Competition Rules and Process

[TerraGenesis]

TerraGenesis competitions are a great tradition that we will continue. Running them without a dedicated system will be confusing at first, but it can be done. A lot of the overall rules will carry over, just the process of submitting and voting will be new. All the guidelines listed below are just a theory of how this new system will work. It may take a few cycles of competitions to work out all of the details, so these rules are subject to change.


All competitions must follow the set TerraGenesis rules. The criteria for each competition will be set by the Competition Organizer to dictate a theme, required sizes restrictions, certain materials used, or other requirements. Entries must comply with all rules and criteria to be accepted into the competition. It will be the Competition Organizer’s job to monitor and evaluate an entry’s compliance to these rules.


Competition Rules
Entries must be constructed during the period of the competition. You cannot enter something that you made previously. You may include elements that were built previously but these may not be the ‘crucial’ element of the piece. For example, if the competition is to build a bridge you may build it over a river that is already complete but you may not enter a bridge that you had already constructed by creating a river to go under it. The opposite would be true if the competition was to build a water feature.

Anyone intending to enter must propose their entry in a new thread in that competition’s sub forum and post work in progress shots (WIPs) with descriptions prior to posting the final entry. Note that the idea of the competitions is to promote discussion on the forum so posting WIP photos only without any information of your process is frowned upon.

After posting WIP updates in your thread, you should submit your final entry in the appropriate voting thread created by the Competition Organizer. This thread will automatically lock at the deadline.  Be sure to give yourself enough time before the close of the competition in case there are any issues posting. Any entries not added to the voting thread will not be added in after the deadline, no matter what the cause of the delay. Note that voters will be judging the presentation of your work as well as the work itself. Final entries should be entered with photos that are large, crisp, and well lit. Members will be allowed a maximum of 5 photos per entry. Competition submissions also require a brief description of the materials used, completed size, intended final purpose and a link to your WIP thread.

At the end of the competition, a vote will take place using the poll mechanism to choose a winner. The Competition Organiser may exclude entries which, in their opinion, do not meet their specified criteria. In the event of a tie, the Site Administrator will choose the winner from the tied entries. The winner of the competition will be the Competition Organizer of the next competition. If the winner chooses not to run the next competition, they may offer the spot to another competitor. If no other competitors are interested in the position, the winner should contact the Site Administrator.


The Competition Process (Preliminary)
Each competition will fill a 2 month span. The Competition Organizer will need to announce the competition theme and criteria by the 1st of the first month (January 1 for example). The Site Administrator will start a new sub-forum under the comeptition area to hold all of the thread pertaining to that comp. Members interested in participating in the competition should start a new thread to post their WIP in this sub-forum. 

Participants will have until the 21st of the second month (February 21 following the example) to post their completed entry following the guidelines above. As the end of the competition draws near, the Competition Organizer should start a new thread for final entry submissions. Competitors will respond in this thread submitting their final entries. The entry can be edited as much as needed until the final deadline. (Observers are to refrain from commenting in the final submission thread until voting is complete. Any compliments & feedback to the enterants should be done in their WIP thread.)

After the 21st, the Competition Organizer should add a poll to the final entry thread with a button for each project. DO NOT enable the option of allowing multiple votes nor making the voter choices public. Voting will be open for 5 days meaning the results will be tallied at the end the 26th of the second month (i.e. February 26th).

Once the winner is announced, they will have 3-5 days (depending on the length of the second month) to decide on the criteria for the next competition and notify the Site Administrator by the 1st of the following month (March 1st from the example) to create a new sub-fourm for the next competition. If the winner declines the opportunity to oversee the following competition, they may offer it to any other person that they participated against. If no previous enterants want to run the comp, it will be opened up to any member of the forum.

[pendrake]

On the new and improved TG why not bump the upper limit on final entry photos by one?

Is there any feasible way for the organizer to grade the entries a little?

FREX
I suggested a theme of "kick the tires; light the fires" which may be a mostly American idiom for "get started". It was to be a terrain piece that included either tires or fire or both. At the end, it would be kinda neat if there was some means where the organizer could, I dunno, give levels of approval?

SOME EXAMPLES
Entry with an obscure symbol for flame from Warhammer Elfin runes carved above a stone gateway. Nice try but disallowed for lack of theme.

Entry with a barrier partly made of tires. Approved.

