[DISCUSS] Super Mario World Central 8th Annual Idol >>> Discussion - Old Contests & Events

So then, this is embarrassing to say, but it's something that needs to be done. It's come to my attention that the round requirements this... round, are ridiculous as stated by a huge amount of the participants.

It's my duty to downright say that this round will have no eliminations, whether you submitted something or not. Unfortunately, there is no fair way to compensate those who have submitted a port/composition for this round. Following both this post and this round, there will be no more "Sampled Requirements", this also means there will be no Unsampled Round and Sampled Round as well.

What will be following however, will be both tests of your patience and mind, as what I have in store will throw contestants for a loop. (Get what I did there?) Do be preparing, we're putting this contest's challenges in fast forward.

I disagree with your decision. I think it would be better to just keep pretty strict round requirements, but instead of disqualifying someone who doesn't follow the rules you just deduct a bunch of points from them.

It seems like kind of a waste of time for the people who did prepare a proper entry to just have this round be worthless.

Yeah really. I didn't finish my entry but I did put a significant amount of time into it already. Maybe I'll be able to use it for a round down the line I guess.

I also disagree with stopping unsampled/sampled round requirements. As much as I think an unsampled round would ruin me its still a part of porting skill. I think you just need to put more time and effort into your sample selection if you do another round with a similar requirement to this one.

remind me to provide a list of things i don't like doing in porting so you can make special accommodations for those too

I'm not doing another sample selection round, and I understand that people disagree with my decision regarding the fate of this round; this decision though I'm prepared to face; and I will be sticking to what I've decided. This is supposed to be a competition of skill, and restricting people to samples or not is limiting that skill, something I've realized in the past few days.

Originally posted by Skewer

It's come to my attention that the round requirements this... round, are ridiculous as stated by a huge amount of the participants.

If porting's too hard for them then why

THE FUCK

would they enter a porting contest??
I should've waited before i quit I could've made it to round two!

edit: no offense but after all the back-pedaling you've done why would you refuse to budge on the absolute worst decision you've made so far?

ask me if i give a f*ck...

Well, it's not entirely a double-edged sword though.

Originally posted by Hobz

Originally posted by Skewer

It's come to my attention that the round requirements this... round, are ridiculous as stated by a huge amount of the participants.

If porting's too hard for them then why

THE FUCK

would they enter a porting contest??

Don't ask me, it's not the fact that porting is hard, it's the sample selection that got them to boot.

Originally posted by Hobz

I should've waited before i quit I could've made it to round two!

Maybe you didn't read the part where I said those who have quit can send me a PM and I re-admit you to the contest. Better I make such a mistake with the restrictions on round 1 than round 5. I now know better.

Originally posted by Hobz

edit: no offense but after all the back-pedaling you've done why would you refuse to budge on the absolute worst decision you've made so far?

Because I'm that kind of person. I've thought a lot about this decision actually; and in my mind, it's the most sane and most fair decision.

As I said before, I'm prepared to compensate those who have already submitted. As far making special exceptions to this or that, I'm not making anymore than I already have. The reasons as to why is because there's adament reason and backing behind why sample selections are more or less intolerable. As far as sample selections go, I don't have great knowledge in porting, I was caught unawares as to how difficult the restriction provided this round actually was, which is why the following challenges will revolve around patience and investment that will become ever more demanding as challenges progress.

what I'm saying is that it doesn't make sense to change the rules of a contest that already started and that people have already began to work on just because some people aren't good enough, or too stubborn to meet the criteria

I say hell yeah to a tough round one. Weed out the people that can't compete early, and let the rest of the competition stay as competitive as it should. This is such a joke, honestly. The point of a yearly contest is to showcase the best of the best, not pander to the worst. Come on man!

ask me if i give a f*ck...

idol is supposed to be a challenge. sample selections are no different from any other restriction, and if you have trouble working within that restriction then just power through it and try anyway. arbitrary restrictions have existed in idol before, maybe not this specific but i see no reason for it to be different this time

c3 winter 2021 | music stuff | youtube

Originally posted by Skewer

This is supposed to be a competition of skill, and restricting people to samples or not is limiting that skill, something I've realized in the past few days.

didn't stop every other idol from having a "you must use these vanilla instruments" round nor a "you must include these samples in your port" and everyone has done fine so far so your point is kinda lost on me tbh

im not gonna argue about it cause im not the host but please please please keep future backpedaling to not even a minimum, just non-existent

I plan to make sure that there are no more reversals from this point forward, rest assured in that. Unsampled might be a thing, I'm not too sure on that, it's something I'm going to need to do a lot of thinking about; but I'm not doing another sample selection.

I would like to hear from participants, hence why this is not only in the Sign-Ups thread, but here as well. Should this round count, or should it not? I want to hear from you. Should I pull back my decision? Understand I am a hard-head, but once you get past that shell, I'm soft and squishy inside.

