Other [Issue 53] Goldy's Opinion Column #1: Contests

[GoldRock 6,165]

I've always liked a good debate, and thought-provoking discussion can be really interesting and rewarding. So, I've decided to start up my very own 'Opinion Column', which I hope to write every issue to cover a range of topical issues in the game and community. What with Nighty-Whitey's article on hosting Press contests and the recent Craft-A-Tank contest, I thought it would be a good time to write a little piece on my thoughts about the matter. Enjoy! 

 

 

Contests. One of the awesome things the development and staff run for the community. Thanks to the great prizes on offer, they understandably attract a lot of attention and excitement from many players who either take part or watch from the sidelines. However, are they really all that great? There's been controversy (as usual) over the results of the Craft-A-Tank contest, with a few disgruntled players complaining about the way they're run and judged. 

 

In fact, one entrant went so far as to exclaim:

 

 

 

People want justice here.

 

Please look into this or many will quit this game.

 

Now, the Craft-A-Tank contest - and in particular, its results - haven't actually been that controversial. There have definitely been more controversial contests in the past, unsurprisingly. In fact, the results of Press contests often get even stronger reactions. But it's worth noting that this happens every single time any contest is held for the Tanki community, whether by the development or by the newspaper. Why is it that contests never seem to happen without controversy? Is it because of consistently bad management and unfair judging?

To my mind, it would seem that the simple answer has to be "No". At this point, I think I'll put forth my strongest argument as to why the contests and the way they are run are not systemically flawed, at least...

 

Whenever contests are run, the Tanki development and staff don't have any ulterior motives which might mean they intentionally run contests badly. We are not corrupt, evil or biased.

 

As per the above quote, when the results seem to be 'wrong' in the eyes of some players, calls for the upholding of objective standards such as 'justice' and their antagonising terms - 'unfair', 'biased', 'corrupt' to name a few - are often thrown around like high-frequency missiles. But, stop and think about it for a few minutes. Why would the people running the contests actually intend to break such objective standards in the first place?

 

The newspaper staff, for example, only get paid a lump sum for starting up and running the contest in the first place, receiving nothing thereafter for judging the entries and releasing the results. And the development don't even get paid any more for running their Tanki-wide contests, let alone for 'rigging' the results in any way. I mean, there just isn't any benefit to be secretively gained by not being fair or just.

 

Well, a typical emotionally-fuelled response to such a ground-breaking suggestion might be "But what about when staff members win contests? Or their friends?" Again, why on earth would we bother going out of our way to give the prizes to particular people? Note that judging for such contests is typically done by a selected panel  of judges, not by any one individual; not even an individual judge has much authority over the results. The results are then further checked and finalised by either admins or the CM, who are frankly way too busy to have any 'special friends' in the community!

 

Put simply, the judging is entirely confidential - it isn't even publicised as to who is doing the judging, let alone how - and so fellow staff groups (or 'special friends') have no way of knowing what's going on behind-the-scenes any more than ordinary players do. They can't influence the results because they're not told anything! It's difficult to offer your judge-friend a bribe when you don't know exactly who's responsible for judging, and even then, you'd have to offer lots of bribes to a majority of judges for it to actually affect anything. 

 

I think this demonstrates that it's frankly not only wrong to suggest there's systematic corruption in contests (having been involved first-hand in these judging processes for both Press and Tanki-wide contests, I can assure you guys there isn't!), but it's just an impractical and unrealistic suggestion. The system is built such that nobody has undue influence. It wouldn't really make sense for a majority of contest organisers or judges to suddenly decide to go out of their way to facilitate cheating, when all they would be doing is risking their own jobs and positions.

 

Now we've established that there aren't any systematic flaws in the way contests are run and judged (if you don't trust me, you at least have to accept it's unlikely based on the above reasoning and a lack of evidence to suggest otherwise), let's put things into context a little. Am I trying to suggest that contests are always run perfectly and every deserving entrant is always rewarded? Definitely not! The contests are judging by human beings, and despite our best efforts and most rigorous checking processes, we do still make bad judgements sometimes.

 

But here's the key point: a lot of the time, what some angry entrants might see as 'bad judgements' are actually justifiable and at least OK, and it's subjective factors that influence their perspective. I'll admit it's completely understandable, though. If you've spent hours on an entry that unfortunately didn't quite make the cut and then you see a prize-winning entry which you don't like, then complaining about it feels like the natural thing to do.

