Holiday House Exchange 2018 (HHE18) Official Announcement Thread

ooh, Im tempted, but a little nervous as I've never done a house swap before.... I think Ive done some nice houses but not sure I could handle the pressure of decorating for someone else!

This is the perfect event for you to get your feet wet! The flexibility of this event is what I think people love the most. You don't have so many limitations with the HHE vs others. I can't tell you how many people were in your shoes, nervous and unsure of their work. But when they did their first swap house, they said it wouldn't be their last! We have seasoned decorators all the way over to people who absolutely hate to decorate but still want to participate. Some are brand new to decorating and hop right in. This isn't a contest to see who can do better than their neighbor, this is an event to gift a home to another person. That home has your special taste decorated in it and that's what makes it unique and perfect.
When you sign up, if you are new to the swaps, you can add that to your message to Shanette. I know the event is 'random' on who you get as your decorator, but I know she can make a few tiny adjustments to make sure you get someone that will surely appreciate your work.
I think you should go for it! And I'm here if you need any help as well as all the other helpers. Many people ask for someone to come into their work and check every few days to see if things are missing, words are misspelled or if something doesn't look right. We've always got your back

I second everything Wizzam said. I couldn't have worded it better myself.
I hope you decide to join in the fun!

This was so much fun last year!
Don't forget to get your sign ups in, and pass the word around to friends and guildees!
The more, the merrier!!!

New to the HHE and have a question that might sound dumb but for a home that is decorated should we be removing everthing so the decorator has a clean slate to start with.

Just my opinion but if it's a house that you don't like anymore you could simply pack everything in a crate yes and let them use whatever they wanted, if they wanted. Sometimes I leave things the way they are so they get an idea for my taste. . . but it just depends on you.

As much fun as it was for me to do the last 3 houses for the last 2 house swaps.I havent placed one item in any of my own homes since before Sept.
I game to decorate and decorate 90% of my game. I get paid good plat to decorate. I have way less plat now than I had in Sept and less DBC and 3 ppl have nice homes decorated for free. And before you jump all over me....Yes I to got 2 lovely homes in these events as well. May I continue?

The NotD swap was overshadowed by the Urn house "incident" and I for one never heard who the winners were for the NotD swap. To be perfectly honest I did not understand if there were to be any winners and what would they win?
The SSHH swap deadline was not met by all decorators so not sure if those homes are disqualified or what. But my friend has not been notified if her house is done or not and its alrdy Jan 4th.
The details are not clear as to HOW each of these event will end. Day winners will be announced. Prize or prizes awarded. Just deadline to be finished and that videos will be made.

You spend months decorating your heart out to create something awesome for someone and then your house doesnt get done or is done with as few items as 122? I saw one on Skyfire LB with that as the item count for a massive home. I only hope that the person who decorated with so little item count got more in their house. I feel sorry for the owner of the 122 home.

Too many events do not allow us time to play game for ourselves. I will pass on this event. GL to the rest of you.

Ack! Were we supposed to mail the recipient that the house was done? I did not do that as I thought the event was over on midnight of Jan 1st and all houses were supposed to be done at that time. If I should mail the recipient, please let me know and I'll do that as soon as I see the message. My sincere apologies if I erred on that one!

These event unless stated other wise do not give you a Prize .. the purpose of these events are to give to others and to have fun
When you sign up to do an event like these my advise if you cant make an items personally ( or quest for it or grind it ) dont use it (then it wont cost you the earth in plat on the market) find a alternative solution ( as i do) , dont use DBC stuff (save that for yourself or your paid work as its way over priced)...

as for the not getting done on time ... people some times take the micky especially when you have months to do something even if its a little at a time there is plenty of time to do it .. or dont sign up..

