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.
Hey Banjo, thank you for flagging me on this. It dropped completely off my radar after I looked into it (I have too many threads of communication in too many places, but that is a 'me' problem; I apologize!!).
I certainly did not find anything , and the quest does not warrant disqualification as-is.
I'd like to offer it entry into the next jam, or perhaps I can do a video presentation on it and it alone, to make up for the inconvenience. I truly am sorry this mishap removed the quest illegitimately.
Hi mate, I totally understand being overly busy!
I also very much appreciate the apology and finally finding out it was removed by mistake; as I had said all along, I understood if I had missed some rule that caused it to be disqualified and really just wanted to know; knowing it was an error by someone else at least gives me closure on wondering what was wrong with it.
As I also have said, I had no expectations of winning the contest (though now I'll always wonder, lol), I just was encouraged by others to enter and liked the idea of actually *seeing* others playing and hopefully enjoying my stuff (as you probably know, I make and post a LOT of HeroQuest homebrew material, which I share for free with everyone ).
I would very much like to take you up on your offer to play it/cover it in a video. That was all I wanted out of the contest anyway! I don't do a lot of publicity for my stuff, and have nothing financially to gain, but I love to know people are playing and enjoying what I do. This year has been a rollercoaster for me personally, and one of the few bright spots has been sharing HQ stuff and being part of the community.
I am very happy to "polish up" my quest's presentation a little (e.g. now we have official goblin archers I can use those icons instead) , or for you to cover the "not for submission" version, since it is now no longer restricted by competition rules? Just let me know what you think would be best.
Again, I thank you for your apology and for closure on this, and for your offer to make things right as best can be done. I really does mean a lot to me, as someone who doesn't tend to "put themselves out there" for contests and such usually!
Cheers,
Banjo
PS if messages here is a pain, you can contact me via email using the contact form on my blog.