Who needs prizes?

Just the honour of having the title "Best Screenshot" should be enough for most surely?

Yes it's a good idea but 

1. you've put me right off by telling me other sites do this ... 

2. who's gonna run it? 


You'd be surprised how much work is involved for little actual gain.... Getting prizes would be no problem (I've ignored offers for years now of free gifts for promotion) but the main thing is :

What software do we use to display the shots?
How are they judged & by who?

The one screenshot contest we did have on the suggestion of MS drew in the small minded people from the FS world we don't normally (thank god) see round here - the types who take it all too seriously & bicker about this & that .... At least this time I could think of a filter to try to keep those people out - like being regular on these forums for instance ...  8)

Maybe we  could run it on this forum - One shot. Anyone caught voting twice banned, only 50 entries ...  winner gets a weekend trip to Fort McMurray, Alberta  ..... 

Seriously though - it's a good idea .....

This would be a contest to see
who had the best equipment,
My screen shots suck, I most
lilely have the worst computor
on the forum, and because of
personal problems I'm stuck
with it, but glad I have something!!
I would enjoy seeing the shots and
would be interested in judging, as I
have worked in photography for
many year and don't have any friends
on the forums, so I would be fair!!

X

I think it is a great idea but there are many problems with this like Pete said.

I posted the thread "Are you a regular at the Gallery" to see who was really attending these graphic forums. I see alot of regulars and some who just pop in and I was wondering how much the Graphic end of FS2K2 appeals to everybody.
The quality of work in these forums ranges from, let's say "minimal" to "almost photographic".
Some of us are pros, some just like the "pictures" and others are just learning to "master" their talents.

Like Andrew said,
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HEY....I resent that comment !!  LOL  LOL   There are a few people who are very consistant and almost 1 out of every picture in their posts could "win".

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I like and respect those of us at SimV who are regulars to the gallery. We have come to know each other pretty well and respect each others comments and constructive critisism. I agree with what Pete said...all of a sudden it will be flooded with guests who let's say, are not "as nice" as we are to each other!!

Cool idea BE58D, but I get all my gratification from seeing what all my "freinds" in the forum say about shots I post.

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Well X, if that is what you think...............then who are we? You seem to be having alot of fun here since you joined................and usually you have fun with freinds,....right?
It took me a while to actually start calling this band of nutty aviation freaks "my freinds" also....Eventually you come around!

Dave 8)

PS. If we did do any type of contest....I think that it should involve only members of SimV!!!  The winner gets an all inclusive trip to spend a weekend at Ozzy's flat, drinking, partying and cleaning his Spitfires!!!  

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What I ment was, I only know the people on the
forums, from being on the forums and not through
personel contact!! And would be a fair person to
judge the pics,
     
I beleive a good way to do this would be have the
shots sent to three judges and let them pick the
top 10 and post them All would be same size and
resol. 800X600-16 90/110k, and in raw and edited
classes, and a newbie class, persons under 50
posts, and all others open to members only, the
judges could weed those out!!
as for the prize, a fancy thingie to put in your
signiture box!!

X

why not make this a part of the possible pay option Pete? from what i have seen there are pleanty of takers for that option so you could make a new section where only those who pay can get in, that way you keep out those who arnt serious about it.

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I'm sincerely sorry about this B58. You have been one of many people who have offered to help out & been (accidentally) ignored. I certainly still have that review somewhere - probably with a few more.

It all boils down to me being regularly overwhelmed with stuff to do - this & real life stuff. Things get forgotted & missed. An old friend from years ago wrote to me a week ago & you know - I still haven't even written back to him. I keep remembering then it skips my mind when I'm at my PC......

I would dearly like a partner in all this .... maybe I should get my act together & try to find one....

Sorry for going off topic here but I hate letting people down.

As for the screenshots - I think we should do it. I think the above ideas are right on course & we should run it from the forums - not from the main site.
It is inevitable that those with good machines stand a definite advantage - but that's no reason not to accept that & see it as another form of entertainment for all of us.

So now: We need to finalise a method & get a few people involved in administering & find a way to judge.
The last one had 100's of participants & that was far too much. I think we need to draw the line at say - 50 - one shot each & any cheaters will be severely humiliated in public 

Let's do it ... & I think prizes are secondary..... (they are all just advertising anyways ... )

If these are to be raw and not edited screenshots, I already have mine prepared....shot it a while back and only need to dip into the archive to submit it.....BTW, its already been posted ..............

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Well, now in theory... here is my ultimate idea... I want to help Pete, with the release of ACOF coming up soon... I think it may ultimately be best to wait until it's release.  This will give me, you and some others to come up with some guidelines for the contests, what do you think? And start with a fresh slate!

