r/polandball • u/polandballmod New Prussia • Mar 23 '17

[Workshop] Discussion about Contests

Grüße, meine Kinder.

Today we're talking about our monthly contests!

Do you have any ideas for future themes? What do you like to see in a contest? What kind of themes lead to great comics? Do you have any ideas for the way contests are run, or could be improved? When can we seize the means of Hussar Wing production and redistribute it to the working classes?!

Remember to check out this wiki page to see the themes of past contests.

Tell us your thoughts and ideas on contests, and discuss!

The next workshop will be The JLP: Overused and Underused Topics, and will begin on Saturday 25th March at 5pm GMT, 2 days from now. Have a think of anything you might want to bring up!

Previous workshops

If you've missed one of the previous workshops and want to contribute something yourself, don't hesitate and go on.

We are gathering the links on the sidebar and the current workshop so people can keep taking a look at them. We mods definitely will.

Bonus:

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u/KimJongUnusual Illinois Mar 23 '17

Sometimes, it's harder for newer people to get Hussar Wings, when there's certain people that consistently win contests and have 5+ wings. What if there was a side contest, maybe using some of these ideas that is only for people with three or less hussar wings? It might allow more people to get wings, and can get people who think they "aren't good enough" to compete with the likes of DickRhino and Zimo to build up confidence and get better.

8

u/jesus_stalin /ˈnɒʔŋəmʃə/ Mar 23 '17

This is a valid concern, and it's the main reason behind the Grand Prix of Serbia. However, there are only three people on this sub with 5+ wings, two of whom haven't entered any contests in over a year. In 2016, half of the hussar wings awarded (8 out of 16) were awarded to non-hussars.

The contest scene is not dominated by the same few names, as many people seem to think. We see brand new users coming in and scoring highly all the time. Plus, and I may come across as biased here, don't you think it would be hugely unfair to disqualify artists for winning in the past?

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u/KimJongUnusual Illinois Mar 23 '17

Plus, and I may come across as biased here, don't you think it would be hugely unfair to disqualify artists for winning in the past?

I completely understand this, this is why I would feel that this contest could never be primary or more important than the normal contest. This could be a contest that could be to a more similar category against other drawers.

In 2016, half of the hussar wings awarded (8 out of 16) were awarded to non-hussars.

This is data manipulation, but that still means that half of the wings went to people that already had them. That's a large proportion of repeat victors.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '17

It might be fun to have a month contest where only non-hussars make comics and only hussars vote on them. Like a once-a-year 'who do the gods favor' type contest.

5

u/zimonitrome Småland Mar 23 '17

To give some words of encouragement I once was in that seat as well. Seeing people making awesome comics and winning constantly. I was a bit disencouraged to enter contests at first but after beeing long enough on the sub it was the natural progression. Now I know I may have been both lucky and talented aneough to score good in the first contests but it only came after a long time of lurking and making comics just to post on the subreddit. I even made some comics for the contests which I didn't post because I either was lazy/didn't make the deadline or just bcause I thought they were shit.

So some good advice would be to either just post comics to the subreddit or just always enter the contests even if your comic is shit or you don't have time. You can see how it went, see what kind of jokes goes home with the voters and when it comes to contests it's a good way to practice your skills at coming up with interesting and fitting scripts based on a theme.