For next year...

Just wanted to get some feedback on how we generally do the SS exchange, as I've been pondering whether we should change some things next time.

Mainly, does everyone prefer the way we do it now, where I make a topic and people post their own art? Or would any of you prefer if I just posted all the art for everyone at once instead?

The way we do it now, not everyone truly gets their art at once, but it's always within a few days of each other. I just wonder if that's a problem for anyone and if you'd prefer to all see your art at the same time.

I always liked it our usual way because it seems more personal, I guess. Sometimes people have things they want to say while they post their art, explaining why they chose to draw a certain character or something. But then again I'm sure people could get me to post messages for them too if they wanted...

I don't know. I don't mind either way, so I thought I'd ask.

Also, Delphina mentioned an interesting suggestion to me earlier, where certain Secret Santas will post the art without telling you who actually drew it, and then you have to guess. Sounds interesting, but I dunno if anyone else would be interested in that or not. Maybe for an off-season thing?

Anyway, let me know! And if you have any other feedback or suggestions regarding the Secret Santas and exchanges in general, feel free to post it here. Thanks!

I prefer the way it is, with everyone posting their own art-- it just seems more meaningful and personal, and as the person who made the art it's nice to have the opportunity to share it yourself. (The guessing is also an interesting idea, though I'm not sure it would work that well since we have such a range of distinct styles, as well as a fairly tight-knit community... seems like it's something that would be a lot of fun in a 'traditional' secret santa where objects are exchanged, but wouldn't work as well for an art exchange.)
though that just gave me a silly idea for a game: a 'fake' secret santa where participants' characters exchange gifts...

Our event has a lot of thought and care put into it that no other secret santa I've seen has had-- it's hard to imagine a better event. C: (I've seen SS events where there isn't even a cover for people who fail to complete their art... so sad to see a participant who put a lot of effort in end up neglected and artless.)

Ohhh I like that idea Dusk with the characters swapping gifts. : D
I could definitely see a lot of fun coming from that.


I do like the artist being able to post their own stuff, though. Basically what has already been said: it's really personal and it lets us be able to have that extra connection with the person we swapped with.

PLUS the anticipation is fun. ; D

I really do think the exchange is fine the way it is, since you post the art if it's taking too long. I like being able to come back and see new artwork over a several day period since I am almost as excited to see what everyone else gets as seeing my own art. Something you could do to make it more personal for the people who get busy around submission time is maybe having them submit a comment with the art in case you need to post it?

@Dusk- I agree with you that the blind exchange idea sounds fun but that I could recognize who it was from for the most part right away, unless we had some new people. XD The character exchange sounds fun! Do you mean that we would mail each other actual gifts or that we would be doing drawings of them giving each other presents? Or both...like the character being drawn holding the actual gift. Both could be interesting. Plus I'm starting to like mailing people things, I blame the trading card swap thread.

I meant sort of like that 'blind date' game we had a while ago, but with a gift-exchange theme instead! (ie, participants would enter one of their characters and a random selection would occur, then each participant would draw/write the character choosing a gift and their reaction to whatever they received... I'd make a more specific scenario and proper topic and so on, but I want to make sure there's sufficient interest first c: )

I'm inclined to keep this 100% digital because mailing physical items would severely limit the potential gift options, ruling out anything ridiculous or over-the-top... and since most of us write fantasy/sci-fi settings our characters have access to all sorts of things that don't exist in our world. The potential for silly interdimensional hijinks is what makes these games fun xD

That's true...I can't think of many things it would make sense from the real world to give my characters. Except maybe food. Do itttt. If the number of interested people is low you can just do it like the blind date game where people know who they are exchanging with but not which character.

Yes, back when I was a participant, I also enjoyed checking to see the new posts over several days. I just wasn't sure if anyone else felt the same way. I'm glad it seems I'm not alone in that, at least.   I was worried some people might be more impatient.

And yeah, that's true it would be pretty easy to figure out who drew what if we did something like that right now. Duskglass' game idea sounds fun though!

Thanks for the feedback!