Creator Challenges - Exceptional Awards, and the Next Challenge!

[whiterider]

NOTE TO ALL ENTRANTS: THERE IS MORE TO OLD HOLLYWOOD THAN MARILYN MONROE!! Do some research, find something interesting, or little known, and surprise us!
_______

First off, apologies - things have gone nowhere near the timeline they were meant to, mostly because this has been the first challenge causing... logistical difficulties :P , and because college started and suddenly the concept of "free time" became somewhat alien. Hopefully the next theme will go a little more smoothly!

:here: Exceptional Awards!

As much as writing as much guff as possible in order to keep you all in suspense is an appealing idea, it would probably be mean... so without further ado, and in no particular order, the three most Exceptional entries to the Ancients Challenge!
(And remember, it may not match up to the poll results...)


For an absolutely gorgeous recreation, with some beautiful texturing; made all the more jaw-dropping by the fact that she has been solely a clothing creator in the past:
:king: The Parthenon (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=244375): by Phaenoh (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/Phaenoh)!

For a very useful and absolutely beautifully made set, which opens up realms of new possibilities for pyramids and the like:
:king: "Egyptian Temple" (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=241685): by -Maylin- (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/-Maylin-)!

And finally, an absolutely breathtaking piece of work, with great attention to detail:
:king: The White Rose Of Rome (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=242671): by MaORiLiCioUs7 (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/MaORiLiCioUs7)!

Huge congratulations, and thanks, to the creators of these three uploads - which were not only chosen for their quality, but also for the exceptional effort put into them: and special mentions also for Tatiana Dokuchic (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=243037) and iamliz13 (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=243348), whose work was far and away some of the best :)
And, of course, for everyone else who entered - we've had some fantastic entries, thankyou and well done to all. :)

:here: Prizes!

Everyone who entered the challenge, will get

A trophy icon on their profile page
A trophy object for their game


Trophy Icons
Everyone who entered the challenge now has a trophy icon on their profile - Right underneath their name and avatar. Those who won exceptional awards have a special gold icon. You'll get a new icon for each challenge you enter - gotta catch 'em all! ;)

Trophy Objects
Those who entered will be PM'd with a link from which they can download the trophy item. If you lose the trophy for any reason, the link will still be valid so you can redownload it.
You earned this trophy! It is yours, please do not redistribute it to others. That takes the excitement out of the whole affair and is not overly sportsmanlike.

Winners of Exceptional trophies will have personalised trophies emailed to them in a few days. Use the time to make sure the email on your profile is still valid!

:here: And finally...

The next Creator Challenge!
This time round the theme is Old Hollywood, we want to see glamorous dressing rooms, Marylin Monroe, and the Sparkly Red Dress. Be creative!
The Old Hollywood download section is here (http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?f=510).

Remember, if you need more information on the challenge rules, process, or winnings, click here (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=239934)!

Get your entries in before 15 Oct - sooner is better!

Now get creating - and have fun!
MTS2 Staff

[Masterofallvideogames]

YAY, congrats to the winners!!!! Oh one more thing, Can I do any kind of thing for the Old Hollywood contest as long as it is part of old holywood "era"?

[nixie]

Congratulation to the winners! weldone and you deserve to get the trophy!

Thanks to Echo and Numenor for the trophy and MTS2 and its dedicated staffs for hosting the contest.

I want to enter thte next one as well. may start work on it when I have an idea of what to make and also I need to be back where my sims 2 game computer is...

weldone to all participants as well! including me Yay :) i have successfully entered a contest !!

cheerios hope i go back in time for the next contest.

until then! good luck and have fun

[Elephant]

Congrats guys!
Y'all did a GREAT job!
Hopefully I'll have time to make something for this challenge.

[Mihura]

Yep congrats to all ! This challenge has show an amazing work ! Bravo ! :beer:
And of course thanks for the site, the organisation, the idea... :)

[Paleoanth]

The winners certainly deserve all the praise and cool stuff they are going to get. I was floored by many of the creations.

