When I click on "submissions" now, it only shows 38 entries and I know there were more than that at the start that previously showed up at the start of the jam. Were the others all removed and only the top 38 scoring "winners" retained?
thats unfortunate, but refer to the text on the jam page.
What happens if my quest is disqualified / removed?
Due to an unpredictable scope of entrants, I cannot guarantee that any notification will be granted nor any reason given, but I will try to notify the quest submitter in the event of a disqualification. A participant can fix their quest and re-submit.
Any participants found to re-submit quests that do not follow submission guidelines may be removed and barred from re-entering, with or without notice!
The responsibility of ensuring an entry meets the submission criteria belongs to the participant!
So to be clear, it says notification may occur but isn't guaranteed. Does that mean nobody was notified or I was just unlucky to be someone who wasn't, and others were?
Just a bit hurt by this since I put a lot of work in and while I didn't care at all about winning anything, it would have been nice to know what was wrong and have a chance to fix it. I am sure others who had no idea until they looked at the page and saw their quests removed feel the same.
Surely without a reason being given, disqualified participants can't know what criteria were disqualified for (and thus either re-submit or even just understand what happened). For example, if the monster count was higher than allowed by the rules: a judge could have mis-counted, as could the quest submitter.
I'm also confused how the second and third paragraphs mesh: the second paragraph says participants can fix and re-submit if disqualified , the third says re-submitting if removed would mean being barred.
Honestly, though? My main concern is that the right version of my quest got judged. I had two versions with one clearly listed as "FOR THE JAM" and the other as "NOT FOR JUDGEMENT" but I worry now the wrong one got read.
to clarify, if a disqualified quest can be fixed by the participant before the submission deadline, it can be resubmitted.
If a quest is resubmitted before the deadline but isn't fixed, other actions are taken (as it is implied the creator is disregarding the rule).
The onus of ensuring a quest qualifies is on the submitter, not the judge. Disqualification after the submission deadline is unfortunately the result of a submitter not ensuring that they are following the rules as posted -- these are written for a reason --and ultimately that is the only fair consequence; to your point however, if a quest is disqualified in error (as has happened in the past), it can be resubmitted exactly as it was. This is facilitated by an invite from the host.
It is very important for participants to read and understand every rule in the event!
Which all makes sense, but underlines why one would want to know why they were disqualified, surely? "You used 1 too many goblins" "no I didn't, please recount" is different from "um, you used 15 warbears" or "you just submitted quest 6 from MOTM but changed a few enemies" which nobody could dispute was a fair cop! One cannot know if disqualification was due to error otherwise.
it's fair to want to know why, but I've already disclaimed that it may not be communicated why. Its right there on the front page; it is what it is and I'm not inclined to change it. I only ask participants to read, understand, and agree.
It's possible the reasoning was given before disqualification, which would actually remove the submissions page. This is something I only just learned about myself. I'm not sure if the affected participant gets a notification then or if it deletes since the page disappears. Not saying that did happen necessarily, but it is possible.
But again, quests found to qualify that were removed in error can be re-submitted with an invite. When I get time I will look into it more closely.