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Photo Contest Suggestion Box

Started by Masochist, April 05, 2007, 07:27:35 AM

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Masochist

#20
Hey!  Just an notice, I posted a link to a free photo-editing program called The GIMP in the "Rules" sticky (at the bottom).  It's a totally free program (as in totally sans any type of payment requirements), and it's rather powerful.  A lot of people compare it to Photoshop (even though PS is hundreds of dollars and the GIMP isn't), and obviously Photoshop is favored.  But if you don't have the money for any high-end photo-editing program, and you want one, The GIMP may be the best option.  Just throwin' it out there...check it out :thumbsup:.
(Under Construction)

callagrafx

Sarungman....there should be no pigeonholing of images, it makes life too complex.  It's more about the IMAGE than the city building skills...and should be judged wholly on that.  When you go out with a camera, you don't take photos of examples of urban planning, you take photos of what looks nice.

I like Citynut's concept of an Image Queue.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

Colyn

One of the things that makes this great is the SURPRISE factor ... so a queue will spoil that ...

I rather like the THEMES per week.

Imagine a whole week of snazzy INDUSTRIALS ;)
Work, the annoying period between bike trips.
Come see CSX Play

Masochist

#23
All right, I suppose it's time to reply to some of these suggestions and ideas :).  First off, I have already put up the 10th-vote rule.  The one who casts the deciding vote cannot post a picture.  That's in there.  We'll see how it goes and what-not.

rooker1
Quote from: rooker1 on April 13, 2007, 06:32:22 AM
With all this said, I really hope this does not become a rule as I think I have excellent pictures to share here as well.
Lastly, just to be clear, I am not trying to start anything.  What ever is decided will have to be okay.  I will just post my pictures in other threads here.  "Show us your" is an excellent outlet.

Just my 10 cents  LOL

Robin   ;)

As long as it's up to me, it won't become a rule. ;)

glepet
Quote from: glepet on April 13, 2007, 10:21:43 AM
Let's see.. I know this gets more complicated but how about a "unaltered photo contest" and a "photoshopped" contest. I enjoy both types.

That idea was brought to the table a while back, but it was shot down rather quickly.  Maybe it's time once again to look into it?

Citynut
Quote from: Citynut on April 13, 2007, 11:08:12 AM
I too like the Idea of the 10th vote cant challange - might I also suggest that we a picture que - where if it is in the que it will be the next to challange and people will have to add there picture to the que first - that way nobody is racing to see who gets there picture in first. - Just an Idea
I think this shoud be implememnted to solve the problem - that way everyone gets a chance to compete. and if you think about it it would wipe out rule #10
the winner advances to the next round and the next in the que is the challange - I truly think it would solve this problem. Masochist, I know you really dont a picture que, But I think this would sovle alot of problems

This suggestion was brought up earlier, as well.  I do think it would be a way to help quell some of the problems in the contest right now.  But you're right...I'm not so keen on the idea.  I think it would take away the spontaneity that makes the game so fun (I like the fact that you don't which two pictures are going up against each other).    However...I'm just one guy, and it's just my one opinion.  If the majority of the people wish to start with a picture queue, then there wouldn't be much I could do about it.  But as it's a major change in the way the game is run, it'd have to be a major movement (as opposed to just the two or three voices that have helped change minor issues).  That's just my opinion on it...so if more people speak up in favor of it, then I guess it'll pass.

sarungman
Quote from: sarungman on April 13, 2007, 12:00:11 PM
i also agree with the suggestion that the CONTEST should be given a THEME/topic each round or each week (something like session :)).... i always see, when someone gives their Downtown pics, the challenger give their suburbs pics, and the voters sometimes are a "Suburb Freak" or "downtown freak" ;D..... so, it's possible that when u show your downtown pics and the challenger shows his suburb pics, the next 10 voters are "suburb Freak" &mmm.... can u guess?, how unlucky u are at that time.... $%Grinno$%

so the point is
--> the contest should be given a theme or topic for each round/week/month.....
--> The moderator or judge gives the next theme (suburbs/downtown/industry/farm/etc) after a round is finish (i mean each round), to prevent "Fast Challenge", so other participant can prepare their pics before they put their pics into this contest.

hmm.... oh, i dont know what else i should suggest next..... i think that's enough..... time to sleep.... it's 2 am here.... i have a competition tomorrow.....

sorry, my english is bad.....

