CAS Contests: Feedback, Suggestions and Ideas

[Neashaleigh]

Now that we have a construction competition and a create a sim competition, could we have a create a pet competition too?

[Schipperke]

Now that we have a construction competition and a create a sim competition, could we have a create a pet competition too?

We can, and we do.  Not as a separate event, but check out The New Breed contest which has just been posted.  I hope you'll enjoy it, and if anyone has ideas for more contests involving pets - or any other CAS subjects - be sure to let us know! 

And just in case you hadn't noticed, we are running two contests concurrently this time.  I hope you'll find Off the Wall fun and challenging as well.

[Schipperke]

Our Christmas contest has just been posted and I'm looking forward to seeing peoples' interpretations of Simta and his helpers.  I think this will be our last contest of the year as the next two-week period would take us into the Christmas season, a time when a lot of people are busy with other things.

It's been great to see the interest in the Elders' clothing contest, but aside from that one, our contest entries have fallen off quite a bit.  I'm not sure why that is, and would like to hear from you about this.  We need to decide whether to continue the contests in the new year, and I'm just not sure if we should continue when we're getting such a small number of entries for most of the contests.  If you have ideas for new types of contests or something else that might stimulate interest in the contests, please share your thoughts.  All constructive suggestions would be welcome.

When ratchie and I were discussing this recently, one of the ideas she suggested was that we might do something similar to what is done in the Challenges, with a hall of fame or score board.  People would receive points for participation and wins, etc.  Ratchie, I hope I'm accurately summarizing your idea.  Please feel free to add to this or correct me if I've gotten something wrong.  So, members, how would you feel about something like that?  If there's interest in continuing the contests, and if you like the idea of a scoreboard, we could look at starting it in the new year.

Thanks to everyone who has entered the contests this year.  I have to say, the quality of the entries is amazing!  I'm always delighted when there's a new entry for me to look at.  They're always so unique, and the presentations are so creative as well.  If we go with a scoring system, it would be nice if somehow we could take the presentation into account, although I don't know how we'd score that.

[Audren]

First of all, I really like the Simta contest. I already have a few ideas there. Hopefully I'll manage to post an entry for that one this time.

I cannot speak for anybody else, but I have simply not had much time for the contest. I've always enjoyed participating in them when possible, but my time has grown limited, and something needs to be cut. 

I'm intrigued by the idea of a leaderboard for the CAS contests, though I have no idea how you would score for presentation. I think it's a good idea, though I think they would also need another thing to increase participation, as I am not convinced that a leaderboard alone would lead to an increase in participation.

[ladybug53]

The new Simta Contest sounds like a ton of fun to create . So far I've only missed one contest when I was away on vacation . I've enjoyed all the contests you and ratchie have created . Some were a bit of a challenge but that's what I enjoy the most . There was also a nice variety to suit everyone .

I hope you get more posting and don't need to cancel the CAS Contest . I do enjoy the creation part and always look forward for the next contest . Doing these contest have helped me go out of my comfort zone and try new things . I get excited when a new entry is posted . We have some very creative people on this forum .

I'm looking forward to next year's  CAS Contests . I will do my best to enter each and every one of them . Thanks so much for all you've done so far with this new contest . I did enjoy myself immensely . 

[RaiaDraconis]

I cannot speak for anybody else, but I have simply not had much time for the contest.

That's exactly where I stand too. I've always enjoyed the competitions and seeing what other people come up with, though.

[Snufflesxx]

I'm so excited for the Simta contest, especially as that was one of the ideas I'd thought of earlier in the thread!

I usually try to enter as many of these as possible but there have been reasons I haven't been able to enter the last few. I too wonder why there has been a large decline in entrants. It's the same for the building contest. A scoreboard might help with participation numbers but then again it might not. I do think it's a good idea though. What you are saying is that it would be like the leaderboard for challenges, right? Maybe you could get 1 point for entering and 5 for winning? Would there be some sort of prize for the winner at the end or would it just be about the glory, as it is for the individual contests?

I for one would be very disappointed if the contests didn't continue in the New Year. I had the idea that somebody could make a banner that entrants and you and ratchie could put in their signatures, linking it to the board. I know samoht does a similar thing for the building contests but if we had several members with them then maybe people might be more interested?

