Single post in Special Event... failed?

Some numbers regarding the Special Event. Let me get the important thing out of the way first: if you reached the target, go claim your prize! So why am I saying the event failed? Well it's all about numbers. 29,126,105 interactions were made this weekend. Seems pretty good, right? Well... on average a Mass-Click Weekend gets almost 50% more than that. In fact, an average, non-MCWeekend gets about 75% of that. Despite this being a Special Event with an otherwise unobtainable prize (whereas MCW prizes are available starting the month after their initial release), participation was very low. Out of almost 8,500 participants, 3,500 didn't reach the 1,000 target needed for the personal goal. 1,500 players got the personal goal but left it at that, leaving everyone else to worry about the community goal. A further 1,000 (6,000 total) were below the "average per participant" needed for that community goal. This left 2,500 people to do the "carrying". So it would seem that I set the personal goal too low compared to the community goal. I know you guys are more than capable of it, but the incentive just didn't seem to be there. It seems I failed to design an event that was motivating enough. On to something more positive, I was able to get useful information out of the first hour of the event: you guys managed to make an average of 500 interactions per second for a while! The server had almost no trouble at all dealing with this. The only noticeable issue was when the database hit its configured limit for number of connections. I'm very satisfied with this result, as it shows the EXP update I made earlier has served its intended purpose and allowed for increased activity with fewer issues. The person who made the most interactions over the weekend made 219,721 interactions! Not bad! Anyway, with all that said, enjoy your prize and I'll see you next week for the 12 Days of Christmas - stay tuned for more details coming later this week!