i suggest that you give some basic concept/idea/project and just let ppl go crazy and be as creative as they can. the judge the most creative results. with no rules! just a basic premise, theme or body part etc… the “open rc contest” for examle and the robot one is to limited and hampers the imagination and stifles the fun its to rigid and limiting and less fun.
Maybe a contest like this will come in the future.Hi @john_jonmes, thanks for the suggestion. If you look at all the contests we’ve run, the vast majority have been of the more open style that you’re referring to. Interestingly enough, we’ve found that the contests that have a little bit more structure not only get the most participants, but the highest quality entries as well. After speaking with many designers, the common theme was that wide open category competitions may actually SEEM like they should produce a wide range of quality entries due to the artistic freedom involved, but what actually happens is something similar to The Paradox of Choice.
Basically, with too many options, people have a harder time coming up with an idea they like to work on, given that they may be worried their choice wasn’t the optimal one, and it can prevent people from even getting started. Having a slightly more rigid framework get’s people focused on the creating something creative to meet a certain goal.
Not to mention the maker community benefits by creating an ecosystem of interchangeable parts that everyone is contributing to, instead of one-off, incompatible designs.
We try to keep a balance of contests though, so you’ll be seeing more of both types in the future.
Nick
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