I'm only going to post once cause we all know what happened last year when I had a problem with the rules and such... don't need a repeat. If anyone wishes to reply to me on what I have to say, please PM me.
First off, I think adding a "Freshness" rule is awesome. Almost every other contest has one and its about time IMO. That said, I think the notion that it's disrespectful and rude to either not release a video before it premieres or not release it after it premieres is just ridiculous. You only think it's disrespectful and rude because they don't do it they way you do. For me, I don't premiere videos at cons. I have a few times in the past but 99% of the time, I release it when I'm finished. I send to cons because I want people to see my work when they otherwise might not be able to. The
vast majority of a contests audiences don't come to the org. For editors like myself who do not use any other means to show their work, it's a great way to get a couple thousand people to see something I made when I may only get a few hundred views in a year here. The only people who really complain about seeing the same video over and over at different cons are the editors. We are the minority. While these are indeed contests, they are also for entertainment purposes. Contests need to be fair for all who participate but ultimately it's for the people who attend the convention to enjoy. You need to find the balance between getting quality entries/pissing editors off and making sure you have a good show.
xstylus wrote:I like Rule B. A lot. It's the next best thing to an exclusivity rule without actually being one. I don't like exclusivity rules because they cause harm to other events. However, if there's a "no downloads" rule, the onus is entirely on the creator. They can still send to other events, they just can't post it online until after AX. In fact, all the other events the AMV is sent to prior to AX even get an indirect exclusivity benefit. So yes, I like the rule a lot. It's way more friendly to the convention community than an exclusivity rule.
You were already hard pressed for entries this year, why make it more difficult for editors to enter in the future? Exclusivity is fine but you need to look at actually getting entries in first before you can start limiting them. If you had this rule in place this year, do you honestly believe you would've received as much entries as you did? This doesn't make any sense for a general admission contest but works perfectly fine for contests like AWA Masters.
xstylus wrote:
Here's the current form of the Freshness Rule section:
[NOT FINAL NOT FINAL NOT FINAL NOT FINAL!!!]
#) Freshness Rule
No “stale” entries. A “stale” entry is considered any of the following:
a) Any AMV that has already played at any combination of three out of the five west coast events listed below:
SakuraCon, Fanime, Anime Los Angeles, Anime Vegas, PMX.
b) [REMOVED. Rule C will become Rule B.]
c) Any entry that was shown at any live event prior to July 1st, 2012. (FINALIZED)
NOTE: If your AMV is presently available for public viewing or download, we request that you temporarily remove it (where possible) until after the event.
Awesome, you removed Rule B but why the sub note? You're going to complicate things when it really doesn't need to be. Just tell us what the rules are and leave out any "optional" text. There's already a wall of text we have to read through, lets keep it shorter if you can please.
Finally I'd like to add that I think you're trying to do too much too fast (and you've only posted one portion of the rules!). AX has generated a bad reputation over the past several years. You've just taken over. The most sensible route would be to try and build it back up and introduce changes
gradually. Big changes, like Rule A and the now removed Rule B, will only cause problems, like they have already. Fix the problems that plagued the contest in the past. I think a 1 year rules fixes at least one of those problems, no need to add on top of it for the sake of "saving other contests". You also have to consider how much work rules like this are going to add. You are going to HAVE to research EVERY video that is entered into AX to make sure they haven't been to more than 4 other contest. It doesn't matter what other contests are doing. Other AMV contests that have rules like this have a margin of error. If Otakon accidentally let a video in that won Best in Show somewhere else, they can write it off as an "oops" and do better next year (Otakon also has a unique finalists selection processes that helps facilitate these errors which makes it more forgivable if EVERYONE involved didn't know). AX has no margin for error. If ANY video gets into the contest next year that doesn't follow that requirement, you're going to get crap for it. And it's not going to make things look better for you or the AX contest.
Look at what the problems are and attempt to fix them by introducing small changes over time.
That's my two cents.