A “Creative Competition” Should Reward Creativity

[sumitsehgal8]

I want to address something about the recent “Eddie’s Missing” Creative Competition because I think many participants feel the same disappointment.

The event was heavily presented as a creative competition — with storytelling, themed submissions, community participation, and encouragement for people to put effort into creating unique entries. Naturally, many of us assumed this meant creativity, originality, effort, and quality would actually influence the outcome.

People spent hours:

creating edits

designing submissions

searching for details

brainstorming ideas

putting genuine effort into participating

because the competition was framed in a way that suggested merit-based judging.

However, the winners announcement later stated that winners were:

“randomly selected players who guessed right.”

That completely changes the nature of the competition.

A random draw and a creative contest are not the same thing.

If winner selection was always intended to be random among correct submissions, then creativity and effort ultimately had no influence on the result. Someone who spent 5 minutes had the same odds as someone who spent 5 hours crafting a thoughtful entry.

That’s the disappointing part.

This is not about being upset over losing. Losing is part of every competition. The issue is about transparency and expectation.

Calling something a “creative competition” creates the expectation that entries will be evaluated creatively. If randomness determines the winners, then the event should be clearly presented as a giveaway, raffle, or random participation draw from the beginning.

Many participants invested real time and energy because they believed the quality of their work mattered.

A more fair and transparent system could have been:

judged winners based on creativity

community voting

shortlisted best entries

separate prizes for random participation

But presenting it as a creative competition while selecting winners randomly feels misleading to a lot of participants.

I’m posting this respectfully because I genuinely think transparency matters in community events like these. People are far more willing to participate when expectations are clear and effort is actually valued.

@Jake7589

[Zamia2001]

7 minutes ago, sumitsehgal8 said:

I want to address something about the recent “Eddie’s Missing” Creative Competition because I think many participants feel the same disappointment.

The event was heavily presented as a creative competition — with storytelling, themed submissions, community participation, and encouragement for people to put effort into creating unique entries. Naturally, many of us assumed this meant creativity, originality, effort, and quality would actually influence the outcome.

People spent hours:

creating edits

designing submissions

searching for details

brainstorming ideas

putting genuine effort into participating

because the competition was framed in a way that suggested merit-based judging.

However, the winners announcement later stated that winners were:

“randomly selected players who guessed right.”

That completely changes the nature of the competition.

A random draw and a creative contest are not the same thing.

If winner selection was always intended to be random among correct submissions, then creativity and effort ultimately had no influence on the result. Someone who spent 5 minutes had the same odds as someone who spent 5 hours crafting a thoughtful entry.

That’s the disappointing part.

This is not about being upset over losing. Losing is part of every competition. The issue is about transparency and expectation.

Calling something a “creative competition” creates the expectation that entries will be evaluated creatively. If randomness determines the winners, then the event should be clearly presented as a giveaway, raffle, or random participation draw from the beginning.

Many participants invested real time and energy because they believed the quality of their work mattered.

A more fair and transparent system could have been:

judged winners based on creativity

community voting

shortlisted best entries

separate prizes for random participation

But presenting it as a creative competition while selecting winners randomly feels misleading to a lot of participants.

I’m posting this respectfully because I genuinely think transparency matters in community events like these. People are far more willing to participate when expectations are clear and effort is actually valued.

@Jake7589

You have a point, i understand but im also sad

[raitx]

I doubt it's fair anyways. Prizes are mostly given to mods and their buddies. They could make it transparent how they pick winners, but they don't. That's why I didn't even bother to participate.

Edited May 20 by raitx

[ruthlessunruly]

you*re right dog.

[Wade58]

Among the selected photos, one person's picture doesn't resemble Eddie at all. Nevertheless, it was a nice and fun event.

[Jake7589]

Hey @sumitsehgal8

Just to clarify on the "Eddie's Missing" giveaway, winners are selected at random from all eligible entries, as outlined in the post.

We generally steer away from judging comps on creativity unless it's been called out upfront.