Your English isn't bad at all!  And that's an interesting spin on the category idea that I hadn't thought of: having a theme.  Maybe not every week or round or whatever, but every so often, just to change things up.  I don't know...just an idea.

callagrafx
Quote from: callagrafx on April 13, 2007, 12:59:14 PM
Sarungman....there should be no pigeonholing of images, it makes life too complex.  It's more about the IMAGE than the city building skills...and should be judged wholly on that.  When you go out with a camera, you don't take photos of examples of urban planning, you take photos of what looks nice.

I like Citynut's concept of an Image Queue.

I've already stated my opinions about the image queue.  And I like the fact that any image can compete against any other, as well.  I thought about sarungman's idea, though, and I wrote my little tweak on it up there ^ a bit.


So yeah...these are just my thoughts.  I really like the way the game is run right now, and I'm sure a lot of other people like it this way, as well.  However, if you guys really want things changed, just let me know...it's not my way or the highway here.  I just want to make it fun for as many people as possible, is all.  Please, keep the suggestions coming! :thumbsup:
(Under Construction)

callagrafx

who said the queue had to be public?  But the more I think about it, the less practical it seems...
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it

sam

Maybe we could keep the open competition as is, but have a spin-off competition which is themed.

The themed competition could have the theme varied by a moderator every so often eg photoshopped images, no photoshopped images, rural, nature, megatropolis, mystery etc.

Perhaps - only the moderator can start a round and announces the theme, people can only post pictures once this is done. The competition continues as normal until a picture gets to the hall of fame, then the moderator announces a new theme for the new challengers.

For the mystery theme the moderator calls for two challengers, then announces the theme.

sebes

I like Sams idea. Just another little idea that might go with that:

The moderator announces a theme, and every body who wish can post a picture for 24 hours. Then every body can vote for one of the entered pictures, for 24 hours. The scores are not disclosed. The best 10 get into the real competition (only the moderator know the best 10). The competition opens with the 10th and 9th place, and everybody can vote again between the two. The winner takes it agains the 8th place, the winner from those 2 against the 7th place etc. At the end there will be one overall winning picture in the theme contest...
Check my MD:               
Rhenen,NN

CabraBuitre

I'm a couple days late on the whole discussion... but my thought about who should post the next image goes along the lines of what Citynut suggested... My thought is that all pics should be submitted to a single moderator, who has the list of pics, and them posts them in the order they were rec'd.  Now, there's a drawback to this that we'd have to wait for the moderator to post the next image... but that might very well be better than what we have currently. 

I've gotta catch up on the main thread, I'm 12 pages behind due to lots of RLS, but I'll catch up soon!!

Check out Abelfarei!

Colyn

Good suggestions and I like the Themed thing by Sam and Sebes ... if that is mixed with what Cabra say then it could be quite a battle.

We can talk to Jeroni about a special forum for the moderators of this picture forum and only they have access to that ... there the queues can be built by Masochist with the other moderators just updating the competition thread. For that we will need at least 2 more moderators that would be willing to look after the thing.
Work, the annoying period between bike trips.
Come see CSX Play

Masochist

#29
Okay!  I am now done with finals and such, so I have a bit of free time (a little...the month of may is going to kill me! :'().  Anyways, I was thinking of how we could do a themed competition without disrupting the main competition (too much).  So I've come up with something of an amalgamated idea of ideas (()what()) on how we could maybe implement this, and I'd like some feedback on the idea.

Okay...so here it is.  We could have a themed tournament where all the pictures are submitted beforehand (to a moderator or to a thread, whatever) (and we'd have a submissions deadline).  Then we hold the tournament itself.  Of course, all of that was already suggested by other people, so none of it's new.  But here's the thing: if this tournament were to happen, I kind of see two ways we could run it.  Based on the number of submissions we have, we could have two pictures go up against each other in classic contest (first to 10 votes or highest after 24 hours).  Whenever a picture wins, it goes on to the next round, and then two more pictures go up and battle each other and the process repeats until the first round is over.  Then the second round begins and so on and so on. 

That method may or may not become tedious depending on the number of submissions we have, so I also thought that it might be easier to group a bunch of pictures in a round together and hold voting polls to determine the winners.  For example, if there are 24 submissions, we could hold 4 polls with six pictures each (or 2 polls with 12 pics), and that would be the first round.  Then we might take the top so-many from each of those and put them together for the second round, and so on and so on.  That would take up a bit of room on the site, because we'd need a different thread for every poll.  That's all I've come up with so far.

