A 2006 VCA suggestion

[godix]

What I suggest is the next year in addition to having to check the 'all my videos are entered' box a person also has to check which videos they want entered and what categories to compete in.

I see several advantages to this. First off it'd help reduce miscatagorized nomination problems. As we all know by now several videos got nominated to wildly inappropriate categories this year and this would help curb that in the future. I imagine most creators are honest enough that they wouldn't choose to have their heavily edited SF X masterpiece compete in 'no effects'. Even if they did, the org as a whole could police things themselves by telling the creator they did wrong, much as the org mostly polices itself with videos that steal others edits.

Second off it'd cut down on the total number of nominations certain videos get. When I see 'Video X got 9 nominations' I'm wondering what other videos got screwed over. By having that video not even compete in categories it doesn't belong in a wider variety of good videos could be nominated. This is, IMNSHO, the best benefit because as good as EvaBebop, Shounen Bushidou, or War of Wrath are they're making it appear every VCA category is just another choose between the three. Variety is good, this would help increase variety.

And finally it'd allow a creator to not compete with certain videos if they didn't want to. For example, suppose the creators decided they didn't want to split the vote between Animix4&5 or AMV Hell 1&2, this way they could pick one to compete and leave the other out. Again, it'd help variety as well.

I only see two drawbacks to this. The major one is that it would require someone to program it. Since there's almost a year to the next VCAs this might not be as big a problem as it sounds though. Of course I'm not a programmer and have no idea what it'd take to do this so what do I know? The other problem is that this changes the VCAs from a competition of all videos made in the year to a competition where creators have to go out of their way to submit videos to it. I think requiring people to check the 'all my videos have been entered' box has already done that though so this idea would just take it a step further rather than fundamentally change what the VCAs are.

Just to note, I am not knocking any video or creator in this years contest. The videos nominated multiple times to categories they don't belong in got that way because they're good and I'm certainly not suggesting this because I think they suck and should be knocked out of the VCAs entirely. I just think variety and inappropriate nominations are a problem this year and this might fix that.

[pen-pen2002]

And finally it'd allow a creator to not compete with certain videos if they didn't want to. For example, suppose the creators decided they didn't want to split the vote between Animix4&5 or AMV Hell 1&2, this way they could pick one to compete and leave the other out. Again, it'd help variety as well.

This would be a great improvement. There are a number of overlaping videos in the semifinal list. It's bad for the audeince because you don't know how to vote and it's bad for the creator because your vote might get split.

[derobert]

The problem of competing videoes from the same creator hurting both (e.g., AMV Hell 1 vs. 2) can be easily solved by letting voters click as many boxes as they want...

All it'd take, really, would be the convince Phade.

[Gemberkoekje]

I don't really see a problem program wise either (Just a whole lot of booleans (e.g. True or False) in the database)

[SarahtheBoring]

This is going to sound harsh, so I apologize in advance. I so violently disagree with this. It's nothing personal, I just think it's a really bad idea.

I see several advantages to this. First off it'd help reduce miscatagorized nomination problems. As we all know by now several videos got nominated to wildly inappropriate categories this year and this would help curb that in the future.

You know what caused this? Editors being too lazy to properly categorize their videos when they made them. The end.

And some cases of editors not reading English, in which case I would hope they could buddy up with someone who does speak it to help them fix up their video info.

This has nothing to do with the VCAs and everything to do with setting things up right in the first place.

I imagine most creators are honest enough that they wouldn't choose to have their heavily edited SF X masterpiece compete in 'no effects'.

Then they should have checked the effects box like they were supposed to in the first place.

Even if they did, the org as a whole could police things themselves by telling the creator they did wrong, much as the org mostly polices itself with videos that steal others edits.

I suggested this back in the VCA forum - email the creators, let them know what's up - and everyone kind of shuffled their feet and whined about how the org should fix everything.

The org's got enough on its collective hands. If you see something amiss, try emailing the editor and letting them know that a box should be checked so that their video gets identified properly. It's for everyone's benefit. The org doesn't need to get involved, IMO.

Second off it'd cut down on the total number of nominations certain videos get. When I see 'Video X got 9 nominations' I'm wondering what other videos got screwed over.

That's not our problem. We aren't here to hold people's hands and baby them and tell them everyone is special. It's a popularity contest. That's what popularity contests ARE. If you don't like it, don't opt in to the contest.

Variety is good, this would help increase variety.

Hint: "V" in VCA does not stand for "variety." It's not about handing out a plastic medal to everyone who runs.

The other problem is that this changes the VCAs from a competition of all videos made in the year to a competition where creators have to go out of their way to submit videos to it.

And this is bad. You know why this is bad?

