Friends, Romans, Imagineers, lend me your ears!
But for real, I just thought that I would post this thought in a thread so that everyone may see it. I know I don't compete much (ever actually) but in my time on these boards I've noticed a few developments that have taken place. If I may, I'd like to share them with all of you here.
When I first turned up on these boards, albeit without a username or anything like that, it seemed like everyone was posting ideas. It felt like everyone was doing their own thing and just coming up with their own ideas, which was cool to a degree. But it was kind of a bummer that everyone was doing their own thing and there wasn't much of any collaboration outside of the brainstorming threads which quickly descended into utter chaos.
Then, out of no where, came The Imagineer. For those of us too young to remember, this was, to my knowledge, the first large scale imagineering competition. @MaterA113 put it on (haven't seen him/her around in a while, I wonder where he/she is) and it was incredible. Every challenge was introduced with an elaborate storyline. The challenges were always well thought out, with each one getting progressively harder as the competition went. And the judging was always stern, but fair. All in all, The Imagineer was great, and it lasted for three seasons. But man those were some great days. With @stitchcastle, @mharrington, @KingMickey, and all the others, there were some great imagineers on the board back then.
Fast forward to last year when @BryceM held Master of the Parks for the first time. This competitions served as almost a revival of sorts for the imagineering competition, and the board as a whole was pretty excited about it. There were eleven of us competitors and three judges, and it was a great competition. Just as with The Imagineer, the challenges were always well thought out and were of appropriate difficulty for their place in the competition. It was a great comp run by a great imagineer, and for all intents and purposes was a success.
Now fast forward to now. Over the past year we've seen a proliferation of competitions to the point that it seems like there is never a time without a competition. It seems to me that competitions simply aren't special anymore. Since there are so many of them it's hard for the whole board to get excited about any one competition like we did with The Imagineer or MotP. Now, maybe this is just the old man in me, but I feel like maybe we've reached the point where there are too many competitions. Maybe we've gotten to the point where there's just nothing special about another competition popping up and competing in it.
Now I'm not saying I'm opposed to all comps, in fact I love the competitions. I've judged one and competed in another, but that doesn't mean I am not willing to point out the flaw I see with the current state of our community. I might be wrong. Maybe we don't have too many comps. That's for all of you to decide. I can only speak for myself and say that I think we need to dial it back a little. Maybe we ought to watch how many competitions we hold. I get that everyone wants a piece of the spotlight, but maybe that's not what's best for the board as a whole. All I'm trying to say is this: before you start a new comp, think about if it's time for a new one or if people need a break. We all have real lives and many of us have jobs and families. Let's just think before we post another comp every week and maybe, just maybe, we can return the luster to these championships of our board. Thanks for reading.
But for real, I just thought that I would post this thought in a thread so that everyone may see it. I know I don't compete much (ever actually) but in my time on these boards I've noticed a few developments that have taken place. If I may, I'd like to share them with all of you here.
When I first turned up on these boards, albeit without a username or anything like that, it seemed like everyone was posting ideas. It felt like everyone was doing their own thing and just coming up with their own ideas, which was cool to a degree. But it was kind of a bummer that everyone was doing their own thing and there wasn't much of any collaboration outside of the brainstorming threads which quickly descended into utter chaos.
Then, out of no where, came The Imagineer. For those of us too young to remember, this was, to my knowledge, the first large scale imagineering competition. @MaterA113 put it on (haven't seen him/her around in a while, I wonder where he/she is) and it was incredible. Every challenge was introduced with an elaborate storyline. The challenges were always well thought out, with each one getting progressively harder as the competition went. And the judging was always stern, but fair. All in all, The Imagineer was great, and it lasted for three seasons. But man those were some great days. With @stitchcastle, @mharrington, @KingMickey, and all the others, there were some great imagineers on the board back then.
Fast forward to last year when @BryceM held Master of the Parks for the first time. This competitions served as almost a revival of sorts for the imagineering competition, and the board as a whole was pretty excited about it. There were eleven of us competitors and three judges, and it was a great competition. Just as with The Imagineer, the challenges were always well thought out and were of appropriate difficulty for their place in the competition. It was a great comp run by a great imagineer, and for all intents and purposes was a success.
Now fast forward to now. Over the past year we've seen a proliferation of competitions to the point that it seems like there is never a time without a competition. It seems to me that competitions simply aren't special anymore. Since there are so many of them it's hard for the whole board to get excited about any one competition like we did with The Imagineer or MotP. Now, maybe this is just the old man in me, but I feel like maybe we've reached the point where there are too many competitions. Maybe we've gotten to the point where there's just nothing special about another competition popping up and competing in it.
Now I'm not saying I'm opposed to all comps, in fact I love the competitions. I've judged one and competed in another, but that doesn't mean I am not willing to point out the flaw I see with the current state of our community. I might be wrong. Maybe we don't have too many comps. That's for all of you to decide. I can only speak for myself and say that I think we need to dial it back a little. Maybe we ought to watch how many competitions we hold. I get that everyone wants a piece of the spotlight, but maybe that's not what's best for the board as a whole. All I'm trying to say is this: before you start a new comp, think about if it's time for a new one or if people need a break. We all have real lives and many of us have jobs and families. Let's just think before we post another comp every week and maybe, just maybe, we can return the luster to these championships of our board. Thanks for reading.
