S. Worthen | Weblog

Six whole months have passed since I ran my first-and-only game of Humiliation on LiveJournal. It's about time we had another round of it!

Last time, a few people requested that I give earlier notice that the game was going to be happening, so here you are. I'll put up a post to accept entries for the game this coming Monday, September 5th, in the morning. You'll have until Wednesday, September 7th to enter the game. Voting, via LJ poll, will run from Wednesday afternoon to Friday, September 9th. If you're a weekend-only LJer, well, should I ever run a third game, I promise it'll overlap with a weekend.

If you're unfamiliar with the game, here's how it works. Each participant submits the name of one book they have never read. To be competitive, choose a book which you suspect everyone else on the planet, except for you, has already read. The competitive part works like this: everyone places a vote for each and every one of the books in competition which they have read. Thus, the winner - the humiliated one - is whoever entered the book which the most other people have previously read. (Credit: the original version of this game was invented by David Lodge in the book Small World.)

What counts as having read a book is ultimately up to you, but here are some guidelines: A few chapters doesn't count. Skipping just the epilogue does. I am counting on all of you being honest in playing this game. You can see how it worked last time by reading over the entries post, seeing the results in the voting post, and seeing the aftermath here. Read the rest of this post for the house rules for this round.

For those of you who already know the rules, here is everything else you might want to know about this edition of it - the house rules:

• This will be a themed game. The theme is "Children's and Young Adult Literature".
  
• If you think someone else's entry doesn't count in this category, comment in response to it and explain why. You can defend your choice if you think it needs doing. If I allow it into the poll, then it counts for the purposes of this game.
  
• The top three books from the last time I hosted will not be allowed in competition. These are The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Hamlet.
  
• There will be a prize! The winner will receive a copy of the book they entered with. (But only if they send me an address to send it to. Also, I don't promise it'll be a new copy of the book. The important thing is the content, after all. The winner is welcome to decline the prize. He or she may already own a copy of the book, or have very good reasons for having avoided reading the book in question.)

Have more people who happen to run across this poll read Swallows and Amazons or the The Sword in the Stone? Pat the Bunny or Make Way for Ducklings? Charlotte's Web or Babe? Stay tuned, and you may find out!

Two last pieces of advice: Firstly, it's counterproductive to compete with the same book as someone else, but I'll allow it. It'll be more fun and more competitive if we all have different entries. Secondly, keep in mind that children's literature varies a fair amount from country to country. Most of the voters are likely to be from Canada, the UK, or the US. Their country of origin will affect what books they grew up reading.