I'm just throwing stuff out there.  These are just loose ideas that I've finally had time to throw down in writing.  The main thing is that I don't want it to disrupt the main competition (too much).  The way I have it thought out, this wouldn't be a constant thing...it would be more of a thing to do in-between 2nd Chance Sunday tournaments.  But of course, this is all me talking.  I'd love to hear what you guys think of this...whether you think it'd be practical, whether you like or dislike the idea (or parts of the idea), whether you'd change anything, whether you'd actually participate, any feedback is welcome :thumbsup:!
(Under Construction)

Mulefisk

#30
Masochist: I think it's a fantastic idea, and i've been thinking about something along the lines of that myself. I think that to make it work, it would be best to go with the seccond option, having groups of pictures.

What would make it even more exciting however, is that for each round, the winners will have to post a new picture, perhaps with a new theme. This way, we aren't finding out who has the best picture, we find out who is the best at making them. This goes on until there are only 2 people left, and one of them wins. The winner could then perhaps get a custom title or something.


It's just an idea, but I really think it would help make this contest even more exciting.

sebes

I'm not in favor of that.

I for myself like the idea that we vote for best appealing pictures/photo's, and not for the best photographer or photo-editor behind it. It could easily turn into yet another "idol" contest...not realy what I am looking for here....
Check my MD:               
Rhenen,NN

Citynut

Quote from: sebes on May 05, 2007, 04:25:50 AM
I'm not in favor of that.

I for myself like the idea that we vote for best appealing pictures/photo's, and not for the best photographer or photo-editor behind it. It could easily turn into yet another "idol" contest...not realy what I am looking for here....

I suck at Photoshop and other editing programs - I have to agree with Sebes on this matter - otherwise I like the Idea of voting
I'm nutty and I Bat and they're coming for me with the white coats again

mightygoose

i think a naked theme would be good, i always prefer my pictures to be raw without PS, but hey thats just me
NAM + CAM + RAM + SAM, that's how I roll....

meinhosen

I think, perhaps, it might be easiest to go to a style similar to the second chance tournament(s).  I think that might open up the doors for more folks to submit screenshots and give us a wider range of users (and themes- that's such a great idea  &idea ) to work with during the tournament.
You're telling me I get to be home for more than 12 months?


thundercrack83

Quote from: sebes on May 05, 2007, 04:25:50 AM
I'm not in favor of that.

I for myself like the idea that we vote for best appealing pictures/photo's, and not for the best photographer or photo-editor behind it. It could easily turn into yet another "idol" contest...not realy what I am looking for here....

One way to do that is post the pictures as "Photo 1" and "Photo 2," that way you don't know whose picture you're voting for, just the picture. Then at the end, you say whose pictures they were. Just an idea...

mightygoose

that thundercrack would also encourage cjer's to find a different style so we cant identify whose photo is whose...
NAM + CAM + RAM + SAM, that's how I roll....

thundercrack83

I think it may be a good idea to have a moderator pin the Photo Competition thread, that way every new page, the first post will be at the top. Then, in that first post, you can edit it and put some of the rules (especially the "wait 30 minutes rule," which is broken quite regularly) in there. I don't think people are purposely breaking the rules, I just think that they aren't readily accessible and this may help. Any thoughts?

Masochist

Well...I was seriously thinking about it.  I was trying to figure out if I could sticky a post without stickying the thread...but apparently, you can't.  I don't know why I didn't just sticky the entire thread when I found that out, but...something about having it stickied just kind of irked me a bit.  I know, that's a very unsatisfactory reason for not having it done...*sigh*...I suppose I'll go ahead then.  But I'll post a notice in the game and wait about an hour or so so that people know where to look...

Also...you only have to wait half an hour to post a challenge if you were the person who casted the deciding vote in a round.  As far as I've seen, people have been rather good at keeping up with this rule (especially since I finally put in that provision about doing that).
(Under Construction)

sebes

Masochist,

Thanks for starting the first thematic round today! In the game rules, you mention that in the next round, the voting rounds, a round would be open for 12 hours. I believe a round should at least be open for 24 hours, so that all members from accross the globe can have a vote in each round. With only 12 hours on a mid-week day, people from a certain time zone can be sleeping and at work, with no chance to look at the contest...   
Check my MD:               
Rhenen,NN