No, due to the heavy use of AI by some users and the low effort that some players placed in their work compared to other users, the event became more a chore than actual fun. Players were using AI to create their art to submit. Please note this is different from members who admit to using AI and then heavily edit the AI, which is a skill in and of itself. Others were just taking a random internet image and overlaying a single word to satisfy the prompt, placing very minimal work. It became a litigious experience as we had to run things through detectors and navigate players that were (rightfully) upset that someone was getting credited for something that took (almost) no work when they spent time and effort. It was not a skill issue, in fact the users with lower skill we could be confident at the very least it was likely their own work. It took months for the staff to parse through the submissions and then debate with users with whom we had found AI in their work.

It was sadly a pretty negative experience and it was not one or two bad actors but rather several.

Solomon Lear wrote: 2 Mar 2025, 13:45 No, due to the heavy use of AI by some users and the low effort that some players placed in their work compared to other users, the event became more a chore than actual fun. Players were using AI to create their art to submit. Please note this is different from members who admit to using AI and then heavily edit the AI, which is a skill in and of itself. Others were just taking a random internet image and overlaying a single word to satisfy the prompt, placing very minimal work. It became a litigious experience as we had to run things through detectors and navigate players that were (rightfully) upset that someone was getting credited for something that took (almost) no work when they spent time and effort. It was not a skill issue, in fact the users with lower skill we could be confident at the very least it was likely their own work. It took months for the staff to parse through the submissions and then debate with users with whom we had found AI in their work.

It was sadly a pretty negative experience and it was not one or two bad actors but rather several.

Ugh, I was really hoping for it too. I prefer the idea of unleashing one's creativity skills in every single day of March.

Thank you Headmaster and Clark!!

Solomon Lear wrote: 2 Mar 2025, 13:45 No, due to the heavy use of AI by some users and the low effort that some players placed in their work compared to other users, the event became more a chore than actual fun. Players were using AI to create their art to submit. Please note this is different from members who admit to using AI and then heavily edit the AI, which is a skill in and of itself. Others were just taking a random internet image and overlaying a single word to satisfy the prompt, placing very minimal work. It became a litigious experience as we had to run things through detectors and navigate players that were (rightfully) upset that someone was getting credited for something that took (almost) no work when they spent time and effort. It was not a skill issue, in fact the users with lower skill we could be confident at the very least it was likely their own work. It took months for the staff to parse through the submissions and then debate with users with whom we had found AI in their work.

It was sadly a pretty negative experience and it was not one or two bad actors but rather several.

I understand, that's really frustrating though that so many people cheated, I was looking forward to it. jWill it ever become a thing again in the future?

We can't say for sure. I won't be running it anytime soon. Perhaps we will find a good way to run it again but at this stage, we can't say it will.

However, if you're looking to create art, I would suggest a few things:
- There are a lot of existing art challenges out there. If you have a specific thing in mind then search for it and you may find an existing one. For instance, March is also International Crochet Month so you could challenge yourself to crochet every day if you're interested in that hobby. Likewise, if you want to draw then maybe challenge yourself to do a 5 min doodle daily etc or write a haiku every day for 31 days if you enjoy poetry. Whilst these have nothing to do with hio, they can be a fun way for you to get creative everyday.

- Alternatively, you can create a list of prompts yourself or with a group of people (make 10, ask someone else to make 10 etc and you can then all share the prompts and do them all together). Since it's your challenge, you can make it however you want. I think that could be fun - it's something a few of IRL friends and I occasionally do.

If you want something hio specific, you could try and do more roleplay posts than you would usually do or longer ones than your average. It isn't the same as martch but it might be something you enjoy!

Unfortunately though, there won't be an official martch this year - and for the foreseeable future - due to the reasons Lear mentioned above. But maybe we will change our mind in a few years or come up with an alternate that does work.

Thank you for clarifying, and I'll certainly think about doing something else that's martch-related. Thank you for the suggestions!

Also, can you roleplay an encounter with ghosts?

Lyanna Oak wrote: 3 Mar 2025, 21:38 Thank you for clarifying, and I'll certainly think about doing something else that's martch-related. Thank you for the suggestions!

Also, can you roleplay an encounter with ghosts?

Quoting @Marcus Iwasaki from Hogwarts Help
"You cannot roleplay with Peeves no. We don't allow canon character interaction. However, you can makeup a ghost that your character interacts with by following our Hogwarts NPC guidelines"
https://discord.com/channels/4105394207 ... 0839021639

Lyanna Oak wrote: 3 Mar 2025, 21:38 Thank you for clarifying, and I'll certainly think about doing something else that's martch-related. Thank you for the suggestions!

Also, can you roleplay an encounter with ghosts?

You can check out our rules on roleplaying with ghosts here: viewtopic.php?t=16915#p1066402

Thank you both! So basically I can roleplay interacting with one, as long as it's not a canon ghost (or house elf or portrait) or considered metagaming?

Lyanna Oak wrote: 3 Mar 2025, 23:04 Thank you both! So basically I can roleplay interacting with one, as long as it's not a canon ghost (or house elf or portrait) or considered metagaming?

Correct!