Hello everyone. While it has been a fun time in the past 3 years there's just some stuff that I just couldn't keep it to myself any longer. As much as I like this place, there's some suspicious stuff going on with the events. Lately I've seen the same people win the elusive collectibles for the events each year. Really, just have a look and some of the same people have won. I've seen better stuff that should've won no doubt. Anyone remember the acnl pic contest for the fair? You noticed how references and unfunny overused memes won most of them? I thought we had to be creative about this. Some people that won this years acnl pic contest also won last years pic contest. Also on the topic of creativeness and originality, how come a room with just a white table, white chairs and white hair in a dark room got nominated for the room contest? It's just a bunch of stuff slapped together for giggles that last 5 mins. People worked hard for other rooms and an empty room got a nomination? And here's more. Anyone remember that cake contest? There was one winner of that one that made me infuriated. Their cake looked like it was made by someone else at a bakery or bought on a store and just put icing on it. If you looked at the other entires, they look homemade and looked like they actually took the time to make it. The cake that won? I really am suspicious that it was not made by the person who posted it and instead they hired someone at a bakery or bought a cake from a store and slapped icing on it. Also let's get in the topic of multiple winners, yes we've seen the same people win some contests and I have to say that it's a bunch of nonsense that one person can win multiple contests giving out the same prize, rendering other people to not have the chance to get the prize.
I can't help but see the same people wining each year on the events. I don't know about you guys but maybe it's a case of bias and favoritism from the staff and loyalty from the old members. The old members always talk good stuff about this place and say it's all lovey dovey and never dare to spark criticism
Now of course some will say "But the staff works hard to do all of this for us and to make sure it's all an ok experience" "it's free you ungrateful brat" what I have to say to you is yeah we all have busy lives and also that does not excuse what I think is going on.
I'll get angry people at me no doubt but I just wanted to make this post to speak out what is going on with these events.
I did specifics because they were the most suspicious especially the cake, which I never participated . I am not salty or anything, just pointing stuff out
as someone who literally never wins these contests, i disagree. using the recent woods event as an example, there were a balance of ways in which winners were judged. i think the first path was staff favourites. key word 'favourites'. just because a staff member is judging doesn't mean that their favourite is going to immediately be the most extravagant and eloquently thought out entry - it's a personal preference. the mods even stated in the rules of the hand turkey contest that bad quality 'joke' entries weren't taken into account, so don't think they wanted any low effort ones, much to the dismay of my speed sketched (i prefer abstract) patrick swayze piece. even so, i always notice a variety in the nominated picks. the pumpkin path used a voting system. is there a bias in the tbt user base too? i think the consistency in users who win these contests doesn't come from favouritism, but probably their immense talent and effort throughout the events. if you're trying to encourage creativity, which i think is a fair point, i think you can find it in the artists on the forum who contribute their time and talent to the events, even if it does give them an advantage.
I mean the whole thing with judging events like the ones we have here is that it's all very subjective. What you think is good may not be what someone else thinks is good and vise versa. I don't think the staff is purposely trying to do anything unfairly
1. Yes there are people who repeatedly win events, and that's because these people are talented. Staff don't just pick winners because they've won already. It's been stated several times that staff often have multiple choices to win and that it's very difficult to narrow the winners down. There's nothing suspicious about this. It's definitely not a "Staff favour these old members" thing either - a lot of nominees have been people who aren't very active on the forum as well as not having a relationship with any staff.
2. I will somewhat agree on the meme reference thing, I don't think direct copies of a joke that's already been made are all that creative. That being said, the pong room was a pretty creative idea. Was it simple, and probably easy to make? Yes, but that doesn't disqualify something from being creative and outside the box. Something doesn't have to be complicated to be good. You also don't know the amount of time people spend on their rooms and this is just a speculation by you.
3. It's not nonsense that people can win multiple times. I used to think this, but if someone put time and effort into multiple contests, why shouldn't they be able to win? If they had quality entries, why shouldn't they be able to win again? This complaint just sounds selfish.
4. The cake thing isn't even a valid point at all because, again, it is all speculation by you. You don't have any proof to your claims. It just sounds like you personally didn't like the entry and you're trying to justify your tastes by making it deeper than it actually is.
You say you want to talk about "what's going on" but it looks like you have absolutely no idea. I wish I won other events too and yes I think some winners of some events were lame but at the end of the day, they're fun events that not only we didn't have to pay for but they aren't being paid to host them. Just be grateful for the experience.
Constructive criticism about events or otherwise is always welcome, but it would be far more appropriate to post something of this nature in the Contact the Staff board rather than in a public thread where you're essentially insulting the people who won past events by mentioning specifics about their entries.
I do apologize that you feel this way and that you think certain people are winning due to bias, but I agree with a couple of the previous posters that when someone is artistically skilled they're bound to excel when we hold art or creativity-based contests. To offset this, we try to come up with ideas that allow for a broader range of participants and winners, and in the case of The Woods event, many of our winners were members who had never won any site contest or event previously.
Just as you may not think it's fair that the "same people" are winning these prizes, it would be equally unfair for us to exclude people/entries simply because they've won prizes in prior events. Bias is something that can go both ways.
Again, if this is really something you're concerned about, please take it to our Contact the Staff board and we can discuss things further. Thank you!
