As an independant Minecraft fan, this is what I feel ModJam needs.

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Succubism

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Jul 29, 2019
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This post will also appear in the ModJam Subreddit.
http://www.reddit.com/r/MinecraftModJam/comments/1vlppo/

Let's cut down the barrier between right and wrong for just a moment and look at the facts.

iChun deserved to win. He won before for his mod and he won this time for his mods. I don't think anyone should disagree with me there and I don't think anyone would have disagreed me even before this competition started. Why does he deserve to win? Because he created an awesome, lighthearted and satirical mod that was both clever in appearance and functionality.

Does that mean he deserves the spotlight? No.

He already has it.

I don't know iChun personally or even at all, I've never spoken to him or even seen a single actual post of his towards the community. However if he joined the competition with the hopes of actually winning the competition and gaining publicity, he should know better than to command the spotlight when one or two already shine on him and his modding ability. This goes for the other, more decorated members of the modding community.

For them to join a competition with the hopes of taking the gold purposefully steals the spotlight from those with just as much or potentially more or less skill than they do who deserve the gold just as much. It's not their fault however. I wager the thought may not have crossed into some of their minds and this post isn't just a personal attack on them. I both admire, adore and encourage their mods and the use thereof.

So how do we make this fair for them? Them being the bigger-name modders and those who just haven't got there yet who really should have.

Well, here's what I propose, after a good few hours of arguing with other independent fans of the community. Modders, players, video makers and the-like.

ModJam is trying to give off this professional vibe and that's awesome. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be professional, however their approach to the competition is anything but and this has arguably compromised the respect they covet from the community. The exact opposite intention of their professional vision. If they want to be professional, they have to do more than just act it with the community.

I propose that ModJam be seperated into two leagues. The name of which I just come up with on the spot to serve as placeholder and example.

Judging
At the end of the day the community has to have their say for the contender's success, however to avoid this ending with the unintended results (IE, the "popularity contest" that ModJam is currently labeled with), a panel of indepandant members of the community (whether modders or not) will act as judges to determine fates of the contenders in events during the ModJam competition. Their place in the competition, is as follows, depending on leagues.

Judges will be changed each year.

ModJam Plus
ModJam Plus will be the competition for those modders which have already gained good standing within the community. They will be entered into the competition after being nominated by a large percent of that community. Those with the most votes will be invited to partake. Those who already have pride of place as a ModJam contender won't be missed as I wager their presence in the competition will be assured by the publicity gained from prior events and it opens the possibility for newer faces to join the "Big Leagues" and compete against those who have common place there. Then the competition begins

After the 96 hours there are two ways to decide a winner.
  • Have the panel of judges decide, based not on the popularity of the modder, but in terms of practicality, the vision of Minecraft itself and it's potential synergy with other existing mods. This can either decide a winner straight away or narrow down contenders to a smaller number for the community themselves to vote on.
  • Have the community decide themselves through voting as per usual.
This creates fair play towards the bigger-name contenders, whilst still allowing fair competition for those less-known in the community and allows them to have their time in the sun, as is the point of ModJam.

ModJam

This is where the major competition takes place.

As usual, modders can put their names down to be included in the competition and their mods are submitted as standard.

After the 96 hours, mods are then given to the Judging panel to examine, test and play the mods, the goal of which to decide which of these mods are the best of the selection based off the terms stated in the Judging paragraph. After which, the best mods go through to be voted on by the community based off the mod itself and not the name behind it. This allows them to have their competition without the bigger named modders eclipsing them.

Prize
The prize for both leagues are the same. Their own individual mod-spotlight and whichever other prizes ModJam normally gives.

Bigger Modders already play with this prize at the end of the tunnel for both the publicity and for their own motivations and that's fine, however lesser known modders play to win and for the publicity. They may have their own motivations too, but the biggest prize is that publicity. This way both leagues are happy and competitors who aren't happy simply aren't worthy of the competition as they would play for the same prize regardless of this change.

That's my Two Cents, do with it what you will.
 

SlightlyVisible

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Agreed. Lets face it, the POPULAR modders comprise mainly of those with some connection to forgecraft. Whether ichun won or loss, Direwolf20 still would have done a spotlight. The other modders, and their mods, are always overlooked.

Just look at the past
10 devs create morph mods. Nobody cares

Ichun creates a morph mod. CALL DIREWOLF
 
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Mevansuto

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Jul 29, 2019
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Agreed. Lets face it, the POPULAR modders comprise mainly of those with some connection to forgecraft. Whether ichun won or loss, Direwolf20 still would have done a spotlight. The other modders, and their mods, are always overlooked.

Just look at the past
10 devs create morph mods. Nobody cares

Ichun creates a morph mod. CALL DIREWOLF

Not quite true. The biggest sell of the Morph mod over the other mob transformation mods is the abilities, the fact you have to earn them and the cool transformation animation. Those make Morph a better mod.

In fact iChun handed his prize over to the second place competitor (who just happens to be VSWE).

You're denying iChun had the best a good mod, something the OP agrees with.

To the OP: How do you decide if someone is a big modder?
 
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Succubism

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To the OP: How do you decide if someone is a big modder?
I don't.

Each member of the community would have a chance to nominate their choice for a competitor, in which case that in question would be invited.

It's what decides, not who. And that "what" is the community's choice based upon how they qualify him or her as a modder.
 