[whiterider]

Masterofallvideogames; yes - as long as it is Old Hollywood related, go for it - so not the favourite football team of the time, but maybe the actors who partrayed them in The Cheesy Movie, etc :P .

SimBliss, well, that's the point of these challenges - to try out something new. Give it a go! :)

[Masterofallvideogames]

Yay I just need to take pics of my thing then upload!

The person's initials are J.M.S.
Hopefully he gets accepted!

[lamammaforever]

I can only agree, totally agree with this contest result, it must have been really a pain to decide the final Exceptional Creations since they all deserve a special prize. My congratulations to these talented members! You all rock!
Kiss and ciao

(btw, the participation prize makes me so proud!!! isn't it lovely? thank you MTS2 stuff, very honoured :D )

[Phaenoh]

Hah! I can breathe again. I'd been holding my breath since I posted my entry! Glad that is over. I have the feeling I'm going to have trouble outdoing myself this time. I gave myself a hard act to follow. Maybe I'll just recolor some paintings this time around... Thanks Delphy and Numenor and Echo and Whiterider and everyone else behind the scenes. You guys make this site a fun place to be!

EDIT: When's the due-date for Old Hollywood?

[Tatiana Dokuchic]

Congratulations to all the Exceptional winners and also to iamliz13. Wonderful work from everyone.

Many thanks to MTS2 for the contest. It was a blast. :)

[babysims2]

wow all i can make are clothes recolors and floors/walls/terrains maybe thats what ill do!make a studio with my poor creating skills....as soon as i figure out how to post stuff on here.. *downloads simPE*

[tiggerypum]

Congrats to everyone who entered -- I was pleased with everyone's efforts, including the efforts of those who didn't necessarily expect a big prize, and still gave it their best efforts.

I think that everyone who got something posted to the area is a winner.

[whiterider]

Old Hollywood is open now - so the end date will be the 15th October. :)
(15th October 2006 if you listen to the site a few hours ago :P )

[Nymphy]

Congrats to the winners! :)

[MaORiLiCioUs7]

A BIG congratulations to the winners! And Also a BIG congratulations to everyone who entered! Its not easy to put yourself out there for all to judge and as far as i'm concerned everyone is a winner!!! Huge Thank you to Delphy,Echo, Numenor and Whiterider! And all who voted :lovestruc

[Masterofallvideogames]

Well it's official My "Sim" is in the moderation Que, and I made him look exactly the same as in real life! :giggler: , and thanks to the people who made the Trophy I got!

[Colormuse]

congrat to those who won;)

[Reyn]

Oh goodness - think its time to work on that one project I'd been saving images for....

[Elvira0731]

Thank you for my participant's trophy... It is already on my mantle... Of course, I have many mantles.... time to brainstorm...thank you!

[Phaenoh]

Thank you for my participant's trophy... It is already on my mantle... Of course, I have many mantles.... time to brainstorm...thank you! It's out? .... Do the three of us get the regular trophy too? I'm confused by my lack of PMs and/or emails... :cry:

[MizzesSimmer]

Congrats winners! Your entries were excellent! Good job to all that participated in the first contest!
Going to start on the next soon, sounds fun!

[Masterofallvideogames]

I dunno? But I just got the "Thank you for entering one( with showoff)".... mabe you should check here http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=239934 also located at the top post.

[Phaenoh]

I dunno? But I just got the "Thank you for entering one( with showoff)".... mabe you should check here http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=239934 also located at the top post. Yeah, I triple checked that post beforehand, and from what I can tell everyone who enters is supposed to get the thank you showoff trophy. But then I never got a PM about it. They said the email with the other one will come a few days later, to give us time to get our email in order, so that one I'm not concerned about yet. I'm just highly confused about the other one.

Since a mod is eventually going to read this, I might as well ask the other question on my mind, I assume the prizes are going to stay the same from contest to contest, yes?