It looks like the cut-off point for high numbers of entrants was the Movie Night contest which ended on 19th September. After that, none of the contests (except from the Elder Style contest) have received more than 4 entrants. I wonder why that could be. Before that, every other contest has had at least 7 entrants, apart from the Gilligan's Island contest. It's very odd, as that is also around the time that the building contests started to have a clear decline in entrants.

If it's something to do with the contests themselves then maybe they're not open-ended enough for some people? I personally think most of the contests are pretty open-ended and I think the more open-ended they are, the easier they are to enter.

[Schipperke]

I'm so excited for the Simta contest, especially as that was one of the ideas I'd thought of earlier in the thread!

Thank you for reminding me of that, Snuffles.  I'm sorry I neglected to give you credit for the idea in the contest thread, and I'll correct that oversight forthwith.

And thanks very much to everyone who has left comments and ideas.  I appreciate them and will respond to them when I've had time to think about them, so please keep the ideas coming!

[saltpastillen]

I love looking at all the entries - even if I'm one of the people who's not good at participating every time. I do think many people have less free time at some time of the year than others (the summer being when a lot of people have a lot of free time since a lot of our members are in school).

I don't know if a scoring system would bring more contest entries - but I do think that for the people participating it would be a fun thing to have. It would maybe help some people to make an effort to participate more often.

Personally I don't particularly create sims so often, but I do love recoloring, so the CAS contests I have taken part in have tended to be those. I do think that a combination of recolor contests and simbuilding contests is a great way to make the contests more approachable to people.

[chetanhaobijam]

This year contests have been a blast. It was interesting plus challenging. And since I registered in April and take about 2 months in increasing my fluency in English and blending in the forum, I came late to the CAS Contests. I like all the contests so far. My best favourite was the Sim-Trek contest in which I win for the first time. And I will like to continue participating in next year contests.  You have my vote in continuing the CAS Contests. They will be challenging and interesting to compete. Scoring and Hall of Fame looks good to me. Other members will know who win the contests. And for decreasing amount of people interest in the CAS Contest, I think it depends on their game content and interest. E.g. I couldn't take part in the Neaderthal Man contest since I didn't have the eps which have the outfits. And actually I had no interest on entering in the Sim-Trek contest, but after hearing stories about Star Trek from my Star Trek fan sister, I got the interest on entering in the contest. And thanks to my sister, I recorded my first win in the contest. Lastly, CAS Contest is the only contest I can enter since I have only base game and have no patch downloaded(low internet speed+small date plan). It just keeps me entertained from the bored normal gameplay. So, I will want that the CAS Contest be held again in next year.

[jillz]

I do hope that the Create a Sim contests continue in 2014. I stumbled across the Simta one on the last day of the contest by accident. I think that banners to put in signatures might increase awareness across the forums. There's just so much to explore on this site, it gets very difficult to keep up with it all and play your Sims games.

I would love to participate in more Create A Sims contests. I really enjoyed the Simta one and had I discovered this forum earlier, I would have participated in other contests as well.

[Schipperke]

I do hope that the Create a Sim contests continue in 2014. I stumbled across the Simta one on the last day of the contest by accident. I think that banners to put in signatures might increase awareness across the forums. There's just so much to explore on this site, it gets very difficult to keep up with it all and play your Sims games.

I would love to participate in more Create A Sims contests. I really enjoyed the Simta one and had I discovered this forum earlier, I would have participated in other contests as well.

Welcome to the contests, jillz!  It's great to hear of your interest, and I'm glad you caught the contest in time to enter.  I hope there will be more contests to pique your interest and challenge your creativity in the new year. 

[marwolfer]

I am very excited about the addition of a scoring system!

I have a couple of ideas (if you're still considering suggestions). I think a maternity wear wardrobe would be quite interesting or a family contest where you have to create a family of four.

Trying to work on something for the first 2014 contest! So excited!

[Schipperke]

Thanks for the suggestions, marwolfer.  I like your ideas and will keep them in mind for future contests, for sure.

It was a bit worrying seeing entries drop off last year and then the cancellation of the Building Contests, but I really hope we can keep the CAS Contests going, because I'm excited about this contest year too! 

[RaiaDraconis]

Well judging from the number of entries already for this first one I'd say we're off to a good start.