 

However, just because you don't like an entry doesn't mean it didn't deserve the prize it got. The first thing you as an entrant have to do is to accept that like the judges, you could equally be making a flawed or 'bad' judgement, and that it's possible that the judges saw something in the entry that you didn't which really makes its prize justified. Once you've accepted that you're not the centre of the world and that you're equally fallible, then you should be able to much better hold your tongue when you realise you're getting onto tenuous grounds, and instead put forth a legitimate critique.

 

The most important thing is to say whatever you say with a respectful understanding that it's your opinion and not the law of the universe. Sure, maybe your criticisms are justified, and maybe the judges did make a poor decision with an entry. However, maybe they didn't. It's all down to balance. Being constructive will go down much better with the contest organisers, who would hopefully be able to swallow their pride and make use of your feedback to improve the judging processes in the future (and often do).

 

Often, the main reason entrants react in the way shown in the quote above is not really because they've thought about it in this balanced and reasoned way, but because they're letting their emotions get the better of them. You can argue all you like, but (again) having been involved in numerous contests on all levels of the community, even if you might think you're being reasonable... you're probably not. After all, most human beings I communicate with on a day-to-day basis have been overly affected by their emotions at least a few times in the past, especially when something of theirs was at stake.

 

I have fallen victim to this mindset myself. We all have. When things haven't gone our way, we're bound to look at things through a lens which is at least a bit blurred with our own biases and anger. Most of the time, entrants overreact to contest results, and either realise in hindsight that maybe the contest wasn't so bad or they don't (in which case, you can be sure you'll see them raging again after their next contest entry loses out).

 

It's an attitude thing. If we all, judges and entrants included, stop to think about how we can improve the community experience rather than defending our own perspectives beyond reason with an "I'm right and you're wrong" style approach, then contests could be so much more fun. Time and time again, some players and entrants react in the same ways, sparking the same old flame wars and unnecessary arguments. It doesn't have to be this way! There would be a much more positive atmosphere if we all appreciated the good that we experience, and took more care over the bad.  

 

Close your mouth and open your ears, think before you speak, all that clichéd stuff. And remember that far from being out to get you, Tanki is just a place for you to relax and have fun!

 

 

What do you think? Feel free to (respectfully) voice your opinions below, share your thoughts and even argue why I might be wrong! But be veeery cautious about that... if you do, don't expect to get away with it without a sharp and powerful response from my end (evil laugh) No but seriously, by all means go ahead and argue for your own perspective on this issue. I look forward to reading what you guys have to say about it!

 

I hope you enjoyed this article, and rest assured that there'll be more coming up soon ;)

 

Did you enjoy this article? Check out the rest of Issue 53 right here!

Edited July 20, 2017 by Hexed

[Darren4Turbo 4,913]

That image...  :lol:

 

Pro article, Goldilocks. 

[GoldRock 6,165]

That image...  :lol:

I made it myself :blush:

 

using pictures taken off Google Images

[ethanisme 1,115]

Lolz preach bro

[Zenyth 6,494]

That image...  :lol:

 

 

+++++++

[VaudeVille 1,428]

Hey Goldy,

I have seen many newspaper contests being hosted and I totally agree that the judges( reporters) are unbiased and fair to all.

But the craft a tank contest was one of the worst contests I have witnessed in terms of judging the winners. Anyways I would not like to bring up that discussion here and I accept whatever happened.

Also, I would say it isn't correct to quote someone like that. S/he may have been wrong in what S/he may have said ( and probably is entirely wrong) but I feel that it can be some sort of a public humiliation for the person directly or indirectly and the readers of this article might treat this person with apprehension, which isn't a very nice experience and it can adversely impact the persons character.

Otherwise, good article

[Quarks 2,255]

Ah, it is nice to see an article for the intellectuals in the forum. I thoroughly enjoyed this article, and I look forward to seeing more. Good job gold.

[Hex 11,520]

Goldie rocks ^^

[arnav0506 2,777]

Good Goldie, Well Preached {Commonly known as GGWP} :ph34r: XD

[GoldRock 6,165]

Thanks all! ^_^

 

Hey Goldy,
I have seen many newspaper contests being hosted and I totally agree that the judges( reporters) are unbiased and fair to all.
But the craft a tank contest was one of the worst contests I have witnessed in terms of judging the winners. Anyways I would not like to bring up that discussion here and I accept whatever happened.
Also, I would say it isn't correct to quote someone like that. S/he may have been wrong in what S/he may have said ( and probably is entirely wrong) but I feel that it can be some sort of a public humiliation for the person directly or indirectly and the readers of this article might treat this person with apprehension, which isn't a very nice experience and it can adversely impact the persons character.
Otherwise, good article

The Craft-A-Tank contest was judged with a team of Tanki company staff voting on their favourites, as far as I'm aware - so it was at least a democratic and fair process. However, it's true that such a contest is always going to be subjective, and one could constructively criticise the judges by simply arguing they had 'bad taste' when it came to this artistic contest. Even so, whether you agree with the results does not make them unfair or biased, as I argued in the article.