[-Maylin-]

Thanks a lot MTS2 Staff for the contest and congrats to the winners!
All the entries were so awesome!
I'm so glad to be a winner that I want to thank everyone who voted for me! :lovestruc
-Maylin-

[whiterider]

Phaenoh, the exceptional award winners will be emailed the participants trophy and the personalised trophy at the same time.
And yes, the prizes will stay the same; however each one will be a unique object marked with the theme of the relevant challenge, so you can build up a collection :P .

[billielith]

Congratulations to all participants of the first contest, and congrats to the 3 winners, you really did an amazing job!
Actually, all entries were pretty cool!

I already got my little idea for the next theme, and I'll participate this time! :)

[babysims2]

man i cant enter, simPE doesn't want to make my stuff... :(

[whiterider]

No well, creators make the stuff, SimPE just makes it easier :P .

[babysims2]

No well, creators make the stuff, SimPE just makes it easier :P .
i know its just i need it to actually use my creations and i don't wanna steal because its wrong and stuff *headdesk*

[whiterider]

I understand the situation - I was poking fun, it wasn't a serious comment. Head over to the SimPE site and see if you can get it fixed, there's plenty of time left. :)

[`kiki]

congrats to the winners!

[babysims2]

alright be back later, good job people!

[tish85]

congrats guys,well deserwed =)

[funney250]

i would try again but simspe has stoped working and i have tryid ever thing if you know why please pm me

[Phaenoh]

Phaenoh, the exceptional award winners will be emailed the participants trophy and the personalised trophy at the same time.
And yes, the prizes will stay the same; however each one will be a unique object marked with the theme of the relevant challenge, so you can build up a collection :P . That eases my mind, I need to learn to stop freaking out so easily. :: goes to try to learn yoga from one of my sims... ::

[Sophie-David]

Wonderful work by everyone - thank you for having the courage, creativity and committment to share! :)

I need to ask for more details on the Old Hollywood theme:

What year does Old Hollywood end?

Is it limited to Hollywood productions only - i.e. produced by, or featuring cast and crew from, a Hollywood studio, although the location could presumeably be wherever the movie was made - or can we take a more general approach that would include the rest of the world's film industry?

[Masterofallvideogames]

I'm doing mine from 1930s - 1950s

[tiggerypum]

cjh3787 - these challenges are for for fun of it, for one thing - people create *all the time with NO rewards at all*

The creator challenge was NOT designed to only allow the very best creators on site to participate. Everyone is welcome, and _encouraged_ to take a try at creating. That is what it's about. As a matter of fact, if someone tries something new that they've never done before - they more than succeeded in meeting the challenge. We did reject some entries as not meeting minimal site requirements, so it's not that everything was accepted.

In addition, as our first time doing a creator challenge, it was expected there would be a ramp up, in terms of number of entries, members being aware of the theme, etc - and there is a time limit, which might mean for some they simply cannot enter. You might not realize that most of the most fantastic things you see on site have taken the creator more than 1 month to finish. Also consider that while mts2 has thousands of downloaders, the number of active creators is a very small fraction of them.

I encourage you to try creating, instead of criticizing. I stand by the fact that I'm pleased with everyone who entered, and there were some impressive entries.

PS - I checked the site for a post from you asking for help with uploading, but there was none. There were some other equally rude posts though, which have now been cleaned up.

[Loverat]

Wow cjh3787 - such unwarranted vitriol - if you read Upload Wizard FAQ (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=222665) and still had trouble you could have asked for help in the Site Issues (http://www.modthesims2.com/forumdisplay.php?f=24) forum. Of course you have to want the help....

GRATS GRATS GRATS!!!!

To the winners and the not winners for making this a fantastic competition that was thoroughly enjoyable and gives everyone a chance to showcase their work =) :Pint:

[verenaheu]

Congratulations to all! :up:
Winners :king: , participants :gjob: and also us for being showered with the best additions thinkable (and often unbelieveable fantastic!) for our game.
I love you and thank you all!:luff:
Thanks to MtS for providing the portal for all this! :D

[MasqueradeDemode]

If anyone needs ideas,
PLEASE make a Lucille Ball sim. n___n
That would make my day; and she ALSO was a major part of Old Hollywood. ;)

[Masterofallvideogames]

I have a question, I uploaded a sim and I was wondering, there were no views yet, so what I am asking is... when or is there any "Uploadmanagers" in the Old Hollywood contest section?

