Sunday, September 5, 2010

Hobbies & Fandom - Harry Potter House Cup

Some people run around on broomsticks playing Quidditch to express their Harry Potter fandom. I'm not one of those people (though if any of my friends ever decided to organize a match, I could easily be one of those people). Instead, for the last eight weeks I have immersed myself into Harry Potter's world by competing in the House Cup. I was Head Prefect of Gryffindor this game. 'How do you compete in a House Cup?' might be the thought running through your head (other thoughts may include questioning my sanity, but I don't mind). The answer to that question is simple. At the beginning of the game you choose your house. A massive task list is then posted and your house has 7-8 weeks to complete as many tasks as possible. Following is a link to all the tasks my house completed (I'm Earwen_Lightrider if you want to know which ones I specifically did):

Completed Tasks for Gryffindor in House Cup 17

Some examples of tasks I enjoyed completing:

Redesign any famous piece of artwork (painting, statue, etc.) so it fits in the HP-verse. I don’t care how you do it – redraw, photoshop, whatever. An example of this would be replacing the Mona Lisa’s head with Dumbledore’s. May do up to 25. 100 points.

I did all 25 which you can view if you click on the above link, but the following are probably my favorites.




There were several musical tasks, including some parody songs, that are always a blast to complete. Which you can listen to here (songs done by me say so).




I also did several writing tasks. So if you'd like to read the prank Fred & George pulled on Slytherin or what might happen if Gilderoy Lockhart (pre-memory wipe) became Headmaster of Hogwarts click here to take a look at my tasks or read through the task list and click on the ones that interest you as my fellow housemates did fantastic too.

Basically, each House Cup game is a way for me to challenge my creativity through my fandom based on prompts (the tasks themselves). It's a fun way to get my creative brain active and encourages me to try new things. Oh, and did I mention that I have a complete blast? House Cup competition is fun! So as I just finished submitting all the tasks for Gryffindor, I hope that we beat Slytherin & Ravenclaw (because Slytherin's winning streak really needs shattered), but even if we don't - we had fun! And that's how games should be.

~Nata