 

I did not humiliate the person I quoted in any way, shape or form. The post was simply used as a focal point to get discussion on the matter started i.e. one tanker reacted in this way, so what does this mean in terms of the contests? Are they inherently biased? and so on. In addition, I would add it's completely fair to quote posts made anywhere on the forum - they are made in a 'public domain', and so it is perfectly fine to quote them. Anyways, besides the fact that quoting is perfectly legal, main point is there is no humiliation in this article directed towards the person quoted.

 

Cheers!

Edited May 8, 2016 by GoldRock

[H.4.M.S.T.E.R 47]

Im might not be a person of such an argument nature, but since you wastsd your precious time writing " by all means go ahead and argue for your own perspective on this issue. "

1. Im a Hamster

2. I usually dont read long articles in the newspaper till the end, but this one..... This one was a real hamster changer. I ACCIDENTLY read it till the end, till the last fullstop (.). Well Im impressed ♡.

3. Since Im a weakling in arguing, give it your best shot mate. Yes, you read it right.

4. Thanks for reading till this very line, my argument is just waiting to be approved by the Hamster council.

5. Okay, it has been approved. Heres my argument, catch it before it flies off.

 

Hdidbdjdh jdjdekendb jsjdvekdb. Thats for you, Mr. Goldilocks. Ive been playing taking since the very beginning of it, and yeah, IMO most of the contests ran by the developers and Your majestic reportreezz are unfair and biased. Proof ? Well, here it is : sjjdjdjd jdhdhei xhjdiebdjdj.

Imagine a scenario - Someone just made a video about the Tanki Development unit, including Cedric, and Hazel. That someone can be Arabiannoble like guy, who wants tanki dead because of some hamsterly unknown issue. And the next day the developers holds a contest, something like the commentating contest, which was once held by Damn_Fast. Sorry, but im currently typing from by mobile, which may cause accidentle grammatical or zpelling errorsss. Oops. Image that someone wanted crystals, or whateva rewards that was offered, urgently, and he applied for the contest, as a participant. Then what do you think would the developers do ? Approve his entry as a winning one ? Certainly, Surely and hamsterly not, even if he had put his mind and soul into his entry.

Okay, heres a real life scenario : Remember that TWG issue ? Imagine Darren, Bullets, Personia or any other members of the club entered for a contest made by Le hamster or Hen-Farel ( intended mistake ), after calling him a nub, or abusing him for no reason ( since lhamster is innocent ill be speakinh for him right now ). What would Lhamster do ? Accept his entry with both hands ? Nope for sure. If Lhamster could, he could throw those noobs out of the window. And Again let me repeat, Im in Lhamsters side here. Yes, I am. Proof ? Kdkdkddjdj. Its for you mate. Yes, it sure is....

In the craft a tank contest, many of the best entries were not awarded, and insteed, many undeserving entries had been chosen. Now you might say that I wrote the above sentence in my opinion alone, and its because my entry didnt get selected. Well, all I had was cheese, grass and some meats, which I need as a survival food, So I couldnt participate in the contest, Seriously. Its not just my opinion, just go through all those.comments, and you will realise that it was not just my opinion.

My opinion/suggestion for this is that there should be a players voting system for most of the contests. The decision dont be by the players. The main authorities/ judges should be the main part in the judging system. And as gentlemen said above, its not write to quote a persons comment, for a public humiliation, without his/her permission.

I wrote evrything above respectfully, with a bit of stupid non-humorous jokes, and im really surrrry about that. And again, please do remember, Im using a mobile/cell phone right now.

P.S : Most of the grammatical mistakes, and spelling errors were intentional, including the part where I called goldrock a nub, beckause i didnt. Get it, I didnt, because he is not k.

