Newgrounds is a funny place, and as my first news post I'd like to dedicate it to talking about one of the biggest controversies on the entire site (that I know anyway). And that controversy has only become more apparent with the addition of more options and participants in the flash submission community.

To sum up the controversy, it's like this: There are thousands of flashes that get good scores over the years. One would think that the flashes with more effort would have higher scores. Unfortunately, this is not the case. In fact, sometimes, people can spend VERY LITTLE time on something and still get an insanely high score.

Around a year and a half ago or so, someone actually took one of the more famous sprite movies and replaced all the sprites with some sort of hand-drawn "art". They included a message insisting that if people can steal sprites from companies, then he should be able to steal flashes from submitters. Interestingly enough, this got a decent score, and some other people followed suit with other famous sprite movies. It was around this time I started pondering sprite movies, and for over a year I didn't really submit anything seriously.

Then I found this contest and on a whim decided to take part, spending every spare waking moment to complete my submission within two weeks. Not surprisingly, it got a very good score, and I'm pleased with it. But there's no way it could beat something like Parody Rangers The Movie, right? I mean, it looked great, was humorous, and they spent MONTHES on it. Then I saw its score. By now, my little sprite flash already has a higher score than it. This boggled my mind. I thought about it, what the implications were, and then 2nd pointed me out to Psycosis's latest news post. 2 days was all it took him to complete his contest entry, apparently. And yet I was working hard the entire time. Perhaps some of that is because of a difference in levels of experience in dealing with sprites, but even so, what does that say about all the other submissions? How many quality submissions get overshadowed like this?

Then it hit me. It was never about how much effort was put into it. Sure, effort can make a difference, but apparently 2 days of effort is all it takes to get 2nd of all time for a short amount of time.

So if the effort put into a submission isn't directly related to the score it receives, what is?

Obviously, the more enjoyable someone found something, the higher score they would give it. This is common sense. On the other hand, someone may not have particularly enjoyed something, but still give it a high score because they respect it. These two things make up a large portion of what determines what people vote. Obviously there are other things, such as circumstances, but those aren't as easy to pin down.

Note that effort CAN make people respect and enjoy it more, however, more effort does not always mean more respect / enjoyment.

Part of this may come from the relation between enjoyment and respect. Take Parody Rangers for example. Originally, the art was simple but humorous. People loved it. Then when the "movie" came along, the art got a major boost. So why would the score go down? In my theory, it has to do with respect / expectations. Everything has to be balanced. If something has incredible art but mediocre VA, then it won't be liked as much simply because people will see the art and wonder why the VA isn't as good, instead of simply enjoying the art. In the case of PR, the art took a significant boost, but the other aspects did not (comparatively).

On the other end, take a *typical* sprite movie. The art is obviously not very good, but it can still get a very good score and be very enjoyable. Why? Because it was never there to begin with, so it won't be missed. The fact that it's pixelated has actually become a style that many people have come to enjoy. On top of that, without having to worry about art, the maker has more time to focus on other things, which makes it even MORE enjoyable.

In the end, this is just the Wii versus the PS3 all over again. Most people find flash movies enjoyable, even if sprites are used. People don't need fancy effects or amazing art to enjoy something, although some people do find that enjoyable.

CONCLUSION:

It doesn't make any sense to question whether you should put effort into submissions just to get a score that is the entire reason why you're questioning it. If the score really means that little, then you shouldn't worry about it anyway. Focus on making things that you're proud of. And if it entertains a bunch of people, even if it didn't take much effort, why SHOULDN'T you be proud of it? That should be the real goal. Not to get a high score, not to spend as much effort as possible, but to entertain the people who come here to view your work. At least that's what I'm gunning for.

This was not directed at anyone in particular, and I highly respect all the people mentioned above.

Well, if you've actually read this whole wall of text, thank you, and feel free to share your thoughts. If you haven't, then GO READ IT :P

EDIT: Sure, stuff... http://www.freewebs.com/n3on0522/inthe news.htm

Updated: 10/14/08 8:32 PM 6 comments | Log in to comment! | Share this!