[whiterider]

UploadManager is just the "facade" account that accept/reject PMs are sent from - yes, the mods are going to be doing the Contests queue, or the whole affair would be rather pointless. ;)

[cjh3787]

I was merely voicing my concerns, Loverat (tiggerypum exempted from critisisim for she offered constructive critisisim). I actually have tried creating but found uploading rather perplexing, even with the FAQs. In addition to this, I fail to see that my critisism was severe enough to call "vitriol." I did, in fact, read the Upload Wizard FAQ but found nothing that helped me get my project uploaded. Loverat, you need to watch YOUR vitriol instead of making a big fuss of other people's opinions. Though I do it alot as well, I usually don't mean it and can't get around to deleting my posts.

[whiterider]

This thread is not for arguing what the challenges should or shouldn't be, nor any other aspect of the site; the uploading system works just fine for hundreds of people every day, and if you're still having issues, we have Creator Issues, and Site Issues for you to post in.
If you have comments about he running of the challenges they are welcomed, but they must be constructive - you want the prizes to be more than permanent instant recognition on the site and two objects that were painstakingly meshed, textured, and hacked by some of the best creators we have - well, please tell us what prizes you think would be better, short of wads of cash which we leave to such charming personages as TSR ;)

In addition, a plea to all entrants :P : We've already got sims of several big old hollywood stars - and as wonderful as your Marylin sim will be, bear in mind that there will be several already. Be as creative as you can, seriously, variety is the spice of life!

[$RaMRoM$]

Congrats guys!

[DOEreoh]

can any body tell me when the begining and end dates are for entries to the Old Hollywood challenge are???

[babysims2]

ok i quit but maybe ill enter the next one good luck guys!

[charleeheart]

*whew* My entry was accepted and posted. I had a lot of fun with this one!!
Quick question: I've noticed several (very nice) entries from the same creator. Are we allowed to submit more than one entry? My understanding of the rules was one entry per person, but I've got an idea for another submission, if we're allowed more than one.

Thanks for this great contest!

[whiterider]

One person can submit several entries, yes - however no-one can have two entries marked Exceptional in the same challenge.

[Paleoanth]

Oh. I was under the impression it was one entry per person as well. Did the rules change or am I just clueless?

[Masterofallvideogames]

That's good news, in case my thing doesn't get uploaded. I can allways do something....

[CB2001]

Question: For the old Hollywood Sims submission, are we allowed to submit a Sim that we've already uploaded to ModTheSims2 or is that a no-no?

[ZenFrog76]

Some ideas for creators of old Hollywood...Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplain, Laurel & Hardy, Lana Turner (the sweater girl), Faye Ray (King Kong - still the best version), John Wayne (slightly more mod), Elvis (could be possible), Steve McQueen, Laurence Olivier...I could go on but I won't. I personally can't wait to see what the talent on this site will come up with as long as it isn't a million Marilyn Monroe clones, lol.
Thank you,
Zen

[DOEreoh]

when is the due date for the challenge???

[Loverat]

DOEreoh its October 15 - I think thats just been added to the frontpage post =) And I say thank god - I have a lot to submit that is 1/4 done. I stupidly installed BV and of course mega crashes ensued - so I uninstalled everything and reinstalled from the base game up - this time only until Seasons where I was at before. Seasons WAS running fine for me but now of course it too is crashing like the proverbial %$#$%. Did I mention that I detest the crappy way EP's go together in this game....Did I also mention I went through the same friggen problems with TS1...I may also mention that the code monkeys at EA are obviously paid in peanuts and it shows in their work - or lack of it.