A screenshot contest would be pretty cool, but dont you think it'd be too easy? Sure it would be fun and challenging i guess but it all comes down to whether ramsa helped you out and you graphics are the best. A bit unfair to others IMHO. Maybe doing a contest on addons, just like other sites. You make a list of some of the popular and most downloaded addons and people choose one and the designer gets a little 'award logo' and maybe a prize if possible. I think this would be a bit more reasonable.

If there is a screenshot contest, no prizes should be involved though. Like said previously, just the 'honor' of having your screenshot named the best is enough.

.. good idea about waiting 'till FS2004 is available ... (I now have the full gold (intended release) version so some new shots will be available when I get a few dedicated hours to load up the program/do some exploring/take some shots ...)

But I actually think we have to take 'quality' into consideration ... & yes  .. those with better rigs would stand an advantage (I only have 2 average systems & one old system myself... nothing over 2 gig..)
My thoughts.. (just MY thoughts - feel free to argue.. I respect positive debate & will bow to better reason..)

1. It gets too complicated if we start trying to take content over visuals... (though basically we seem to be talking jagged or non jagged ...)
2. Ramsa could be one of the judges & judgesd are not allowed to participate    ... ( .. though in reality Ramsa isn't the only one who has tweaked his system this way ... there are others who have done this independantly & though not as regular - they do comparible shots..)
3. Obviously - non edited
4. We need a panel of about 5 'judges'. Each needs to openly declare his ideas on what makes a great shot .. that alone will tell us a lot..
5. We need to decide a way to display the shots for users ... The whole point of the excercise.

One complete we can open it up to the site users to view.. 

Other ideas & volunteers now required ..  8)

how about differant catagories for differant level computers, like one for high end computers, one for medium computers and one for lower end computers.

COOL,
Hey Pete, Here is an idea..

Is there a way to limit the # of entries?
Lets say 4 entries a month to each registered user at SimV and  2 entries per month per guest!
This would make people only post if they REALLY though the pic was worth a shot.

It would cut down on  sever use and people would be less hesitant to just keep uploading and entering.

Could it work,  this way we all would be on somewhat of a level playing field.......if that is what you want to call it   

A thought to consider.
Dave   8)

I think I may have some solutions to the system problem. Divide the applicants into system classes, kind of like boxing. That evens out the playing field. Don't make it complicated, just based on processor and video card. (Ie: 2gh+, High End Graphics Class, Less Than 1ghz, Mid Range Graphics Class, etc) 
Of course you'll need someone who can run the applications, just ask around.

Now once you have that set up, I would recomend creating a separate forum from other screenshots forum for easy viewing and entering. Winning pictures could be desplayed on a branch of the main SimV page to make it easier for people who are new to the site to view them.

well the 'categories' idea just might work but i dont know...Theres been some people in these forums who dont exactly have the best computers available and with help from Ramsa or anyone else their pics look like works of art. I mean just looking at the tweaked skies and clouds is amazing. The judges in my opinion should be 'experts' in differentiating images and know what a tweaked image might look like from a non-tweaked one. I suggest the image editors on this site - Ramsa, Rifleman, etc.

Well... so far I have had one volunteer for a judge, thank you Fly2E.  If I can't get any more volunteers, it won't work... So I need three more, come on people... I received all of these posts, and everyone seems jazzed about the idea... But no one wants to help, what gives?

Not sure what you mean Rifle by...
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If you are referring to time to really pick the two that appeal to you... Then, yes time would be alotted.  What I am hoping for... Is after the first(1st) fifty(50) shots are received, we quit accepting them... and we all know that it shouldn't take long to receive fifty(50) entries, and that within the last week of the month (starting on a Sunday)... we post the shots for our members view and vote on, and the first(1st) day of the following month we annouce the winner.  So, what I am saying... is you'd probably have about three(3) weeks (or 21 days) to select your two(2) favorite screenshots.

i'll help out with judging if you want:)

Well I seem to have entered my self as a judge now but i hope that we will allow any M$ sim.

Simply put...

It shouldn't take 3 weeks to receive 50 entries, but... If we could cut off submissions after 1 week, you'd have plenty of time to ponder over which is your favorite before submitting it for the others to vote on.

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Yes, I am thinking any sim will do... Quality over content is definately a factor, but some people seem to forget that quality DOESN'T necessarily refer to the best graphics card, the fastest PC, etc.  I have seen some really nice screenshots that were done on FS98 that still made some that were taken from FS02 look like... to nicely put it... crap (including screenshots I have taken, and posted... I am using FS02).

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y2, email me... I have Fly2E, Woodlouse, y2... I need one more!

Come on folks... Just one more judge and we can start compiling the ground rules for this contest! Only twenty eight(28) more days until the official release of ACOF, lets get the ball rolling so we can start the contest off at the beginning of August.

Your offer is accepted Rifleman (sorry it took so long to reply to this), but it seems like you are telling me that if you had 2 or 3 months to decide on a screenshot... then you'd participate in the judging (that is my interpretation, I apologize if I am wrong), and we know that won't work.