1) Some creators aren't all that interested in follow-up or board goings-on or chatting with other creators. They just make videos, stick 'em up, and that's it. And that's their right.

2) It's not about choosing which of your videos win. It's about who the audience thinks is best. The less interference from the creators, the better. In my opinion? It's not about you, the creator. It's the audience picking their favorites, the end. Back off.

I just think variety and inappropriate nominations are a problem this year and this might fix that.

Variety is not our concern. It's a contest. There are winners and, well, non-winners. If you are uncomfortable with that, don't click the "all my videos are entered" box and stay off the org from January to March. Because that's what a contest is.

Inappropriate nominations are on the shoulders of editors. Fix up your video information when you first make an AMV and this. will. not. be. a. problem.

That's my $749,284 and change. *faints*

[godix]

You know what caused this? Editors being too lazy to properly categorize their videos when they made them. The end. ... I suggested this back in the VCA forum - email the creators, let them know what's up - and everyone kind of shuffled their feet and whined about how the org should fix everything.

For 'no effects' this is true. For any other catagory then it really isn't true. EvaBebop, for example, is nominated in the 'best use of simplicity' despite the fact it's a fairly complex video and Scintilla properly marked that it has special effects. There is nothing else Scintilla can do to indicate this is not a simple video. Emailing him would, at best, get a response of 'so what can I do?' I'm just proposing something he could do. I don't expect the org to fix everything, I'm just asking for the org to give creators the capability to fix things themselves.

That's not our problem. We aren't here to hold people's hands and baby them and tell them everyone is special. It's a popularity contest. That's what popularity contests ARE. If you don't like it, don't opt in to the contest.

Many cons limit a video to one award period to increase variety. Awarding a diverse section of videos instead of giving one vid 7 or 8 awards is already fairly common for AMV contests. I'm not proposing anything that drastic though, I just think more variety is a nice side effect of reducing weird nominations. I'm quite sure even if my idea was done that the winners will still be popular videos.

Hint: "V" in VCA does not stand for "variety." It's not about handing out a plastic medal to everyone who runs.

And where exactly did I say it was? Reducing inappropriate nominations doesn't mean that suddenly joe blow and his linkinballz vid with downloaded footage will suddenly be crowned video of the year.

1) Some creators aren't all that interested in follow-up or board goings-on or chatting with other creators. They just make videos, stick 'em up, and that's it. And that's their right.

2) It's not about choosing which of your videos win. It's about who the audience thinks is best. The less interference from the creators, the better. In my opinion? It's not about you, the creator. It's the audience picking their favorites, the end. Back off.

Current rules already invalidate both of these points. Creators who don't follow up will never check the box saying all their videos have been entered therefore they'll never be up for nomination. Similarly, a creator can choose to not have their videos compete by refusing to click that box and several fairly well known creators have done exactly that. If the VCAs really was EVERY video made that year is eligable then I'd probably agree with you but that isn't what the VCAs are.

[SarahtheBoring]

For 'no effects' this is true. For any other catagory then it really isn't true.

Yes it is. They're based on the categories that the editor checks off when they enter the video into the database. Apart from Originality, Simplicity, and Best of Show, which don't have to do with genres.

If it's an action video, check off "action," etc. and it will wind up in the right category. For MOST of the categories, this is true.

EvaBebop, for example, is nominated in the 'best use of simplicity' despite the fact it's a fairly complex video and Scintilla properly marked that it has special effects. There is nothing else Scintilla can do to indicate this is not a simple video. Emailing him would, at best, get a response of 'so what can I do?' I'm just proposing something he could do. I don't expect the org to fix everything, I'm just asking for the org to give creators the capability to fix things themselves.

This is only true for "Simplicity," which I think is a fairly stupid category (no offense to whoever thought it up) in that it's essentially a double of No Effects. And it's ridiculously vague. Otherwise, the categories are either a matter of opinion (originality, best of the year) or based on the editor's input.

Otherwise, the creators DO have the capability to fix things themselves; it's called entering your video correctly in the first place, and making corrections to it if you make mistakes. We're big boys and girls. We can keep our own stuff in line.

Many cons limit a video to one award period to increase variety.

What does this mean? (I don't enter cons, so I'm not familiar with this.) You're only allowed to enter a video into one VCA, so... don't we already have this?

Awarding a diverse section of videos instead of giving one vid 7 or 8 awards is already fairly common for AMV contests.

...and? Because it's common doesn't mean we have to do it. I'm not sure I follow your reasoning. It's a popularity contest. If a video is so popular that it sweeps 8 categories, then, that's just how popular it is. The awards reflect what is already there.

You can't change the fact that some videos are monstrously popular. The awards don't create this fact.

And where exactly did I say it was? Reducing inappropriate nominations doesn't mean that suddenly joe blow and his linkinballz vid with downloaded footage will suddenly be crowned video of the year.