Originally posted by Skewer

I plan to make sure that there are no more reversals from this point forward, rest assured in that. Unsampled might be a thing, I'm not too sure on that, it's something I'm going to need to do a lot of thinking about; but I'm not doing another sample selection.

unsampled has never killed anyone tbh. if anything it's the most barebones you can get in smw music and the only difficult factor in there is getting those garbage samples to work the way you want them to.

also, as an added notation that i forgot to bring up but im already replying so might as well add it here: something i've learned in the past four or so years of music contests in general is that the technical prowess factors into skill too (and in a couple contests i was in, technicality was an actual scoring factor). like, sure you can know the basic fundamentals of porting but you'll always be outclassed by those who know how to use amk to the fullest potential. the knowledge therein of how to fuck with the system is crucial to making stuff sound dope as hell and helps further advance your knowledge.

you're compensating those who already submitted but not people who put time into shit but didn't totally finish/submit? tbh everyone should be compensated you wasted our time.

can we at least get extra time for this next round? You seem like you've already decided on the requirements, you might as well just start a few days earlier. the time i put into idol is time that I didn't put into other important things that I still need to get done, but now idol round 2 is a week earlier and that fucks up my timeline.

also i have no idea what you mean with that shit about restrictions limiting skill. working well within limits takes skill and is a sign of skill. if you don't want to put restrictions on us okay thats cool but you're saying you axed this round because your restriction was restrictive and next round you've got a lovely non-restrictive restriction lined up and im trying really hard to find a way in which that isn't nonsense.

So I should reverse this decision; if that's the case this will be the last reversal, but I feel like either way I go, I'm going to be upsetting a ton of people, and I do not do well with upsetting people.

When I try to listen to people and make things fair again, it always ends up blowing up in my face. After all, it's a decision I made today, no less than several hours ago, I can very well pull this decision on the same day.

Originally posted by ergazoobi

also i have no idea what you mean with that shit about restrictions limiting skill. working well within limits takes skill and is a sign of skill. if you don't want to put restrictions on us okay thats cool but you're saying you axed this round because your restriction was restrictive and next round you've got a lovely non-restrictive restriction lined up and im trying really hard to find a way in which that isn't nonsense.

I'm not saying it's going to be lovely, more people will probably hate this one too; except there's no "selected sample" excuse to hide behind.

Originally posted by Skewer

I feel like either way I go, I'm going to be upsetting a ton of people

If round 0 counts, you're disappointing the people that dont know enough about porting to be in a porting competition

if round 0 is null and idol streamlines itself, you're disappointing the people that have already tried to meet the expectations, and would continue to, because they're actually willing to try

this is actually a really easy decision to make

ask me if i give a f*ck...

Originally posted by Skewer

So I should reverse this decision; if that's the case this will be the last reversal, but I feel like either way I go, I'm going to be upsetting a ton of people, and I do not do well with upsetting people.

When I try to listen to people and make things fair again, it always ends up blowing up in my face. After all, it's a decision I made today, no less than several hours ago, I can very well pull this decision on the same day.

like i said, i ain't the host. it's your call to make and quite honestly i'm only barely affected by it in the long run (with that said, if this round is going on without eliminations im not even gonna bother working on something because if i'll automatically place hahahahahhaha LAZINESS)

in all honesty, though, you've already sort of lost. the best way you can approach it is the one that helps you save the most face. i personally found nothing wrong with the requirements of this round, and i'm sure unless you put some high grade nuclear bullshit requirements the future ones will be fine too.

with all that said, here's hoping we can get this shit sorted out because i hate being in serious mode and i really wanna look at my layout again. dog in a sweater

I hate being in serious mode too. I admit, I broke for a while there. But pulling back the decision means eliminations, and I've been talking on both the forum and IRC about this quick-run-of-the-mill decision I've made, and I've come to the following:

Round 1 will count once more.
Eliminations are enabled for this round again.
Restrictions have been changed: You must use any three samples from the SNES game, Last Bible 3, for use in the song.

I have also become aware of a couple of loopholes in this challenge, alas I do not know of a fair way to combat these loopholes, so I will trust that people will look upon the honor system and use the samples appropriately.

Rest assured, this is the last reversal; there will be no deductions for requesting an extension on the Deadline; but the next Challenge will still be posted on Monday, ~~September 26~~ on October 3rd, unless there is an extension. For those of you who are having trouble with this challenge, allow me to give you some hints that you probably weren't looking into:

• Percussion: Even with the selection of samples, you could use the percussion samples in your port. You only have to use three, even in the provided sample list.
• Remixing: There are plenty of songs in the music section you could very well remix with these samples.
• Optimization: It's just three samples, and you could probably take these samples a long way if you think outside the box.

Originally posted by Skewer

Kept for logging purposes because I don't like to hide my mistakes.

haha, why did you delete this post?

Originally posted by Skewer

You had 2 whole weeks to sign up, and even 3 extra hours after I announced the sign-ups would close. I was supposed to close the sign ups at 2 PM EST yesterday, instead I closed them at 5:30 PM EST; the fact you neglected to sign-up in spite of all of that. No, I'm not signing you up.

And don't give me any "I'm new here" excuse, you've been registered for a whole month.

Originally posted by Skewer

You must use any three samples from the SNES game, Last Bible 3, for use in the song.

I supposed Round 0 restrictions was this. What was changed?

It used to be restricted to previous samples I had selected from the same game, now you can use any three samples from the same game.