Add to that my cable connection is capped at *slow as an old mole* speed for another week and you will realise that I am currently VERY ANGRY!!!!! /endrant

[CB2001]

Some ideas for creators of old Hollywood...Greta Garbo, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplain, Laurel & Hardy, Lana Turner (the sweater girl), Faye Ray (King Kong - still the best version), John Wayne (slightly more mod), Elvis (could be possible), Steve McQueen, Laurence Olivier...I could go on but I won't. I personally can't wait to see what the talent on this site will come up with as long as it isn't a million Marilyn Monroe clones, lol.
Thank you,
Zen

Well, there's already an Elvis and a John Wayne (an a couple of Marilyn Monroes I came across). I myself tried to do Steve McQueen not too long ago, but I realized that trying to capture his likeness was too difficult for me (so I ended up doing James Dean instead).

[ZenFrog76]

I will have to look out for those...not so fussed at Marilyn Monroe personally but it could really depend on someones view of "classic Hollywood". I would like to have a go at one but I am not that great and can't create meshes or other content. I can recolour hair (sometimes) but that is about it, lol.
What about some of the horror greats, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price or would that be too modern?
Hmmm, got me thinking now...
Zen

[CB2001]

I will have to look out for those...not so fussed at Marilyn Monroe personally but it could really depend on someones view of "classic Hollywood". I would like to have a go at one but I am not that great and can't create meshes or other content. I can recolour hair (sometimes) but that is about it, lol.
What about some of the horror greats, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price or would that be too modern?
Hmmm, got me thinking now...
Zen

Those are great examples, ZenFrog. They're not too modern, but fall under classic Hollywood.

Here's some I can think of right off the top of my head:
James Stewart (Known for his roles in "Flight of the Phoenix", "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and his many roles in Alfred Hitchcock's works including "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (the remake in the 1950s, not the 1930s version), "Vertigo", "Rope" and "Rear Window").
Orson Welles (known for being the voice of "War of the Worlds", but is equally known as the writer, director and lead actor of the classic "Citizen Kane")
Buster Keaton (I'm sorry if this one has already been brought up, but I've seen one film that he's credited to "Sherlock, Jr.")
Rita Hayworth (I haven't seen a lot of her work myself)
Kim Novak (James Stewart's co-star in "Vertigo")
Bette Davis (the actress who inspired the 1980s pop hit, "Bette Davis Eyes")
Gregory Peck (of "To Kill a Mockingbird" fame)

[nixie]

as i cannot enter this round of contest althought I want to very much, but I am not at my sims modding computer :( so, i think maybe i can give some suggestion that if i were to make a full sims for the contest i would choose:

Charlie Chaplin :) (silent movie)
Gone With the Wind (civil war, so far there no one who has made a very beautiful Tara and twelve oaks)
Greta Garbo
Lauren Bacall
Lucille Ball
Mickey Mouse < i think he's around 80 years old, could count as old hollywood i think.
Frankenstein and his Bride (bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff)
Marlon Brando
Katherine Hepburn (
Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at tiffany)
West Side Story (musical with natalie wood)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Bonnie and Clyde

check out http://imdb.com/ for some inspirations.

[funney250]

what am i missing with bon voge mine is orded a couple of days ago now so pm me what it is like please

[BATterfly]

Congratulations, winners! :up: I wish I'll be a winner in future ;) I'm :new: here, and I want to do some donates when I'll learn the RULES clearly :p

[cjh3787]

OK, I misspoke earlier... My frusteration got the better of me and when that happens... OK, I'm bipolar and have other severe mental disorders and so I'm not capable of controling what I say sometimes.. That doesn't meen that others don't, though. I think the trophy by the avatar is a bad idea cause couldn't someone photoshop it so that it looks like they won when they didn't? And in the future, there will probably be alot more contests... This meens more winners! So, because of that, that meens more idols and cheaters as well, does it not? Therefore, the only change I would say is by the name... I appoligize for my rude and hateful comments earlier about the hard working true house/community lot-making masters earlier. All entrants were good, I even playtested all the work for quality. It all was good. I'm sorry again and I hope my appology is accepted.

