Howto:Event

These are general guidelines geared to help organize events and make things easier for everyone involved, the guidelines may be changed at any time. The goal is to have fun!

Event Hosting Guidelines

 * You should be at least an officer to run an event
 * OMs may add prizes from time to time, but you must supply most of them.
 * Events should be open to anyone. You're welcome to hold a crew or flag contest, but the events forum isn't the right place to post that.
 * Ocean Masters can announce events in advance if they are large enough or warrant a broadcast. Broadcasts should be requested by email as OM support for an event (see Event planning ). Even with approval, all broadcasts are at the sole discretion of the OM onduty at that time.
 * No events will be supported in any way if you profit from them.
 * Tournaments should no longer be preplanned and posted unless they have especially large prizes.
 * You are responsible for getting your event organized and running, Ocean Masters will not be helping out with events unless you organize it with them in advance.
 * The following are not events: Pillaging, Black Ship Attempts

Event Posting Guidelines

 * Be sure to include all relevant information about your event in your post: Rules, date, time, where (island/ocean/house), for whom, prizes, fees and any additional information.
 * Please include the event title as well as the date and time of the event in your post subject.
 * Annoying posts, off-topic posts, threads, etc. will be removed without warning.

Event Types
We encourage you to be creative with your events and understand that each event has its own special circumstances. Here are a few examples of, and information about, event types:

Blockade event
More information on Event Blockades can be found herethe event.

Wedding Guidelines

 * Bands and gem rings are available from the Palace Shoppe, these can be inscribed.
 * Weddings are not considered events on their own and will only be broadcast if they are combined with another broadcast-worthy event.
 * Weddings are not officially supported in any way.

Lotteries, Raffles, Auctions and Entrance Fees

 * Lotteries, Raffles, Auctions and events with entrance fees will be allowed. However, anyone entering them will be doing so at your own risk. Ocean Masters will still investigate any claims of wrongdoing or cheating but no poe or lost items will be returned even if we do find the party hosting the event at fault. In other words, don't enter if you don't trust the person or people hosting it.
 * People who wish to hold a lottery, raffle or auction should have the following disclaimer written on their event:
 * Please note that this event, as with any lottery, raffle or auction, is run at the risk of the participants. If there is shown to be cheating or wrongdoing, the culprit will be punished, but no poe will be returned to participants affected. Please only enter if you trust the person or people hosting.

Claiming Prizes from OM events
In most OM events, prizes are pre-determined and are delivered by the OMs to a shack or house of the winners. In some cases, though, winners are asked to pick up a prize, choose a prize, or to provide information (such as type, color, location, pirate, etc). In these cases please provide the requested information or pick up the prizes within two weeks. After that time, all prizes will be forfeit.

Offering real-life prizes
We are not comfortable with events hosted on this site offering prizes that require winners to provide mailing addresses. We therefore request that you do not do this.

Prizes on Opal and Jade for Global Events

 * Winners in global events run or supported by OMs are welcome to claim their prizes on Opal and Jade, unless noted otherwise.
 * Winners in global events run by players are welcome to claim their prizes on Opal and Jade, if the host offers that option.
 * Global events will continue to be run in English, with entries in English.
 * For some OM events, translations of the event post may be provided and posted by the OMs in the international oceans' event forums.
 * Events run specifically for Opal will be run in German, events run specifically for Jade will be run in Spanish and prizes can only be claimed on the according ocean.
 * Ocean Masters will not help with the translation of events upon request.
 * However, we do reserve the right to chose suitable events run by players and translate them for international oceans, if we find the time.
 * We will not distribute English language prizes on a non-English ocean. This means that labelled prizes (ships, inscribed trinkets, etc.) will be replaced by a similar prize, labelled in the ocean's language.
 * Finally, these are guidelines put in place so that there is a current policy. The policy is subject to change if we alter how we support international events.

Ocean Master assistance for events
To request Ocean Master assistance with an event - whether it's advice, prizes or other requests - please email events@puzzlepirates.com and include the information requested on the Event planning page to help us to deal efficiently with your event request. We hope that this process will mean that we're able to get the information we need more quickly, and therefore get decisions back to you more promptly. You may find that some sections of the template are not relevant to your event - that's fine. Fill in as much as is relevant.

If you are new to running events, or considering running events for the first time, please see the Advice for new events runners page.

Ocean Master involvement

 * Events should not actively involve Ocean Masters or Developers without their explicit consent. You're welcome to use our names - e.g. as the subjects of a (tasteful) creative event. However, they should not be involved actively (e.g. as part of a scavenger hunt).
 * While it occasionally happens, it is unlikely that Ocean Masters or Developers will be able to help run player events, whether it is as rules enforcers, participants or judges. Any involvement required in an event should be agreed in advance, by asking for the support by email using the template in the Events Howto page. Alternatively, you can contact the Ringers directly by PM first, and once you have the PM responses, send in a request event support by email if you need it. This process should be completed before the event is posted.

Event broadcast
If you want a broadcast, that counts as OM support for the event, which needs to be requested in advance. This can be done by following the guidelines and template given in the Event planning page. The criteria for a broadcast are similar to those given above for noticeboard listing, and in addition it must be an appropriate event to broadcast.

If you get approval for a broadcast, you should prepare a short informative message that includes the url for your event post, a contact name, and an event title. The message should be no longer than what would fit in a normal /speak or /tell message. About one hour before you need the broadcast, you can send in a petition with the prepared broadcast message, and include the time that you wish the broadcast to take place. OMs on duty will only carry out broadcasts for events that have agreed them in advance. As stated elsewhere, broadcasts remain at the discretion of the OM on duty. They will always try their best to help you with broadcasts, but if they are unable to do so, please respect their decision.

Noticeboard listing for events
You do not need to email the events email address to get a noticeboard listing - it is a process independent from OM support. An OM picks events up from the various events forums, and selects those that look appropriate for a noticeboard listing. Some of the criteria are: The list is usually updated a couple of times a week.
 * good prizes
 * open to a large number of people
 * sufficient notice
 * looks well-planned, and good quality post
 * no entry fee, not for profit