Edited May 8, 2016 by H.4.M.S.T.E.R

[asifmehmood 1,576]

Nice goldy goldy 

[GoldRock 6,165]

Imagine a scenario - Someone just made a video about the Tanki Development unit, including Cedric, and Hazel. That someone can be Arabiannoble like guy, who wants tanki dead because of some hamsterly unknown issue. And the next day the developers holds a contest, something like the commentating contest, which was once held by Damn_Fast. Sorry, but im currently typing from by mobile, which may cause accidentle grammatical or zpelling errorsss. Oops. Image that someone wanted crystals, or whateva rewards that was offered, urgently, and he applied for the contest, as a participant. Then what do you think would the developers do ? Approve his entry as a winning one ? Certainly, Surely and hamsterly not, even if he had put his mind and soul into his entry.

This would not happen.

 

If you're referring to the case with Arabiannoble here, well, I judged that commentator contest with Damn_Slow and GeneralVeers at the time. We had no idea who he was at the time as he was low-ranked and only started up recently on YouTube, and he did not win a prize (I thought he should and the two others didn't like his entry so much so I was fairly overruled). Then, he joined the commentators, then he departed the staff and made those controversial videos (which are more exaggeration than they are truth). So, it's obvious in that case, this sort of scenario could not possibly have been true.

 

Okay, heres a real life scenario : Remember that TWG issue ? Imagine Darren, Bullets, Personia or any other members of the club entered for a contest made by Le hamster or Hen-Farel ( intended mistake ), after calling him a nub, or abusing him for no reason ( since lhamster is innocent ill be speakinh for him right now ). What would Lhamster do ? Accept his entry with both hands ? Nope for sure. If Lhamster could, he could throw those noobs out of the window. And Again let me repeat, Im in Lhamsters side here. Yes, I am. Proof ? Kdkdkddjdj. Its for you mate. Yes, it sure is....

Again, this is false. The owner of the current TCG topic won a prize in the last issue, and their members have won prizes before, too. Many of the members of this group are also members of the official Amateur Writing Club, which is run by the Newspaper. I have previously made it clear that we could not care less about involvement in such writing groups, and are not biased in this way. We do not 'keep track' of who is in such groups, it does not affect out judging of contests, and the facts are against you on this one. You are not 'on Lhamster's side', because we do not have this attitude.

 

In the craft a tank contest, many of the best entries were not awarded, and insteed, many undeserving entries had been chosen. Now you might say that I wrote the above sentence in my opinion alone, and its because my entry didnt get selected. Well, all I had was cheese, grass and some meats, which I need as a survival food, So I couldnt participate in the contest, Seriously. Its not just my opinion, just go through all those.comments, and you will realise that it was not just my opinion.

As above...

 

The Craft-A-Tank contest was judged with a team of Tanki company staff voting on their favourites, as far as I'm aware - so it was at least a democratic and fair process. However, it's true that such a contest is always going to be subjective, and one could constructively criticise the judges by simply arguing they had 'bad taste' when it came to this artistic contest. Even so, whether you agree with the results does not make them unfair or biased, as I argued in the article.

...so sure, you can disagree with the results and/or quality of the judging, but this doesn't mean the judges were biased. Whilst a lot of players did 'dislike' the results, that tends to be true for a lot of contests where many players are also entrants, and where judging what is 'better' is quite subjective. So yes, maybe the judging could have reflected 'popular opinion more' - but either way, there is simply no reason to think it was inherently biased or unfair.

 

My opinion/suggestion for this is that there should be a players voting system for most of the contests. The decision dont be by the players. The main authorities/ judges should be the main part in the judging system. And as gentlemen said above, its not write to quote a persons comment, for a public humiliation, without his/her permission.

It's a good idea, but it has been tried in the past and tends to get abused if players' votes decide the results completely. For example, it is well-known that it was abused here when players got to determine the overall winners for the whole contest. However, there are official contests which do have a 'players' choice' section, such as with the Mister TO and Miss TO voting. So, it is already the case that there are contests where both judges and players decide who gets prizes. 

 

And, again, I responded to the gentleman above...

 

I did not humiliate the person I quoted in any way, shape or form. The post was simply used as a focal point to get discussion on the matter started i.e. one tanker reacted in this way, so what does this mean in terms of the contests? Are they inherently biased? and so on. In addition, I would add it's completely fair to quote posts made anywhere on the forum - they are made in a 'public domain', and so it is perfectly fine to quote them. Anyways, besides the fact that quoting is perfectly legal, main point is there is no humiliation in this article directed towards the person quoted.

If you'd like to respond to my response, that would be welcome; but let's keep the discussion moving forward, shall we? ^_^

 

Anyway, I understand and appreciate your point of view, but believe that if you consider the facts (I've included a lot of links here to demonstrate this), there is a lot of evidence that contest judging is not biased in the ways you think it is. I look forward to your response!