Slippery slope. I never said that either. Your preaching about "variety" suggested to me the attitude that "everyone should get to play" or the idea that we should honor more videos for no apparent reason.

Again: it's a popularity contest. It does nothing but reflect the attitude of the public. If the public is single-minded enough to push the same four videos through every category they can, blame the public, not the org.

Current rules already invalidate both of these points. Creators who don't follow up will never check the box saying all their videos have been entered therefore they'll never be up for nomination.

You have that backwards. That's not about the VCAs. The VCA rule is there in order to enforce the database's being as complete as possible.

Similarly, a creator can choose to not have their videos compete by refusing to click that box and several fairly well known creators have done exactly that. If the VCAs really was EVERY video made that year is eligable then I'd probably agree with you but that isn't what the VCAs are.

It's supposed to be that way. See, the org shuts people out of the VCAs for not listing videos because, back in the dawn of time, it was supposed to be an AMV listing site - it meant to list every AMV ever made. Every. Holding back your videos from the listing stymies this goal, so they enforce noncompliance by shutting people out of the VCAs. You keep the org from being comprehensive? No cookie for you.

People's hissy-fits over not competing are their own problem and not an integral part of the contest. Ideally, everyone would enter all of their AMVs into the catalog, not enter their non-anime work, they'd get to compete, and the VCAs would be every AMV made in the year. You're citing the aberration as if it's the standard, which doesn't make any sense to me.

[Arigatomina]

Not to jump in the middle of this, but...

Holding back your videos from the listing stymies this goal, so they enforce noncompliance by shutting people out of the VCAs.

That's not really the point of that box anymore. If it were, they wouldn't 'blank' it at vca time without making sure every single member is expecting it.

I sign up, I upload all my vids, I check the box. I'm a good member in compliance. Then January rolls around and Phade unchecks my box. wtf. I checked it! I listed my vids, complied, and checked it. Why did he uncheck it? So only those people who regularly visit the forum, check their emails or watch that box can compete in the vcas.

Those who join, follow the rules, check the box, and then go on vacation are screwed. It's not because they didn't follow the rules and list their vids. It's because they weren't here and aware of the 'recheck your box' vca change, so they don't get to play with the rest of us.

/pet peeve finished, back to your debate ^.~

[tuathaanwarrior]

I think this would be a great idea. It would solve many of the problems in the VCAs. Also, I dont think the VCAs bein a pure popularity contest is necesarily the best thing. I would much rather see teh most original video win that category than the most popular video on the org. This would solve that problem without too much headache (I have no clue if this holds true from a programming standpoint tho). I also like the idea of not having to have votes split between 2 similar videos. Ultimately, the upside of this change seems way greater than the downside.

[SarahtheBoring]

Why did he uncheck it? So only those people who regularly visit the forum, check their emails or watch that box can compete in the vcas.

You're assuming evil motives where there's no reason to do so. I doubt this was their reason to do this. What good would it do them?

tuathaanwarrior, that's what a "Viewer's Choice Award" is, a popularity contest. Hence the name. Viewer's Choice Award. Viewer's...Choice... You know, excuse my Americentrism for a moment, but has anyone seen the movie or music type Viewer's Choice Awards, or the Billboard Awards, those kind of thing? The ones based on sales and not critical acclaim? They aren't the Academy Awards. We're having a Viewer's Choice, not the Oscars. I think people lose sight of what "VCA" actually stands for, and then they get all bent out of shape when, gasp, the viewers make their choice. Yeah, the "most deserving" videos may not win, but that's not what a Viewer's Choice Award is about. It's about popularity. godix is upset because the same few videos are sweeping categories and all the categories are the same, and nobody else is recognized - sure. Because it's not a test of quality; it's a popularity contest. It's like getting upset because your favorite super-obscure indie band isn't winning the Billboard Awards. These are two different types of awards, critical acclaim vs. popularity. They sometimes line up (say, Beck a few years ago), but they aren't the same thing.

If you want to recognize videos that you think deserve critical acclaim, promote them, by all means, but the VCAs are not about critical acclaim unless that accidentally lines up with popularity. Personally, I think people should recommend videos that they think are impressive/worthy ALL the time, and not just come out with plugging threads at the VCAs, so we wouldn't have everybody getting all desperate and frustrated that their favorites aren't winning.

But that's me, and I'm the cranky old aunt of the org, so it's not happening. Still.

Understand that this is a popularity contest, and not everyone is going to win, and sometimes almost nobody wins because a few are Just That Popular. That's how popularity contests work. We don't have critical-acclaim contests here, but some cons do, with judges and such. You might be better served spending your effort on those if critical acclaim is what you want to have recognized.