Annual Challenge Feedback

[ChickPea]

Following some comments in the Voting thread, I thought I'd set up a topic specifically for feedback on our first ever Annual Challenge. Some Guilders have expressed a little disappointment with how the challenge played out, and there's been some discussion among the CLs on this topic too.

We'd like to open up the discussion to the community for feedback and suggestions on how to improve. Please share your thoughts on what you liked or didn't like about the challenge. Is a year simply too long? Would shorter challenges, perhaps three or six months, work better? If you didn't take part last time, what changes can we implement that might encourage you to participate next year?

I'd particularly like to hear the thoughts of the artists who didn't finish their maps. Was there any particular reason, e.g. you got bored/forgot/life took over etc? Is there anything we can do to inspire you to keep working in a future challenge?

We want to make these challenges fun to watch and fun to participate, so any ideas you may have to further this goal are welcome.

There have been a couple of ideas posted about implementing some sort of timescale that entrants should adhere to throughout the year. The main drawback of working to a pre-defined schedule is that it gets complicated quickly if some people sign up later in the year (e.g. new members or members who've been absent for a while.) People also have busy periods in the year where they haven't much time for mapping, which might not work well with a set schedule. Having said that, leaving people to work to their own schedules didn't work out too well for many entrants this year, so perhaps this is something to consider. We're trying to find some common ground where the challenge is 1) open to all members and 2) sees more completed maps than we had this year, and hopefully sets a high standard too. How would you feel about working to a timetable?

Looking forward to reading some opinions!

[Deadshade]

I have not participated but as I wrote, my disappointment was due to the very large proportion of unfinished maps even if most were started quite early in the year.
The problem is probably in the difficulty to maintain focus during a long period of time, time which par definition is much more abundant than in a monthly challenge.
However how to maintain focus (more or less) during many months is surely a question which is difficult to answer and as this was a premiere, the participants probably didn't ask that question themselves when they opened their participation threads.
A time table would have the merit that the number of initial projects would quite rapidly decrease untill only those who can/want keep focus are left.

[ChickPea]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, Deadshade.

Given that there were so many unfinished maps, I think you may be correct that it's difficult to maintain focus over such a long period. In fact, of the two maps you mentioned in the voting thread as finished (Chick's & Tainotim's), both of those were only started in October, and could have worked within a challenge of a much shorter timescale.

With that in mind, one idea we were toying with was a series of shorter challenges. Instead of one year-long challenge, we might have four challenges running for three months each. Guilders would create four maps over the course of the year, all based around a central theme (to be decided). Only participants who complete all four challenges would be eligible for the annual award. It's only an idea at present, with no specifics finalised, but I'm curious to hear how Guilders might feel about this as a possible challenge for next year?

[- Max -]

I didn't finish my entry mainly because of the uplaoding size constraint of the forum. After having made some test with the whole big map planned at the start, I saw that I wouldn't be able to upload it on CG, whatever format or compression I would use (to keep it legible) so I have to admit I lost some motivation. I personnaly think that one won't do an annual challenge map like he would do a map for a regular challenge. Since there's a lot of time to make it, for me that means it would involve a lot of effort and time in it and means a huge map or an entire set of themed maps for instance. Both options can't be done at the moment on the forums (size constraint/thumbnails gallery constraint).

[Chick]

(Chick's & Tainotim's), both of those were only started in October, and could have worked within a challenge of a much shorter timescale.

I beg to differ with you!! My map was started in February. When I posted it first is NOT when it was started.

[ChickPea]

Oh! I'm sorry, I was looking at the date when the thread was created and assumed it was started around that time. I stand corrected!

[Ilanthar]

For my part, I was busy with my own mapping projects till october (if I recall well)... And still, I wanted to do something big. But I added the discovery of a new software, which has been very instructive for me (notably with the useful comments of people who knew sketchup). And that's the reason why it's largely unfinished. I could have done a bit more since I stopped earlier due to difficulties to handle things (wrongly done), but not much.

I'm not really fond of a step-by-step imposed process for various reasons : letting the possibilty to newcomers to do the challenge ; (speaking for myself) my motivation comes and goes and I'm not a regular worker ; I have a job which is not regular during the year with some very busy periods, and sometimes, in an unpredictible manner.

I also think that the two constraints raised by Max are very good : I'm often stopped by the size of the files... and the only solution I've found is to post a map in two or more parts

[Chick]

When the Annual Challenge was first posted, I thought it was probably not going to work very well, but I didn't want to throw cold water on such an idea. It's very hard to keep the interest going in a project over that long a time spam, and mostly unnecessary since very rarely would any kind of map take a year to complete. I think this was a good experiment, but I also think it has become clear that it's not worth a repeat.


But more in general ....

I also think that overall the challenges (of all types) could be improved by having standards for voting. I am personally (as someone else has also said) a bit tired of pretty pictures of medieval towns. Some of the drawings are awesome, but I don't think how well you can draw a picture of a town or tower is really what the challenges should be about, nor what should win them.

This is, after all, not the Illustrator's Guild, nor the Artist's Guild. It's the Cartographer's Guild, and selecting "winners" of the challenges somehow ought to be about cartography.

I remember one challenge a while back where a (very nice) drawing of a book got several votes. There was a map drawn on the book, but it was hard to even see and certainly didn't qualify as cartography.