Edited May 8, 2016 by GoldRock

[H.4.M.S.T.E.R 47]

If you'd like to respond to my response, that would be welcome; but let's keep the discussion moving forward, shall we? ^_^

@Goldilocks

Does that mean I should write the reply for your reply above ? Or stop my argument here and let others discuss about it too ? Im a bit confused, becauaese you added a "but" over there lol. Thay lord, forgive me, and my stupid doubts.

[GoldRock 6,165]

Does that mean I should write the reply for your reply above ? Or stop my argument here and let others discuss about it too ? Im a bit confused, becauaese you added a "but" over there lol. Thay lord, forgive me, and my stupid doubts.

Yeah, I meant that I'd already responded to that particular point you'd made, so it would've been better to consider my response there. Feel free to write a reply :P

[l.Eat.My.BuIIets 483]

Imagine Darren, Bullets, Personia or any other members of the club entered for a contest made by Le hamster or Hen-Farel ( intended mistake ), after calling him a nub, or abusing him for no reason

Nope, no public humiliation at all mate. Bravo for you. And btw, I never called Lhamster a nub, and I never will k. He already is k :P .

[H.4.M.S.T.E.R 47]

Nope, no public humiliation at all mate. Bravo for you. And btw, I never called Lhamster a nub, and I never will k. He already is k :P .

*Cough* Scenario *cough* .

IMO Lhamster is not much of a noob, as I am lol :P

[H.4.M.S.T.E.R 47]

Well again let me say this : I am using a mobile phone right now, and I dont have much time to proofread my long posts. The last post I made above for the argument contained lots of mostakes and errors, and even this post might contain lots of mistakes. So sorry about that mate :( .

 

Okay, lets get back to buisness. The reply you gave to my first scenario was totally elastically hamsterly not true. I said to IMAGINE the situation. And its not impossible to imagine. Im pretty sure that Tanki wasnt even aware of Cedric, at the time of the contest. I wrote the words "Someone LIKE Arabiannoble", And about the contest I wrote "Something LIKE the commentators contest", because if Im right, thats the only contest in which he had a great influence, after the results were released. I didnt refer to arabiannoble, I just took him as an example. It would be anyone. So, the scenario can be totally true, and in this case the developers would never select his entry for sure, especially if it was someone like Semyon. Now you may wonder why I mention Semyon. Yoo broo. Any doubt about it ? Ask any of the old players, or your majesty Koolwalkly, now known as advocatediabo..... I dont correctly remember his new nick.

 

Now about the second scenario : It seems as if you arent well aware of the TWG issue lol. And again, let me repeat, Please IMAGINE the scenario. I was talking about TWG, and not TCG. Totally different. Its true that BigtimeRush, Bullets, Darren and other members of the Tanki Writing Club has won many of the contests held by the reporters, but how many of those contests were held by le hamster ? Right now all issues has been solved, but almost all the reporters had thier roles in the issue. If I remember correctly, that bullets guy had a big role in this too. Okay heres another scenario : Even after the issue was compromised, Bullets guys kept on arguing about it - He= Mr.M0lt. The next day Lhamster started a new contest. Do you honestly think that he would win a prize for it, even if his entry was worth a win ? Please answer that honestly. Sorry to bullets for using your name :P. And when I said that I was on Lhamster side, it was so clear that it was a pure Sarcasm.

 

And the next one was about the Craft-A-Hamster contest : I dont completly blame the judges for that. All I say is - ¤The Contest Was Biased¤ . Why you may ask ? Think about those players without a facebook account. Those poor nooblets :( . What would they do ? And the main problem was the #Hashtag thingy. Everyone needed to post it with a #tankicraft tag. What if a person doesnt know how to put a hashtag, or doesnt know how to make it public ? And yeah, Im pretty sure that some of those entries went unseen by the judges, because...... Its FB dude -_- . They could have just created a google form for the contest, just like the reporters do. I blame Greyat for this too . Same issue with the #girlsplaytanki contest. What about those players without a sister, or a friend who is a girl/ a girl friend, and they really needed crystals urgently? ! Blame Night-Sisters for this . 《 Tanki is Not A Dating Site 》

About the players voting thingy : All I wanted to say is that, all pkayers sgould have a role in deciding a contest winner. Note tgat thier opinion is just secondary, and the primary judgment comes from the main judges. And idk how this system was abysed in the link you posted.