as for the 122 ic it doesn't matter how much ic you use as long as it has had effort and imagination put in to it... take my house for the heroes event .. i did 3 one for faeonara, one for Ocarinah and one for Shanette i use a mistmore crags and a dhalga with an ic of 900 each but only used about 100 and they were stunning... its not about the ic its about the meaning behind them...
you can also ask the event organiser not to pair you with certain people or certain skill lvls, we all come in different stages and this comment as much as i understand where your coming from does not give confidence to the newer decorators or the ones not to your standard,

yes there are loads of events in a yr as well as moonlight and festivals ect... you do not have to sign up to all of them in fact you dont have to sign up for any if you do not wish to its your choice what you do no one is making you , but dont do these events if all you expect are prizes and winners because there is none unless otherwise stated and the winners are everyone who participates by getting a home made and designed by some one else who regardless of skill lvl care to do them for you..

just my 2pence worth

Archeria made a posting in the SSHHS2017 thread that everyone must be done by January 1st by 11:59 pm pst more than a month in advance and a second one once deadline was nearing. She also was announcing the approaching deadline in homeshow channel and posted in forums as well. Because she extended the deadline twice to meet people's needs (the event had over triple the amount of time as previous years) so she said no more extensions would be allowed. I have not heard anyone say they didn't finish. I do know some people were traveling so have not had a chance to see or publish their houses. Everyone is allowed to enter their home after deadline even in past when houses were not completed. We do not tell people to contact homeowner to say they are completed because they might not be around the day the event ends. We don't want people contacted early cuz people talk in homeshow and it will ruin the surprise of who decorated for whom, etc. In previous years, most homeowners that didn't get a completed house were kind enough to allow the decorator more time especially since life tends to throw people curve balls in their real life. I know I would want someone to be understanding and allow me to finish if I had emergency situation come up. If it is a contest (there is a prize/winner(s)) the event runner has option to give everyone more time or be strict about the deadline. Shanette has run events having everyone contact her so that if everyone on a server is finished they get to see their houses early. Totally fine but SSHHS event was not changed to be like that since it has been run several years now. It is totally up to the person running the event to decide how they feel comfortable to run an event.

As far as the TOT17 event (the Night of the Dead Tricks or Treat event run by Shanette), I am pretty sure all the video tours were completed and posted on forums before the Urn event even ended. I thought she even posted on forums when participation prizes were sent to everyone. There was one house not finished but anyone that needed to know this was notified and not a big deal.

As for whether there is a winner for an event...

If something is called a swap it means there is no winner normally.

If something is called a contest it means there will be a prize normally.

If something is called an event, read what the posting says and ask questions if you don't understand the event.

All of us for a few years now have been asking Daybreak to provide a participation prize that everyone will receive including the ones running event and any judges if there are any.

For contests, it is totally up to whoever is running the event to decide what the prize may be. It could be anything. It could be a judged contest or a random drawing contest. People have started going the random drawing route so that it is fair to newer decorators and also to avoid all the possible drama associated with having judges.

I have found that people are not actually reading the posting describing events and the rules. I highly suggest before you agree to participate in any event that you actually read the entire information posted and ask any questions you may have. People running the events are players trying to make things fun for everyone and try their very best to be specific about their events and fair. They don't want to exclude anyone or anything like that. To keep it fun for the event runner, please be sure to follow the rules for the events and if emergency happens keep them informed so it can be handled in the best way possible.

I have posted before that I will not be running events anymore. I am finishing up the SSHHS2017 event now by doing video tours. I have 7 done and 27 to go. I am one person so I hope people are patient. Most of the events for 2018 will be run by Shanette which hopefully help reduce confusion. I know Ratbill will be taking over my Heroes Decorating Event and there might be others that want to do an event. I am sure everyone will welcome others that what to run an event as well, so don't be shy. If someone new does decide to run an event, I hope people that have run events before will introduce you to Daybreak employee so that you can request participation prizes. I introduced Shanette, Eli and Ratbill to this employee but there are others that could handle this as well.

