I'm still thinking about this one, maybe we can start a contest later in the year (busy summers and all that). Has anyone any other ideas, or comments on the previous ideas in the thread?

You know what MTS hasn't had for a while (and you mentioning summer made me think of it)? A calendar contest.

With the calendar contests, one of the creators used to actually make the calendar.

The original was made by Inge Jones (I like this one as it was the first, and I was in it- the pink girl (January) is my entry! )
https://modthesims.info/d/101919

Then there were calendars by Phaenoh (with help from Inge, Neder, Paladin and others):
https://modthesims.info/d/466482/of...2-versions.html
https://modthesims.info/d/494587/of...s-holidays.html
https://modthesims.info/d/517162/of...s-holidays.html
https://modthesims.info/d/544825/of...s-holidays.html
https://modthesims.info/d/569572/of...s-holidays.html

Then gdayars took over the upload:
https://modthesims.info/d/588163/mt...2-calendar.html (I was in this one too! )
https://modthesims.info/d/606291/mts-calendars.html
https://modthesims.info/d/623218/mt...s-for-2019.html

So we'd need to ask permission to use one of the calendars as a base (or create a new one), and have someone who knows what they are doing to put the winning images into a new calendar. Does anyone have skills for that?

If people are interested, then I'm happy to PM for permission and try and set up the new calendar after all the pictures have been selected.

I also have no picture taking talent, so that can be my contribution. XD

I still have the latest one (2019) in my sims' houses.

Best thing would be to ask @Tashiketh or @HugeLunatic about it, as the calendar contests were always an official thing, and announced in the site news.

So have I!

I really haven't got the heart for another building contest, after finishing bottom in every single round in the last one, but I'd certainly be up to submitting a picture or two for a calendar, if I can think of anything suitable. Though I know I am at a disadvantage, not having Seasons. I suppose that in our Veronaville it's always summer -- a long, warm gentle summer, that my Sims and I just love.

I got a sticker for the 2019 calendar contest, even though my Summer picture -- of Andrew and Julian in tiny barely-there swimbriefs wasn't used.

I think a calendar contest will be very nice.

@AndrewGloria - I am sorry that you are still exhausted after my contest

So would people rather have a calendar contest than a different contest? Or have the calendar contest as well as another contest...?

I am good for as many contests as possible

Any contest is a step up from no contest at all

Any progress with the contest plans - or should we start over?

No progress yet- I'm confused about what kind of contest people want, I started with a view to having a contest in which participants could enter a sim and/or a lot, and that people could choose which rounds to enter. But the latest posts are suggesting a calendar contest.

After the last contest I noticed that some people couldn't make all rounds, so I was thinking that a challenge rather than a contest might be in order (where there is maybe no overall winner, it's just a have fun taking part thing).

My ideas were:
Round 1 (optional): Make a sim, give them a backstory and interests. Showcasing your character building.

Round 2 (optional): Make a house for your sim (or; if you didn't enter round 1 you could make a house for another participants' sim, or one of the Maxis sims) Showcasing your building and interior decorating.

Round 3 (optional): Make a community lot that these sims might like. Showcasing your comm lot building skills and how fun you can make it.

Round 4 (optional): Add these lots to a neighbourhood. One you made or one someone else made, this round is showcasing your hood decoration skills.

I was wanting to make the scoring really simple. The point is not to have an overall winner, but to have fun participating. People can enter as few or as many rounds as they like, and drop out/ re-enter at any time.

Of course all this is based on my observations of the last contest, and what kind of contest I want to enter (I like making sims and hoods as well as building!).

I'm happy to have a calendar contest though, we can always do more contests later!

@simsample Thank you!

I have some thoughts to share (I did think about what I could have done differently in my contest too).

1. Some contestants will drop out. It has happened in every single contest I have ever taken part in, and I don't think the host, the format of the contest or any higher power can change that. Having compared the number of dropouts in my contest with previous ones, it seems fairly average to me. (Some contestants tend to place unnecessary pressure on themselves too, which should not be the host's problem). But contestants and/or their relatives fall ill, RL does get in the way (I survived hosting despite a serious eye infection as well as a broken tooth - grandkid accidentally hit me with a cricket ball - and I did not even mention it, I just kept hosting, but I do understand that, if I were a contestant, I may well have pulled out).

2. Some of my rounds probably had too much (me thinking that will motivate contestants) of a choice - I think it was confusing, and next time I will stick to simple, straightforward rules and limitations (my Round 1 was probably the best).

3. I think contests can be fun and there can still be a winner, and round winners, etc. I am in favour of allowing somebody who has missed a round to take part in the next ones, though - why not? It still seems to me that 4 rounds can have 4 different winners, which I think is very nice, even if a contestant does not win overall. @Pebblerocker, winning the final round, to me was very enjoyable, because it followed after 3 other great entries, and it was so well deserved.