 

And about quoting that guy's comment : Please read my abive comment about it , and then read this - You might have not tried to humiliate him, but as an inexperienced player he might feel bad that his name came in the naughty list. Even though you are decent, not all those players reading the newspaper are like you. They might humiliate him. Anyways its your wish what to do in your topic mate ;) .

Hope to argue with you throughout your "Goldrocks Opinion columns" :P .

Again let me say that Im using a mobile, and many unintended mistakes has been added to the post, and I could qoute each of your arguments one by one. Im really Zorry about that.

And I apologies to all whos names I have used in this post. I blame contradiction for that.

Thanks for reading,

Yours sincerely,

Zee H4MSTEROLLA

[H.4.M.S.T.E.R 47]

LoL Now people has to scroll till eternity to go to the top, especially if they are using a mobile. My largested post ever, in all of my tanki years lol .

[GoldRock 6,165]

 

 

Okay, lets get back to buisness. The reply you gave to my first scenario was totally elastically hamsterly not true. I said to IMAGINE the situation. And its not impossible to imagine. Im pretty sure that Tanki wasnt even aware of Cedric, at the time of the contest. I wrote the words "Someone LIKE Arabiannoble", And about the contest I wrote "Something LIKE the commentators contest", because if Im right, thats the only contest in which he had a great influence, after the results were released. I didnt refer to arabiannoble, I just took him as an example. It would be anyone. So, the scenario can be totally true, and in this case the developers would never select his entry for sure, especially if it was someone like Semyon. Now you may wonder why I mention Semyon. Yoo broo. Any doubt about it ? Ask any of the old players, or your majesty Koolwalkly, now known as advocatediabo..... I dont correctly remember his new nick.

Now about the second scenario : It seems as if you arent well aware of the TWG issue lol. And again, let me repeat, Please IMAGINE the scenario. I was talking about TWG, and not TCG. Totally different. Its true that BigtimeRush, Bullets, Darren and other members of the Tanki Writing Club has won many of the contests held by the reporters, but how many of those contests were held by le hamster ? Right now all issues has been solved, but almost all the reporters had thier roles in the issue. If I remember correctly, that bullets guy had a big role in this too. Okay heres another scenario : Even after the issue was compromised, Bullets guys kept on arguing about it - He= Mr.M0lt. The next day Lhamster started a new contest. Do you honestly think that he would win a prize for it, even if his entry was worth a win ? Please answer that honestly. Sorry to bullets for using your name :P. And when I said that I was on Lhamster side, it was so clear that it was a pure Sarcasm.

And the next one was about the Craft-A-Hamster contest : I dont completly blame the judges for that. All I say is - ¤The Contest Was Biased¤ . Why you may ask ? Think about those players without a facebook account. Those poor nooblets :( . What would they do ? And the main problem was the #Hashtag thingy. Everyone needed to post it with a #tankicraft tag. What if a person doesnt know how to put a hashtag, or doesnt know how to make it public ? And yeah, Im pretty sure that some of those entries went unseen by the judges, because...... Its FB dude -_- . They could have just created a google form for the contest, just like the reporters do. I blame Greyat for this too . Same issue with the #girlsplaytanki contest. What about those players without a sister, or a friend who is a girl/ a girl friend, and they really needed crystals urgently? ! Blame Night-Sisters for this . 《 Tanki is Not A Dating Site 》
About the players voting thingy : All I wanted to say is that, all pkayers sgould have a role in deciding a contest winner. Note tgat thier opinion is just secondary, and the primary judgment comes from the main judges. And idk how this system was abysed in the link you posted.

And about quoting that guy's comment : Please read my abive comment about it , and then read this - You might have not tried to humiliate him, but as an inexperienced player he might feel bad that his name came in the naughty list. Even though you are decent, not all those players reading the newspaper are like you. They might humiliate him. Anyways its your wish what to do in your topic mate ;) .
Hope to argue with you throughout your "Goldrocks Opinion columns" :P .
Again let me say that Im using a mobile, and many unintended mistakes has been added to the post, and I could qoute each of your arguments one by one. Im really Zorry about that.

 

Which is why I started and ended by saying "If you are referring to the case with Arabiannoble here ... so it's obvious in that case, this sort of scenario could not possibly have been true". Arabiannoble seemed to be a common theme in terms of your examples, so I responded to how your scenario did not apply there, and my response concerning if you were to apply your explanation to the Arabiannoble case was a valid one. 

 

Sure, your example is possible, but it doesn't mean it's correct. After all, it's possible you are using an online translator from another language to English to communicate with me, but your natural typos and generally good flow seem to serve as evidence otherwise. Similarly, there is no evidence that your explanation is correct, but there is evidence that contradicts your explanation. 