Ouch! These Events are not contests. There are no winners. I have spent my fair share of plat and IC doing a house for a SWAP but I never thought anything of it. It's a GAME. I never think I am loosing anything. The person I'm doing it for is actually gaining a beautiful house decorated to the best of MY abilities. Weather they like it or not is up to them, but again it is just a GAME and I don't get any other joy out it other than doing something NICE for someone else. If I went into these things thinking about how much plat I was loosing I would never do them.
I rarely enter "Contests" because I am NOT that good of a decorator when standing up against all the others here on the forums. Why enter something that I can't possibly win? I entered 1 contest on Thurgain and I won by DEFAULT because I was the only one that entered! If anyone else on Thurgadin had entered I'm almost positive that they would have won over me. I won't be entering any contests on Skyfire. . . too many pros there. I have the trophies to prove that I am good. . . but I'm not THAT good.
Anyway. . back to the swaps. . . I guess if you really don't want to "loose" anything and just use it for yourself that's fine and totally up to you. . . but like the old saying goes. . . "It's more of a joy to GIVE than to RECIEVE". I don't look at what I'm going to gain, I look at what I am giving someone else.

PS: I play to decorate also and have actually worked on several of my own houses in amongst decorating for swaps. My own houses loose nothing. It's not that I have any more time than anyone else. . . we all have 24 hours in a day. Maybe I just know how to pace myself. When I loose inspiration for my own house. . . I move on to my swap house or vise versa. (I also published 2 of my own houses along with my swap houses so. . . nothing lost there. )

The way you've worded this sounds really accusatory like you were forced to enter these swaps and due to that, have not had any time or free will to decorate for yourself. None of the swaps, contests, challenges, or events run by myself or anyone else are mandatory and are completely voluntary and are meant as a fun way to bring the community together and often times include new or inexperienced decorators that haven't yet had a chance to be involved in much in the decorating community.

All of the events I've hosted up to this point have been swaps. House swaps are not about prizes or competition. They're about giving and sharing with others, as well as bringing the decorating community together to participate in a fun event. In the future I may host non-swap challenges or events, but they will almost certainly never be contests, because I have never liked them. I have gone back and read through the original post with the rules for the ToT17 and nowhere was it implied there would be prizes for any of it. The prize is the fun of decorating something wonderful for someone else, and the anticipation of receiving a home that someone else made just for you. Which brings us to...

Again, none of the events run by myself or anyone else are mandatory. If you're feeling overwhelmed by them, by all means, take a break and decorate for yourself. But acting like you're being forced to do them, and saying there are "too many of them" might be discouraging to people who've thought about hosting something new of their own, and I would hate to see that happen, as I think all these events are wonderful at bringing us all together as a community and helping some showcase their work and get some well-deserved recognition they may not have had before. Not everything is about prizes.

Beginning with this swap, and going forward, I ask that homeowners please keep the following guidelines in mind :

• Please do not submit homes that are partially decorated, unless you are fine with things being changed or torn down, because for some decorators it can be really frustrating to enter your assigned home and not have freedom to be as creative as you may like.
• We ask that Homeowners be courteous to give the same size home, to the best of their ability, as the size of the one they are requesting. Please don't submit a massive home to be decorated and then request a small one.

I am very glad so many have chimed in about this. Hopefully there will not be any more drama in future events and just fun and excitement. Thank you from the bottom of my heard.

sorry for a late reply, thank you.

Hello, I've been reading this a few days now and about to jump in. I have to decide what house I would like to see done. I'm not a pro wish I could do in game what I see in my mind. I'm on skyfire btw.

I sent email, 2 in fact I do not know if received.

Contessia, someone else is now hosting the event its the new new new hhe18 post by Ealdian. more info on that posting for email etc.

Hi Contessia,

Shanette had to step done due to real life issues, so Eli and Myself will be hosting it. As Elflover said you can see the post titled New New New HHE18.

If you are still interested, we would love to have you sign up! Send your sign up to aney2018@gmail.com.

Sorry for the confusion!

Aney~

And just in case you're occasionally blind like I am, Contessia, here's the link, too:

https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...18-hhe18-official-announcement-thread.583552/

Good luck with the event! Can't wait to see your stuff!

Uwk