What is worse... I may even have to bail out of this (sorry, I know I started it all), but I am attempting to purchase an E-Commerce site that sells personal protection/security devices to the average consumer.  But, it is still in the works and not even remotely confirmed yet... That will take up a major portion of my time, but I am not out yet... I still have to have something to do as a hobby.  After all, I started this... and I want to finish it!

That was the other thing I wanted... each of us judges need to submit some ideas on the rules, it is tedious work.

Please judges... Fly2E, Rifleman, y2, and Woodlouse... gimme some ideas, submit them here and reference "Screenshot Rules" in the subject line.
be58d@aol.com

I am really sorry BE58D,
I am SO busy. It sounded great but I kind of thought that ground rules would have been made I I volunteered to just come in and be a judge.
I actually totally forgot about this. I am so busy with my haouse and am hardly even around as of right now. I am very sorry. Last I checked in You posted something about possibly having to bail out....so I really have not checked in.  Sorry for the let down, I Like I said, I thought all the rules would be set and I could just pop in and vote on the latest pictures that were submitted.   

Dave  8)

We could just get this thing up and running tomarrow if we didn't have any rules!!!!!!!!
Post a picture, vote, winner.....N'ff said!!
I think we are making this MORE complicated than it is. I agree with the "no guests", 1 picture per contest, 1 contest  per month, but let's stop worrying about tweaked machines, add on scenery, payware planes, etc..... !!!
Sometimes a really interesting and great shot is a freeware plane against a blue sky!!!
I will be looking at camera angles, points of perspective, interesting & different shots, etc.....
I have seen alot of really impressive shots with freeware addons and default scenery.
SO LETS GET IT GOING ALREADY.
We are waysting time with trying to "accomodate" everybody.

It is simple.

SCREENSHOT CONTEST.......POST YOUR SHOT........JUDGES VOTE......WINNER ANNOUNCED.........WINNER WINS THAT MONTHS CONTEST.......WE ALL GO "CONGRATULATIONS".......

                     REAPEAT FOLLOWING MONTH

SCREENSHOT CONTEST.......POST YOUR SHOT........JUDGES VOTE......WINNER ANNOUNCED.........WINNER WINS THAT MONTHS CONTEST.......WE ALL GO "CONGRATULATIONS".......

........AND SO ON.....AND SO ON.....AND SO ON......

Let's go people!

Dave  8)

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Thats a good idea!
First contest should be...... "A Tribute to FS2002". Even if you are not getting FS2004, it could be your best shot of 2002!
WHO REALLY CARES WHO WINS ANYWAY  ?

It is just a way for all of us to see "what we think" are good pictures.
Pete should just open a new forum so all can view the shots but only judges vote. This way everybody can see the ONE picture for that months contest that each individual submits.

In a way, it would be cool to just look at submitted shots that people think are great compared to scrolling through endless pictures.

HERE WE GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pete starts the new....SCREENSHOT CONTEST FORUM over in the Graphic gallery.
Start the thread...Post the rules, One shot PER MEMBER per month, anything you like, nobody can post comments, only the author when posting,..maybe a breif summary of what it is and why he/she likes it, judges view all the shots over the designated time table, (month), judges Make make decision before he last day of the month and ....................
There you go,.we had a screenshot contest!!!!!!!

I think alot of people who find the gallery not so interesting, might even like this, they can pop in, see great shots, and pop out. Who knows, maybe people who don't even take shots might start to see an interest in it!

Dave 8)

I myself am really busy at home, so the judges should be able to just view the shots over the month, maybe individually submitt the results to, "Pete or whoever, BE58D" and they can announce the winner...this way the judges do not even know!!!

FEEDBACK....August is just around the corner! With all the new forums starting up, Pete should be able to do this fairly quickly....

Thanks for your time and I await further comments!

Dave

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I agree!!!! Brad!!

Dave  8)

Sorry guys i've been on holiday.

BE58D, can you update me on the details by PM please?

Thanks.

There never was a contest Wendy. 

Too many people with WAY too many rules!!!

Dave  8)

It could easily happen!

All that's needed are the following. (1st it would be run here - in the Gallery & only from existing active members - to keep out folk coming in just to enter the competition..)

1. One guy to ofer to be overall in charge
2. 5 volunteers to be judges (these could easily be selected)
3. Max 50 Entries per month. One per person. Anyone cheating frazzled.
4. Some simple Rules (forget about hardware advantages  - that's just life.... )
5. When 50 entries received contest closes for 3-5 days when decisions are made.



Where's the problem? 

whooaa .. !  .. We need to do this 1st ... Once everything is arranged .... helpers & ground rules .. then I'll make the forum ....

No where even to post it right now

Pete,
See your mailbox.
Dave  8)

Y'all are crazy...