the author of an article that has been previously published, it is possible to base your article on its content. In this case, you must acknowledge the source and indicate that you are the author of the original article. Please note, however, that the “element of surprise”, i.e. knowledge that was not previously available to the general public, will be taken into consideration.
11. It is forbidden to use or link to websites containing hacks, cheats, bots, OTS-related content or content that generally violates the Tibia Rules.
12. It is not allowed to use or refer to so-called Leaked Files.
13. Write the truth. It is forbidden to intentionally provide false information in the article. For example: preparing screenshots to show and describe invented mechanics. The secrets described will be subject to verification. Any attempt to mislead the reader by providing false information will result in disqualification. If, when describing an issue, you are not completely sure of the truth of your assumptions, clearly state that what you are writing about is just a theory/hypothesis.
14. The content must NOT be related to inappropriate things or have inappropriate language.
15. Your submission must be sent to (switch to dark mode if you can't see the image below):
    
    The only acceptable form of submission is a link to a document on Google Drive in a format supported by Google Docs (preferably docx).
16. Your application must include your nickname and the server you are playing on. It is best if you include this information in the body of the email or at the beginning/end of the article.
17. Each participant can submit only one article for the contest.
18. The TibiaSecrets team is responsible for selecting the 7 winning entries. In this edition, we once again invited an independent expert (Brighid Grand Explorateur - respected admin of TibiaLight.com and TibiaWiki.com.br) for an additional increase in transparency and fairness of evaluation. He will help us with judging all the entries.
19. TibiaSecrets team members and independent experts cannot participate in the competition.
20. Any attempt of plagiarism will result in disqualification of the participant. Plagiarism is understood as using someone else’s text or graphics/photographs/images as your own without giving the source or breaking the license of the original work. If you quote someone else, you must make it clear in the article, giving the source.
21. TibiaSecrets has decided that the content of entries will not be made public (while the competition is ongoing). All valid entries will be published on the TibiaSecrets main page only after the contest is officially closed and the winners are selected. As we value your work and creativity, this is to prevent plagiarism or even inspiration from other contestants’ work.
22. Corrections to an article after the submission deadline are allowed, but only at the request of the TibiaSecrets team. Corrections after the submission deadline can only be made in the case of missing sources or inappropriate use of other people’s works. TibiaSecrets in such a case may contact the author of the article to correct the faulty information.
23. TibiaSecrets members may contact the author of the article after the submission deadline to verify/clarify the secrets described.
24. TibiaSecrets reserves the right to announce the contest results at any time (minimum time is approx. 1 month after closing the competition). This is in connection with the proper evaluation of the submitted entries. Some secrets described by the article author may be verified by TibiaSecrets members. This may involve verification of the issue in the game itself or on the Internet. Therefore, the deadline for the announcement of the contest results will be influenced by the number of submitted entries.
25. TibiaSecrets team members will publish the progress of article verification (article topic, nickname, world and verification result) on their Discord server.
26. TibiaSecrets reserves the right to publish all entries on the TibiaSecrets homepage as full articles.
27. We will rate (among others):
    - Your creativity and knowledge of the game. “Element of surprise”, i.e. knowledge that has not been widely available before. 
    - The flow and coherence of the article – make sure it’s enjoyable to read and keeps the viewer’s attention.
    - The visual aspect of the article, i.e. the form of presentation of the content, the ease of its reception, is also subject to assessment, but it will not be the decisive factor in choosing the winners.
    
    We have decided to reveal our evaluation criteria so that you know what we will focus on the most. After the end of the competition, the complete scoring from each judge will be made available to the Community Managers for potential verification purposes.
    
    *Numbers on the left are the amounts of points to be assigned.

28. Participants are strongly discouraged from utilizing AI, such as ChatGPT, to generate their contest entries. While we appreciate technological advancements, the primary purpose of this contest is to showcase individual creativity and writing skills. In obvious cases where AI-generated content is identified (AI-generated graphics are allowed), the submission may be subject to a significant reduction in score.

29. The contest starts on Feb 1st 2024 and ends on Mar 21st 2024 20:00 CET.