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Expo 2003 - Category Debate (or what the heck are we doing anyway)
LOL, you guys crack me up. Okay. Anyway. Here we go again. Now, there must be a point to having something like the expo, or, and this should be plainly obvious, there's no point in having something like this. If there is no aim or goal or purpose, then, in essence, we're not doing anything we don't regularly do anyway, and in which case the entire exercise is futile. We can stop right here if you want. I don't mean the expo, I mean we can talk about the philosophy of events like this instead of the event itself. But I don't think that will get us anywhere.
In each of our competitions there has been a very specific purpose. I won't bore anybody with what should already be common knowledge, but I will say the expo 2003 should be no different.
The rationale behind the rookie/advance split is two-fold. The one encourages new makers. And goodness knows we can use more of those. The other encourages people to do things they might not do without this push. We are in no way discouraging people from participating. Nobody, regardless of ability, know-how, or talent should feel excluded from what we're trying to do. The rookie/advance split should be able to accomodate everyone. And I see no reason why anybody should feel they're an exception. Am I wrong? Please prove it. I'm certainly open to suggestion and will never begrudge a well stated argument.
In the meantime, nobody says that your very NEXT creation must be for the expo or that you must upload it before the opening date even gets here. Which is another thing. Opening date means just that: the day it opens. We're still building ideas and hearing what people think. No way this thing will be run by opinion poll, but absolutely yes the time is now to have your say for input.
By the same token, our rules have only ever been guidelines. How many times do I have to say guidelines before people understand that this is not a court of law and that we sometimes have to make adjustments in order to accommodate the wide range of interests for this game.
Let me remind people that the summer 99 contest did not begin with a rumble category. That was created only after the contest had closed. It was decided that judging races and rumbles was like comparing apples and oranges. It put rumbles at a disadvantage so we created a new section just for them. We thought it was the least we could do. For the winter 99 contest, everybody got prizes. It wasn't the plan at the beginning but that's the way it ended up. And Nrrivas laughed at me when he was announced the winner of expo 2000. He said, with a mocking south american accent, "Just my luck I win the one without prizes." But that's the way it goes. He knew that and was happy with the way things turned out.
And that is exactly the point. We put a few rules in place to help give focus to what we're doing. Nothing is carved in stone, we try to be understanding about what people can and can't do and we try to make it all good. The problem is that from time to time a situation arises where we can't sit on the fence and we have to make a decision. When those times happen, we ask you to recognize the difficulty we have imposing restrictions and ultimately deciding something that may make it harder for somebody. But that's life. It's not our intention to be difficult, but we're not afraid to make the call if need be.
Lastly, we've never disqualified anything. Never had the need to. Sure, there were things that didn't exactly fit what we were doing, but so what. If somebody takes the time and makes the effort, then that counts for something with us.
So, the question. I see no reason to have an intermediate category for tracks. None. If somebody makes a traxx school and uploads it for March 21, then extends it and uploads for April 21, and creates a track with a theme for June 21, then I see no problem with any of it. The two latter tracks fit the expo. Show me the beef please.
Trucks are a bit tougher because of the nature of trucks. Rookie repaints is the only place I've spoken of entry limits because I figured after three it's not rookie anymore. But that should be okay. Entries made, everyone's happy. For people already familiar with binedit, then I see no benefit to an assembly formula - it does nothing to raise the standard. That's why there's been no intermediate area. The challenge is to shun the parts yard. Drive2Survive and Alpine have made good points about this 'beyond recognition' idea as well as building a truck out of a coconut. I think my response to those questions was fair. I still don't see a need for an additional category. 155days:03hours:26mins:10secs should be more than enough time for even a complete noob to learn binedit.
But I'm here to listen.
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