Entry with a flame burning in the belly of an idol. Approved.

Entry consisting of stack of burning tires. Doubly approved/high marks.

Is there a way to implement something like this?

[MellyMonkey]

(12-21-2014, 06:07 AM)pendrake Wrote: SOME EXAMPLES
Entry with an obscure symbol for flame from Warhammer Elfin runes carved above a stone gateway. Nice try but disallowed for lack of theme.

Entry with a barrier partly made of tires. Approved.

Entry with a flame burning in the belly of an idol. Approved.

Entry consisting of stack of burning tires. Doubly approved/high marks.

Is there a way to implement something like this?

These are all things that sound like they should be happening during the competition. Ideally the comp moderator would be watching entrants projects from the start to declare them fit or unfit -- instead of letting someone finish an Elfin rune only to find out at the end that it didn't fit in the spirit of the comp.

This is a forum; a place driven by communication. I would rather solve these kinds of issues by people talking to each other rather than searching for (if there even is one) and installing a plug-in.

[Munin]

Is there a way to have ranked voting? Under to old TG model, voters ranked their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices, with each choice being given some weight and the final result being a tally of all the weighted votes. Are we now limited to 1 vote? I liked the ranked voting a lot.

[MellyMonkey]

(12-31-2014, 11:27 AM)Munin Wrote: Is there a way to have ranked voting? Under to old TG model, voters ranked their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices, with each choice being given some weight and the final result being a tally of all the weighted votes. Are we now limited to 1 vote? I liked the ranked voting a lot.

There is the ability to give more than one vote in the poll mechanism (see screen shot below), but not to prioritize them. I don't think having multiple votes without a rank to them would be very helpful. I assume we would end up with a lot of ties that way. For example, if there's only 3 entries and people can vote 3 times it'll end up a draw.... or 5 entries and 3 are obviously a step above the rest, we would have the same problem.



We will still be able to see who ended up in 1st, 2nd and 3rd though. The poll keeps track of the percentage of what each option received. Voters will just have a harder time picking just one piece to cast their vote towards, which may not be a bad thing.

[pendrake]

(12-31-2014, 03:27 PM)MellyMonkey Wrote:

(12-31-2014, 11:27 AM)Munin Wrote: Is there a way to have ranked voting? Under to old TG model, voters ranked their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices, with each choice being given some weight and the final result being a tally of all the weighted votes. Are we now limited to 1 vote? I liked the ranked voting a lot.

There is the ability to give more than one vote in the poll mechanism (see screen shot below), but not to prioritize them. I don't think having multiple votes without a rank to them would be very helpful. I assume we would end up with a lot of ties that way. For example, if there's only 3 entries and people can vote 3 times it'll end up a draw.... or 5 entries and 3 are obviously a step above the rest, we would have the same problem.



We will still be able to see who ended up in 1st, 2nd and 3rd though. The poll keeps track of the percentage of what each option received. Voters will just have a harder time picking just one piece to cast their vote towards, which may not be a bad thing.

If there is a month with only two entries the 1st, 2nd, 3rd thing sort of broke. This fixes that.

One idea would be for the coordinator to give each entry some tiebreaker points when she approves it but before the voting thread goes live. In case of ties the entry that had more tie break points edges out the other entry.

I guess the poll will not support multiple questions in a single poll?
Q1: which entry is your choice for 1st?
Q2: which entry is your choice for 2nd?
Etc.

Would doing that entail having three separate voting threads?

[Tob]

This document serves as the Competition FAQ List and answers a number of questions about how Terragenesis competitions are run and should be read by anyone planning to enter.  Potential entrants should also read and abide by our competition rules (above).

What Can Be Entered?

Can I enter X?
It is sometimes necessary to ask for clarification from the organiser but please remember before doing so that deliberate bending of the criteria is not within the spirit of the competitions. The organiser has already taken on a significant piece of work by agreeing to run the competition so please try not to make their job any harder than it needs to be.
You should also bear in mind that although the organiser can choose whether or not a piece is eligible for inclusion in the vote, he/she can't force people to vote it i.e. a piece that bends the rules may be ignored by the voters even if the organiser does allow it.