Thanks

[Astar19]

Yes 3 continuous giveaways and selected in none where one person has won twice how can this be fair?? I mean seriously i posted on the eddies missing, the eddie ice challenge, the zoo game but none selected not sure what will happen with crashing out! 😞

Edited May 20 by Astar19

[sumitsehgal8]

@Jake7589

Hey Jake, I understand that the winners were technically selected at random and that this may have been mentioned in the post. My point isn’t really about losing or demanding a win — it’s more about the way the event was presented to the community.

The competition was branded and visually promoted as a “Creative Competition,” which naturally gives participants the impression that creativity, originality, effort, or quality of submissions would play some role in the outcome.

Because of that, many of us invested significant time creating edits, concepts, and detailed submissions believing the competition would be at least partially merit-based.

When the winners announcement later stated that winners were simply randomly selected from eligible entries, it changed the perception of the entire event. At that point, creativity and effort effectively had no influence on the outcome, which is why some participants feel disappointed or misled.

I completely understand wanting to avoid subjective judging unless explicitly stated upfront, and I respect that. But I think the issue is that the event presentation itself strongly implied a creative evaluation process, even if the technical rules clarified randomness somewhere in the details.

I think future events could avoid this confusion by:

clearly labeling them as random giveaways/draws from the beginning

or having separate categories for “best creative submissions” and “random participation rewards”

or briefly explaining upfront how winners are selected in bold/visible text

That would help align expectations better and make participants feel their effort is properly valued.

I’m saying this respectfully because a lot of people genuinely enjoy participating in these events and put real effort into them. Transparency in how contests are framed goes a long way for community trust.

Edited May 20 by sumitsehgal8

[vaasi0099]

 bro I had same experience where Create skin of Ak 47 Gun was Came some time ago, that main title was Create creative Your own AI design so majority everyone made designs with ai with just 2 min,

I made my gun sketch and it took me almost 4 hours but still not selected.

But in the end It's mostly selected by random behalf so we can't do anything in it. ♥️

[raitx]

4 hours ago, Jake7589 said:

Hey @sumitsehgal8

Just to clarify on the "Eddie's Missing" giveaway, winners are selected at random from all eligible entries, as outlined in the post.

We generally steer away from judging comps on creativity unless it's been called out upfront.

Thanks

What do you mean by "random"? Do you use random number generator? Why can't the selection be more transparent, like how Eddie is doing the weekly raffle thing. Otherwise it looks like biased selection based on who knows what. There seems some people win these comps way more often than others.

[gimena lencina]

Yo directamente no concursare más al ver tantas injusticias y desepciones...

[sumitsehgal8]

I get that the winners were randomly selected and I’m not trying to argue over losing.

The issue is more about expectations. When something is presented as a “Creative Competition,” people naturally believe creativity, originality, and effort will matter in the outcome.

A lot of us spent real time making detailed entries because that’s what the branding encouraged. So when winners are later described as randomly selected, it makes the creative side feel meaningless in hindsight.

I’m not saying the contest was unfair or rigged — only that the presentation and the selection method feel disconnected, which is why multiple people seem confused or disappointed.

Even something simple like:

clearly labeling it as a random draw,

showing how winners are randomized,

or separating “creative picks” from random winners

would make the whole process feel much more transparent and rewarding for the community.

Because right now, it unintentionally gives the impression that effort matters emotionally, but not practically.

@Steve 

@Edward

And honestly, the confusing part is that one of the winning pictures doesn’t even resemble Eddie much at all, which makes people question what the actual criteria was in the first place.

And @Jake7589

No disrespect to @damien4220because the shot is cinematic, but if the theme was ‘Eddie in the jungle,’ where exactly is Eddie here? Remove the caption and nobody guesses the character

[Jake7589]

As you guys have proved in the replies, this is the sole reason we don't judge competitions based on creativity 😐

Everyone is going to provide a reason why their artwork should have won, and vice versa.

Unless stated otherwise, winners are selected at random from all eligible entries, as outlined in the T&Cs.

 - Locking thread -