Succubism

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In regards to iChun. I think he has a good mod, whether it won ModJam based on it's merits in a mod, well I don't know, I haven't played any of the other modjam mods barring Vazkii's ReCubed (which was consequently disqualified due to a ModJam faux pas. Go figure.)

I wager not many of the actual voters played it either and that's a shame.
 

Mevansuto

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In regards to iChun. I think he has a good mod, whether it won ModJam based on it's merits in a mod, well I don't know, I haven't played any of the other modjam mods barring Vazkii's ReCubed (which was consequently disqualified due to a ModJam faux pas. Go figure.)

I wager not many of the actual voters played it either and that's a shame.

I downloaded them all. I created an instance for each of them before I played them. I played all the major ones, VSWE's, Calclavia's, iChun's. They were really good. I played about 5 of the minor ones and got a bit bored. TBH the ones I played didn't make me want to play more and didn't change who I voted for.
 

Dylan4ever

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I agree fully. When I went to the voting thing, I saw tons of mods I never even heard of. Big modders already have the publicity. Everyone notices their mods. No wonder the big dawgs always win: other contenders are simply overlooked.
Hopefully next Modjam becomes fair for everyone. If not, alright, but it would be much better for aspiring and lesser-known modders if it did.
 

Succubism

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I downloaded them all. I created an instance for each of them before I played them. I played all the major ones, VSWE's, Calclavia's, iChun's. They were really good. I played about 5 of the minor ones and got a bit bored. TBH the ones I played didn't make me want to play more and didn't change who I voted for.
Then this makes you one of those who took this competition seriously. You'd make a good judge. However answer me this, this question I've posed in both Twitter and the Subreddit.

Can you assure me that a mod's success is determined because people *played* the mod and compared it with that of the other competitors?
Can you convince me that iChun's mod, while great, was just far superior functionally and aesthetically to other mods based on educated community choice?

If you can't, the competition has a problem.
 

SlightlyVisible

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Not quite true. The biggest sell of the Morph mod over the other mob transformation mods is the abilities, the fact you have to earn them and the cool transformation animation. Those make Morph a better mod.

In fact iChun handed his prize over to the second place competitor (who just happens to be VSWE).

You're denying iChun had the best a good mod, something the OP agrees with.

To the OP: How do you decide if someone is a big modder?

I'm not denying he has a good mod, or that it's one of the best. But given the state it was in back during its initial release it was rather disappointing to see so many people go wild over it and completely disregard less know authors.
 
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Mevansuto

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Can you assure me that a mod's success is determined because people *played* the mod and compared it with that of the other competitors?
Can you convince me that iChun's mod, while great, was just far superior functionally and aesthetically to other mods based on educated community choice?

I highly doubt people played the mods as much as I did. But I can make an attempt to convince you IChun's mod was the best. The competition does have a problem, you're right.
 
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Succubism

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In response to http://www.reddit.com/r/MinecraftModJam/comments/1vkr7w/help_modjam_improve_we_need_feedback/:

6qJA3.png
[DOUBLEPOST=1390160614][/DOUBLEPOST]
I highly doubt people played the mods as much as I did. But I can make an attempt to convince you IChun's mod was the best. The competition does have a problem, you're right.
iChun's mod might have been the best and to be honest it probably is.
I just wish I could be sure that's because of the reasons I've stated which should be and is the intended point of ModJam.
 

Mevansuto

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If we separate the two sets of modders will people still maintain interest in the smaller competition.
 

Democretes

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If you're going to reset the way the competition works, you're going to have to reset the standard as well, which isn't going to happen. A lot of the minor modmakers participating in ModJam didn't produce anything spactacularly. There were a few things here and there that were pretty nice, but not much catches the eye. Even if you have the competition split up into two groups, who is really going to look into the lesser group. Yes, there will be a few who are interested, but the majority will simply turn a blind eye to it. It is simply not up to par. They don't compare to the winning mods that can come out of Modjam.
 
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Hyperme

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Once upon a time a person tried to make a complex solution where a simple one would do. They died.

If you want to eliminate identity bias, you must eliminate identity from the competition. There is no question about it. Luckily, this is fairly simple:

Step 1: Modders submit their mods privately to someone.
Step Two: The mods are put up for voting, with no information on who created the mod. Put them all in a single archive file to be safe.
Step the Third: After the voting period, announce the winners, put names to the mods, and have cake.
Step IV: Winner gets goodies or something I guess.

As you can see, this fixes the problem of people voting for 'big-name' modders because of the name and actually forces them to think about things. Also, you don't have to worry about pointless 'judge x is corruption' drama either.
 
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Succubism

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Once upon a time a person tried to make a complex solution where a simple one would do. They died.

If you want to eliminate identity bias, you must eliminate identity from the competition. There is no question about it. Luckily, this is fairly simple:

Step 1: Modders submit their mods privately to someone.
Step Two: The mods are put up for voting, with no information on who created the mod. Put them all in a single archive file to be safe.
Step the Third: After the voting period, announce the winners, put names to the mods, and have cake.
Step IV: Winner gets goodies or something I guess.

As you can see, this fixes the problem of people voting for 'big-name' modders because of the name and actually forces them to think about things. Also, you don't have to worry about pointless 'judge x is corruption' drama either.
Someone else had the idea for anonymity. I didn't read much into it, but it was concluded that it wouldn't work.
 

Nooska

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Anonymity doesn't work, all it takes is someone looking at the idea, or "knowing" and someone will spill the beans (be they real or imagined).
 
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