Secret Santa

Secret Santa

Secret Santas are typically an annual uni-wide event held around the end of the year. Variations can include events for different times of the year, or events limited to certain groups (like within communities/departments).

Mike Kingswell's format

(This section is copied from Mike's original 2018 Secret Santa thread.)

Signing up

To take part in the event, players send an EVE Mail to Santa Kingswell with some details about their uni character:

• Their uni character's name and which communities they're active in.
• A summary of what activities they partake in EVE.
• Your current clone state, to let your elf know.
• Optionally, a hint about what they want their elf to get them.

Dear Santa Kingswell,
my name is Mike Kingswell and I am 209 EVE-days old. As a member of the HSC I like to explore in NULL, do some PvE (combat sites and missions) 
mining and a bit of industry.
I really enjoy flying exploration ships and finding new stuff in the EVE-verse!
Have a good wintery time!
Love you,
Mike Kingswell
PS: I left milk and cookies out!

Getting assigned

After the sign up period, Santa Kingswell sends every participant and EVE Mail back. The mail tells you:

• Who you're going to give a gift to (don't tell them, it's a secret).
• Details from their sign-up mails, like:
  • Their interests/what they've been up to.
  • They’re hints about what to get them, if they mentioned in their sign-up mail.
  • Their current clone state.

Preparing the gift

• Once you know who your giftee is, buy them a present.
• Send Santa Kingswell an EVE Mail stating your name, the name of your giftee and what the gift is.

Dear Santa Kingswell,
my name is Mike Kingswell. I have been assigned as Turtle's secret santa. 
My gift for him will be:
-10L of "shiney turtle shell cleaning suplies"
-1 large bag of new memes
-1 fully fitted t1 punisher
Have a great time!
kind regards
Mike Kingswell

Handing out/over the gift

• Once the gift giving day has been announced, between the two routes.
• Option 1: Handing out the gift yourself:
  • Mention in your earlier EVE Mail to Santa Kingswell that you'll be handing the gift out yourself.
  • Create yourself an alt (example: Santa Elf1347)
  • Move your gift to either one of the hisec trade hubs, or a uni hub (like Stacmon).
  • Contract/deliver the gift to your Secret Santa from your alt's account. You can also send them a christmassy EVE Mail with a limerick or something.
• Option 2: Using Santa Kingswell:
  • You can contract your gift to "Santa Kingswell" and it will be sorted out from there.

Recommendations

• Which gift-giving option should you use?
  

Well that's up to you. On the one hand, Santa is a lazy man, and if you hand it over yourself that takes a load of work from his back. On the other hand, you have to be reliable and honorable about it. You don't want to be the person who forgets to hand over the gift to their giftee so you might want to use Santa's service of doing that for you. We don't care how you do it as long as you keep Santa informed about it!

• Where should I set up the contract?
  

Preferably a "safe place" like Stacmon - The Quad or the like. Also, a trade hub in hisec is accessible and possible. Ask yourself, "Could I get this stuff out of there to where I want to be?" If the answer is YES, then go for it!

• What if I am not happy with my gift?
  

Santa is sorry if your gift doesn't satisfy your expectations. In case of "just the wrong gift" Santa can't do anything about it. If Santa sees gifts that are maybe a bit "underwhelming" he WILL add some small specials to them all by himself!

• What if someone forgets to hand over their gift?
  

Santa will remind you about your gift-giving! Sometimes people are forgetful though and every one of us knows that; the world doesn't end if you are late by a day or so. If a higher power stops you from gift giving, please let Santa know and he will take care of it! If someone should intentionally "forget" their gift they will incur Santa’s wrath and will be added to the naughty list with repercussions.

Additional information

• The Turlough Dominian's notes: Use this randomiser to sort out who is giving who a gift: [1].

• Related forum post templates: Secret Halloween 2019 forum post template: [2].