has competition hurt this hobby?

[aesling]

I will like to use the word 'Improve' rather than competition

"Has improve hurt this hobby?" THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TRITIO

Sure, make fun of the ESL people. WAY TO BE AN ASSHOLE, BEN.

[dragontamer5788]

I'm primarily a "convention editor". I make a video occasionally when I'm planning to go to a convention.

Why? Because I'm not into cosplay, I can't draw very well, and I'm not a public speaker so I don't plan on hosting any panels. On the other hand, I can submit AMVs to the contests so that I feel like I'm actually contributing something to the convention culture.

I see competition as the necessary step for all conventions of larger size. I attend the larger cons, so they necessarily need to weed out the majority of the videos before showing them. And of course, "competition" is somewhat of a misnomer to the crowds. Sure, there's ballots and stuff, but I bet that the majority of people at the convention just want to watch new AMVs that have come out.

Making a "contest" out of the AMV viewings is just a framework for showing off videos. Of course, it feels absolutely awesome when the crowd reacts and cheers for your video. Making finalists and for the lucky few... winning the competition... its all good stuff. But at the end of the day, I believe all "Convention Contests" have the audience's enjoyment at its core.

I recall a recent trend of using TEXT all over your video.

It's infected the MLP video scene to the point where everyone assumes you need to have kinetic typography to have a PMV. It makes finding a variety of good videos for blocks at cons kinda difficult. As prevalent as some trends get here, we at least have the luxury of having a deep talent pool to draw from. Over there, not so much.

We're probably just older and wiser. I mean... do you remember when every AMV had to have a poorly edited rendition of dancing Vash? Or when YTMNDs were videos of inspiration?

[Castor Troy]

I'm primarily a "convention editor". I make a video occasionally when I'm planning to go to a convention.

Why? Because I'm not into cosplay, I can't draw very well, and I'm not a public speaker so I don't plan on hosting any panels. On the other hand, I can submit AMVs to the contests so that I feel like I'm actually contributing something to the convention culture.

I see competition as the necessary step for all conventions of larger size. I attend the larger cons, so they necessarily need to weed out the majority of the videos before showing them. And of course, "competition" is somewhat of a misnomer to the crowds. Sure, there's ballots and stuff, but I bet that the majority of people at the convention just want to watch new AMVs that have come out.

Making a "contest" out of the AMV viewings is just a framework for showing off videos. Of course, it feels absolutely awesome when the crowd reacts and cheers for your video. Making finalists and for the lucky few... winning the competition... its all good stuff. But at the end of the day, I believe all "Convention Contests" have the audience's enjoyment at its core.

I recall a recent trend of using TEXT all over your video.

It's infected the MLP video scene to the point where everyone assumes you need to have kinetic typography to have a PMV. It makes finding a variety of good videos for blocks at cons kinda difficult. As prevalent as some trends get here, we at least have the luxury of having a deep talent pool to draw from. Over there, not so much.

We're probably just older and wiser. I mean... do you remember when every AMV had to have a poorly edited rendition of dancing Vash? Or when YTMNDs were videos of inspiration?

We now live in an era where Dancing Vash is considered old school.

[Gene Starwind 21122]

We're probably just older and wiser. I mean... do you remember when every AMV had to have a poorly edited rendition of dancing Vash? Or when YTMNDs were videos of inspiration?

We now live in an era where Dancing Vash is considered old school.

That is kind of scary to think about.

[Sephirothskr]

We're probably just older and wiser. I mean... do you remember when every AMV had to have a poorly edited rendition of dancing Vash? Or when YTMNDs were videos of inspiration?

We now live in an era where Dancing Vash is considered old school.

That is kind of scary to think about.

What's a Vash. xD (Probably proved your point.)

[TritioAFB]

I will like to use the word 'Improve' rather than competition

"Has improve hurt this hobby?" THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TRITIO

Sure, make fun of the ESL people. WAY TO BE AN ASSHOLE, BEN.

Spoiler :

[seasons]

You may not like it, but I'm having a difficult time seeing this as nothing more than an AMV moral panic.

assuming to understand and then proceed to judge other people on those flawed assumptions can come off as either hostile or arrogant.

It's about not starting a conversation with the a priori assumption that a given viewpoint is bad or detrimental to the hobby because you don't agree with it. I hear they call that being civil, but these are only rumors.

dude

[seasons]

Your focus seems to be broader though, and you seem to be more concerned with the culture such contests create. But I would offer a counter-argument to this, or at least something to mull over: Even if these .org-run online contests do create more of an atmosphere of "competitiveness" and sacrifice what you consider to be creativity at the altar, is it worth it to bring a little life to this place, and to bring more editors into the fold?

I don't want to see this place go under so no, I'm not rushing to do away with contests or shut down anything going on here that people are enjoying. I'm just curious about why competition is so much more exciting (apparently) than whatever it was that used to inspire most people here to make 99% of all the stuff that's currently hosted on the Org servers.

And I'm curious about what that means for how editors (here, on Youtube, at conventions, in all the overlaps in between those zones and in any others that I'm not aware of) approach their work and how they think they need to edit in order to connect with an audience. And, on the other side of the coin, how audience expectations have changed as a result of the competitive atmosphere that's overtaken the hobby.

Contests definitely seem to be the best way to reach an audience. So will the typical AMV viewer (I have no idea who this is or if they're even on the Org or not) not bother to look for AMVs anywhere else? Do people even "look" for AMVs anymore at all, or do they just watch contests and AMVs that their friends make? I could say a lot more about that but that's a huge tangent and this post is already all over the place.

I can't really speak too authoritatively on this because I don't really pay attention to MEPs, but I have to ask if this is something you've noticed recently, and if you can cite any specific examples? I ask because the MEP forum appears to basically be dead, and this does not appear to have happened recently. I wonder if what you're seeing is more a function of decreased .org activity than anything.

I'm hesitant to do this publicly because I don't want to come across like I'm calling anyone out and I've got a feeling that it might be interpreted that way.

That forum has never been the most active one here during my time but I do feel like it used to be more active than it's been for the last couple of years. There could be any number of reasons for that if it's true, but I'd probably want to rely on someone else who's really kept tabs on it for a long time.

So basically, to answer your question: Yeah, competition has hurt this hobby, but I don't think it's the competition you're referring to.

I do realize that this isn't all about the Org, that there's something in the air that's doing this to pretty much everyone on the Internet (to one degree or another).

What it boils down to for me is that everyone's always felt a need to be validated by their peers but as time goes on in this hobby, that's gotten more and more important than ever, to the point where contest success/failure is getting treated like some kind of objective measure of how good an editor is and what they "need to work on" in order to be accepted (or at least feel like they are). This inevitably is going to have an effect on editors' motivations -- which I only care about when it leads to people getting prematurely disillusioned/bored for all the wrong reasons -- and the originality and spirit in their work.

I'll probably enter another contest someday and get called out for my "hypocrisy" or something. Should be fun!

[Scintilla]

We're probably just older and wiser. I mean... do you remember when every AMV had to have a poorly edited rendition of dancing Vash? Or when YTMNDs were videos of inspiration?

I remember it like it was just this year -- OH WAIT.

[TritioAFB]

Lately I'm wondering what's the purpose of editing nowadays.

I remember when the purpose was the fun of editing and enjoying the works without anything else.