Can I use an old project as the basis of an entry?
It very much depends on what you have and what you intend to do to it, and every case will be different. Your best bet is to create a thread in the competition area with pictures of what you have and a description of what you intend to do to it. Note however that other members may be reluctant to openly state an objection so I suggest that you set it up as a poll or invite anybody who does object to PM the comp organiser. After about a week (to give people time to comment) the comp organiser should be in a position to give it the thumbs up (or not). Of course if you get approval you would then have to do what you'd said you were going to do or you might find that approval being withdrawn at a later stage.

Can I use a kit?
Provided that the Competition Organizer has not specifically stated that a kit must not be used then yes, you can use a kit. Bear in mind however that because TerraGenesis is mostly about making terrain from scratch, voters are much more likely to applaud your entry if the kit has been significatnly modified or enhanced rather than simply being built as it comes from the box.
You are also advised to draw attention to the fact that a kit has been used in order that voters do not get the impression that you are trying to hide something.

Can I make multiple entries?
Yes, but each one is judged independently i.e. if competitor A makes entries A1 and A2 which receive 5 votes each while an entry from competitor B gets 6 votes, competitor B will win; even though the combined total of votes obtained by A are higher, neither of his pieces has more votes than the piece submitted by B.

Are team entries allowed?
Yes, however the entry, archive, and organizing mechanisms are set up to work for one member only. Thus one member will have to act as the 'team captain' and it is they who will be credited with the win (if they win), and it is that member who will be invited to run the next competition.
Please make it clear that the entry is a team effort as failure to do so could be regarded as cheating.

Work In Progress a.k.a. WIP

Why do I have to post WIP?
The creation of a WIP thread with WIPS (work in progress shots i.e. images) are required in order to qualify and serve a number of purposes:

It demonstrates to the Competition Organizer and other members that you are actually making the piece during the qualifying period.
It gives us something to talk about by making comments and suggestions.
It provides material that for the Site Administrator to use in the creation of articles for the archives.


How much WIP should I post?
Enough to satisfy the requirements above although different amounts will be needed for each. For example, you may not need to post much to convince the organizer that it qualifies but if you do not post enough to entertain members during the competition then you will probably miss out on some votes and are unlikely to have your work turned into an article.

What makes for a good competition entry summary?
The summary that you submit with your entry should do three things:

It should bring any important points about your piece to the attention of voters who haven't been following, or haven't taken a good look at, your WIP thread. For example, we've had entries where an element of it looked very much like it was from a kit when in fact it was scratch built. If voters assume that a part of your piece is from a kit they won't be as impressed as if they are made aware that you actually made it yourself.

It should provide information for the competition summary archive for the benefit of future readers who will not be able to go check out your WIP thread if they have a question about what they see in your picture(s). Look at your main picture(s) and think: what will people want to know about this piece? Concentrate on the more unusual aspects of your piece and avoid stating the obvious; but at the same time be aware that what's obvious to you isn't necessarily obvious to everybody else. Say too much rather than too little.

Give some clear indication of size and/or scale.

How to specify scale/size?
Entries should give an indication of the size or scale of the piece. This may be done in a number of ways:

Stating the length, width, or height of the piece, or some element within it e.g. "the trees are 3" tall". Note that you don't have to state all dimentions; just enough for the reader to understand how big it is.

Stating the scale of the piece... in which case there needs to be something in the piece from which the dimensions can be estimate e.g. a standard sized figure (not a dwarf, giant, or monster), standard doorway, etc.

Using, and stating that you have used, a standard sized component such as a ping-pong ball, standard CD, 1/4" balsa strip, etc. Note that the component must be easy to see in the finished piece and not hidden away inside it.

In order to avoid disappointment we recommend that entrants err on the side of caution by giving a little more information than is absolutely necessary.

Voting & Winning

Who can vote?
Competitions are judged by a vote and all registered members may vote, regardless of whether or not they entered.

What are the voting criteria?
Members use their own judgement when voting. Thus any individual bias will be of little significance to the outcome. Note that while the organiser has the option to exclude entries which have not met their initial criteria, individual voters should also consider whether or not THEY feel that the criteria have been met. Other factors that may be taken into consideration include: quality of finish, originality, inspiring use of materials and/techniques, usefulness of the finished piece i.e. playability, etc.

Can an organiser win their own competition?
Yes, however in this event the entrant who came second will be offered the opportunity to run the next competition.

What if I win but don't want to run the next competition?
In this event you should inform the Site Administrator who will then run the next competition.