Aliencat and Bluesecrets are hosting a brand-new contest over at Classic Castle.
Born in a frenzy of whimsy and late-night chatting, the Job Muller’s Contest is something unique. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is build a fictional medieval occupation, the funnier the better. I think I’m going to be entering this one….
no ldrawn entries? thanks a lot, classic castle.
If you have a problem with it take it up with the host. This is not the place for your complaint.
@matt – Are you serious? Anyway, its not hosted by Classic Castle. Its being run by two members of CC.
Matt, the decision not to accept Ldrawn entries is indeed not Classic-Castle’s policy, but a choice made by us, the two hosts of the contest, because we really just want people to build with their Lego and come up with something funny.
It’s hard to make a digital scene that radiates the kind of atmosphere we’ll be looking for, and conveys something funny. That said, I do realize it’s not impossible, so I do applaud anyone who can really make atmospheric renders in the way JedimasterWagner does for example.
This is however, quite simply put, not what we are looking for.
Personally I really want to get people building, and see what they can come up with using the bricks they have. And since this is more of a silly contest with a funny theme, we didn’t feel Ldrawn entries really fit in.
Of course we’re always open to ideas from people about this contest, and if this one turns out to be succesfull, there will be a sequel in the future. If you want to contact me about why we should be open to Ldrawn entries then, please send me an e-mail to:
aliencat swirley-lowercase-A-thingie stopthetrack dot com
Thanks for your respopnse :)
I was being more sarcastic than serious. Your contest, your rules, and that’s fine. It just seemed like a very arbitrary rule, and it completely rules me out for the contest, because my actual brick collection consists of the Lunar Module and a couple of promotional impulse sets.
I think that some people (and this may not include aliencat) get this idea in their head that because LDraw has this big library of pieces that you can build in any amount with any color, that somehow that gives virtual builders an unfair advantage. this is not the first contest I have been disallowed to enter. but maybe this is a discussion for another time — perhaps we shouldn’t debate in the comments section of bros-brick. thanks for your responses too.
Well it is true, it does give a certain advantage when you’ve got an unlimited library of virtual bricks. Building with real bricks vs virtual bricks is more challenging. In the virtual world you don’t have to worry about things like gravity, tension, grip and limited parts per color. I’m not saying that virtual builders aren’t talented, I’m just saying it takes a different kind of approach, and quite frankly, a different kind of skill (one less traditional). With that said I think the hosts of the contest are looking for something more traditional, something more physically and mentally challenging for the contestants.
I stayed up late last night building my entry, but I can’t enter yet because the Admins haven’t activated my account. Darnadiggers!
I am already at work on an entry, this is a very exciting concept for a contest. I felt a bit of a building let down after the CCCVI contest ended, but this fits in smoothly and gets me building again, thanks!
Aaaaan the announcment on TBB just killed any chance I had at winning this one. ;)
Curtis, like I said, I’d rather not debate here, but I don’t want any misconceptions about LDraw to propagate.
First of all, the LDraw parts library is not unlimited. There have been no official parts updates in over 5 years. This means that almost all of the new pieces that LEGO has made in the past 5 years are unavailable in LDraw (this includes minifig facial expressions and hairpieces). It really limits a virtual builder when all of the IRL builders can use facial expressions and hairpieces and they can’t. And that’s only two examples.
Secondly, limiting virtual builders on the basis of unlimited parts is as unfair as limiting those with actual brick collections of 100,000 pieces from competing.
Thirdly, you may not have to worry about gravity, tension, and grip in LDraw, true, it has its own challenges. Ever try building ANYTHING at an angle in LDraw? it’s very difficult. SNOTwork is harder. Plus any large models become very cumbersome in LDraw.
And lastly, I would argue that it’s more difficult to publish LDraw models, because the art of lego rendering (and it is an art) takes much more time, effort, and experimentation than a light box and a good camera. it comes with the territory, and I don’t complain; I actually love the rendering process. but it takes a lot of effort to do well.
anyways. LDraw builders are a niche community that is slowly growing. Hopefully I’ve been able to tell you a little about what virtual LEGO’ing is all about.
I’ve tried registering on the Classic-Castle Forums but haven’t had any luck… Both my email accounts (gmail and yahoo) seem to be banned. I’m assuming it’s all gmail and yahoo accounts (which seems absurd, what else does anyone use?). I’ve never been a member before, so I know I wasn’t banned personally. Anyone have advise that doesn’t entail making a new email account that hasn’t been banned?
@matt: You’ve made some really interesting points — ones that other readers should probably be aware of. I’ll get in touch with our resident LEGO CAD expert (Tim/Gambort) to see if we can help change other LEGO fans’ perceptions about virtual building.
@Curtis: Josh is a CC admin, so I’m sure he’s seen your comment. Your guess is correct: Due to spammers, all free e-mail accounts are blocked, resulting in a “ban” message. It’s not you, personally. In case Josh isn’t already in touch with you, one solution is to use a work or school e-mail address just to register, and then change your e-mail address to your Gmail or Yahoo! address.