Oh, and it's - I have indeed talked to him before. And, having worked very closely with Semyon for an extended period of time in the past, I can assure you I've come to know a lot about the way he manages things!

 

I am well aware of the TWG scenario. TCG sprang up from what was TWG, they are not totally different, and both TWG and TCG members have won contests in the past. I was simply referring to TCG as that is the most current name of the writing group.

 

And to answer your question: yes, if his entry was worth a win, I would honestly think he would win in that scenario. Just because you think we must be biased, doesn't mean we are - I have already provided evidence contradicting this idea, and you have provided absolutely no evidence that suggest that we are biased in this way. Currently, I fear your thoughts seem to be based how you think things would happen, rather than on any facts or evidence.

 

Again, you say "the contest was biased", although I can't see any evidence to effectively support your statement. The contest was run on Facebook, so one needed to use Facebook to take part... that's like saying "think about all those people who don't play Tanki, how unbiased that they didn't get to take part because of their lack of game knowledge!". I don't think this really makes sense. The contest being held on a particular site does not mean it is 'biased'. In fact, it is not excludable in any sense - for anyone can create a Facebook account.

 

All entries with the correct tag would have been seen, and the contest did say what to do. If one didn't know how to add tags to the post, then the information to find out the simple way to do so is out there for all to find. Again, that's like saying "what if people didn't know how to make a FB post to enter the contest?!". This is not a particularly good argument at all, in my view. Sure, the contest required people to enter it on the site where it was held by making an identifiable post there. But this is not "unfair prejudice against a person/group", as bias is. It was simply an equal requirement for all entrants to take part.

 

As for the '#girlsplaytanki' contest, the problem with your criticism there is similar to the problems raised above. Having requirements for a contest does not make it 'biased', it merely makes it a defined contest for people to take part in. Tanki is not a communist state where the only way to run an 'unbiased' contest is to remove all of its requirements, and just give everyone free crystals!

 

And yes, players have had a role in deciding contest winners many times in the past. As for the link I posted, you can see that one clan beat another by merely one vote, and vastly outperformed all others despite not having any better entries. It was widely alleged (and even revealed by members of the clans) that this is because they created a lot of alternative accounts to spam votes for themselves, thus abusing the system.  

 

This is a fair point, and I understand where you're coming from. In light of this, I have now removed the name from the quote.

 

That's fine - thanks for sharing your point of view. I look forward to that, too! :P

Edited May 9, 2016 by GoldRock

[Quarks 2,255]

The main problem with contests and their results is usually, as I have noticed, that people usually think theirs to be the best, and that they should win. However, one does need to take their heads out of what they believe is right or wrong and look at it from a different angle. Contests results are not so much biased vs. unbiased, but quality. Anyone can win the contests so long as their entries are good and worthwhile. Anyone can post a good entry, anyone can post a crappy entry. It is just a matter of how others view it. Opinions don't mean fact.

[H.4.M.S.T.E.R 47]

Well goldy, Ita obvious and true that you have won this argument in the main post itself. But ill keep post useless stuff to keep the topic active ( Sir Casm A.K.A Sarcasm ) and to improve my argument skills.

And BTW thanks for posting it in different colours. Now its easy for me to give replies for each part. P.S : I wont be writing those texts in the given colour, instead Ill write the name of the colour used in front of the text.

Heres goes :

Cyan - Well hello there. It very obvious that Im using an online translator to Translate my language to English, because if I write in my hamsterly language you would understand even a bit, because it is only spoken by hamsters, and it goes something like this : €djfj ¥djfjfjf €¥£ ¥€jdjdjd. I use a hamsterasious traslator :P .

I know that you said "referring to......" and thats why I made that long post to prove that I wasnt referring to his case, and instead, it was a scenario somewhat similar to that case. And again- It was not arabiannoble I was referring to; it was "Someone" that I was referring too. It was a scenario, and not a real life issue, and according to the opinion of most of the players here, I truely belive that Semyon, or other judges wouldnt have accepted his entry.

 

Every old players might have talked to Koolwalky atleast once in thier lifetime, but that doesnt show us his real problem. His issue, with semyon, wasnt a much public one, and only his close friends and his helpers knew about that issue. And being a close friend of Semyon doesnt show us the true issue either. He might be a good manager, but every person has thier own down side, including me .