[cjh3787]

BTW, Bonnie and Clyde aren't exactly Old Hollywood... try evil bandits that rampaged the Mid-west with Browing Automatic Machineguns.. But they were dramatic. It would be good but too unfactual for me to think of as a winner. Actors that played them would be good though.

[Phaenoh]

We didn't actually get a cool little icon next to our name. The only place it appears is on our profile page in a separate little section. See my avatar? I was an ancients winner, but you'd only know it by going to my page. I was kinda hoping they'd do something similar to the Moomoo Awards, those winners got icons, but they didn't. They prolly figured they'd be alot of us and quickly.

[Sophie-David]

Oh. I was under the impression it was one entry per person as well. Did the rules change or am I just clueless? Yes, the rules must have changed, but unfortunately the rules page (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=239934) has not been updated:
Remember that you can only submit one entry - so if you chose to make a set, upload it all in one go.... ENTER the challenge for the month ONCE. For the last challenge I noticed that almost everyone only made one entry.

It is a little frustrating to find out about this change at this point, because my last upload (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=249681) - although trivial - should have logically gone in the Old Hollywood section rather than the general. I did not upload it there since I am working on a larger project and didn't want to spoil my chances for making a successful entry. Oh well, life's like that! ;)

[sarah9cat]

Oh yes! Yay! I have holidays until Oct. 15 exactly...now to get to work.

[Sophie-David]

I think an important detail needs to be worked out for the Creator Challenges, besides the need for the documentation to be updated (and I never did receive an answer as to what year "Old Hollywood" ends). Although Phaenoh was the well-deserved winner of "The Ancients", there is absolutely no indication of this when you go to her winning entry, The Parthenon (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=244375). I would suggest that either a special icon needs to be created to indicate the winning entry (or perhaps the top five entries), and/or the winning entry should be accorded Featured status. Considering that these are contests in which the community puts forward its best efforts, and that the winner has been judged "the best of the best", it seems to me that being Featured is completely appropriate.
:beer:

[jaynaemiller]

If I had any talent outside of writing, I'd be all over Old Hollywood--my specialty. HINT: Guys (Ruddy Valentino, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Steward, Fatty Arbuckle, Fred Astaire, Cary Grant, James Dean, Marlon Brando, Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Paul Robeson, Mickey Rooney, Andy McDowell, Charleston Heston--to name a few) and Girls (Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Veronica Lake, Jane Russell, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Dorothy Dandridge, Alice Faye, Rita Hayworth (a personal favorite), Lucille Ball, Butterfly McQueen, Betty Grable, Carole Landis, Eva Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, Hedy Lamarr, Baby Peggy (the first Shirley Temple), Shirley Temple, Grace Kelly, Janet Gaynor, Lana Turner, Lena Horne, Viven Leigh--to name a few.) BUT, if anyone wants any ideas about the Very Golden Era, I am the one--my Master's in History has to be good for something. I am a Old Classic Hollywood nut, so if anyone wants to know something, feel free to ask. I wish everyone luck entering the old Hollywood comps!

I am still attempting to learn how to get my graphics on clothes because a lot would be cool (a lot of Bob Marley, Rastafari and ethnic stuff).

ALSO: As far as those people who do buildings, I lived in Hollywood "forever", it seems and a LOT of the town has maintained its old "glamour structures"--in fact, the studio bungalows are still standing and a lot of them are rentable so if you go to like Westside Rentals or any site devoted to Old Hollywood architecture (which technically usually is devoted to 19th Century Old Spanish Hacienda styles and a few "Modern Grecian Roman" gardens, you can get an idea from there.

Hope this was helpful. :lovestruc Love this site!

[Phaenoh]

Not to be 'tooting my own horn' but I agree with Sophie-David. I was kinda disappointed when after getting picked for top three, still wasn't discernible from other creators or their creations. I think the five who made the short list should get a special little icon next to their name, or have their entry featured or something else. We went though all that effort on our projects, they were deemed special, but we are still virtual nobodies. Just seemed a little disheartening.

