Tamagotchi Social Sphere Ocean Challenge 2008
_________________________________________________ ____Welcome one and all! Here you will find all information needed for this event, along side all rules, restrictions and other important information so please read everything before PMing me or posting any questions or concerns regarding this.
How the Challenge is going to work...
_________________________________________________ ____Firstly, the people who choose to participate in this TSS Ocean Challenge will need to "register" aka sign up ahead of time before this whole thing starts. You can begin registering in this topic on
June 1st, 2008 until June 30th, 2008. This should give everyone lots of time to register, and new people who come across this become accustomed to TSS to qualify entering
See below "How to Register for the TSS Ocean Challenge" for details.Next once we have all people signed up, we will all gather in TSS's Live Chatroom on
July 4th, 2008 at 8pm Eastern time to hatch all of them at once. Below is the Timezone plan that is being used for this event hatch. Please look carefully to find your timezone's correct time to come in and hatch your Ocean.
TL3-Plan;
USA, Hawaii 3:00 PM
USA, Alaska 4:00 PM
USA/Canada, West Coast 5:00 PM
USA/Canada, Mountain Time 6:00 PM
USA/Canada, Central Time 7:00 PM
USA/Canada, East Coast 8:00 PMCanada, Nova Scotia 9:00 PM
Brazil 9:00 and 10:00 PM
UK, Iceland 1:00 AM (the next day)
Europe (most of) 2:00 AM (the next day)
Finland, East Europe 3:00 AM (the next day)
South Africa 3:00 AM (the next day)
Russia (10 timezones) 4:00 AM to 2:00 PM (the next day)
Thailand, Indonesia (west) 8:00 AM (the next day)
China 9:00 AM (the next day)
Indonesia (east), Philippines 9:00 AM (the next day)
Japan, both Koreas 10:00 AM (the next day)
Australia, West 9:00 AM (the next day)
Australia, East 11:00 AM (the next day)
New Zealand 1:00 PM (the next day)
Q: What if I am registered to participate, but can't make it to the hatch/start of the challenge?
A: Please tell me at least a few hours BEFORE the hatch is supposed to take place. You will still be required to hatch your Ocean at the same time as us, but in this case you will also then need to mention this in your log that you hatched at the same time as the rest of us, but couldn't make it in
(See Honour System).Once the hatch has marked the start of the challenge, participants will be required to log their progress in the TSS Ocean Challenge 2008 Log topic. It's encouraged you post your progress on a daily basis or semi daily basis making note of your character's age, weight, who it is, any tricks you're trying to help it live longer, when it changes/gets older, when it dies and any other information you wish to put down.
Pictures showing your progress are also encouraged, but if you can't get your hands on a camera or webcam, be VERY specific about what stage of life your character is at and other things you see on the screen.
At the end, the person who has had their Ocean live the longest is the winner. There will be first and second place winners. The winners will then have to pick a number between 1-30.
See "Numbered Draw Winner" for details. Q: So what's the prizes?
A: First and second place winners, along with the Numbered draw people they choose, will win a personalized signature tag trophy made by OM21 with the characters that made it the longest in the challenge! Special thanks goes out to OM21 for these things, I bet they are going to be fantastic!
How to Register for the TSS Ocean Challenge
_________________________________________________ ____People who are interested in joining this challenge need to post the following information to qualify:
1. Username and/or Nickname you go by.
2. What Ocean are you entering (Is it Japanese or is it English type, with design) and if you plan on namesaking or nicknaming your Ocean.
3. Any Additional comments (such as what character you are going to aim for, why you decided to enter and/or thoughts, concerns etc...)
You will need to post this information in this topic before the
end of June 30th, 2008 to be counted.
Q: What if I enter myself a date or minute late past the deadline?
A: Any participant(s) after this date will have to contact me privately to either give a good reason why you were unable to meet the deadline (personal problems, family emergency, illness etc...) so I can pardon you, or you will have to contact me privately to ask to be put into the Numbered Draw (scroll down for details).
Otherwise you will not be counted at all in this event. I trust majority of TSS members are reliable and are truthful
Q: Who is allowed to sign up for this challenge?
A: All TSS Members are allowed to register/sign up for this challenge. Only ones who will not be eligible to win will be myself TigerLily013, Our Admins Kat aka Mimitchi and Brendan aka Lord Monkey and Osumesu21 as my partner for putting together this challenge. We can still enter, but just for fun though