 

Orange - TWG to TCG ? Meh mate, I dont think so; Reason : When the TCG was about to be published, I got an invite from the bullets guy, the real leader of TCG, requesting me to join thier group, as a designer, from my main account. That PM contained a sentence which goes like this - TWG is not TCG. Its completly different. TWG is totally broken, and there wont be any resurrection for it. TCG has been made as a completly new group, with some new members........ Well, I have studied about human nature a lot, and the one thing that humans want the most is a revenge. And im pretty sure that the opposite of what your answer was, has a chance of 90% to happen ( Totally grammatical Error, which Ill try to correct later ). And your fear might be 25% true, but what you fear about ks 99.9% correct. The only proof I can provide you right now to show that your judgments are biased is :- ro wikipedia, search revenge-A part of human nature. Thats enough proof to prove the point of why Lhamster could (not literally) disqualify an excellent entry.

 

Pink - Before I write something about it, here are some questions to make the point a bit more clear. This questions are not compulsory to be answered.

1. Why make the contest in a social media like facebook, when they had User-Friendly google form sites ?

2. If girls can play tanki, then why cant they make a contest for boys ?

3. When some of the members of those clans made alt accounts to vote for thier clan, then why didnt all the members of other clan do the same ?

 

Lets review the first question. Even reporters add link to google forms for the participants to submit thier entries, then why cant the developers do that ? Or why cant the participants directly post it on the forum ? And no, Not all the entries submited publically can be seen by all. The once which was posted earlier than the others, would receive more likes, and it would come on the top. Most of the least liked entries go down to the bottom, or somewhere in the middle. It has a high chance to go unseen by the judges. But if it was through google forms, and directly posted on the forum, then it could have stayed according to the order they posted, and the players likes/dislikes would have an influence in the judgment.

Oh and btw, not everyone can create a free FB account. The minimal age requirement to create an account is 13, so then what would the players below 13 years do ? Sit there watching the stars ? And I know many families, Especially Indians, who doesnt allow thier childrens to use FB till they finish thier study. Oh and heres a real life case, which happened to a friend of mine. He entered the contest, with the #Hashtag, making hiz posts public. But even after 5 days he couldnt find it on the hashtag page. And he later founf it on the page, after the results were declared, which makes his entry unseen. P.S : This really happened to a friend of mine, and its not just a scenario.

Well heres a small theory of mine, which might actually be true.

- Tanki developers decided that they could hold the contest on a popular social media, so that the game would recive more visitors, especially when they click on the #Hashtag. So this proofs that they conducted the contest for thier own good (advertising ), and as an excuse, decided to give rewards to the players, so no one will doubt them, which makes the developers EV1L ♤ and Biased.

I never said tanki is a communist state, and that it needs to give crystals for free. Requirements are necessary, but why take the long way, when there is a short and safe way home ?

And finllaly about the clan vote thingy : Creating an alt, going to the forum and voting for thier clan. Now thats a job well done IMO, because theh worked hard in creating alts, and thier hardwork paid off. Good Job Guys :P ♢ :P .

 

Green - It wasnt much of a serious matter though lol. And wha5 did you mean by "I understand where you're coming from" ?

 

Yellow - GooD LucK Mate ;).

 

Purple - There were no text with purple colour. Sorry for wasting yo time.

[KillerGnat 3,135]

I always love reading your content Goldi, you somehow manage to write about the most boring subjects in an entertaining manner. Kudos on that.

[Quarks 2,255]

I always love reading your content Goldi, you somehow manage to write about the most boring subjects in an entertaining manner. Kudos on that.

What about me?

I take dull topics too. :(

[beaku 2,656]

My eyes hurt... :(

Because of the false information of course. Guys don't believe gold at all, it's all a lie. Everything is corrupted. It's all rigged. They do it because they can.

 

*cough cough* Coming back to the real world, the anonymity part doesn't hold true for press contests now, does it? We know the contest owner is most likely to be the one judging it. (He/She might get some help but will definitely be involved) Now, selective biasing is a natural process which affects the psychology of almost all humans impairing their judgements. So, if you see a friend's entry, regardless of whether or not he's bribed you, you're bound to see it in a different light than other entries. (also, if I know you like pink, I'll make a pink entry and that'll surely have some effect on you, k). Same goes for Tanki-wide contests. Really famous and influential players are bound to have higher chances of winning. So, a perfectly fair judging is impossible until a system is developed where the judges aren't aware of the creator of a particular entry. Of course, such a system would be too time consuming and quite unnecessary when seen from a business point of view, but then again, I'm talking about an ideal scenario here.