Thanks for listening, and no matter what, I'm still glad that I entered, and will continue to enter future contests...working on my Hollywood one now!

[Daniel123dj]

Congrats to all of you winners!, it was amazing and all you deserved to win. ;)
Im gona try to make somthing to the old hollywood, but first i must have an idea, well i think i have one now. :P

[Echo]

Hi all!

I'm not running the contests, but some quick thoughts:
At the moment we're not rejecting multiple entries for the set, because it's nice to have a lot of content in to challenge set. (That is, of course, not an invitation to spam the forum with a bunch of threads with one wallpaper each or anything!) Ideally though, we'd like to see people spend their time on a really nice single item or small set, rather than enter several items, and the shortlisted selections will generally reflect that. The goal is to try for quality rather than quantity. As the rules are still settling down, we're sorry about any confusion.

Regarding automatically featuring winners; I don't think that would be such a good idea. Items in the challenge sections are not immune to featured status - if we find something feature-worthy in there, then it can be featured. I agree that it would be nice for winning threads to be marked as such, and we'll probably throw it around in the moderators forum to figure out the best way to do that, but it most likely won't be automatically featuring. Allow me to explain my reasoning.

Everything posted in the challenge has almost certainly been produced in under a month. Probably only a couple of weeks in most cases, allowing for thinking time. That means two things. First, that people who do not have months and months to work on a project can participate when otherwise they might not bother, which is great, but second, that it's much less likely that many works will reach that "holy cow that's stunning must feature now" status which normally ends up on downloads which have been in the works for several months. :)

Now, say we were to get a contest where not many people enter. We would still produce a shortlist and allow for voting, but if there are not many entries then the quality of the winners may not be quite as grand as in a contest where many people enter. If the winners of that got automatically featured without meeting the other featuring requirements, it would devalue the other featured artist's work.

That doesn't mean that I'm averse to marking the winning threads as winning threads though! ;)

Sophie-David - if you'd like, we can move other downloads released during the contest timeline into the contest forums, just PM one of the moderators in that download forum and let them know. :)

[Phaenoh]

I'm all for a separate little icon that is just 'contest winner shortlist' or what not. That way its not being directly compared to the featured uploads (understood the reasoning behind not auto-featuring them and I agree with it, i'm still working on getting my own little featured trophy icon, but i don't think any of my things deserve that yet anyways). Maybe the icon could be a plumbob with rings around it, like say, the trophy that the top three get perhaps?

[Paleoanth]

Hey! I never got a PM for my participation trophy! Cough it up!

*the above was meant in a joking manner and was in no way actually demanding of anything from anyone who has more important things to do.

[Tatiana Dokuchic]

First I would like to thank all the MTS2 staffers for all the work that you did with the Ancients Challenge. I know that running something like this requires a lot of effort & I appreciate it as I had a wonderful time creating something I never would have otherwise attempted. It was also very interesting for me to watch the mechanics of the challenge, especially since it was the first. :)

In the spirit of making future MTS2 Challenges even better I thought I would offer the following observations & suggestions.

Polls are great for a number of reasons. Not only do they promote the site & the creators but they allow everyone to participate. I always think of the popularity of the tv show American Idol where you see this played out on a grand scale.

I do, however, believe that you are going to have some issues with the current process since you encourage people to vote & then don't necessarily follow the poll results. No matter how many times you state this up front, voters will be discontent if their opinion is asked for and then not followed.

I would therefore suggest that you "tweak" the rules for future challenges a bit:

** Continue with having the staff pick the short list. This obviously gives you a lot of control over the assets that you would like to reward. You could set a minimum of say 3 (for example) but allow for more if the situation warrants it.

** Give everyone on the short list an Exceptional Award. After all, you did get to select them just as with a Feature and this will provide a nice "additional" reward to contest participants.