Newcomers try the lite challenges to learn -- at least I know I do -- and I expected to be rewarded for really good efforts, even if the map was not up to the standards of all the old-timers around here.

Instead, the votes are for the prettiest picture and im(not so)ho that sends the wrong message to people who come here to learn about and get better at the art and science of cartography.

I would love to see challenge maps rewarded for things like improved skills, interesting variations on standard ways of doing maps, creativity, innovation, technical difficulty, new techniques, and nice artwork, not just on the last of those.

Those things are what will draw people to do the challenges, and at the same time improve their own skills, and also to develop and improve the overall level of what we all do and love here!

[tainotim]

It was sad that we didn’t see so many finished entries this year. In a sense, I could agree with Chick that the concept failed. However, then again it’s all about how you view the challenge. Referring to what was mentioned about me and Chick starting in October, in a way one could say that, though it’s a half truth.

For me my work on the annual challenge has been going on all year. The style I use for my entry is something I have developed and worked on all year long, outside the challenge sure, but within the bounds of this year. The annual challenge for me became a way to summarize what I have learned this year in a larger project which took for me far longer total time to produce than I have spend on all others maps this whole year. And that is the way I view the challenge. A way to express the progress you have made during the year in one awesome map, not to make a “masterpiece”. For me, this view works as both a motivator and a justifier to spend way too much time on one single map. And I think that this is something that is reflected in most of the finished or close to finished maps this year. Even though they are not the masterpieces many seem to have expected, the maps reflect the progress of the Cartographers that made them.

To solve the Annual Challenge concept problem, this view could be countered with “Then we could have a three month challenge at the end of the year”. But, that wouldn’t work for many reasons. A personal reason for me is because I have been planning what to draw for the challenge since the day it was announced – resulting in a great amount of sketching, researching, practicing. Much of this work – this extensive pre-publishing stage – wouldn’t work in a three month challenge. A big problem with the Annual Challenge concept seems to be the amount of prestige people add to it. Both in what they expect from the participants, and what the participants expect from themselves. However, aren’t these challenges ultimately about having fun and improving as cartographers? If you want to see a challenge map finished, I say do your best to encourage and motivate the cartographer you are rooting for! To view the challenge in a elitist, magnum opus way that many mention won’t make it more fun for anyone.

Don’t know if this helps, but as I am amongst the minority who finished my map, I figured my point of view might help somehow

Merry Christmas,
Tainotim

[Coriolis]

The stated purpose of this challenge was to provide a competition in which time constraints were not a factor, allowing participants to make magnum opus-type pieces. The results seemed to fall into two categories: ambitious but unfinished maps, or complete but unambitious maps. Although participants had a lot of time, there seemed to be a lack of significant development throughout the time period of the challenge. Many ideas were started early and then left, or started late, and none seemed to show the kind of work and development that I'd expect to see in a magnum opus from the great cartographers of this community. The long duration of the submission window, rather than enabling the participants, seemed to induce lethargy and procrastination.

I have two ideas for improving on this.

Idea #1: Stage-by-Stage Challenge
I think that participants and observers would stay more engaged in a "magnum opus" competition if the community leaders putting it on took a phased approach. Rather than having a year-long challenge with a single vote at the end, I suggest breaking up the event into a series of competitions at set intervals that build to a cumulative grand prize. Every month or two, the projects focus on one phase of their map, and voters judge the latest progress according to the aspect of the map appropriate to that phase. Here is one way in which you could define the phases:
Phase 1: Concept. Participants come up with an idea for their map and put together a rough sketch. Voters vote according to the creativity and ambition of the idea.
Phase 2: Terrain. Participants create the physical geography for their maps. Voters vote on the clarity and artistic appeal of the terrain.
Phase 3: Human and Political Geography. Participants making regional maps add city icons, roads, borders, et cetera. Participants making city maps draw in buildings. Participants making tactical maps add props and objects. Voters vote on clarity and artistic appeal of the human-centric mapping elements.
Phase 4: Labels. Participants label their maps. Voters vote on the clarity and artistic appeal of the labeling.
Phase 5: Context. Participants add a compass rose, scale, legend, and any other elements necessary to give their map a proper context for the viewer. Voters vote on the clarity and artistic appeal of these additions.
Phase 6: The Finals. Participants add in any other elements they care to include. When the deadline comes, two separate votes are conducted. The first is the technical category; voters vote on the entries' technical merits (could I use this map as a practical tool?). The second is the artistic category; voters vote on the artistic appeal of the entries (Would I want to put this up on my wall?).

The overall winner would be the participant with the highest cumulative vote total over every phase of the event. Latecomers could also participate, but they would be up against folks who had been in it from the start. This would encourage participants to get involved early and stay actively engaged throughout and give them a push to complete the next step of their map, while still giving them plenty of time to make that step look awesome. Each phase could last a month (or two, if you really want this to be a year-long thing; personally, I think 6 months is fine). In addition to the overall winner, you could award a monthly-type compass to people who win a single phase of the competition.

Idea #2: Replace the Annual Challenge with a voting event for the "Map of the Year."
This is similar to what the first Annual Challenge was, but rather than having the map be a map made specifically for the competition, we simply allow any member of the guild to submit a single map that they've made in the last year. Alternately, a member could nominate another guild member's map (uploaded to the website). This wouldn't stimulate the same craft-centric interest in the process of mapmaking that I think my other idea would, but it would be quicker, easier, and likely showcase some pretty awesome maps.