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Everyone has been talking about Battlefield vs. Modern Warfare 3, but in all the commotion we’re missing a much bigger problem looming on the horizon. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launches next week on Tuesday, Nov. 8, and a mere three days later The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim launches on Friday, Nov. 11. This means that heading into the weekend, millions of gamers will be in the difficult position of deciding which game to play.
Now, I can tell you which one I think is more exciting, but we’d rather settle this thing once and for all. That’s why we’re proposing a friendly little competition on the site:
Here’s how it’s going to work: each game will get seven days from when it launches to ask and answer questions about the game. The winning criteria will be the total number of views the questions get over the course of the week. We’ll stop the clock after seven days and declare a winner on Friday, November 18.
The goal, as always, is to have great answers to real questions. We know that when a game first launches, hundreds of thousands of poor souls take to the Internet with questions about romance, song lyrics, money-making tips, and hundreds of other topics. This means that right after launch is the best time to draw new users to the site. This contest is a way to do just that and have some fun while we’re at it. If it works, we’ll do more events like this in the future.
What’s in it for me?
To make it interesting, we’ll be awarding prizes in two categories*. The owner of the top question and top answer (by votes) about each game will win a free copy of an upcoming game (their choice!).
The grand prize will be reserved for the game that wins the competition. We’ll choose a random winner from everyone who asked or answered a question about the winning game. Every vote you receive will give you one chance to win, so the more questions and answers you post, the greater your chances to win. The lucky winner will be announced on Friday, Nov. 18th and will win their choice of XBOX 360, PS3, or sweet PC graphics card.
* Each person can win only one prize. Only questions, answers, and votes made during the event (Nov 8 – 14 for MW3, Nov 11 – 17 for Skyrim) will be counted. Stack Exchange and Fog Creek employees are not eligible to win.
Live Streaming Launch Party
In addition to the online contest, we’ll be hosting a live party at Stack Exchange World Headquarters in New York on Friday, Nov. 11. We’ll have systems set up for both games and a live webcam streaming the party. If you plan to be in New York, drop us an email at team+gaming@stackexchange.com — space is limited, so respond ASAP. For everyone who can’t make it to the party, we’ll be hanging out in chat, and you might even be able to join us for some live MW3.
Either way (online or in-person), you should plan on checking out the party. We’ve got all sorts of crazy plans for the evening, from themed foods to costumes to bringing in a comedian to do color commentary on the games being played. The only way to experience it is to be there live on Friday night, so mark your calendar!
Get Ready!
Time is running out! If you haven’t preordered your copies of the games yet, do it now! Be sure to follow us on Twitter @StackGaming for updates on the contest, and head over to gaming.stackexchange.com starting Tuesday, Nov. 8th for a special surprise and a link to the event page. Tell your friends!
See you there!
UPDATE: The site is now live! Head over to skyrimVSmw3.com for full prize and contest information.
Filed under Meta
Tagged: modern-warfare-3, skyrim
Gaming.stackexchange has it’s own livestream: http://www.livestream.com/gaming_se which would be a better place for the livestream to take place. Just ask and I’ll put you in the moderator list.
It’s obvious which one’s going to win, purely because MW3 is pretty much an on rails shooter, and Skyrim is an RPG. The only questions MW3 is going to get is probably involving multiplayer, and it won’t get many. Skyrim on the other hand will get questions on practically everything, from character builds, to money making tips etc etc.
My thoughts exactly. There aren’t many questions that could possibly come up from a FPS like this. Things you might worry about might not be relevant until you unlock some things and that takes time. In RPG’s, everything is relevant at the start.
I thought so too, at first. But take a look at all the black ops questions on the site: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/call-of-duty-black-ops 131 questions makes it the #11 game on the site, and it’s even higher by traffic.
I’d need the video card first. :P
Excellent promotion idea, I hope a week will be enough to draw enough users in. I think we really need a prominent ad for new users displaying it.
Also, very nice contest site! Kudos to the designer(s) :)
Well more are going to go for mw3, obviously because it’s a worldwide multiplayer shooter, but I’d personally choose Skyrim only because I like games for how long the game has been designed and what you can do in it. (Plus I am a RPG fan) Also though I think MW3 and basically the whole COD series has some problems through out their games.