** Conduct the poll to select the "Best of the Best", i.e. the Grand Prize Winner from the short list. You don't have to have another prize for this as just the title should be enough of a reward & to spark participation. This means that the voters get the "final say".

This scenario gives you the same benefits, the same control, the same amount of work as the current strategy and has the added advantage that the voter's choice wraps up the process. I believe that the perception of fairness will be much higher.

Speaking of perception, I realize that with any activity like this you are always going to have those that are discontent. It's a fact that one just has to be prepared for. I realize that by tweaking the process a bit you can only hope to minimize the negatives and not eliminate them completely but the more that you can accomplish this the better.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth. Many thanks for listening. :)

[Phaenoh]

ditto what she said ^

[Sophie-David]

Tatiana has some good ideas, and they were well presented. I like the suggestion that the staff selects the short list, then the community selects the winner.

Thank you Echo also for your reasoned explanation. While it would be my preference to see a winning entry such as Phaenoh's actually featured, I think that at least some visual indication of each short-listed upload, and of the overall winner, is needed.

As far as transferring my upload over to the Old Hollywood section, having got over my confusion I think I would prefer to stay within the original rules and focus on submitting just one better quality entry.

[Sterlingdt]

I do tons of contests at my site and have learned ways to make them more successful. I think it would be helpful to outline more clearly what criteria the entries would be judged on so people could understand better how to vote and how the winners were chosen. For instance, how authentic was the entry based on the theme? Did the entry contain objects that fit the theme? Was effort made to make the historical layout of the asset valid? Was the custom content made by the entrant or by other creator's?
I also agree with Tatiana's statements above and think that once deadlines/rules are laid out they should be followed. With that said, all the entries were very creative and having contests here is a great idea!

[~Jessica~]

i agree with tatiana's suggestions
I also wanted to suggest that maybe you guys should make one (locked) thread in the creator guidelines area specifically for these themes so that we dont have to bounce between threads to see what the guidelines are. Especially since alot of people dont read past the first post, they may not see your additional explanations in later posts after 20 "this is a great idea!!" posts lol

As Sterling suggested, except to have it all in one thread: what you guys are looking for, how authentic you'd like it to be, how many items we can enter, what things do you NOT want us to enter (like more marilyn sims or paintings), what time in history this theme is (like 1920-1960), etc.

I think this would make it less confusing. The old thread says we can only enter once, this thread says we can enter multiple times but only one of our items can be named "exceptional".
I have no idea if i explained this properly, it made more sense in my head lol

[lolachey7]

congrats!!

[nixie]

can i upload something that i've already uploaded to the exchange for the contest which was never in any other contest before?

[seren]

when will the voting begin?

[porkypine]

lol... Of course.... 6 days after the deadline, I get an idea of what to make. lol oh well... my game wasn't up and running anyway.


What's the next contest?

[Sophie-David]

lol... Of course.... 6 days after the deadline, I get an idea of what to make. lol oh well... my game wasn't up and running anyway. Why not do it anyway? :)
I have quite a few leftover ideas for the contest that didn't get done and likely will be posting them there sooner or later...

[Phaenoh]

Not sure whats going on here, but on my scorecard page, it says I have entered 3 contests, Ancients and 2 Old Hollywoods. I've only submitted one thing for OH, so this can't be right. Any ideas/fixes available? Its not major, but it bugs me a bit.

[jon119]

Sorrybut English is not my first language and so I'm not shure wether I've understood this right:
Get your entries in before 15 Oct - sooner is better!

It means you can only participate in this contest until 15 October, doesnt it?

When will there be the next contest??

[Sophie-David]

Sorrybut English is not my first language and so I'm not shure wether I've understood this right:


It means you can only participate in this contest until 15 October, doesnt it?Yes.

You can still submit entries anyway, it is just that they will not be eligible for the contest.

When will there be the next contest?? I would guess that the next contest would start in mid-November.

[Shadowkiss19]

Where can I make a suggestion for challeges?