I had thought about this myself. Anyone who puts in a map early on is at a disadvantage to those who wait toward the end, as the latter would know what their competition was and the former would not. But, that is life i suppose. It can happen with the monthly challenges as well, though to a smaller extent.
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True. However it is worth bearing in mind that while one is limited to one entry per challenge, one always has the option of scrapping a prior entry and beginning a new one. So nothing is written in stone until the contest ends.Originally Posted by J.Edward
That's a great point Arsheesh. Hadn't thought about that.
It's relevant to me because as I improve my maps are usually a bit better as the year goes on. Glad to know that.
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Another thought is some of us don't look too much at the other entries during a contest. At least I like to get my own ideas locked down before I even look at anyone else's otherwise I run the risk of being influenced. I like to shoot for an original take on something when I can and I don't seem to be able to do that when my eyes are full of everyone else's. So I try to resist peeking when I'm in the game...sometimes I fail. It also can be disheartening to look and see someone else who is practically completed while your's is just lines and scratches on a napkin.
Maybe that's just me though.
And in response to the pre "Commissioned" maps, anything put up here on the Cartographer's Guild as a challenge map must be your's and you are allowing the CG to post it as a winning map. That means if it's commissioned for someone else you can't typically use it. I seem to remember Torstan once or twice having a map he was doing as a challenge get "bought up" half way through by someone and he had to pull the entry from the contest.
I don't think you can enter something you use in a monthly challenge either since it's already been voted on. I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you did but I imagine you would get trounced by the entries that were crafted and built on over the course of an entire year.
I like the idea because I seem to never have more than a week in total per month to actually spend on a map so the monthly challenges can be rough on my sleep schedule if I want to finish them (which i always do).
Last edited by Jaxilon; 02-22-2015 at 10:49 PM.
“When it’s over and you look in the mirror, did you do the best that you were capable of? If so, the score does not matter. But if you find that you did your best you were capable of, you will find it to your liking.” -John Wooden
* Rivengard * My Finished Maps * My Challenge Maps * My deviantArt
Being someone who needs a lot of time to do a map (generally) and who can be "caught" by work, I really like the idea!
I kinda agree with THW, though. That's a big leap from one month to one year.By THW
Is there a reason you decided on a full year? I wouldn't have thought there are any maps, even among the greats, that take more than six months to create.
Concerning the issue raised by Chick, I guess it could be partly avoided if particpants are asked to start the contest in the begining of the year (like the first two or three months). But, it's kinda restrictive, and that would sadly restrain new guilders to enter the contest.
Great idea anyway!
Perhaps there could be a compromise where the initial WIP must be posted by a certain date if you're already a member of the site, but newly-joined members can post anytime right up until closing date. It does show everyone's join date when they post in the forums, so it's not hard to keep track of. For instance, to make it simpler, you could say that if you only joined in 2015, you can join the competition anytime right up until closing date, but if your join date is earlier than 1st Jan, 2015 you must post your initial WIP by, say, 1st June (or whenever). Not sure if I'm making things overly complicated, though.
I suppose that's a possibility, but that would still restrict returning members who've been away for a while and only return to active community life later in the year from participating. Part of the intention behind this contest is to allow the widest possible pool of contestants.
The concerns that have been raised about the length of contest may have legitimacy, but it's difficult to know in advance whether or not the timeline will actually turn out to be problematic or not. Think of this year as sort of an experiment. At the end of the year we can look back and see what worked well and what didn't and make any needed revisions to the challenge format for the following year. For now however let's go with the format that's already in place and let the chips land where they may.
Cheers,
-Arsheesh
I agree with Arsheesh. If we debate it endlessly, nothing will get done. Better just to proceed, see what happens, and learn and grow from there.
The time frame of a year is a bit long, and while it would create masterpieces I think people could be off put by the large timespan, and I see a lot of entries near the last or second to last month. I personally think it would be better semi annually, but I think this is a good idea.
I sort of get this. The temptation is "WELL I HAVE A YEAR TO DO IT" and people will submit in the last two months. But the same would apply if it was biannually anyway. People inclined to race the deadlines so to speak still will do as such.
What I wonder is if people looking at this challenge feel they are expected to produce the most amazing thing ever? I hope not. I hope this is viewed as more of an opportunity to refine one particular idea over a year of time in order to get a great end result. Given the timeframe this means you can ditch entire avenues of approach and try something different.
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