4. You can never make everyone happy, some contestants don't like the decisions made by the judges and there is not much one can do about that. All the judges can really do is to try to be as fair as possible. The host should not be the judge as well if at all possible - a host should be able to overrule obvious mistakes from judges (I had to do that in the first round, since a contestant lost points for playability while the object was actually playable). Judging is hard, but it is also a very good learning curve, and one learns a lot while doing that. If Jo had not asked me to be a judge once, I probably would not have done it at all - but I am happy that I did, and it does have its fun side - like when the lots come in and they are looking so good.

5. The hood idea is nice, but not everyone makes maps - I think putting a hood together after the contest would be quite cool, though.

6. Oh, yes, deadlines - stick to them, I think (there were, and I understand that very well, complaints about me being too flexible).

(As for calendar contests - I probably suck, I think I did one).

Well the enemy of progress is procrastination (and I am so good at it).

@Tashiketh
@HugeLunatic

Is it you we'd need to get permission from to hold a calendar contest and/or to use one of the previous calendars as a base for the new one?

Very nice, @Charity

I did all those things for the last contest --

1) I made Sims for every round of the contest and gave them all families.

2) I built houses for them to live in. In one case I built the old house they were living in before they moved to the house (with a home business) that I was building for the contest. I also built houses for some family members who had left the parental home, and in one case the boyfriend of a grown-up daughter. (He has now moved in with the family, and a friend is now living in his old house.

3) The contest was mainly about making community lots, so of course I built three community lots.

4) I added all the Sims, their houses and their businesses, to the Veronaville suburb of Monopolis. The businesses (including the garden centre run as a home business) are all quite close together, but their houses are more spread over the neighbourhood.

All the Sims I added are now an integral part of the Greater Veronaville community, and all the businesses and houses have really transformed Monopolis. It has far more of an urban feel than it used to have. All told it involved a considerable effort by myself (and some of my Sims). It took a lot of time and effort, and I have to admit I felt somewhat disheartened when I finished bottom in every round, and in the contest as a whole. At the end of it I really couldn't really work up any enthusiasm for another building contest. I think I'd rather like the idea of a challenge rather than a judged contest with winners and losers. I've done a couple of contests in the past as a play-along, and, with less pressure on me, I think I enjoyed them more.

I make no negative criticism of the host, the judges or the other contestants, who simply built better lots than mine, but it was frustrating when Andrew and I had put so much effort into it, to finish as the worst in every round -- and in the contest as a whole. It's maybe not surprising that, towards the end of the contest, Andrew fell asleep when visiting clients to discuss their requirements. Like myself, I think he was beginning to feel disheartened. I'll say one more thing in our defence: despite the disappointment of consistent low scores, we did finish the contest. I think that's largely because, once I've put my hand to the plough, I don't like to turn back. In that respect Andrew is much of the same mind as myself.

Having said all that, if we do get a calendar contest for next year, I'll try if possible to submit a picture or two. Even though, not having Seasons, I feel at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to calendar pictures.

Another thing: if somebody, especially someone I feel quite close to, starts another building contest, and it looks like they might not get enough entrants to start it, I'll probably join it -- mainly to support them. And having finished last overall, and in every round of the last contest, I really can't get any worse!!

Perhaps then, we could do a calendar contest, and then some challenges too?

We could turn some of the ideas in this thread into a challenge that runs over a number of weeks, and can be scored/ critiqued if people are interested in that (but no winners or losers).

We could simultaneously run a calendar contest, provided we get permission to use and mod a CC calendar.

@simsample - How about we have the calendar contest first? It would be nice to have a new calendar for my sims for next year, to be honest. Not being the best there, I would still take part (after all, I have never been the best in building contests either) And hopefully learn something along the way.

Then we can have another contest after that. No need, imho, to run two or three types of contests/challenges/whatever at the same time; you can never please everyone.

@AndrewGloria My remark re the judges was not aimed at anyone in particular - it is normal, and I myself quite often did not like the comments or the scores I got from the judges, I have taken part in enough contests to know that from personal experience!

Yet I will admit thinking of you when I said contestants sometimes put themselves under enormous pressure (you are not the only one either) - while you can absolutely handle a contest in any way you like to and decide to follow your own rules for your own game if you want to - There are no extra points for that. While I think most contestants did make sims for the contest, and some may even have kept them - in the end it is the lot and only the lot that is judged, and that is why those who concentrated on the building of the lot probably got more points than others did.

Just wanted to add that I think making a house for another participant's sim would be lots of fun. Kind of like a "Love It or List It" sort of thing. (Link added for those who are unfamiliar with the show.)

Good idea! Who is going to organise that one? I'm happy to, but it was @Charity 's idea so maybe you want to run it, Charity? Or any other volunteers?


That's what I thought too!

I'm happy to run it. Just waiting for a reply on permission.

Hurrah! I'm excited now!

Thank you, @Charity

A calendar contest is perfect! You have permission to run it! Can't wait. You can use the latest updated calendar, by gdayers I think? We kind of look at the calendar for the official contest as community property.

When you start a new thread for the official thread, I can post in site news! I'm an expert at ignoring dm's for a while...so the tagging works best for me.

I also want a calendar contest. I know there was an attempt to revive a calendar cc with submitted pics in the sims crafters discord but it fell off the radar. So count me in!