Our progress will not count.
Q: Are new comers to TSS allowed to register to this?
A: My recommendation for new people if any are reading this to please register and start on the forums at least a couple weeks before the challenge is said to start so you have time to read the rules, see how things are done at Tamagotchi Social Sphere, and be able to get to know the regulars of the forum. It'll help both you, me, and other TSS members if you do this.
Numbered Draw Winner
_________________________________________________ ____Not everyone will be able to go into the TSS Ocean Challenge because they might not have the time, patience, or an Umino to hatch. This is where this comes in. For people who don't have an Umino, but still want to participate, they need to PM me by July 3rd to let me know, and then pick a number between 1-30 to be written down as this number.
The winner(s) of the challenge (First and Second Place) will be picking one of those numbers (between 1-30) and the number picked will also win a prize.
Example: Johnny is participating in the hatch with his Ocean, but Mary can't because she doesn't have one. She PM's me "Hey can you put me in the Numbered Draw for the challenge? I want number 16". I put her on the list as #16. Johnny then wins the challenge and is asked to pick a number between 1-30. If Johnny picks 16, Mary wins a prize too. Note: Keep in mind the list will not be revealed to anyone so winners will not know who they are picking in the Numbered Draw when they win. This keeps things fair so no one can play favourites.
Q: What if the number I asked for is taken?
A: Well in the PM back to you asking, I'll let you know that it's taken then give you another number. I think there's plenty to go around for this thing
Rules/Restrictions for the TSS Ocean Challenge
_________________________________________________ ____1. One Tamagotchi Ocean per participant. More than one could complicate matters as others might get more time if one dies, which isn't fair for the other players in this challenge. Plus it'll eliminate more stress trying to care for more than one (Trust me I tried it on my own once, it was hard @_@;;; lol.)
If you own more than one, you'll have to pick the one you want to register with you for this thing

You're allowed to run your other virtual pets if you wish, but if not my suggestion would be to pause the others until the challenge is done

2. Every participant with an Ocean is allowed up to 3 hours of pausing time if/when needed. We all know this thing is super demanding and there will be times for all players where life has to come first before their Ocean, so this is a "grace period" of sorts you can use if you run into this issue during the challenge.
You can either use all 3 hours up in one sitting, or split it up so that each day you have a little bit of time to yourself to have it on pause. In either case you will need to log in how much pause time you used that day (See Honour System Below). When you have used 3 hours of pausing grace up, that's it. So choose carefully when you want to pause.
Q: What if I have to pause for more than the 3 hour pausing limit?
A: I'm not going to be a nazi and say "OMGZ U FAIL" if you go over, but if you have a family emergency or something's come up that's extremely important and you're out of any time left to pause, PM me or (insert other name here) about the issue and we'll discuss what we should do from there. Every situation can be different so there's no set way of handling stuff like that. It just be a pretty dang good reason for you needing to go over the 3 hour pause allowance.
3. There will be no time changing on your ocean. The exception to this would be if you have to move your clocks forward or back depending on your country. Time changing is almost like pausing, and if you do decide you need to do this, you better be prepared to count it as part or all of your 3 hour pausing allowance.
4. If your Ocean dies, you will need to log the day and time it went, along with age, character and your personal comments. If you choose to restart it, it won't count as part of the challenge anymore, and only the first death time, date, age and character will count.
Q: What if the batteries in my Ocean decide to drain and die on me in middle of competition?
A: Hate to say it, but you're done. I suggest if you don't want to be stuck in this scenario, make DOUBLE SURE you have new batteries or ones that have been tested and haven't been used much. It's up to the player's discretion that if they used used batteries that they could just crap out on you at any time. Test BEFORE the challenge starts.
5.
Have fun! The point to this whole thing is to challenge each other and ourselves with this awesome bandai pet. It's hard and sometimes a major pain in the rear, but we all know how rewarding it is when you get the adult character you want or even reaching adulthood with as little problems as possible. Let's not get too serious during this competition and let's keep it positive and enjoyable for all.
NOTE: Any problems with another player being rude or unsportsman-like during the challenge please let me know privately. Anyone caught being disrespectful will be disqualified and the admins on this board can decide from there whether to put on further discipline towards the problematic user or not.
The Honour System and what it is...
_________________________________________________ ____Since this is a fun challenge for everyone, we want it to remain as easy-going and without too many restrictions as possible so I'm enabling the Honour System to be in place.
The Honour System is for everyone who is participating in this and any other contest-like event here on Tamagotchi Social Sphere.
It's expected you are reliable, truthful and mature about all rules and restrictions given in place with this challenge so that everyone can enjoy themselves more and not worry about things like "So-and-so is lying about pausing their Ocean for more than the limited amount of time given..." or "I think that person is making up that excuse to get out of hatching with the rest of us..."
It is also expected that if something happens during the challenge that you take any consequences gracefully without causing problems to you or other participating members.
Remember this is a close-knit online community that takes respect, trust, honesty and justice very seriously. Anyone who is unable to follow the site's rules or said Honour System will be given to the admins of this board and consequences will follow. Let's all remember common sense and courtesy!
***I think that about wraps up all needed information and such. Any further questions please address in here or in private and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you to all who assisted me with putting this together: Osumesu21, Mimitchi for the look over and help with the poll, Kokuma for the Timezone Plans and for all of you for showing interest and being here on Tamagotchi Social Sphere. Let's make it all something to remember

[edit: linked to calendar -kat]